Page 71 of Protecting Addison
For the thousandth time, Addison wondered what she ever saw in her ex all those years ago. He was being such an ass…and that was probably what Artem was telling his sister. “They do,” she said flatly.
“That’s not English,” he returned.
Addison rolled her eyes. When she realized what she’d done, she had the momentary thought that she’d obviously been spending a lot of time with her daughter, because the eye roll thing had rubbed off on her.
“Obviously,” she told him, then turned to the kids. “Go on and play, you guys. We’ll all just be over there by the benches.”
Borysko immediately took Yana’s hand and led her away from them, back toward the swings. Artem glanced from her to Brady, then to Dude. He nodded at the large former SEAL, then followed his siblings back toward the playground.
Brady looked at his watch and said, “I don’t have a lot of time. I got called into work unexpectedly. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go talk to my daughter now.”
Addison wished she was surprised that he wouldn’t be able to stay long, but he used to do that with her too. Meet her for a date, then bug out early for one reason or another. She had no reason to think he was lying back then, or now, but her instincts were screaming that he wasn’t being truthful. He looked awfully dressed up for someone who had to go to their janitorial job.
When Brady started walking toward Ellory and Remi, Addison and Dude followed.
He turned and stared at them with irritation. “Where are you going?”
“With you to meet with Ellory,” Addison said.
“Come on, Addison. I want to talk to her without you hovering. She’s not a kid.”
“Wrong. Sheisstill a kid. She’smykid. And honestly, you’re still a stranger to her. So it’s either have me ‘hovering’ nearby, as you call it, or you can turn around and get right back in your car and leave.”
“And your bodyguard, does he have to be here too?”
“Yes,” she said firmly.
“Fine. Whatever,” Brady muttered.
By the time they reached the bench, Ellory and Remi had stood.
“Hi! I’m Remi,” her friend said. She didn’t offer her hand, just smiled at Brady with a friendly grin.
“Brady. Hi, Ellory.”
“Hi.”
There was an awkward silence as the five of them stood there. Then Addison suggested, “Why don’t you two have a seat and chat and we’ll just wait over here.”
“At least that’s something,” Brady muttered as he stepped over to the bench.
He and Ellory sat, her daughter looking nervous and unsure as she scuffed her feet in the dirt.
“He’s not what I expected,” Remi said softly as they gave father and daughter a bit of privacy. Not so much that Addison couldn’t hear what they were saying if she concentrated, but enough that Brady might relax a little.
“He’s…” Addison struggled to come up with a good adjective.
“An asshole,” Dude muttered.
Remi giggled. Addison struggled to keep the smile off her face.
“He’s really not. Okay, sometimes he is. But he’s trying. I have to give him points for that.”
“No, you don’t,” Dude countered.
Addison was starting to feel stressed. And Ricky’s friend wasn’t really helping. Although he was probably being more diplomatic than Ricky would be. Her husband definitely didn’t like Brady, and if he’d heard the way the man had spoken to Artem, Borysko, and Yana—as if they were all deaf and stupid—it would’ve rubbed him the wrong way too.
Addison did her best to keep one ear on the conversation between her daughter and Brady while paying attention to the other kids on the playground. She was watching Yana on the swing when she went to stand up and tripped over her feet, falling to the ground. She immediately let out a screech and began to cry.
