Page 25 of Whatever You Want

“Whatever you say,” I yelled as I walked out of the room. “I should arrest you for slave labor.” The girls came running up the stairs, their little giggles filling up the hallway.

“Where are you two troublemakers going?” I asked, stepping in front of them. I held my arms out wide, keeping them from going forward.

“I’m showing Brina my room,” Madison said, looking a little too guilty for her eight-year-old self.

I bent down to peek inside the bag that she was clutching in her hands. “Did I miss Halloween or something? There’s enough candy in there for the entire neighborhood.”

Madison put the paper bag behind her back as if she was afraid I would take it away. “We aren’t going to eat it all.”

“Where did that bag come from?”

Madison’s eyes widened as they shifted to my daughter. “My friend Julia gave it to me. Her parents own a store that sells candy.”

“Does your mom know about that candy?”

She nodded her head. “Yes, she lets me eat a little bit at a time.”

“Okay.” I patted her head and looked at my daughter. “You know the rules, Brina. Only a couple pieces.”

She huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes. “I know, Dad, I don’t want to eat too much or I’ll get a stomachache. I’m not a baby, remember?”

I didn’t like her tone, but she was in front of her friend and at the age where she got embarrassed easily. I was going to let it slide for now. I learned a long time ago to pick your battles.

“All right.” I lowered my hands to the side. “You girls can pass. Just remember that you have to eat dinner later.”

They both ran so fast I chuckled under my breath.

I picked up a few bags of garbage on my way down the stairs. I rounded the corner of the kitchen, spotting Marco fiddling with something on his phone. “It’s hotter than the hubs of Hades in this house,” I said, feeling my T-shirt stick to my skin. “Is her AC working?”

Ava came sprinting down the stairs. “The thermostat is on the wall in the front room. Feel free to turn it down.” She snatched the measuring tape off the table and dashed back upstairs. My eyes followed her, and I must have looked a little too long because my friend shot me a suspicious look.

He threw me a water bottle. “Please don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“I’m not dumb. I see the way you look at her. The way you have always looked at her.”

I glared, not liking where this conversation was headed. “What’s your problem?”

He lifted the lid of the recycling container and shoved a piece of cardboard inside. “She’s off-limits to you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Really? And why is that?”

“She’s my wife’s best friend, who just lost her husband last year.”

“And?” Not that I was going to ask her out anytime soon, but still.

He ran a frustrated hand along the top of his hair. “No offense, Logan, I love you like a brother, but you come with a lot of baggage. She has her own shit to deal with. The last thing she needs is to get tangled up in that mess and have Vanessa sniffing around. And don’t tell me she won’t.”

My ex was not a nice person. When I thought about all the hell she could bring to Ava’s doorstep, it made my stomach drop. People who didn’t know me well assumed I just didn’t date. The truth was, Vanessa made it almost impossible for me. My last attempt at a relationship ended up turning into a disaster. When word got back to Vanessa that I was seeing someone, she went all Fatal Attraction on me. She sent threatening messages to my friends and family, harassed me at work, hacked my Facebook account, and keyed my brand-new truck.

My jaw ticked with frustration. I couldn’t argue with facts. It was just another reminder of why things would never work between us.

“I understand.”

His head shook slowly. “I still don’t get why you put up with her shit.”

“I don’t have a choice, Marco. We share a kid.”

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