My Life Turned Into a Hallmark Card-Aiden
“MORNING.” Jenna’s raspy voice woke me. Not the worst way to wake up, despite my raging hard-on.
“Hey, how you doing?” I asked as she untangled her legs from mine. I wanted to grab her and force her to stay in bed, but I didn’t want to push it
“Tired as hell, but good. I need to shower and get back to the hospital. What time is it?”
I checked my phone and ignored the texts from Miles. “Seven.”
She yawned and sat up. She had no makeup on her face, her hair was in every direction, and she’d never looked more beautiful. It was startling.
“You look good this morning.”
She brushed her hand over my leg and squeezed my calf, but she didn’t respond. She wiped her eyes with her hands and stood. “Thank you for everything yesterday. I really appreciate you being there for me. I needed a friend, bad.”
“Anytime. I should thank you again for including me and my brother.” I ignored her friend comment completely. “Do you want a ride over to the hospital? I have no problem dropping you off or staying with you.”
“I’m probably just going to take the moped. I can only stay for two hours before going to open the bar. I hate I may miss the birth, but I understand why I have to.”
“You able to handle it?” She rolled her eyes, so I backtracked. “You know what I meant. Of course you can handle managing the bar, but it was my way of asking if you need any help.”
“I think we’ll be okay, but if you want to stop by sometime this afternoon, I’ll let you know.”
“I’ll plan on it.” I stood and walked over. She smiled warmly, and I hugged her. A full body-squeezing hug for a solid minute. “I’ll see you later, okay? Let me know if Cyn has her baby. Just send me a quick text.”
“Will do.”
She pulled away and headed out. My room felt empty without her there.
I planned out my morning so I was able to stop by the bar in the afternoon to help her out.
I went to the gym for an hour and made sure to have my phone on me, but no word from Jenna. I still hadn’t responded to Miles’s text yet. Although yesterday was a huge breakthrough for us, there were still years of resentment plaguing our relationship.
The doorbell rang, and I opened it to see Miles there. Again. Without warning. At least he looked like a normal person in jeans and a sweatshirt this time.
“Hey, Aiden. You busy?”
“Would it matter? Second time in two days. This is a record for you.” There was no heat to my words this time, just good-natured ribbing.
He chuckled but didn’t look offended. “If you would’ve responded to my texts, you would’ve known I was coming over.”
I cringed. “Sorry, I know we talked yesterday, but this is new for me. Us getting along.”
“I know, and I’m partially to blame. I just…needed to tell you I…Fuck, I don’t know. I’m impressed with you.”
“Uh, thank you?” I hated how I questioned everything he said. Our family didn’t give compliments without a secret agenda.
“No, I know you may not believe me, brother, but I talked with Mike for an hour yesterday before the shuttle came. Shit, the guy hated me.”
I laughed because Mike was loyal as hell, and this made me love him even more. “Yeah, sorry about that. I vented to him more than once about my life, so he knows quite a lot.”
“I know he does. He let me have an earful, a couple times, and it upset me. This man knows you better than I do. I felt ashamed of myself.”
“Jesus. What is happening?” I said more to myself than him.
Miles sat on the couch and ran his hands over his face, a gesture I surely picked up from him. I saw the stress around his eyes, took in the dark circles and sadness.
“Miles, I need to man up and talk to Dad about my problems with his plan for me. It’s all on me, but you’re not my father. You’re my brother, and I’d love it if we could have a relationship which didn’t involve him. Could you do that?”
“Yes.”
We shared a rare smile. It was another huge step for us, and I wanted to tell Jenna about it but also didn’t want to intrude on her family time.
“I’m going to put in Die Hard. That cool with you?” I asked.
“Absolutely. It’s a classic.”
We watched the movie for a bit. Then my phone finally went off.
Jenna: Meet my goddaughter Ainsley!
I opened the picture and saw Jenna holding a tiny bundle of blankets with a little head poking out. Dark hair was already growing like crazy, and Jenna’s face was glowing. She looked amazing.
Aiden: Congrats, godmom! You both look happy and amazing.
Jenna: She’s so cute, and Gage is losing his shit. It’s adorable.
Aiden: If she looks anything like Cyn, he’s going to have his hands full.
