Page 35 of To Hate Adam Connor

The sixth day, I didn’t see any of the Connor boys. I was only supposed to look after Aiden for a week, so it was my last day with him. With them.

It was…it was a…normal day, I guess.

Chapter Eight

Adam

Despite Dan’s objections, I felt I’d made the right choice asking for Lucy’s help. Yes, as far as we knew, she didn’t have any kind of background with kids, but I’d watched her with Aiden, and I’d heard plenty about her from Aiden. He was happy around her, and I wanted him happy. All of that aside, I knew she would keep him safe. She’d already done that once. Besides, Dan had done a background check on her the minute she’d left the house with the cops that day.

She was clean as a whistle.

The first day she was supposed to look after Aiden, Dan had insisted we put a small listening device on one of Aiden’s toys and make sure everything was okay throughout the day. I didn’t object; it was the safety of my son. Overkill? Who cares; my mind was at ease.

When I was over at Jason’s place to pick up Aiden, I was running on three hours of sleep. I had a grumbling Lucy sign the damn NDA then grumble some more, and I got out of there as soon as possible.

The second day, after I spent some time with Aiden, I found Lucy’s very firm ass climbing up the wall that separated Jason’s property from mine.

Apart from being a pain in the ass, she was doing her best to stay out of my way, which was a surprise for me considering she’d watched me and my son without our knowledge for God knew how long.

It was going to be the first night she’d spend in my house, and I preferred her to keep her distance as much as possible. I’d accepted her request only because I was out of options. Aiden had a tendency to disappear into himself when he wasn’t happy, and taking him to the set with me was out of the question. I would never forget how much I’d hated it when my parents took Vicky and me with them, only to forget about us for hours while they were lost in their own world. Sure, they had their assistants check up on us to make sure we were still breathing and behaving, but some days we barely even saw their faces. However, we made good props. Vicky, with her golden hair and big green eyes, was my mother’s choice of accessory. She used to dress her up and make sure she was seen, just so the paparazzi would get shots of them and talk about their fashion choices.

It was a similar thing with me and my father. Sure, we didn’t make the cover of tabloids with our fashion choices, but that wasn’t the point, was it? The Connor family was a brand and that was it.

Our best memories were the ones where we wouldn’t see our parents for months when they had location shoots. It wouldn’t be the same for Aiden. That was the whole point.

The third day, it was a very long day. Between trying to find a new PR firm to shooting extra scenes for the movie, I was swamped. Add in an argument with Adeline about Aiden, and another argument with the studio about my contract…and my day was completely fucked.

It was early morning when I made it home. Despite having been awake for more than thirty-six hours, I made sure to spend some time with Aiden before Dan drove him to his school.

The third day, I didn’t see Lucy Meyer’s smiling face.

The fourth day, when I came home, I found them sleeping on opposite sides of the same couch as Simba rolled around with Nala on the screen.

I stopped myself from going to their side and just watched them quietly.

Aiden was sleeping with his mouth wide open as always, his hands under his head. He murmured something and then softly kicked Lucy’s legs as he struggled to turn to his other side. My gaze strayed, and I found myself watching Lucy’s face. She was curled into herself, her knees tucked in. Her shoulder-length hair was tied up in a bun, giving me a clear view of her face. I could see a hint of her shoulder through the small opening of her T-shirt. She looked so innocent, the complete opposite of her usual loud self. If I hadn’t been listening in on Aiden and her, I don’t think I would’ve felt safe leaving him with her, but since I knew exactly how they spent their days through Dan, I was okay with my hasty decision.

The door behind me opened and closed, and Lucy stirred. I kept my eyes on her, waiting for her to wake up and accuse me of something, but other than the initial twitch of her shoulders, she stayed still.

“They’re down already?” Dan asked, coming to stand next to me.

“Looks like it.”

“She is good with him,” he said in a soft tone as he kept his eyes on the duo. “She is teaching him how to sing with her friend, and he is teaching them how to act. He is quite demanding, too.”

“Sounds like you had fun listening in on them.”

“Right,” he said shortly, and I smiled at his tone.

“She is a handful,” I commented, having trouble keeping my eyes away from her.

Dan grunted, so I forced myself to glance at him. I noticed his eyes were on Lucy, too.

I cleared my throat and headed toward the kitchen. After a second of hesitation, Dan followed me.

I opened the fridge to get some water.

“Everything looks okay. No one was waiting around tonight.”

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