Page 42 of Lost Soul

“I guess I better grab some beers and start frying up some chicken,” she sniffs.

It’s been almost a week since Chop left the compound, being a man down means the club is busy, and that means I hardly see anything of Jessie.

Tommy does nothing to hide his frustration from me when he becomes my new chauffeur. Runaway Daddy issues aside, his bad temper is becoming unbearable. So, I decide to talk to Daddy about it.

I begged him to come home for dinner tonight, even went to the effort to cook his favourite. I invited Jessie too, in the hope I could count on him for support.

I hadn’t expected for Skid to be joining us though. Apparently, Carly is out of town visiting her family, so Daddy invited him to join us.

I like Skid, he seems the most reasonable out of all of Daddy and Jessie’s friends. Maybe he could help me talk some sense into Daddy too.

I wait till Daddy has a mouthful of spaghetti before I bring it up, at least that way he can’t cut me off.

“Daddy. I don’t want Tommy taking me to school anymore,” I blurt out, feeling a little awkward when I remember that Tommy is Skid’s nephew. “I mean, he’s clearly cut up about his Dad. I thought it might be better for Jessie to start dropping me at college again,” I recover myself, smiling at Skid apologetically. Daddy chews his mouthful, deep in thought, and I swear I can hear the clock on the wall tick while I wait for his response.

“Jessie’s too busy with club stuff, baby,” he says eventually, taking a napkin and wiping his mouth. I’m about to interrupt him, not too ashamed to beg. The thought of seeing Tommy’s nasty scowl on Monday morning is already irritating me.

“But I have been thinking,” Daddy continues, “Skid…” His eyes look across to Skid who sucks up the long piece of spaghetti that hung from his mouth before he looks up from his plate.

“Hook my princess up with a car, I want something sturdy and reliable.”

“Got just the thing boss,” Skid nods, slying me a wink when Daddy tucks back into his meal like what he just said isn’t a major deal. I’m getting a car!

Me and Skid look at Prez with the same shock on our faces when Hayley skips out the room. He crams another meatball in his already full mouth, his table manners apparently up and left along with his daughter.

“Have Tommy follow her on his bike, tell him to hang back enough that she doesn’t notice,” he muffles in between chomps. Me and Skid smirk at each other when we hear just the sort of shit we were expecting.

“What?” Prez asks when he notices our reactions.

“For a moment then you had us worried, thought you were actually gonna let Daddy’s princess out in the big wide world,” I laugh.

“Now come on you both know me better than that.” He twists his spaghetti around his fork. And he’s right, we both do know him better.

Saturday comes and I’m up at the ass-crack of dawn waiting outside the garage for Skid to arrive.

“Keen much?” Skid laughs at me as he uses his huge arm to lift the shutter door and reveals a shiny red jeep. I watch hopefully as he heads straight for it, opening the driver door to pull the keys out of the ignition.

“Mine?” I ask, catching them when he tosses them to me.

“Serviced it myself yesterday, she’s all yours kid.”

“Stolen?” I check.

Skid smiles back at me and I’m far too excited to feel bad.

“I can’t wait to show Jessie,” I screech, hopping up into the driver’s seat.

“You want me to take you for a spin, get ya used to her?” Skid offers.

“No need, I’ll go pick up Jessie. We’ll probably take a trip out to Bernie’s for lunch. You want us to grab you something while we’re out?” When I stop my eyes from wondering over my new ride and look at Skid, his smile has faded.

“You love him don’t ya?” He crosses his arms and leans through the open window beside me.

“Course I do, he’s like my brot—”

“Don’t try pullin’ that shit with me,” he interrupts before I can finish. “I see the way you look at him. How you beat them pretty green eyes for him. Come on, talk to uncle Skid. “

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I try to keep my face convincing.

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