Jenna: You have no idea. I gotta go. Ttyl.
“What has you smiling like a goon?” Miles asked, making me look up.
My immediate reaction was to tell him to fuck off, but we were trying something new, so I held up the picture. “Cyn had her baby this morning. Jenna just sent me the picture.”
He grabbed my phone and smiled at it. “Wow. She sure has a head of hair already. Jenna looks radiant.”
“She was named godmother, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be there for the birth.”
Miles patted my knee, which made me stiffen for a second, but he said warmly, “She’s quite something, Aiden. Jenna. Dad even likes her.”
“You guys have talked about her without me? I don’t approve.” I shook my head.
“No, it’s not bad, Aiden. That’s what you don’t see. Dad isn’t always an asshole, but clearly he doesn’t show you his human side.”
“Maybe I’ll see it sometime.” I didn’t hold any hope, though.
We continued to watch the movie and talk. It was kind of normal. I texted Jenna, but I didn’t plan on her responding.
Aiden: You would not believe that Miles and I are bonding right now.
Jenna: GOOD!
Aiden: The bar going okay?
Jenna: I’m keeping my head above water.
I knew she would never specifically ask for help, and it was the afternoon, so technically I wasn’t being too clingy if I went to help. “I’m going to the bar to see if Jenna needs help. They’re packed as hell and understaffed. Sorry to run out on you.”
“I get it, man. If you don’t mind, I can help out, too, if she needs it.”
Once again, my brother was freaking me out, but I went with it. “Sure, man. If you don’t mind driving, I’m probably going to make sure she gets home. So I’ll ride with you.”
“Absolutely.”
We hopped in his car, and Aerosmith blared through his speakers. “Walk This Way?”
“It’s my all-time favorite.”
I scoffed. “No shit. It’s one of mine, too.”
Another shared moment. I needed to punch something or myself to see if this was an alternate reality. “Holy shit. They looked slammed. The line is all the way down the sidewalk.”
Miles was right. It looked like chaos. “Drop me off here and see if you can find a spot. I’ll tell the bouncer you’re coming.”
I walked up to the front of the line and heard my name being called from some people in line. I didn’t look back, but I waved.
“Hey, man, I’m here for Jenna. She may need some help,” I told the bouncer I recognized, but I couldn’t remember his name.
He looked wary. “I don’t know, dude. Let me ask her.”
“Jesus, let me in and help her. It’s a shit show out here.” I put a little fire in my voice.
He looked me up and down and cracked his neck. “If I find out you’re fucking with me, you’re banned.”
“I don’t care. Hey, my brother’s going to be here in a second. Name’s Miles. Let him in, too, or Jenna will be pissed.” I pushed past him to see the entire bar filled past max capacity. Servers were running like crazy, and drinks were being poured at an almost comical speed.
Jenna was serving food, hair in every direction. She wore badass leather boots with a tight tank top.
I needed to tone it down and help her out, not check her out. “Jenna! What can I do?”
She turned in my direction and smiled. I met her at the kitchen door, where she caught her breath.
“You sure about this?” She had a look of uncertainty, but I clapped my hands a couple times.
“I got my game face on. Let’s go! Plus, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t sure.”
“Okay, can you bus tables? The bin’s right here. When it’s filled, bring it here for them to wash and repeat.”
“On it. Hey, Miles offered to come by and help out, too. What can he do?”
She was distracted by a dispute happening at a back table but put her hand on my arm. “He can bus with you and sweep the floor. It’s filthy. Excuse me. I may have to go kick somebody’s ass out.”
She took off in the direction of a fight, and I watched her grab the collar of one of the guys and drag him toward the front door. Despite the noise level, I heard her yell, “Don’t come back here, Gerry. You touch another one of my servers again, I will fuck you up.”
The place fell silent and then cheered. She had a deer-in-the-headlights look before she clapped her hands. “Show’s over. Back to work, people.”
I grabbed a bin and motioned for Miles to join me. “We need to bus tables, dude. Have you done this before?”
His expression soured slightly. “Uh, pick up dirty dishes for other people?”
“You gonna be a pussy or what? Either help out or leave.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, the unease on his face almost comical.
