“Women do strange things for their men, don’t they? My ex cheated on me with my best friend. I left him straight away; would’ve cut his balls off if I thought the jail time was worth it. But I know lots of women who have stayed under similar circumstances. I don’t get it.”
“Exactly. If J ever cheated on me, I wouldn’t hesitate to cut his balls off; the jail time would so be worth it.”
I loved Madison’s passion that was so clear in everything she said and did. So different to me; I was more of a laid back, think about it before I do it kind of woman.
She checked her watch. “Shit! I’ve got to get to work,” she exclaimed and jumped up. “Thanks for the coffee and chat; I love hanging out with you.”
I stood up too and followed her to the door. “Thanks for waking me up. Have a good day at work; I’m going to be here struggling to get through it.”
She grabbed me for a hug. “Drink lots of coffee. It’ll get you through, and I’ve got it under good authority that the chick who works here makes shit hot coffee.”
I hugged her back. “Thanks, and I’ll let you know about next Friday night as soon as I know my roster.”
“If Scott won’t give you the night off, I’ll sort him out for you,” she said with another wink.
I had that warm, squishy happy feeling in my stomach as I watched her go and sensed the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Chapter 14
Scott
J walked into the office and dumped a cat cage with Monty on the desk. I looked up at him with a quizzical look.
“I’ve had enough of the fucking cat. It’s yours now.”
I threw my pen down and leaned back in my chair, stretching my back and neck as I did it. Chuckling, I said, “Was wondering how long you’d put up with it for.”
He placed his hands on the table and leant forward. “You’re a lucky motherfucker in so much as I have a hard on for your sister. If I didn’t, that cat would’ve never made its way into my house. Never again, and I don’t even care if Madison closes up shop, I’m not fucking budging on this.”
“I hate to tell you this, J, but you are so fucking whipped where Madison is concerned that even a cat couldn’t unwhip you, brother. The day I see you say no to her is a day I don’t believe will ever come.”
He shook his head and gave me a hard glare. Pointing at me, he said, “Mark my fucking words, if a cat shows up at my house, I’ll get unwhipped faster than you can say tight pussy.”
I highly doubted this but didn’t say anything more. Instead, I stood up and said, “Griff’s given us the okay to hire that new manager. Can I leave that with you while I take the cat home?” I checked the time; it was just after six pm so I could make sure Lisa had eaten some dinner too.
“Yeah. How’s that kid going? Has her mother cleaned herself up yet?”
“Michelle still hasn’t gotten her shit together so I check on Lisa every day. If I was sure foster care would be better than what she’s got, I’d report it but I refuse to throw Lisa to the wolves when I can watch over her.”
I picked up the cat cage and left; Lisa had been waiting long enough for her cat to come home.
I knocked on the door and waited. It only took her a minute to answer, and when she saw me, her face lit up.
“Monty!”
I handed him to her and said, “Can I come in?”
Lisa was so excited and didn’t seem fazed by the ugly wound on his face. That was good because she was going to have to look after him now. She let me in and I headed towards the kitchen, in search of her mother. She wasn’t in there, nor was she in the living room.
“She’s asleep,” Lisa half whispered when she realised what I was doing.
“How long’s she been asleep?”
Lisa hesitated, but then replied, “Since just after I got home from school.”
Fuck.
“You had dinner?”
She didn’t say anything; just shook her head, no, and then stared at the ground.
I reached out and lifted her chin with my finger. We stood staring at each other for a long moment. That fucking mother of hers had a lot to answer for. Finally, I said, “Come on; let’s go get you some dinner. I haven’t had any either.”
We secured Monty in the house and then headed out to a Chinese restaurant because I knew that Lisa liked Chinese.
We’d ordered, and chatted a bit about school, and were eating when she suddenly stood up and said she had to visit the bathroom. When she returned five minutes later, she seemed a little more highly strung than usual.
I tried to catch her eye. “What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well or something?”
“I’m okay. It’s nothing,” she answered, but it wasn’t convincing.
“Lisa, you were okay but now you’re not. I can tell something’s wrong so spit it out.”
She shook her head vigorously. “I’m fine.”
Christ, I was not equipped to deal with twelve year old girls. I tried to maintain my calm but when she started crying two minutes later, I was out. Grabbing my phone, I tried to call Madison. No answer. Shit. I tried her again, and then I tried J. Neither were answering. Who the fuck else could help me with this? As I was racking my brain trying to figure out who to call, Lisa started really sobbing.
“Hey, darlin’, it can’t be that bad.” I was pretty fucking sure that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was all that came to me.
She didn’t say anything; just kept sobbing.
Fuck.
In my desperation, I dialed Harlow’s number.
She answered almost straight away. “Scott?”
“Thank Christ. I need your help.”
“What’s up?”
“I’ve got a twelve year old girl here who won’t stop crying and won’t talk to me and tell me what’s wrong. Don’t suppose you could come here and talk to her. You know, girl to girl type shit.”
“Umm, okay. Where are you?”
I gave her the directions and she arrived ten minutes later. Lisa was still crying and not talking. Her body was wracked with sobs now and I felt completely fucking helpless.
Harlow took one look at her and moved to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around her and patting her hair. “Shhh, shhh,” she repeated over and over.
Eventually, Lisa started to calm down, at which point, Harlow looked at me and suggested, “Perhaps you could give us a moment?”
Shit, I was more than fucking happy to do that. “Sure, just text me when you’re done,” I replied, giving her my number and then left them to it.
I spent the next fifteen minutes outside the restaurant, wondering what the hell was wrong with Lisa. If Michelle had fucked up somehow, she’d be answering to me. When I finally got a text from Harlow to come back, I was apprehensive about what I was going to find. But they were standing waiting for me and appeared to be okay.
“We need to go to the shop,” Harlow announced, giving me a strange look that reminded me of the look that Madison used to give me when she was telling Dad something that she didn’t want me to question.
“Okay -” I was cut off.
“Good, we’ll be back soon,” Harlow said, confusing me.
“What -” she cut me off again. Now I was getting irritated.
“Just wait here. We won’t be long,” she asserted, eyes boring into me. It was like she was trying to send me the message to sit down and shut the fuck up. What the hell?