“Someone fixing the hole in the siding from the doorknob,” I answered, and her eyes lit up.
“Is it Derek?” she asked, shuffling her feet toward the door.
“No, it’s one of the guys from the club.”
Her shoulders slumped, and I struggled to understand her fascination with him. She’d met him once, and sure, he’d answered her questions about what he was doing, but they didn’t talk aside from the work he was doing.
She pulled the curtain aside and peeked out the window. When she reached for the door, I called out, “Young lady, you need to get dressed.”
Frankie looked down at her pajamas and blushed. “Right.” She spun around and rushed to her room, coming back out a few minutes later in leggings and a hoodie.
“I’m going to go say hello.”
“Frankie,” I called, but she was already gone. How had I missed how starved she was for a father figure in her life? She acclimated to Clay and our trailer at the club quickly, but Clay wasn’t a threat. I didn’t know the man outside, so I quickly grabbed my coffee and opened the door.
“How come you’re here and not Derek?” Frankie asked.
Zero’s eyes blazed; his voice was tight when he answered, “King sent me.”
“But why didn’t he send Derek?”
“I don’t know; you’d have to ask King.”
“Can I have his number so I can call him?” Frankie asked, and Zero looked up at her.
“What’s the fascination with Derek?”
Frankie shrugged. “He does construction. Do you know what you’re doing?”
I had to give Zero credit; Frankie wouldn’t let up with the questions and the comparisons to Derek, and I understood. I’d been secretly doing the same thing since I opened the door.
Zero’s hair was longer than Derek’s, and he wore a henley instead of a flannel shirt. He didn’t fill out his jeans quite as well as Derek did, but that could be personal preference. The truth was, I was attracted to Derek even though I didn’t want to be.
I felt nothing for Zero.
“Frankie, let the man do his work.”
Frankie stomped back inside, slamming the door behind her. I bit my lip, and when I looked back at Zero, he was studying me.
“I’m sorry about my daughter. Derek’s the first guy she’s met in a long time that didn’t terrify her, so she kind of latched on to him.”
Zero scoffed and muttered something I couldn’t understand.
“What?” I asked, wanting him to repeat himself.
“Derek is someone your daughter should be afraid of,” Zero said. “I would advise you to steer clear of him.”
“Why?” I asked, stepping closer. My uneasiness around this man forgotten as I focused on his disdain for Derek. “What did he do?”
“It’s not really my place to say, but he’s not someone I would leave my sister alone with.”
My hands tightened around my coffee cup, and my blood chilled at his words. There was only one reason you didn’t leave women alone with a man. And he had been in my house.
“All finished.”
“What?” I asked, looking up. My mind had been running through every possible reason why you wouldn’t leave a man alone with a woman. Looking for one that didn’t make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I hadn’t gotten that vibe from him when he came to fix the sink.
But then, I hadn’t gotten that vibe from Richard either. I’d believed my husband was a good man. I’d believed Clay was a good man. My track record with men spoke for itself.
