“Yeah, I heard.  Bullet’s giving you some grief over Blade’s crew?”  I’d heard this from Griff who kept me in the loop these days because I’d been distancing myself from Dad.

“Christ, it’s never fucking ending.  Blade’s ramped up his supply business, stepping on Bullet’s territory.  Black Deeds want me to get Blade to back off.  Coke is their main game and he’s taking from them.  Just cause he’s my son doesn’t mean he’s going to listen to me.  It’s another thing I don’t need to be dealing with at the moment.  So, yeah, I need you around in case shit goes down.”

“I’m not getting involved with Blade.  But if it blows back on Storm, I’m on it.”

“Well stick close cause I reckon shit’s gonna go down at some point.  And think on what I said about our family.  It’s not just your mother who wants it healed,” he muttered before walking away.

I watched him as he got on his bike and took off, and wondered where he was spending his time these days.  It was three o’clock in the afternoon and I doubted he was heading home.  Neither Madison nor I knew if he was still carrying on with Blade’s mother because neither of us had spent any time with him in the last four months.

My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts.  I reached into my pocket and grabbed it out to see who it was.  Lisa.  My neighbour’s kid.  “Darlin’, what’s wrong?”  I answered her without hesitation because she only ever called me when she had a problem.  For a twelve year old, she was surprisingly drama free, so I knew if she called, something was going down.

“Scott, Monty’s sick,” she said, voice trembling.

“What’s wrong with him?”  Monty was her cat; her faithful companion in her shitty life.

“His face is all puffy, like a chipmunk, and he isn’t eating.  He’s pretty much just sleeping all the time and he looks so sad.”

“How long’s he been like that, darlin’?”

“For a few days,” she admitted quietly.

Christ.  “You should have told me straight away.  I’ll be there soon, okay.”  Her mother wasn’t equipped to deal with shit like this and I thought I’d made it clear to her to always call on me, but she was the kind of kid who hated asking for help.

“Okay.  Thanks, Scott,” she said and then hung up.

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and entered the clubhouse, searching for Madison.  I’d see what she wanted and then head over to pick up the cat and take him to the vet.

Nash ran into me as I rounded the corner to go into the kitchen.  “Did you sort Darrell’s shit out?” he asked.

“Nope.  The fucker quit instead,” I answered him.

“He’s an asshole so we’re better off without him.”

He was right but it’d left me screwed because now on top of everything else I had to do for Storm, I also had to run Indigo.  “The girls are pleased that he’s gone, especially Velvet.”  She was Indigo’s favourite stripper so keeping her happy was on my agenda.  Darrell was too fucking handsy with the girls and had put the hard word on most of them.  Just because they took their clothes off for a living didn’t give him the right to expect a quick fuck out of them whenever he needed his dick wet.

“Good,” Nash said.

Something in his tone grabbed my attention.  “Why are you so interested in this?  Indigo’s not your gig.”  Unless of course you counted him visiting the joint for personal pleasure which he did often.

He shrugged.  “Velvet’s told me some of the shit that he said and did to her.  I didn’t like the way he treated them.”

I continued to study him.  There was something there, something he was keeping close to his chest.  “Yeah, we’re better off without him but we need a new manager soon, and fucked if I know of one.  If you have any ideas let me know.”

“Will do,” he agreed.

“Okay, I’ll catch you later, man.  I’ve got to get a cat to the vet before they close.”

“What the fuck?  You don’t have a cat do you?” he asked.

I shook my head, “Neighbour’s cat.”

“Michelle’s?”

“Yeah.  Lisa sounded stressed about it.”

“I don’t know why you rented your house to that crazy bitch, and sure as hell don’t know why you look out for her so much.  Not after what she did at Indigo.”

“It’s not Michelle I care about, brother.  She’s still a junkie so someone needs to be there for her kid.  And she hasn’t worked much since we fired her so Lisa goes without a lot.”

“And people think you’re an asshole,” he muttered, and then checked his watch, “Shit, I’ve gotta go.  I’ll catch you later.”

He headed out of the clubhouse and I went looking for Madison.  It didn’t take me long to find her; I followed her laughter to the kitchen.  It was bloody good to hear her laughing again.

She was chatting with Stoney and grinned at me like an idiot when she saw me.  “Stoney was just telling me how you got drunk last night and - ”

I cut her off and glared at Stoney.  “Thanks, asshole.  You wait your fuckin’ turn.  Payback’s a bitch.”

