Page 16 of Doc Defence

Star’s grating voice cut through his internal berating of what an idiot he was to fall for a superficial act.

“Yes.” Turning to face her, he tried to school his features.

She grabbed hold of his shirt and tugged on it again. He went without any resistance, and she placed another prolonged kiss on his lips before she pulled back and made a show of getting to her feet. Smoothing down her tiny skirt, then tugging on the hem of her top, making sure she had maximum cleavage showing.

Star leaned forward and put her hands on the table so anyone who cared to look could see directly down her top.

Frost noted a couple of his teammates’ eyes swivelled in Star’s direction before they hastily averted their gazes.

But the one person she was obviously aiming for was oblivious to her attention. With a small huff, she bent down, snatched her bag off the floor and sauntered out of the pub, her hips swinging enough that her walk drew the gazes of a few men in her path.

Frost stared straight ahead at his beer, he should go home. Picking up the pint, he drained the last of it.

“Frost!” Rocky yelled at him across the table before he could stand up to leave. “Come sit with us now Patricia’s gone.”

“Really?” Frost called back, keeping up appearance as he defended his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend from the name she hated.

When Rocky was introduced to her, he refused to call her Star and made it his business to find out her real name. When he did, he used it exclusively until Frost became tired of hearing it and the complaints Star threw at him and asked ‘nicely’ for Rocky to stop.

Rocky stopped to her face, but as soon as she left, he referred to her as Patricia again.

Frost knew he should go home, he would be terrible company, and he had a lot to think about. But his eyes drifted to Hel, who glanced over at him before she looked quickly away. That brief moment of eye contact was enough for him to find himself walking around to the other side of the table, carrying his chair with him.

When he arrived, the man, who Star was convinced was Taylor Anderson, jumped to his feet and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Taylor.”

Frost reached over and shook the other man’s hand. “Frost.” Star had been right. It was Taylor Anderson.

“This is Clara, my fiancée.” Taylor grinned down at the woman by his side, and his hand immediately dropped back to her shoulder as if he couldn’t help himself, he needed to stay in contact with Clara at all times. “And Hel said you’d met her and Sadie already?”

Sadie waved and Hel glanced up, meeting his eyes for a moment before she dropped her gaze.

His eyes strayed to Hel’s red curls, and he resisted the urge to reach over and tug on one by putting his hands into his pockets.

“Yes. I met them both earlier.”

“You swept Hel off her feet,” Clara said very seriously, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.

Frost couldn’t quite tell in the dim lighting of the pub, but he thought a blush might have stolen up Hel’s cheeks. A blush that made him feel very pleased with himself.

Sadie jabbed her friend in the ribs, exclaiming, “Hey, you stole my line!”

“You snooze, you lose around here,” Clara smirked in triumph.

“You are so annoying. Taylor, are you sure you want to marry her? She’s really irritating, and she’ll steal all your best lines,” Sadie teased.

Taylor took his seat again, putting his arm around Clara’s shoulder and pulling her in closer to him. “All my best lines are written by someone else anyway, so it doesn’t bother me.”

Clara guffawed with laughter and looked up at Taylor. The way they adored each other was clear for everyone around them to see. The actor bent down, dropping a swift kiss onto her lips, and she grinned up at him happily.

“You’ll have to excuse those two, they’re in the vomit-inducing part of their relationship,” Hel spoke dryly, but Frost thought he detected a hint of something else in her voice, maybe wistfulness?

Although maybe that was wistful thinking on his behalf because he wanted to—he put a break on his train of thought. He technically still had a girlfriend, one Hel saw him make out with. Now was not the time to be thinking of anything but breaking up with Star with minimal damage.

CHAPTER 6

HEL

Heltappedonthedoor to Aiden’s hospital room. She waited until she heard a deep rumble of a voice calling for her to come in.

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