Page 35 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.”