Chapter 4 — Ed

"Hey, man." Emmett plays with the straps of his helmet as he straddles his Harley Guerilla. He motions for me to come closer, and I feel the heat of his running bike radiating through my denim. "You tapping that?" He licks his lips, glossy black helmet covering his dark curls.

"What?" I frown. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I don't know… She's hot, she's totally your type, and she's a feisty one. I bet her pu—"

"Hold up, get your mind out of the fucking gutter, Em."

"Why?" he asks innocently.

"She's Alice's friend, dude. She's not here for me. Besides, she's way too young."

Emmett snorts.

"What's that about?"

"I hate to break it to you, Ed. But the girls you tote around aren't much older than her."

"I don't tote girls around." I shake my head.

"Yeah, the fuck you don't. Remember Lauren or Jessica?"

"Not particularly," I lie. Even though that has been a few years ago, I still remember the way they'd both follow me around like puppies, the way they both would try their hardest to get my attention. To keep it, too. But we all knew that wouldn't last.

"Anyway, they might not have been much older but they weren't best friends with my fucking daughter, Emmett."

"Cool, cool. Don't have to shoot me down with all your pent-up frustrations." He snickers.

"See you tomorrow," I say to change the subject and turn to walk back inside. The noise from Emmett's bike drowns out all the thoughts in my head.

Bella's still in the kitchen, sitting down by the island, messing with her phone. There's still no sign of Alice.

"So, did Alice bail on you today, or did you bail on her?" I ask.

She looks up, big brown eyes focusing on my face. "Well, I overslept. But then she called Tyler instead of just waking me up." She's rolling her eyes when she says his name. I snicker.

"I take it you don't like him?" Bella hates Tyler's guts. Alice told me. It's one of the reasons she wanted her friend to move in here as well. Alice would have a tad more privacy to sneak off to wherever the fuck he lives.

"I really don't. He's everything I hate in a guy."

I try to remember the last time I saw my daughter's boyfriend, which was a few months ago. "Ah, really? The blond, golfer, trust fund baby type shit isn't your scene?" I bite the inside of my cheek. Bella doesn't look like the kind of girl who wants to spend her Sundays at a stuck-up country club. Then again, neither was Alice before she started going out with this douchenozzle.

"Hell no," she blurts out. "Oops, sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I guess cursing isn't a big deal here?" She laughs. It's melodic and rings through the entire kitchen.

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "I'm not really a draconian parent," I joke.

"Must be nice to grow up with someone like you," she shoots back.

I stuff my hands in the pockets of my jeans and lean against the counter behind me.

"I wouldn't know…"

"I guess Alice didn't really grow up with you, did she?" Bella asks.

I like the fire in her, that she's not afraid, that she's not a meek little wallflower who won't speak her mind. Then again, it's Alice's friend, and my daughter is known to be a spitfire.

"Not really, no. Jean saw to it that I saw her as little as possible. Her new guy, too. Although I don't really know how the hell she got a Forbes 500 CEO to marry her." I chuckle. I'm not bitter, it's just that I don't see it: the wild and free-spirited Jean Russo getting hitched to a businessman with no creative bone in his body.

"From what I've heard," Bella said, getting up out of her chair and inching closer to me. I arch a brow. "Jean was known for her exquisite handiwork at the country club spa center."

I laugh. It's loud, and makes Bella chuckle, too. I notice the way her big eyes sparkle, how the little stud in her nostril catches the sunlight that streams in through the big windows.

"No fucking way." Alice once told me her mom worked in the beauty industry before she started acting like a Stepford wife and stopped working altogether once she moved in with Mr. Bigshot. "I'm just gonna shut my mouth before I say stuff I might regret," I say with a smile.

"I don't care, it's not like I like her." Bella rolls her eyes.

"Wow, so you're Ali's best friend, and yet, you hate her boyfriend and her mother?" I cross my arms over my chest, playing with her.

"Hey! I didn't say I hated them… I just don't particularly like them." She gives me a frown and a deliciously cute pout. The tone of her voice tells me just how much she hates both of them, even though she won't admit it.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't particularly like them either."

She chuckles, then rolls her eyes before scrunching her eyebrows together and watching me.

"What's that look about, cub?" I ask her. Bella leans her hip against the counter, just inches away from me. It's like I can feel the heat radiate off her body, the scent of her perfume amplified.

"Nothing," she lies. Bella averts her eyes, her gaze trailing down to the rolled up sleeves of my shirt, to my hands before I catch her looking at my belt buckle, my cock almost hard from her eyes alone. Fuck. Get a grip, Ed. "Let's just hope we like each other more than we like them." It's all she says before she turns on her heels and walks away. I let her, because this banter is going to be the death of me.

I go out to the garage to work a little more on my Harley. It's the same one Em has, but I'm completely rebuilding it. By the time I'll done with it, my bike is going to be fully custom. If I hadn't had the amount of luck that I had twenty years ago, I would probably have my own shop. I just thank my mother silently for making me graduate high school while she helped take care of Alice, so I'd at least have a trade to fall back on.

Scrolling through my Spotify, I let the most aggressive playlist rip through the speakers, hoping I can tune out any and every thought of just how much I like my daughter's friend.