Finding Charity: Red Devils M.C. (5 page)

“You’re not as good at that look as you think you are.” She growled at him.

Tick turned to her. “Stop, you’ve frightened the boy enough for today. Go make dinner.”

“That hellion isn’t scared you moron, he’s playing you and you’re too stupid to realize it.” Charity said throwing her hands up in the air before storming off to the kitchen to make dinner for the little hellion and his idiot father all the while muttering under her breath.

She slammed the pot on the stove, jerking the stew she’d made yesterday out of the fridge dumping it into the pot. She’d intended to make biscuits for them too, but she wasn’t going to do that now. Not because she was pissed, but because if she did it would take too damned long. She had to get out of here before she went batshit crazy.  

She was going nuts after a full week of the same crap. She was thankfully able to predict most of the kids pranks and disarm them before they could be set off, but she was not getting anywhere with stopping them altogether. Every time she tried to punish the kid he ran to his father, or his uncle Ratchet with a sob story about how he was just sad about his mother. I mean the kid was blatantly twisting both men in knots so that he could get away with his pranks. It was becoming ridiculous.

She was going to have to figure something out. He was going to end up hurting someone on accident. Yesterday she’d found grease on the pavement outside the house. Which could have caused a nasty fall for someone. Tick still refused to take care of it, and he wouldn’t allow her to handle it either. Picking up her phone from the bedside table in the guestroom. Grateful that Max had gone out to the south pasture with Tick, she lay down on the bed. Hitting the speed dial for Katie, she waited for her to pick up.

“Hello.”

“Save me, please.” Charity groused, when she answered.

“Charity, it can’t be that bad.” Katie laughed.

“Oh, but it can. The little shit greased the drive yesterday, and the day before he let the chickens out, and two hours after that he tried to make the dog into a chicken with feathers and honey.” She was exasperated by the time she finished.

Katie was laughing so hard she was snorting. “I do think that you have managed to find the one kid who was worse than you were. I didn’t believe that was even possible.”

“Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. I’m going nuts in this house with only these two insane people to talk to. The man believes that kid anytime he says he misses his mother. It’s a disservice to Vivi, and he allows it.”

Charity ran a hand over her face wondering what the hell she was going to do about this situation. As much as she hated the man he did need help with his kid. Who was actually damned cute when he wasn’t up to no good. She’d taken to reading to him at bedtime, which was the only time he didn’t seem to give her and his father fits.

“Damn, cut the man some slack. He still feels the loss, and he’s fooled because he is still grieving.” Katie told her sadly.

“I know that Katie, but he needs to get Max back on track and we both know it. Hell, half the damned club knows it.”

“Yeah, maybe you should get out of there for a while.” Katie suggested.

“How am I supposed to do that? Tick is my prison guard. Do you really think he will let me out of his sight? He actually has someone watching the house all damned day, Katie. To be sure I don’t run. If I tried to get out he’d think I was running. I wouldn’t put it past that man to do something insane like chain me in the basement for a month.” Charity groused. Or cuff her to the bed again, she thought, looking at the four poster bed with dismay.

“How about a date? He nor your brother could object to you going on a date, now could they?” Katie said.

“The only problem with that is that any man who comes here will be scared off by Tick before he even reached the door. Trick would demand it.”

“I have a guy that would not be bothered in the least. And you’ve already met him.” She told her gleefully.

“Who?” Charity was sure that she hadn’t met anyone who would brave her brother, or hell even Tick to take her out.

“Travis, you remember him right. He was the guy I dated right before your brother realized he was an idiot, and finally woke up before I left him.” Katie sounded excited as she explained.

Charity vaguely remembered him from that night. He’d been nice and he’d followed her home to make sure she made it there safely that night. Well she didn’t really have anything to lose by trying to date the man. Who knew maybe he was the one she’d been waiting on.

“Okay, set it up for Wednesday.”

“But tomorrows Tuesday. Why not then?” Katie demanded.

“Because it’s poker night over here and that man would shit gold bricks if I told him I couldn’t keep his brat while he played.” Charity replied dryly

“Oh,” Katie was chuckling. “I see okay for Wednesday then.”

The pranks hadn’t stopped in the last two days and she was starting to think they were a cry for attention from his father. He was trying to see how far he could manage to take it before his father put his foot down. Unfortunately, his father wasn’t stopping him yet.

“Urrg…why do I care?” She asked herself.

She knew why, though. She could remember being that child. The one who needed her father’s attention and never got it unless her mother was home. Then her father, who’d allowed her mother to crash back into their lives again after she’d decided they were convenient for her to care about again, would return. It had been a viscous cycle. When her mother was home, life was almost normal for a while. Then she’d be gone, and her father became a different man.

All the attention he’d paid to her when her mother was there disappeared. It was almost as if her father had forgotten he had children when her mother wasn’t there. Her mother was addicted to Juice, a designer drug made by the Jackals. She’d only come around when she’d decided that she needed money, or that she was going to get clean. Of course, that only lasted until life wasn’t perfect. Then she was gone, and they were alone with her father again.

If it hadn’t been for Trick she wouldn’t have made it. He was the only one who’d truly cared about her. He’d been both a mother and a father to her growing up. It was sad really. The difference between their situations was Tick was actually trying to be here for his son. He just didn’t know how. The man had fought his way out of his grief at the loss of his wife, and he was trying to be a good father to Max. If he didn’t get a clue soon that the boy was working him then he would have two times the amount of work to do to straighten the boy out.

