Page 11 of Gash (The Skulls #13)

“ I can’t believe this,” Angel

said, coming out of the kitchen of the club. Anthony trailed behind her.

Eva looked up from the table where Miles and Tabitha were doing

their homework.

“ What is it?”

“ I’ve just got a call from the

school. Daisy’s parents have left her there. I picked Anthony up,

and I had thought about taking Daisy home, but the teacher wouldn’t

let me. Now, they can’t get in touch with her parents, and the

school decided to contact me.” Angel growled. “They really annoy

you.”

Eva laughed. “You can swear if you

want. The kids hear enough around their dads.”

“ I’m not interested in

adding to their vocabulary. Will you watch Anthony while I go and

get her?”

“ I want to go,” Anthony

said.

“ I’ll go, too. She’s my best

friend,” Tabitha said. “Her mommy’s mean to her.”

Angel’s heart sank. She had done her best

to keep Lash and the boys out of it. This was not the first time

that Daisy had been left at school, waiting to be picked up. If she

didn’t pick her up, Eva would, or one of the other women. Daisy was

best friends with Tabitha, and they’d been close since the two had

started nursery. Angel wanted to take Daisy away from her drug

addict parents, but so far, their lawyer had advised not to get

involved. She didn’t like to cause conflict, and even though Tiny

had given the parents a talking to, she didn’t want more

trouble.

“ I’ll be back soon,” Angel

said.

“ Take one of the prospects

with you.”

In that moment Twisted, one of the

nomad men who was taking a chance of settling down in Fort Wills,

entered the kitchen. “I heard you needed a prospect? I’m better

than a prospect.” He gave a bow.

“ I’ve got to go and pick up

Daisy, and take her home.” Angel sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay

with that?”

“ Yes. I’ll

drive.”

She took hold of Anthony and Tabitha’s

hands, and walked them toward the car. Once they were seated, she

climbed into the passenger seat, and waited for Twisted to take

them toward the school.

“ Daisy’s parents are bad

news,” Twisted said.

“ You know them?”

“ I’ve heard of them. Bad

people. Addicts always are.” Twisted didn’t take his eyes off the

road.

“ I don’t want to leave her

there.”

“ We don’t have a choice. The guys

can give them warnings , but unless the state does anything, we’re

stuck.”

Angel hated this. She hated feeling

helpless.

When she pulled up outside of the school,

Daisy stood with the principal, Mr. Dean Mint.

Climbing out of the car, she smiled at

him. “I’m sorry.”

“ Angel, you do not need to

apologize. I’ve notified social services of this.”

Daisy was staring at her feet. Angel’s

heart went out to her. “It can’t go on.”

“ I don’t know if it will do any

good. I will do what I need to do to keep her safe.” Dean looked

tired. He was a good principal and tried to keep the kids

safe.

“ You do the best you can.”

She reached out. “Come on, Daisy. Tabitha is waiting for

you.”

She gave Dean a final smile, and led

Daisy away to her car. There was already a spare car seat in the

center of the back seats.

“ Mommy forgot about me

again,” Daisy said.

Cupping her cheek, Angel sighed. “I

know, honey. I didn’t forget about you.”

“ Will you be my

mommy?”

Angel would in a heartbeat. “I can’t now,

baby. We’ll see what happens.” Securing her in her seat, she blew

out a breath and climbed back in the front.

“ It would solve a lot of

problems. I bet her parents wouldn’t even know she was missing if

you took her home now.”

Glancing behind her, she saw Tabitha

and Daisy were talking. Checking on Anthony, she saw her son held

onto Daisy’s hand, and was staring at her.

“ Take me to her trailer

park,” Angel said.

She wouldn’t allow Daisy to go

without, not on her watch.

“ She likes you,” Twisted

said.

“ Are you trying to convince

me to adopt her?”

“ Why not? You can adopt her, or

Lacey could. She’d be happy to have a kid.”

Angel blew out a breath, rubbing at

her temple. This had to stop.

They pulled up outside of Daisy’s

parents’ trailer park, and she heard the shouting all the way in

the car.

“ I’ll be right back,” Angel said.

There was a time she’d have run in the opposite direction from any

kind of confrontation. For Daisy, for the club, she’d learned to

stand tall, and to fight for what she believed in. Lash and even

Gash had given her more confidence. The Skulls had helped to

enhance her life.

