Page 22 of Sugar and Skulls

Fucking Dan. I take a few steps back, but he remains frozen in his spot. “Well, scary tattoo man, until we meet again.” I salute him before taking off full speed out the door. Let’s see if he’s willing to take off after me in his stark ass naked condition, just as the sun is rising I might add.

When I get home Jimmy and Renee are sitting at the table having breakfast. Renee looks up from her plate of scrambled eggs. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, you know, got up early for a morning jog.”

Jimmy narrows his eyes at me over the edge of his coffee mug. He calmly sets it down. “Running from something?”

“Nope. Just thinking I should take better care of myself. Hey, why don’t you guys join me in the morning?”

Renee laughs. “Honey, I ain’t running unless a zombie or some other monster is chasing me.”

I grab a plate and help myself to the rest of the eggs in the pan and then sit down at the table right beside Jimmy. “Well, good thing there are no monsters here, huh Jimmy?” He scowls in my direction.

“Girl, what happened to your face?” Renee asks, not really caring. Some days I wonder how it’s possible she is the daughter of my grandmother. My grandma would have rushed to grab the first aid kit. She would have fixed me up with kisses to boot. But, not Renee. No, not her.

“Well, turns out I’m a bit clumsy. My feet got tangled up and I took a skid in the gravel.”

I’m not sure if Renee was even listening. She gets up from the table and heads to the bathroom, leaving Jimmy and I alone.

“Thought maybe you took off.” He cocks an eyebrow at me in question.

“Nope. Just went for a jog like I said.”

“Good. Cause you know I’ll find you if you take off right?”

“I got a deal for you,” I tell him, pushing my plate to the side and giving him my full attention even though I want nothing more than to run for the door.

He smirks and leans back in his chair, putting his arms behind his head. “Let’s hear it.”

“I’ll sell your drugs but as for getting you or your buddies off, well that’s off the table.”

He snorts pulling his head back. His arms drop in front of him before he leans in close to me. I force myself not to back away. “You don’t get decide what’s on the table, little girl.”

“I guess we could leave it on the table but then I would have to tell my brand-new daddy about it.” I don’t want to use my father, but the best weapon is the deadliest one and right now the president of Jimmy’s rival club is just that. I’ve listened to Big Dan and Raffe enough to have put the pieces of the puzzle together. I know who my father is, he is the president of the most feared MC club in the states.

He laughs. “Oh, so you found a daddy. A sugar daddy for Sugar?”

“I’ll give you that one, Jimmy. That was funny but no. I found my real-life daddy. You know the kind of daddy who would put his fist through his daughter’s bullies face.”

He runs his tongue across his teeth and sits back a little. “If this new dad of yours is someone to be so scared of why wouldn’t you tell him all of it? Why wouldn’t you tell him about the drugs too?”

“See I have this one little problem. You know my secret identity. I’d like to keep that between the two of us.”

His fingers work their way through his beard as he ponders over what I said. “So, you really did find your dad.” He nods to himself, like he is a genius for putting all this together. “You don’t want new daddy finding out his little girl paints herself up at night to do the devils work. I get it but I don’t give a shit about the new guy. You still live under my roof.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Okay, whatever dude. I’m sure he’ll be here real soon so…the offer stands until he comes a knocking.” I walk away, leaving him sitting at the table.

My mind frets over meeting my father, as I pack my shit. I’m a little angry knowing that I’ll have little choice in the matter soon. I’ve been able to stay ahead of them so far but men like Dan, Raffe and tattoo man won’t be had for long. They’ll find me soon enough. Eventually they will subdue me by sheer brutal force. Just like Jimmy but I know they’re not like him. No matter how mad I am at them for trying to boss me around, there is a part of me that likes it. A small part.

This is not how I envisioned meeting him. Not at all. I didn’t have that white horse story book shit going on in my head so you can quit feeling sorry for me right now. No, I’m not high on all that Disney magic shit.

I sit back against my headboard and pull my legs up to my chest thinking about it. How did I picture this going down? I guess, I thought he would show up smelling of some piney aftershave with a gift in hand. A white box with a big black bow, yes black, like I said I didn’t drink the Disney Kool-Aid. Inside that box would be a pair of roller skates. Just like the ones the Ditsworth sisters had. I would be so happy because he had known what I always wanted. Like we had some invisible connection or shit.

A quiet rumble pulls me from my thoughts. The sound steadily getting closer.

Ah, the cavalry is on the way.

Jimmy slams my door open. “Just who is daddy dearest?” he asks quickly, going to my window and peering out the side of the curtain.

---