Madison was pissing herself laughing now.  “Seriously good shit, Scott.  I can’t believe you did that!”

“You’d better believe he did that.  Our Scotty doesn’t discriminate,” Stoney threw out there.

“What doesn’t he discriminate against?” J asked, entering the room.

I threw up my arms.  “Fuck me!  I almost went to town on some dick last night.  How the fuck was I supposed to know she was a he?”

J, the asshole, started laughing too.  “Fuck, man, I feel your pain.  I often crave a little cock too, brother.  If you feel you need that shit, we won’t judge.”

I punched him hard in the arm.  “Good one, dickhead,” I retorted, and then directed at Madison, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I just wanted to invite you to a get together at our house on Sunday afternoon,” she answered.

J had made his way to Madison and put his arm around her.  “Although, there’ll be no boys there for you to hook up with so maybe -”

“I’ll be there,” I muttered and turned to leave.  “Everyone’s a fuckin’ comedian,” I threw over my shoulder as I left.  I could hear them all laughing as I walked towards the front door.  I’d never fucking live it down.

* * *

I pulled up outside my house and saw Lisa looking out for me behind the front curtain next door.  It was my house that I rented to her mother and it needed some work.  Yesterday I’d noticed that the yard needed mowing, and fuck if I’d ever seen Michelle behind a mower.  That was something I always either did or got one of the boys to do.  Today I noticed that the windows were caked in a layer of dirt.  Another job for the boys.

She let the curtain go and I presumed was on her way outside with Monty.  A minute later, I met her at her front gate.  She passed me her cat and I noted how bad his face looked.  Shit, I wished she’d come to me sooner because he didn’t look well.  And looking at Lisa, I decided that she didn’t look too flash either.  Christ, what the fuck was her mother feeding her because, damn, that kid was all skin and bones.

“Thanks, Scott.  Mum wouldn’t take him to the vet,” she admitted reluctantly.

“Yeah, I bet,” I said, stopping myself from saying anymore.  This kid knew deep in her soul what a crappy fucking hand she’d been dealt, with her mother; she didn’t need me pointing it out.  “Okay, let’s go and get him fixed.”

The relief that washed over her face was clear but I didn’t acknowledge it.  Lisa didn’t like attention and she didn’t like people stating the obvious.  She was just trying to get through life with as little interruption from others as she could, and I for one, got that.  So, I settled her and Monty in my car and we drove to the vet with little conversation passing between us.  I think that’s why she and I had the kind of relationship that we did; she appreciated my lack of intrusion into her thoughts and I dug her lack of fucking melodramatics.

As we pushed through the door of the vets, she gave me a quick smile.  Blink and I’d have missed it, but I didn’t.  She needed reassurance so I gave it to her; I plastered a smile on my face that could have lit a fucking Christmas tree.  And fuck me, she saw it and gave me one back.  This kid never smiled.  Jesus, someone needed to give her some love.

I took my attention off the kid and directed it to the vet’s front desk.  My dick jerked when I took in the blonde behind it.  Christ, she was a fucking knock out.  Long, wavy blonde hair that covered her tits; and they were great tits from what I could tell.  Problem was, they were covered up with a white tank top and a shitload of necklaces.  And that tank wasn’t a low cut one like most of the chicks I met wore, so her assets weren’t completely on display.  As she continued talking to her customer, I angled my head to try and get a better view.  Oblivious to the world while I did this, I missed it when she finished up with him and sent her gaze my way.

“You want me to take it off?” she asked, mild irritation in her voice.

I smirked, “Sure.  Go right ahead.”

She shook her head and sighed, looking at Lisa.  “Because there are children around, I’ll refrain from saying what I want to say.”  Then she turned her attention to the cat, “Oh, poor baby. Pass him here, honey,” she said to Lisa who was gripping onto Monty with all her might.

Lisa hesitated, so blondie walked around from behind the counter to come and stand next to her.  She knelt down so they were eye to eye, and asked, “What’s happened to him?”

Jesus.  This chick had my full attention now.  Her legs were painted with the tightest jeans I think I’d ever seen someone wear.  They rode low on her hips with her tank tucked in.  She was rocking the country look with cowgirl boots and a cowgirl looking belt.  Actually, she looked like she’d stepped straight out of fucking Nashville.