Page 95 of Ace of Spades

My brows cinch.

“She did?”

“After the hockey game. She texted me, said how much she appreciated me bringing her and Julian out but she didn’t want me to think that she wanted a relationship with me just because of what I could do for her. She wanted us to be sure.”

Sounds like my Sienna.

“And now that you are?”

Brody pushes off the stool and grabs me by the shoulders.

“I have a daughter, Levi. Can you fucking believe it? Me, a dad!”

I shake my head.Nope, still can’t believe that.

“Anyways, I’m taking her to have breakfast. Get to know each other while I’m in town.”

And he couldn’t have picked a more inopportune time. I wanted nothing more than to see her and talk to her about how she feels after everything. But now, here’s Brody, whisking her away.

“That’s good, man. Happy for you,” I manage to say.

“Yeah. It’s wild. Hey!” he says snapping his fingers as if trying to recollect something. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, whatever happened to that woman you met a while back? The one you were talking about at my place the day Sienna showed up. Anything ever come of that?”

My stomach drops. And all I can do is shake my head. “Nope.”

“Huh, that’s a shame. I was rooting for you, man. After all this Evie shit went down I was hoping you’d have something good to hold onto.”

I would… if you would stop talking about your daughter.I need this conversation over, stat.

Luckily, Skid drops something and bounces around on his toes drawing our attention out to the garage bay.

“Oh, Joey!” Sienna says, carrying in some bags.

He hisses as he keeps hopping around.

“It’s fine. I’m fine. It’s fine.”

Sienna shakes her head as she approaches the office. She sees me and her face lights up. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I say back, as casually as I can.

Brody clears his throat behind me and Sienna’s eyes widen, not having noticed that her father was in the corner.

“Hey!” she says, looking surprised and maybe a little shocked. “Good to see you.”

Brody puts a hand to her shoulder and they do that awkward hug thing again. Maybe theyshouldspend time together. They’ve got nearly twenty years to catch up on. Even if I am jealous that I’m not the one that will get to spend time with her.

“What’s in the bags?” I ask, poking a finger into one of them.

“Just a little project I’m working on,” she says, pulling the bags away from my reach. “So no peaking.”

I put my hands up in surrender.

“You ready to go?” Brody asks her, after she drops the bags in the corner.

“Yeah,” she says smiling up at him. “You gonna be okay for a bit without me, boss?”

I know she’s being playful, but if I answer truthfully, the answer would be no. I’ll be counting every fucking minute until she gets back to me.

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