“It’s no contest,” Jake said with a slight frown. “Bones is the hot one,” he deadpanned, referring to the doctor on the show. Ash and I both chuckled.
“So you’ll come?” Ash prodded.
I saw Jake debate for a moment, and I got the sense he wanted to say no. “We’ll see,” he finally said.
But Ash remained undaunted, and as Jake turned to leave he said, “Try, okay?”
Jake paused by the door and calmly said, “Damn it, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a magician.”
Ash and I both started laughing at the famous line and then Jake was gone. Ash settled back against my chest and searched out the remote. “I wonder what his story is,” he said softly.
“What makes you think he has one?” I asked, surprised that Ash had noticed the same thing as me after knowing Jake for such a short amount of time.
“The kind of pain he’s carrying around… there’s definitely a story.” Ash snuggled back against my chest and murmured, “He needs his very own Aiden.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I let my fingers stroke up and down Ash’s upper arm.
“He needs someone to save him,” he said tiredly, and before I could even say anything else, Ash nodded off against me.
I glanced back in the direction of the door and suspected Ash might very well be right.
Chapter 28
Ash
“Tell me again that I’m doing the right thing,” Aiden murmured. His knee was bouncing beneath the table, and he was drumming his fingers on the worn wood. I linked my fingers with his and squeezed his hand hard before pulling it up to my mouth and pressing a kiss to it.
“You don’t need me to tell you that,” I said gently.
Aiden sucked his breath in and nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. His eyes were on me, but as soon as the door to the coffee shop opened, he tore his gaze away to see who had come in. His body sagged a little when it turned out to be a woman with a little girl.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
My heart ached for Aiden as he began using his free hand to once again drum on the tabletop.
The coffee shop we’d chosen for the meeting with Aiden’s father was quiet, with just a few customers. When Aiden had approached me with the idea that he was ready to hear his father out, we’d mulled over a good place to meet with Edward. We’d immediately ruled out our apartment, as well as Beam Me Up Latte. Aiden wasn’t ready to have Edward on his turf, and there would have been too many distractions at my coffee shop, since most of the regulars knew me, and the place had become even busier ever since I’d started playing a set three times a week in the early evenings and weekends.
We’d been back in New York for several weeks now, and while Aiden’s sleep had continued to improve, he was still plagued with enough nightmares that he’d accepted they weren’t just going to go away. I’d been the one to suggest he talk to a professional to try to deal with the lingering guilt he was still feeling over Danny’s death. He was scheduled to have his first session at the end of the week.
I’d been surprised when Aiden had agreed to meet with his father, but I suspected the fact that the man had called to check on me after seeing the news of my attack in the press had been the reason Aiden had finally decided it was time to let Edward have his say.
As the minutes ticked by, Aiden became more and more restless. I shifted my chair so I was sitting even closer to him and transferred his hand to my other one. I used my free hand to tuck his hair behind his ear as I pressed my head against his.
“It’ll be okay, Aiden. Promise.”
Aiden nodded. As soon as I’d curled the fingers of my broken arm around his, he’d automatically eased his hold so he wouldn’t inadvertently hurt me. Even as stressed as he was, he was focused on my needs first.
“Love you,” I whispered.
At my words, he immediately relaxed and then his lips were skimming my temple. “Love you,” he breathed against my skin.
I wasn’t sure how long we sat like that for, but I knew when Edward finally arrived because Aiden tensed up again. I forced myself to straighten.
Edward looked as nervous as his son. We’d expected him to bring his wife, but there was no sign of her as he approached us.
“Hello, son,” Edward said as he stopped at the table.
Aiden managed a nod, but nothing else. He didn’t get up to shake his father’s hand, and fortunately, Edward didn’t seem to be expecting him to.
“Can I get you two some coffee?” Edward asked as he motioned to our nearly empty mugs.