Page 34 of Settling the Score (The Karma Club #4)

He was surprised by how much he liked Chase and Olly. An artist and an author… not really his usual type of friends, but they were great guys, and he’d just spent more than an hour sharing breakfast with them, shooting the breeze.

They were both also as obviously, cloyingly loved up as his brother was, totally smitten by Bella and Paige respectively, so he’d also felt a bit like he was the odd one out, given his disavowal of serious relationships.

He liked them, though, and he liked that they were now a part of Blake’s orbit – by virtue of their close friendship with Astrid, and her besties.

And Sienna.

They’d been talking about the New York art scene when Bella had arrived at the table, cheeks flushed, barely glancing at Aiden and putting an arm around Chase’s shoulders while asking Olly if he had a moment.

Chase hadn’t looked at all concerned that his girlfriend wanted a minute alone with some other guy. If anything, he looked excited. ‘Good news?’

‘Maybe,’ Bella had said, biting into her lip. ‘Do you want to come, too?’

‘Nah, this is probably best left to Olly…’

‘No way, man. The more heads the better on this one.’ Then, leaning closer. ‘I know she’d want you to be involved. Come on.’

Then, Chase had turned to Aiden. ‘Excuse us. Urgent, erm, wedding business.’

He nodded, watching as the three of them walked off, heads bent in conversation.

Aiden took the opportunity to catch up with some of the team, to sit and shoot the breeze like he always did.

He’d been playing long enough to know he was a bit of an elder statesman of the game, that the younger players looked up to him.

When he sat down and gave them the time of day, he could see the way it puffed out their chests, made them feel good.

It was everything he and Blake had always said they wanted to give back to the sport that had saved their lives.

The morning passed and he was able to make a decent show of not spending a fair amount of his time casting his gaze around for a certain blonde to walk by. How could he be so desperate to see her again after having spent the night – and morning – with her?

Eventually, he made his excuses to the team, restless as all get-out, for reasons he couldn’t explain. A walk seemed like as good an idea as any to burn off excess energy. Except, only a few minutes into his walk, bam…

He heard her before he saw her, and every cell in his body damn well told him it was Sienna, even prior to rounding the corner and finding her sitting on the grass lawn, looking out to the beach.

‘You wouldn’t believe it, baby. It’s sooo pretty here.

Hang on a sec.’ She pressed the button on the phone, so the camera turned around, filling the screen with the pristine beach, the palm trees, the luscious nature of it all.

When she flicked the camera back, the face she was talking to went back to prime position on the screen.

A girl, a teenager, with a few spots and braces, grinned back at Sienna.

‘Ohhh, I’m so jelly. Is it amazing? Is Astrid having fun?’

He knew he shouldn’t be eavesdropping. Just standing behind a ficus hoping not to be seen. But curiosity was throbbing through him, along with some other things he really should have been getting better at controlling by now.

‘She is. She’s a perfect bride. Relaxed, happy, nothing’s stressing her.’

‘Soo good. Are you taking a billion pics?’

‘At least a billion. Probably twice that.’

The teenager laughed. He knew it was Sienna’s sort of step-daughter. He’d always figured Sienna had some kind of supercharged maternal gene, but seeing it in action now made an archaic part of him thunder and roar to life. A part of him he had subjugated a long time ago.

Not being like his father was high on his list of priorities.

Not having kids was there too.

Too risky.

Too terrifying.

If there was any chance he might end up out of control, he didn’t want to risk having a child caught in the crosshairs.

But Sienna? She made this shit look easy.

No, she made it look… fun.

‘What’s the food like?’

‘Ahmazing. I’ve eaten my bodyweight at least ten times over. There’s been lobster and shrimp and these amazing chicken satay skewers that I can’t get enough of. The breakfast bar has omelettes and crepes, and there are the juiciest sliders served with afternoon cocktails.’

‘Oh, man,’ Melanie groaned. ‘You’re making me hungry, and all we’ve got in the house is two-week-old bread.’

He saw the way Sienna sat a little straighter. ‘Oh, yeah?’

‘Don’t worry,’ Melanie immediately compensated with a bright smile. ‘I had June’s lunch leftovers. It was pasta bake. She hates pasta bake.’

Sienna made a soft noise that Aiden suspected he only heard because the wind was blowing his way.

‘You know what? Could you do something for me, honey?’

‘Sure.’

‘Go over to my place and check the freezer. I’m 99 per cent sure there’s a lasagne in there that needs to be eaten.’

Melanie shook her head a little.

‘I mean it, kiddo. You know where the key is. Go get it, chuck it in the oven at a low temp for a couple of hours, to make sure it defrosts properly and heats all the way through. You know how much you love my lasagnes.’

