Fierce (Storm MC 2)

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?”