Page 12 of Ordinary Girl

I turn to see Skip beckon me over. Again.

“Later, bitches.” I grin at Wade and Kai, flicking my cigarette butt at them as I walk away, back over to Skip.

“Sofia’s got the books. She’s going to look them over and bring them back tomorrow.”

“You banging her?”

“Watch your fucking mouth, Joel.”

“You sack Ulrich for no good reason and the next thing I know we’ve got Miss Denmark as our new accountant. What the fuck’s going on?”

“She’s in trouble, okay? Her business is failing, she’s got a kid to look after, debts to pay off…”

“So, what? We’re a charity now? Where’d you meet her, anyway?”

“She’s our new accountant, Joel. Deal with it.”

I’m not buying this. Skip likes a pretty face, we all do, but this? Even for Skip it all seems a bit random. A bit sudden.

“She needs our help. And it’s not like she’s taking without earning, so quit with the questions. Accept my decision.”

“You know these bastards are going to be all over her.”

“I don’t intend to have her hanging around here that often. She can work out of the office above the piercing studio.”

“’Cause no brothers ever hang out down there.”

Skip ignores my obvious sarcasm and takes one last drag on his cigarette before throwing it to the floor, crushing it into the concrete with the heel of his boot.

“Come on. We’ve got work to do. The Blackhawks have been sniffing ’round again, I want eyes on their compound until I say otherwise. Round everyone up. I’m calling church.”

Sofia

“I have to do it, Ana. I have no choice, and I’m sorry, for keeping you in the dark about all of this but I didn’t want you to worry…”

“You should’ve told me. I’m not a kid anymore, I could’ve helped.”

“No! Your business is completely separate to any of this, you don’t touch that, do you hear me?”

Ana pulls her knees to her chest and hugs them tight. “This biker club, I looked them up, online.”

“So did I,” I sigh, sitting back in my seat and throwing my pen down onto the pile of books in front of me. The Viking Bandits’ books.

“Some of those newspaper articles… What they’ve been mixed up in, aren’t you scared?”

I shrug. I don’t know if I am anymore, I really don’t. What Idoknow is that I just might have a way out of all my problems now, and I’m taking it. I just need to be careful, that’s all. Andsleeping with Skip: giving in to him so easily, I’m not sure that was the smartest move on my part. I mean, what does that say about me? Now I’m home, back to reality, I feel like I may have set myself up to be weak, in his eyes. I fell for him, I let him take me, and I’m better than that. “No. I’m not scared.” Even if I was, I wouldn’t let Ana see that. “I’m there to do a job, that’s all.”

“And this Skip, can you trust him?”

“He trustsme. I think that says a lot.”

“What do you really have to do for them? Isn’t it all – I don’t know… is it even legal? What you’re doing for them? I mean, they’ve been mixed up in all kinds of stuff–”

“Allegedly, Ana. Everything we’ve read, it was all speculation.”

Was it? Really? Can I actually hear the words coming out of my mouth right now? Am Ithatdesperate that I’m now defending these men?

Yes. I am…

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