‘I do, but I can’t take your food.’

‘Oh Mel, I’ll let you in on a little secret.’

Melanie waited.

‘I actually hate lasagne. I literally only make it because you love it. So you’d be doing me a favour, I swear.’

Melanie laughed. ‘Okay, okay. You’re the best, Sissi.’

‘Nope, you are.’

‘I miss you.’

‘I miss you, too. So much. I’ll be home in a couple of days.’

Something in Aiden’s chest seemed to flap around. Or hollow out. He couldn’t say for sure, only it was a new experience and he didn’t like it. At all.

‘Okay.’ Melanie waved. ‘Byeee. Love you.’

‘I love you, too, honey. See you soon.’

She disconnected the call and sat with her elbows braced on her knees, staring out at the ocean for a few beats. Aiden took a step, to go over to her, but then heard the ringing of her phone. Not like it was receiving a call, but rather, as though she were making a FaceTime call.

‘Yeah?’ A man’s face filled the screen. Aiden sought cover behind the ficus again – a somewhat ridiculous proposition given his size and frame, and the narrowness of the tree. He might as well try hiding behind a toothpick.

‘Cory, you need to go shopping.’

‘What?’ The dude sounded like he’d just woken up. Aiden peered from between two thick, luscious green leaves, trying to get a clearer view of the man Sienna had dated seriously enough to consider his daughter her step-daughter.

‘You have no food in the house.’

‘Did Melanie call and tell you that?’ he muttered.

‘Not in so many words. She covered your ass, like she always does. But it was pretty obvious that she’s starving.

God, Cory. It’s not brain surgery to go to the goddamned store and get your kid some fresh food.

Hell, write a list, stick it on the fridge with a twenty and get Melanie to go shopping. ’

‘Can you give it a fucking break? I’ve just woken up, I’ve got a killer headache?—’

She snorted. ‘Are you hungover?’

‘What the hell do you care?’

He saw her shoulder blades shift as if she were rolling her head a little, trying to relax. ‘I care about Melanie, and you know that.’

‘She’s not your kid.’

He wished for a thousand things in that moment.

To see Sienna’s face, to know how she was feeling.

To be there with her, a protective arm around her shoulders.

To reach through the screen and knock some sense into the other guy.

The last one was why he stayed stock still, where he was, camouflaged by a tree.

‘No, but she’s yours. Start acting like you give a damn, or you’re going to lose her.’

‘Is that a threat?’

‘She’s old enough to start realising what a loser you are. Don’t give her a reason to run away.’

‘She’d never.’

‘No, she’d never run away from me, but I don’t know if the same could be said for you. Just… get your shit together, Cory. She deserves so much better than this.’

‘You don’t get to?—’

‘I mean, for God’s sake. I’m away for one week and you can’t even hold it together for her?’

He stared mutinously at the screen.

‘Get it together,’ she said again. ‘I’ll call Melanie tomorrow. I’d better hear that there’s milk and eggs in the fridge.’

‘Yeah, yeah, okay. Whatever. Where are you, anyway?’

Sienna’s shoulders shifted again, this time with an exhalation. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll be home in a few days. Look after her until then, okay?’

‘She’s my kid…’

‘Cory?’

‘Yeah, okay. Fine. I’ll look after her.’

Sienna disconnected the call and lowered her head onto her knees, her cheek pressed there as she stared sideways.

He could retreat. Tiptoe backwards, hoping the ficus kept him hidden. Or he could go and talk to her. Tell her he’d heard the conversation.

Or he could just stay hiding where he was indefinitely, he concluded with exasperation.

‘I know you’re there.’ Her voice was a little louder, though it didn’t need to be. He’d heard her fine.

She turned then, looking back at him.

‘I didn’t want to interrupt,’ he admitted, straightening, feeling a little ridiculous.

‘The tree wasn’t exactly the best hiding spot for someone your size.’

‘Yeah.’ He shrugged. ‘Sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt but I just…’

‘It’s okay.’ Her lips pulled to the side.

‘So that’s him, huh?’ He strode over the grass and eased his large frame to the grass beside her, legs kicked out in front of him.

‘Him?’

‘The guy you dated after me?’

‘Right, yeah. That’s him. Cory.’

‘Seems like a real catch.’

She laughed, but it was a sad, frustrated sound. ‘Oh, yeah. I sure can pick ’em.’

He hated that.

He hated to be painted with the same brush as the other guy who was clearly a total drop kick.

‘But Melanie is amazing,’ she admitted, her eyes shifting to his and sparking with something that made his whole body tingle.

‘So you stay because of her?’

‘I’m not with him, any more,’ she said.