Page 69 of The Vow We Made
“What’s wrong?” he asks innocently but with the stupidest grin on his face.
“I’m not going out with a granny blanket over my legs.”
“It’s not—”
“Yes, it is and you know it, I’ll be fine with my coat.”
He heads back to the lounge, blanket in hand. “Your choice angel,” he shouts and it’s bloody well obvious he’s laughing at me.
We’re soon down the steps and on the busy streets of Kensington with me settled in my mean machine. I’m self-conscious and maybe Aiden can sense it when he asks, “You okay down there?”
He squeezes my shoulder and I turn my head and whisper loudly, “Everyone’s staring at me.”
“Because you’re so bloody gorgeous.”
“Aiden,” I whine, “you know what I mean.”
“Victoria,” he breathes out, “you know whatImean.” He’s trying to make light of it, so I sit tight and keep my head down. To my relief, we’ve stopped outside one of my favourite burger bars. I wonder if Steph had tipped him off.
The front of this small restaurant is fully open with bi-folding doors, so it’s easy to get the wheelchair inside. As we do, I hear the scraping of chairs and two men in front of us stand from their seats while a familiar blonde turns her head towards us and immediately smiles. I recognise her instantly to be the girl Aiden was holding in his arms the night I took care of a drunken Faith at the club.This must be Georgie.
“Hello fella, how are you?” One guy asks Aiden while bringing him in for a man hug, and the other reaches over and shakes his hand.
“Good to see you mate.”
The blonde beauty stands. “Hello stranger.” He kisses her cheek and even though they hug for no more than a few seconds, I end up turning away so I don’t have to witness another woman in Aiden’s arms. I can’t help the flicker of jealousy inside, even though he’s already told me, she is one of his oldest friends.
He turns to me after the hugs are over. “Guys, this is Victoria.” And they all say hello.
The blonde leans towards me. “I’m Georgie. It’s so lovely to meet you at last.” She kisses my cheek which takes me by surprise and introduces the tall Ryan Gosling lookalike next to her. “And this is my boyfriend, Marcus.”
“Hi there,” he says, repeating his girlfriend’s gesture.
“And my brother Luke,” she adds turning to the equally as hot guy, waiting patiently at her side who, of course, plants another kiss on my cheek. Aiden can tell their affection has surprised me, least of all because he didn’t warn me that we were meeting his friends today, so the whole thing is a bit of a shock.
“Right you lot, niceties over. I’m starving. Victoria, are you hungry?” Wide-eyed and dumbstruck from my sudden introductions, I nod slowly. I’m flattered he wants me to meet those he’s closest to, but some warning would have been great.
“Marcus and I thought you were a figment of Aiden’s imagination. He’s been banging on about this perfect woman so much, we’d decided he’d actually dreamt you up.” Georgie laughs while Aiden closes his eyes and shakes his head. I naturally reach over and take his hand.
“You know he found me on the street and bribed me to come here today. I have no idea who he is at all, but he pays good money.”
They laugh at his expense while he playfully pushes my hand away and mumbles, “I can’t believe you ratted me out,” under his breath.
When the laughter dies down, Luke says, “I might have believed you if Will hadn’t mentioned his brother meeting this hot sort at the Critique Bar.”
Should I remember him? I don’t recall Luke at all and I’m sure he reads my mind. “Don’t worry love, we haven’t met properly, but I saw this dip-shit working his charm on you. There were some other girls as well; real sorts if I remember right.” I note Aiden drop his head in his hands as if he’s embarrassed by his friend. “And Will’s seeing one of them now, Steph is it?” Luke asks in all seriousness, not having the slightest clue about Aiden’s body language.
“He is, yes and you’re not wrong, Steph is definitely a sort alright.” Aiden’s mouth curves into a smile while Luke points in my direction and winks at the same time.
“So I’ve heard. We haven’t met her yet, on account Will’s worried we’ll scare her off but I reckon it’s because she’s a posh bird.” Luke is actually very endearing and I love his description of Steph. I can’t wait for those two to meet, it could be interesting.
“That posh bird is my best friend and you might be wishing he left it longer by the time you do. She’s feisty.”
“Nothing wrong with a bit of fire, love. Nothing at all.”
“That’s pretty telling.” Aiden smirks. “How are things with the mystery girl?”
“What’s this?” Georgie asks. “You mean you haven’t met the gorgeous woman in my big brother’s life?”
