She carried on talking as though I hadn’t interrupted.
“Now, on any other person, I would be all for it. But on you? Absolutely not.” She pulled a sickened facial expression.
“Why?” Was it weird that I was a little offended? I didn’t want anyone to call me daddy, but at the same time, I did think I had a bit of a… of an aura, if you will.
“Because I’m friends with Sapphire and she uses the word.” Ruby gagged harder as she kept yanking her hair, her attempts at styling it pitiful. “I would picture her face if I called you it.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that, so I didn’t. I just remained in silence, sipping and scowling and wishing that the music would change so I could enjoy myself.
Wishing that someone would take Ruby back inside so I didn’t have to sit there like a pathetic little bitch, enjoying the fact she was near me. As though I even liked her.
Even when Aiden returned with her clothes and helped her into them, she didn’t stop babbling and I didn’t stop ignoring each word as I kept staring at her mouth. At least I did until she started cursing, and almost threw her hair ties into the nearby bushes in a rage.
For some godforsaken reason, it annoyed me that she couldn’t do her hair.
For some godforsaken reason, Icared.
“Give me the hair ties.” I huffed as I held out my hand before Aiden could say a word.
Ruby narrowed her eyes at me as our boyfriend glanced between us, not saying a word with his mouth, but far too much with his eyes.
“Why?” She dragged out the question.
“I’ll do it for you. Watching you struggle is irritating me.”
“You can’t braid.” She slowly dropped the ties into my palm.
“Who do you think did Sapphire’s hair when Lucia died and Ford was busy being drunk and murderous?” I scoffed as I got to my feet, getting close enough I could touch her. “I sure as fuck wasn’t letting anyone else near my kid after all that happened. Even a fucking nanny. Soyes, I can braid.”
Aiden leaned back against the chair, sipping on a beer and continuing to stare at me with far too many questions I didn’t have answers to.
“You did her hair? That’s really sweet.” Ruby stilled as my fingers brushed the back of her neck and I pretended not to notice.
It was just a normal thing to do. I was helping. Beingnice…
It didn’t matter that I wasn’t usually nice or helpful. It didn’t matter that the longer time went on, the more Aiden started smiling like an arrogant son of a bitch who was reading into the situation far more than he should have.
Sure, it was going to be good for him to have both his partners getting along. But we weren’t doing anything. I was just offering to help Ruby with her hair, so she could hurry up and leave me alone faster. That’s all it was. No big deal.
He didn’t need to look so smarmy as he got to his feet and said, “I’m gonna help the girls set up for the movie.”
He left us alone for some reason. Alone as I touched silky soft curls that smelled like roses and did my best to fashion them into a respectable set of French braids.
“Do you believe me now about my talents?” I asked, when I finished the first half of her head, needing to break the silence with something other than my racing thoughts.
Ruby was quiet for a moment. Then she didn’t answer my question as she almost whispered, “You said your kid.”
My brows pulled together. “What?”
“It’s just that I’ve noticed when you talk to me, you refer to Sapphire as your daughter, more than your niece.” She muttered. “I didn’t know if you were aware that you were doin’ it. But I thought I would tell you to see if… if you wanted to talk about anythin’ in your empty brain.”
“Talk?” My frown hardened.
“Yeah. That thing people do with their mouths that’s potentially fun sometimes.” She snorted. “I want to know if you’re okay about things? Like Sapphire findin’ out you’re her dad, or how that works. Hell, even to see if you’re okay in general with what happened to Ford, and Malone, and all this other nonsense that goes on around you.”
There were a lot of things I could have said, but only one seemed the most important in my mind.
“You care about my emotions?” I asked.
