Page 5 of Take My Hand

We lived in a small town about forty-five minutes from Manchester, and the places that Maddy went to were all within walking distance. If she needed to be somewhere after dark, I took her. There was absolutely no need for her to reduce her lifespan by having a car at the age where she feared nothing. Since her seventeenth birthday, she’d been desperate to drive and had booked lessons straight away. I, on the other hand, didn’t understand the rush. Besides which, the lessons had stalled with her finding other things to spend her money on, so she obviously wasn’t that desperate.

“I won’t need a car if I do Open University.” She turned in her seat and poked me in the arm. “So that’s another two years I’ll be the sad douche without wheels.”

“Shit, life is tough, sweetheart.” I took a left and within a few seconds was pulling up in front of the school. “Okay, munchkin. Have a great day.”

Maddy growled at me and then leaned over the console for a kiss. “You’re a dick, Dad, you know that, right?”

“I do indeed.” I offered my cheek, and the little shit licked it. “Ugh, you’re disgusting.”

“Bye, Daddy.” She grinned and then she was gone.

“Christ, I love that kid,” I muttered to myself and put my car into drive and headed toward my bar, The Jumping Frog—the thing that aside from my daughter, was my biggest pride and joy. I just had no idea what crap was going to meet me when I got there.

Chapter Two

Maddy

“Bloody hell, Maddy,” Liv breathed out with her hand on her heart. “Was that your hot dad who dropped you off?”

I groaned. “Liv, my dad drops me off every day. You know that.”

“I know but he’s just so dreamy.”

Emma burst out laughing. “Who the hell says dreamy?”

“Liv, obviously,” Ana replied as she swept black polish along her short nails. “I don’t know why you just don’t say, ‘wow, Maddy your dad gives me a raging lady boner. I really want him to smash my back doors in.’ You know, something like that.”

“Ana,” I cried, smacking my hand against her arm. “Really. That’s my dad.”

“He shouldn’t be so hot then should he,” she replied, frowning at me. “You do know half our year wants in his pants, and that includes the boys.”

She was right of course. My dad was hot. Even I could admit that. He was six five with short dark hair and stubble, and had,according to my friends, ‘a-may-zing arms’. Best of all though my dad had an incredible smile. It lit up the whole place and was infectious. It made me feel warm and safe. Like if Dad was smiling then everything was okay. My dad always smiled. I’d rarely seen him sad or upset, or worried. I’m sure that he did feel all those things, but he never ever showed me. Everything that he did was for me.

I knew the circumstances of him and my mum and how come Dad came to take care of me. He’d never hidden it from me. He’d told me about Aunt Miriam and her sister, my grandma; he told me everything. I’d even been introduced to one or two girlfriends over the years. I say girlfriends but they were more like hook-ups. Although he was always at pains to try and keep that fact from me. They’d been introduced as, “this is my friend ‘insert name’, she’s just popped in for breakfast.” I wasn’t stupid though.

“Hey, suckadickable boy nine o’clock.”

My heart lurched at Emma’s words. I knew that it would be Zak Hoyland. I knew because even without seeing him, my skin was goose-bumped and a shiver was running down my spine. That was the affect that he had on me. He had ever since he’d joined our class last year, when he’d moved from London. As well as being as hot as hell he also had an amazing accent. Ana assured me that he was a real cockney from the East End of London. She knew because she watchedEastenders.

Intel, i.e., Liv, whose mum worked in the school office, said that he was from Paddington, and his dad had transferred to work as a transplant surgeon at a new private hospital just outside of Manchester. According to Liv, or rather her mum, Dr Hoyland was heading up the surgery unit of the new hospital. He’d brought the whole family, Zak, his wife, who was a dentist, and Zak’s little sister, up North.

“Now that is someone who could smash my back doors in,” Ana sighed.

“Yes,” Liv sighed. “That boy’s face card is never declined, and I don’t say that lightly.”

“Please. Do we have to?” I asked, feeling a swarm of butterflies in my stomach. “He’s not a piece of meat.”

They all burst out laughing, and when I glanced at each of them, they looked like they might pee their knickers. I had no idea what their problem was.

“What?” I asked, dropping my bag to the floor. “Why are you all so hysterical?”

“You,” Emma said. “Acting like you don’t want him to rub his dick all over your vagina.”

I felt the heat creep up my neck. “No, actually I don’t.”

“Bullshit,” Ana growled out, screwing the cap back on her nail polish. “I can practically smell your reaction to him from here.”

“Ugh, you are gross,” I replied, giving her a look that I hoped made her quiver. Ana was a hard nut to crack though. Her mum and dad taught mixed martial arts and she knew how to take care of herself. Nothing scared Ana.

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