“Scott?”

Looking back up, I found her watching me with a slight frown. “I want that every morning, too.” I pulled out of her and took a step backwards. Raking my fingers through my hair, I said, “Fuck, do you know how good it is to hear you say that?”

She blinked and I worried for a moment that she was about to cry, but then she gave me another smile. “I bet it’s nowhere near as good as having your cock inside me.”

“Jesus, Harlow, where’s this dirty mouth of yours coming from?”

Her brows raised. “What? You don’t like it?” She jumped down off the vanity and retrieved her panties off the floor.

I pulled my pants on and did them up. “I fuckin’ love it.”

“Good. And, ummm, I think I live with a man who has the dirtiest mouth I’ve ever heard so that’s probably where mine is coming from,” she said with a wink.

I finished dressing and then left her to finish getting ready. She found me in the kitchen ten minutes later and as she reached for her car keys, I said, “You don’t want me to take you?”

“No, I’ve gotta do some extra hours with Mum at the café tonight so we can give the kitchen a good clean, and then I’ve got a shift at Indigo, so I’ll just head straight to the club after I finish with Mum. I’ll drive myself to save stuffing you around.”

I frowned. “I thought you were winding your shifts at Indigo back.”

She grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and bit into it before saying, “I was, but Wilder rang yesterday and asked me if I could pick up some shifts for a little bit while he borrowed staff for Trilogy.”

“I’ll talk to Wilder and organise something else. I don’t want you working so many hours.”

Pulling a face at me and placing her hand on her hip, she said, “No, just let me do it, Scott. Wilder’s pulling his hair out trying to organise the rosters. He said he’s got interviews lined up for later this week so I’m sure he’ll find new staff soon, and then I can cut back.”

I wanted to argue with her. I wanted to lay down the law, and tell her I wouldn’t let her do those hours, but something held me back. Fuck knew what, because it wasn’t in my nature to let something like this go, but I did. Instead, I took charge another way. “I’ll take you, no ifs or buts.” I grabbed my keys and shrugged my cut on before ushering her outside to my bike.

“Wait, didn’t you say you were taking Lisa to school this morning?”

Shit.

“Yeah, I did.” I checked my watch. “I could take you and then come back to get her.”

She shook her head and reached into her bag for her keys. “That will take too much of your time and besides, I think you’d be pushing it. I’ll just drive myself, baby.” Standing on her toes, she kissed me before heading towards the garage.

I watched her reverse out of the driveway before making my way next door. She’d been right – I wouldn’t have had time to take her to work – but no way was I letting her drive herself home after working two shifts today. I’d figure that out later.

Lisa answered the door a few minutes later and gave me one of her sad smiles. “Hi, Scott,” she greeted me and let me in.

“Why the sad smile, darlin’?” I wasn’t used to seeing them on her these days; now that Michelle was getting her shit together, Lisa was much happier.

“Mum’s still not feeling better.” She led me into the kitchen where she had her bag half-packed on the kitchen counter.

“Is she awake?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go check on her. Did you give her some more Advil?” At her nod, I left her to go and check on Michelle.

I found her asleep on her bed, but she must have only been dozing because her eyes opened when she heard me enter. “Scott…” Sweat beaded on her forehead and her t-shirt clung to her.

Moving to her wardrobe to find a clean t-shirt, I said, “You look like hell. Are you feeling worse than yesterday?”

“About the same. I’m just so tired, I can hardly keep my eyes open.”

I found a t-shirt and turned back to her. Deciding she could do with some cooling off, I left her to go and grab a wet washer. When I returned, she’d curled into a ball. I sat on the edge of her bed and attempted to roll her onto her back. Looking after Michelle wasn’t something new to me; Harlow and I had helped her get off the drugs and that had been hell for all of us. I’d seen her at her very worst – strung out, naked, vomiting – so this was like a walk in the park. However, I was aware we needed to get her fever down.

Once I’d rolled her onto her back, I pressed the washer to her forehead, placed the t-shirt on the bed next to her, and said, “Here’s a clean shirt. You hungry?”

She shook her head but didn’t say anything.

“Scott.” Lisa’s voice sounded behind me.

Turning my head, I eyed her. “What’s up?”

She hesitated for a moment. “I need a note for school to say I can’t do sport today. Can you write it?” Her voice betrayed her; something was wrong.

Standing, I walked her way. “Sure, but why aren’t you doing sport?” I hoped to hell it didn’t have anything to do with the bitches that had bullied her last year. She’d just started high school and as far as I knew, those girls had been leaving her alone.

Her gaze dropped to the ground and the shame that filled her voice when she spoke killed me. “Mum hasn’t been able to afford to buy me a sports uniform yet and the teacher for that class is really mean to me about it.” She raised her face to look at me. “If I have a note then I can just go to the library rather than have to go to his class and see him.”

I pulled my wallet out. “How much is a uniform, darlin’?”

Her eyes widened. “No, I don’t want you to buy me a uniform. Mum will have the money next week. I just need a note.”

I nodded. “Yeah, so she can pay me back then, but you need a uniform now, so how much?” I dug a fifty out. “Is this enough?”

Embarrassment filled her features, which surprised me. We’d been through a lot together over the years; she shouldn’t have felt that way with me. She finally nodded. “Yeah, that’s enough.”

As she took the money from me, I said, “If you need more, just tell me, okay?” At her nod, I added, “Lisa, I’ve known you for years, and I know you’re going through girl shit and teen shit, but, darlin’, there’s no judgement between us ever. Whatever you need, I want to know, and I’ll make sure you have it. And if it is girl stuff you want to talk about, that you don’t think I’d get, Harlow’s always there for you. Yeah?”

She stared at me for a beat before saying, “Thank you.” And then she asked, “Is Harlow okay? I walked in on her crying the other day. I figured it probably had to do with the baby, but I wasn’t sure.”

Lisa knew about Harlow’s miscarriage, but none of us had ever really spoken about it. Mostly because Harlow hadn’t really wanted to talk to anyone about her loss, but also because we figured Lisa had enough shit going on to deal with that she didn’t need to be burdened with our problems.

“She’s okay. It’s just going to take her some time to work it all out in her mind.”

“I get it.” I figured she probably did. No doubt about it, Lisa had been through a lot in her short life, and I bet she spent hours working through it all in her mind.

“Right, let’s get your mum some water and then I’ll take you to school.”

She did as I asked and once I’d made sure Michelle had everything she needed, I took Lisa to school. She seemed more at ease after our conversation, but I made a mental note to mention it to Harlow. Lisa was at that age where I figured she needed a woman looking out for her, and while her mother had improved, it wouldn’t hurt for Harlow to keep an eye out. Lisa was far too important to me to allow her to be swallowed by the self-doubt and anxiety the teen years would throw at her.

A couple of hours later, I finally got hold of King, the President of the Sydney Storm chapter.