Sighing, she hoped that her date with Travis would take her mind off the infuriating man and his son. She climbed into the shower her eyes closed. She felt the hot soothing water pouring over her. Damn, that felt good, she thought, before moving out of the stream to get her shampoo. It was as she reached for the bottle of shampoo that she noticed. Her hands were green. What the hell?

Then she turned realizing exactly what was happening. That little shit! He’d put food coloring in the shower head. That was it! She was going to kill him she decided. Getting out of the shower she grabbed a towel from the rack wiping herself off. She looked in the mirror seeing that even her breasts were green, and she was not even going to think about her hair. She had a date in two freaking hours, she thought in horror. She knew that the dye on her skin wasn’t hard to get off, but the green hair was going to be a problem.

The little shit knew she had a date tonight too. She dressed in her robe then stormed out of the bathroom. She stormed into the kitchen where the two of them were eating the soup she’d made for them. Shaking with rage she slammed the door into the wall. Tick turned looking at her, his eyes widened, and his mouth hung open in surprise. The little demon spawn however began to laugh so hard he almost fell from the chair he was sitting in.

“Guess you can’t go out tonight!” Max gleefully sing-songed.

She growled and jumped towards him, jerking him out of the seat. “This time you’re going to learn that this is not okay, young man! I’ve had enough” She dragged him towards the door of the room. She was glad that Tick didn’t try to stop her.

“Dad, help,” Max, cried out. “Don’t let her hurt me!”

“Oh, no you don’t! Do not try to get out of this, you little mongrel. He’s not coming to your rescue this time.” She took him into the living room sitting down with him across her lap.

She gave the boy four hard smacks to his bottom. Then set him on his feet. He had real tears in his eyes this time. She knew she’d hurt his pride more than she’d really hurt him, so she didn’t feel bad. Really she didn’t, she thought, even though she did a little bit, damn it.

“Go to your room.” She barked at him.

The boy’s lower lip trembled before he turned walking towards his bedroom. Tick’s hard voice stopped him.

“Stop.” When the boy froze, he continued, “Turn around.” He demanded. Surprising her, she looked up at him, but he was watching his son. She really hoped that he wasn’t going to ruin the headway she’d made with the boy.

“Apologize to Charity.” He said, really shocking her.

“What? Dad she just hit me!” Max cried, looking at his father with astonishment. It almost made her laugh.

“You deserved that spanking, son. Now, apologize. She’s put up with a lot of your pranks, but you finally pushed her too far. You know that this wasn’t okay. She had a date tonight. She can’t go out now, and that’s your fault.” Tick was a bit mad at himself. He’d been letting Max get away with more of the pranks just to screw with Charity, but seeing what Max had done to her tonight brought home the fact that it wasn’t okay for Max to pull these pranks. So, he put on a stern face to let Max know he meant it. These pranks had to stop.

“Yes, sir.” Max said, a slight smile returned to his face.

It made her realize that was what the boy had wanted. Her to not be able to go out. Huh, must be that he liked their bedtime routine where she read him a book. He thought if he did this she would have to stay with him. It warmed her heart a bit, but it also made her determined to let him know that it hadn’t worked. She was still going on her date. Right after she took a bath in vinegar, she thought, ruefully.

“I’m sorry, Charity. I won’t do it again.” Max said looking down. “I didn’t mean to ruin your night.” He continued.

“Thank you for your apology, Max. It’s okay, but this will not stop me from going out on my date.” Charity calmly said watching the boy.

His eyes shot up and he was glaring at her. She smiled when he asked. “It won’t?”

“Nope, a little vinegar and this will all come right off.” Charity informed him.

His little face fell and he looked defeated for a moment. “Oh.” He said.

It made Charity feel kinda bad, she knew what it was like to just want the things you were used to having so badly you almost couldn’t stand it. She remembered feeling that when she was a kid. When her mother was gone it was hard not to miss the normal life that they lived when she was there. She watched the boy turn and head into his room silently feeling a tug at her heart.

“Max,” She called after him. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the pond and fish.”

Charity told him letting him know that she wasn’t mad at him anymore. The pond was really a filtered water well inside the greenhouse were they raised fish that were safe to eat. Water poison was never anything to play with and she definitely didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Okay.” The boy said before he headed off to bed.

She got up heading into the kitchen to look for the giant bottle of vinegar she’d seen in the cabinet the other day. Tick stopped her before she could take more than a few steps.

“Charity,” He said from the doorway. “I’m sorry too. Max wouldn’t be this out of hand if I hadn’t allowed it. I’ll let you handle this from now on.” He looked sad, and slightly sheepish.

She knew that the man knew that he wasn’t innocent in the crimes his son had leveled on her over the last few days. She also knew that most of their problem was that they both just wanted their life back. She knew what it was like to lose someone. She’d been through it every time her mother had left.

“It’s fine. Thanks. But you need to stop giving in to him. His pranks could get someone hurt, and he’d never mean to. I know that, but they could. He would never forget it, and it could affect him. Guilt like that never goes away.” She told him.

He tilted his head watching her thoughtfully. She shifted from one foot to the other not looking at him. “I’ll learn. You can help with that. I’m sorry about this, and your date.”

“Like I told Max. It’s nothing a little vinegar won’t fix. I’m still going.” Charity said.

Tick really looked at her funny then before he asked, “Isn’t this a blind date?”

“Yes, what of it?” She demanded waiting for him to say something else.

“Umm…nothing. Have a good time.” Tick told her before he followed her to the kitchen to clean up. She grabbed the bottle and headed to the bathroom.

Tick stood looking after her. He really hoped this wasn’t one of those prats she’d been dating that were run off by the club. If it was he’d bet good credits that the man would take on look at her and leave.