“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?”

Shit, I was more than fucking happy to do that.  “Sure, just text me when you’re done,” I replied, giving her my number and then left them to it.

I spent the next fifteen minutes outside the restaurant, wondering what the hell was wrong with Lisa.  If Michelle had fucked up somehow, she’d be answering to me.  When I finally got a text from Harlow to come back, I was apprehensive about what I was going to find.  But they were standing waiting for me and appeared to be okay.

“We need to go to the shop,” Harlow announced, giving me a strange look that reminded me of the look that Madison used to give me when she was telling Dad something that she didn’t want me to question.

“Okay -” I was cut off.

“Good, we’ll be back soon,” Harlow said, confusing me.

“What -” she cut me off again.  Now I was getting irritated.

“Just wait here.  We won’t be long,” she asserted, eyes boring into me.  It was like she was trying to send me the message to sit down and shut the fuck up.  What the hell?

I noted Lisa’s apparent discomfort with this situation and decided to let it go for now, but Harlow would be telling me what the fuck was going on; I would make sure of that.  “Fine, go.  I’ll wait here,” I grumbled and let them go.

While they were gone, I organised for our food to be bagged up to take home.  I paid the bill and had just settled the food in my car when I got a call from Griff.  “Scott, need you at the clubhouse now; got some trouble here between Marcus and Blade.”

“Fuck.  I’ll be there soon.”

I hung up from him and called Harlow.  “You going to be long?” I asked when she answered.

“About five minutes, we’re just at the convenience store down the road.”

“Did you walk there?” 

“Yeah.  Why?”

“Shit, Harlow, it’s not fucking safe to be out walking at night by yourself.”  I knew that Stoney was tailing her tonight but shit could have still gone down.

“Bloody hell, we’re fine.  Don’t get your panties in a knot,” she said, and had the hide to sound pissed at me.

“Wait there.  I’m coming to get you,” I muttered, and hung up my phone without waiting for a reply.

A couple of minutes later, I was really fucking annoyed when I met them half way between the restaurant and the convenience store.  “I told you to wait there for me,” I almost yelled at her.