Knocking on the door of the trailer,

she waited. After a minute, she knocked again.

Nothing.

She raised her hand to knock once

more, but the door flung open, and she had no choice but to step

back.

“ What the fuck do you

want?” Daisy’s father asked.

Angel couldn’t recall his name, and the

fumes coming from him made her feel sick. She placed a hand to her

stomach, remembering she was carrying another child, and she needed

to be careful. “You forgot to collect Daisy from

school.”

“ What the fuck are you

talking about?”

“ Your daughter? Daisy?” She

turned toward the car and watched as Twisted climbed out of the

car.

The concern for her unborn child made

her more relaxed to see that Twisted was there. She couldn’t help

but smile. If Lash was here all hell would have broken loose. Her

husband wasn’t exactly known for liking addicts. After everything

that went down with his brother Nash, who got addicted to drugs,

Lash couldn’t stand them. They were no longer allowed within the

walls of the club, nor did the club have anything to do with

them.

“ What the fuck that little

bitch done now?”

****

“ Daddy looks angry,” Daisy

said.

“ Angel will fix it.”

Tabitha squeezed her hand.

Daisy loved being around The Skulls. Her

parents, they didn’t care about her. They always forgot about her.

If they forgot about her at school, they also forgot to feed her.

Her parents were not like those of The Skulls. Daisy had learned

that at a young age her parents were not like others. Not every

parent drank bad stuff in the morning, or sniffed white stuff up

their noses. She loved being able to sleep at Eva’s or the

clubhouse with the rest of her friends.

“ Your mom is nice,” Daisy

said, turning toward Anthony. Once again, he was staring at her. He

was a strange boy, always staring, observing.

“ You’ll be safe now. Mom

won’t let anything happen.” He squeezed her hand a little

tighter.

She rested her head against his shoulder.

It would be nice to be safe. Her parents were always shouting and

screaming, and hurting each other. For once, she’d just like to

know what it was like to be wanted, to have a mommy who hugged her,

kissed her goodnight, and read her a bedtime story.

Her father started to shout, and

Twisted moved away from the car.

Closing her eyes, Anthony wrapped his arms

around her, and Tabitha hugged her back. She didn’t have much, but

she had friends.

****

Late that night Angel paced up

and down the length of her bedroom. They were not at the clubhouse,

and Daisy was sleeping with Anthony in his room as the spare room didn’t

have a bed yet. Lash sat on the edge of the bed, staring at

her.

“ You want us to adopt

her?”

“ Yes. This is not the first time

they’ve left her, Lash. They don’t deserve their daughter. They

were drunk, and I couldn’t leave her there.”

After bringing her home, Angel had

done homework with Anthony and Daisy, made dinner while waiting for

Lash to come home.

“ Look, babe, I know you want to

adopt her, and I don’t want to see her go back to those fuckers,

but you’re carrying, and Anthony, he can be a handful.” He got to

his feet, pulling her into his arms, and stopping her from pacing.

“You can’t hide the fact that you’re struggling with this

pregnancy. You’re sick, tired, and exhausted. If I’d known that

Daisy was still at school before you, I’d have gone to get her

myself.”

The pregnancy was exhausting

her, and she’d even noticed that she was sleeping a lot more, and the simplest

thing made her tired.

“ I can’t send her back.

Don’t make me.”

“ Lacey and Whizz,” Lash

said.

“ Huh?”

“ They adopted Sally. Lacey loves

kids, and I recall seeing her around Daisy. She’d happily have her

as a daughter.”

Tears filled Angel’s eyes. “Don’t you

want a daughter either?”

“ Angel, babe, I love you, and I’d

love to have Daisy as my daughter. I’d take care of her, and

Anthony would be her brother, but I told you before, you’re my main

concern. It kills me to give Daisy to Lacey when I know you’d love

her like your own. But you can’t handle another child right now,

and I’m going to be taking care of you. You come first.”

“ I could handle

it.”

“ Daisy will be loved, and

she won’t go far.”

“ What about her parents?” Angel

asked, crying. Her emotions were all over the place. She couldn’t

stop crying, and she hated it. Even as she was crying, she was

hating herself, wondering why the hell she was crying.

“ I’ll pay a visit to the

family, and they won’t have a problem. I’ll get our lawyer to do

the paperwork, and we’ll go there together.”

Resting her head against Lash’s wide

chest, she let out a sigh. “I love you.”

“ I love you , too.”