“Consider it character building.”
We bussed table after table. Miles didn’t complain once the rest of the time, and he was sweating like crazy. I was, too, but it was nice to see him do something that wasn’t so…stuck-up.
“This is so much harder than you’d think,” he told me when we grabbed a quick drink break.
“I know. I wish I wouldn’t have worked out today.”
Jenna walked in the kitchen and was pulling up her hair into a high ponytail, exposing her neck. I felt my chest tighten at the gesture.
“Don’t complain, pretty boy. You know you’re in great shape. Thanks for helping, Miles. I can’t express how thankful I am. We’ll probably have another two hours before shit calms down. You can head out if you need to, but I promise you can have drinks on the house for at least a week.”
“I’m good. This is kind of fun,” Miles said, blushing.
“Me, too,” I added with a smile.
“Great.” Relief filled her eyes, and I knew she was struggling.
“Have you had a moment to sit down in the past eight hours, Jenna?”
“No. Even with Joel here, the two of us are running wild. This is the first break I’ve had the whole day.” She rubbed her eyes, exhaustion evident.
“Sit down. For five minutes,” I demanded.
“Can’t. Perks of being the manager. If you take off, find me first, okay?”
I shook my head. “I’m here to make sure you get home.”
She chugged her glass of water, then continued working. Miles watched her leave, and I thought he was checking her out. “Dude. No.”
“No, I wasn’t looking at her ass, which is nice by the way, but she’s so scary to be so small.”
I laughed. “I know, man.”
I went back to bussing for another hour or so. Then a hand grabbed my arm. I looked down to see Bri watching at me with heated eyes. Her blue irises did nothing for me. They were the wrong color. And for the first time, I was pissed how she just assumed she could touch me.
“Bri.”
“Aiden,” she purred, making me cringe. “I didn’t know you worked here. When did you start?”
“I’m just helping out today,” I explained.
“Ah, your newest fuck buddy roped you into working?” She sneered, causing her girlfriends at the table to giggle.
“Unless you need something, we have nothing to talk about.” My mood soured, but she grabbed me by the balls, literally dragging her nails into them, and whispered, “You deserve to be with someone like me. I’m going places. I’ll wait for you to let your dick have some more fun, but when you grow up, get rid of the trash. I’ll be waiting.”
She unclenched my balls, and I felt it all the way in my stomach. I almost dropped the bus tub before Jenna marched over, fire in her eyes.
“Bri. We meet again. This time, though, you’re on my turf. Touch any of my workers again and you will be permanently banned from this place.”
“You can’t threaten me, you bitch.”
“It wasn’t a threat, Barbie. It was a promise. I’m one of the owners, so if you ever plan on coming back here again, show some goddamn manners.”
Bri’s lips curled and her hand twitched as if she were going to punch Jenna.
I was about to intercept, but Jenna laughed. “If you touch me, I’ll have you arrested. Try it. I dare you.” She looked at me, and her nostrils flared in humor.
We both walked off, and I set down my bus tub before she put her hands on my stomach to hold herself up, laughing.
“Find it funny, huh? You really helped my manhood there, standing up for me.”
“It’s my bar now, and I wanted her to be aware. But holy shit. I think I actually scared her there at the end.” She threw her head back and laughed some more.
“Uh, shorty, you scared everyone who heard you. I was scared for them. It’s really good you’re so good-looking or everyone would be downright terrified of you. But really, thanks for looking out for me.” My manhood wasn’t hurt at all. It was hot as fuck seeing Jenna ready to cut a bitch for me.
“I couldn’t help it. I know you can handle yourself, but seeing her grabbing you in front of everyone was unacceptable.”
I gave her a knowing smile. “Glad to see you finally accept this place is part yours.”
“I love it. I didn’t think I would, but as long as my hours don’t interfere with school, I’ll be okay.”
“You look ready to pass out.” I pushed part of her hair behind her ear, and she leaned into my hand. “Time to punch out, Jen-Jen.”
“I know. It’s been twelve hours straight. I’m going to tell Joel I’m leaving.” She closed her eyes and sighed.
“I’ll take you home.” It wasn’t a question.
She smiled. “Okay.”