Page 61 of Doc Defence

“Manly, “ he repeated.

“Like a male chicken,” Hel shot back, her eyes dancing with glee as they met his.

They stood in the doorway staring at each other for far too long before Hel remembered where they were and the fact they had an audience. She tore her gaze away from him when someone in the pub yelled, “Wooooooooooooo.”

Peering around, she spotted her friends. Gloria had her fingers in her mouth poised to do a wolf whistle. Hel glared at her and was about to give her the finger when she recalled it was Taylor’s mum, so instead, she settled for sticking her tongue out at the older woman.

“Also, a word of warning. Don’t sit next to Gloria. She says whatever she’s thinking, however inappropriate. Taylor loovvveeessss it.” Hel rolled her eyes.

According to Taylor, Gloria used to be very strict and kept him on the straight and narrow when he was young, but she had clearly now decided she didn’t care anymore, and had completely disconnected her filter between her brain and mouth, which was incredibly entertaining when directed at someone else, but not so funny when you were the subject.

“That’s his mom?” Frost double-checked.

“Yeah. Come on, get your crutches into gear and let’s head over.” She waited for him to start moving before she weaved her way over to her friends.

“Hi all,” she greeted her pub quiz team and rolled her eyes when she noticed not a single one of them was looking at her, they were all staring at Frost. Huffing a sigh, she thought she should get the introduction and the accompanying comments about Frost out of the way. “This is Frost, my housemate.” She pointed at him with her thumb.

Frost nodded at them all—his hands were full, so he couldn’t wave.

Gloria was on her feet in an instant and around the table to him. Leaning forward, she put her cheek out, clearly wanting him to kiss it in greeting.

Frost’s eyes darted to Hel, who shrugged, so he smiled and bent down, giving Gloria a kiss on her cheek.

Gloria caught his face in her hands while he was bent toward her. “Frost. It’s wonderful to meet you in person. I’ve watched a lot of your games, and I have to say, young man, if I were twenty years younger, I’d be chasing you like a puck bunny.” She let the words hang in the air and then pulled back, running her hands down his biceps where they were flexed as he leaned on the crutches.

Hel stifled a laugh. She loved Gloria. She was hysterical.

Taylor, however, was not loving it and groaned from his position next to Clara, who had a hand across her mouth, her grin visible around her fingers. “Mom, no. No. No. Sit down. Please sit down.”

Gloria didn’t move and kept smiling up at Frost, stroking his arms.

When it didn’t look like Gloria was going to unhand the man she had a crush on, Hel stepped around the pair of them and pulled out a chair. “Here, Frost, you shouldn’t stand up for too long with your leg.”

“Thanks,” Frost said, gently trying to make Gloria let go of him, but she obviously wasn’t going to without a bit of persuasion.

After another beat of awkward silence, Hel said, “Gloria, stop groping the only single man at the table. At least give us younger single ladies a chance first.”

And now those words were out, she couldn’t take them back. She made herself sound like she was trying to lay claim to Frost. Which she wasn’t. Or clearing the way for any of the other women to try. Which she definitely wasn’t.

She relived the feeling of his lips brushing over hers more often than she would like to admit, and while she sometimes wished he would remember it too and maybe want to do it again—but with less drugs this time. Actually, no drugs—she also knew it was for the best that he didn’t, and they didn’t. Even so, her eyes strayed to his lips as they did so often.

Hel forced her gaze back up to his eyes. He was staring at her. An unreadable look on his face. The world around them receded. The chatter. The fact a movie star’s mum was touching his biceps. For a few breathy moments, there was only the two of them.

The corner of his lip quirked up in the barest of smiles. And then reality crashed into her in the form of a napkin chucked at her face. Hel’s head whipped away from Frost, and she glared at the table to see which of her so-called friends had thrown the missile, which, from the sticky feeling on her face, likely had tomato sauce on it.

Gloria stepped away from Frost and winked at Hel before she sashayed back to her place next to Clara.

Hel glared at all her friends. “Real mature!” She exclaimed as she peeled the napkin off her face.

Clara immediately lifted her hand and pointed at Sadie, who was so red in the face from holding in laughter that she looked like she might burst at any second.

“Sadie Gwendoline Albright,” Hel sputtered. “Why did you feel the need to throw your manky rubbish at me?” She glared at Sadie, who was trying and failing dismally to look innocent.

“That’s not my middle name!” Sadie replied.

Hel rolled her eyes. “I don’t care! Why am I now wearing your leftover dinner smeared on my face?”

She would usually have joined her friends for dinner, but when she had arrived home from work, Frost laid a plate of food in front of her, and all thoughts of pub food were forgotten.

---