Ronald Hall wasn’t a good man. He was lazy and a complete lowlife with debt up to his eyeballs. How he can manage to keep taking Hope to court is something I want to figure out. Somehow, he always manages to get a lawyer to take his case. It’s never the same one. They probably do it since he’s an easy target to get a quick payday off of.
“How was school?” I ask, glancing in the girls’ direction briefly.
“Same as always, but my friends and I were in the library and overheard these guys talking about how it takes twenty-four pigs to eat a human body in twenty-four hours and that it takes a hundred chickens to do the same. Is that true?”
Fucking hell.
I’m not about to talk to Promise about human remains and have Hope kill me and feed me to some pigs.
“Don’t have a pig farm or chickens, so I don’t know about all of that.” I don’t get why kids would talk about shit like this in schools.
“Right, so why is my sister avoiding you?”
I drop the wrench and curse, and I hit the carburetor I was working on. Shaking out the pain in my hand, looking at Promise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I wasn’t about to talk about this either with Hope’s little sister.
“Yes, you do. I’m not blind or stupid. I see the way you look at her. And I haven’t missed that she looks at you when you aren’t looking,” Promise says, getting to her feet and scooping Eabha up as well. “I’m taking her inside and out of the sun. She and I have some things to discuss, like how her daddy is blind to what’s in front of him.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell Promise off, but I wouldn’t and couldn’t do that to her. Instead, I think about what she said about me looking at Hope and vice versa. The woman has been at the front of my mind far too much. It’s time I do something about what’s going on between us and have her stop avoiding me as she’s been doing. It’s bullshit, and I don’t need her leaving me consumed with thoughts of her constantly.
More than that, I need to stop using my hand in the shower, jerking off to thoughts of her dancing while I have her tied up and ready to go for me.
Finishing up with my bike, I put away my tools, grab my daughter’s contraption, and head inside to find both Promise and Eabha on the floor. I set down what I was holding and pulled my phone out, taking a picture of Eabha crawling over Promise, both of them laughing.
Before I can do more than that, I hear the shouting from next door.
“Stay inside and don’t come out,” I warn Promise and step back out onto my porch. I glance toward Hope and Promise’s place, seeing Ronald Hall on the porch, shouting the place down, banging on the door.
Jumping from the porch, I stalk in the direction, and when I’m close enough to the porch, I call out. “Nobody’s home. Anything I can help you with?”
Ronald spins around and glares in my direction. “I’m looking for my nieces.”
“As I said, no one’s home. Car ain’t here.”
“Hope’s always working, figured I’d take Promise out for dinner.”
“You talk to Hope about that?” I knew the asshole was lying. He wasn’t taking anyone out to dinner.
“She doesn’t ever answer her phone.” Ron grunts and steps off the porch. “Girl works all the damn time and don’t make time for family.”
Right.
That’s not how he treated her the other night at Keeper’s Temptation. I don’t like the fact he’s here any more than I liked him showing up at the strip club.
“I’ll tell her that you popped by.” I also wasn’t letting either of the girls sleep over at their place tonight. Not when this guy is showing up unannounced.
“That would be appreciated.” Ronald moves back to his car while I watch him do so.
I don’t move until he’s in his car and pulling out of the driveway. I keep standing in place even longer, watching him head down the street. Only when his car is out of sight do I head back to my place, pulling out my phone to call Scythe. I need him here tonight so I can handle business. No way was I leaving both my girls unprotected.
Both my girls. That’s what they are, Eabha, my daughter, and Promise, my woman’s sister.
Fuck.
This was something I didn’t think I’d have or want, but now that I’ve got it, it’s a matter of getting Hope to see it the way I do. They were all mine, and that was how it was gonna be.
Hope’s mine just as I told her. Her time for avoiding me was over and done with.
