Page 84 of Animal's Reformation
A striking woman with long blonde hair came into view. Animal glanced at the car’s clock glaring out the time in its blue numbers: 3:18 p.m.
“Hi,” a cheerful voice said.
Animal averted his eyes from the clock to the door and nodded at the blonde. “Hey.”
The woman ran her eyes over his face, then down his body and back up. She placed her hands on the young girl’s shoulder and said, “I’m Aria’s mom.” Licking her lips, she extended her hand. “Elise Griffin.”
Animal took her hand and Elise squeezed it lightly before he pulled it away. “I’m Lucy’s dad.”
“Does Lucy’s dad have a name?” Elise fixed her gaze on his.
“Animal. We gotta get to a dentist appointment.”
“Mom,” Aria said, tugging at Elise’s cardigan. “Lucy asked me over to her house for dinner. Can I go?”
Elise drifted her eyes back to Animal. “I think Lucy has an appointment.”
“She does—I just told you that. Dinner won’t work for tonight, but another time’s okay.” Animal switched on the ignition.
“I normally don’t let Aria go to people’s houses unless I go with her for the first time.” Elise placed her fingers over Aria’s mouth as she tried to say something. “I guess I’m just over protective, but you can’t be too careful, you know?” She chortled.
“I get it.” He suspected that wasn’t her rule with Aria’s other friends. Animal caught the look Elise gave him—he’d seen it more times than he could count. The mother was coming on to him, and if Lucy had any chance of keeping Aria as her friend, he’d have to humor the mom and have them both over for dinner.
“Maybe tomorrow night?” Elise said.
“Let’s set something up for next week,” he replied.
“Dad!” Lucy protested.
“Why don’t you give me your phone number and I can call and set it up?” Elise asked.
“I’ll see you around the school. We gotta go now.” Animal turned to his daughter. “Close the door and buckle up.”
Mumbling something under her breath, Lucy waved at Aria then slammed the door shut. Animal helped her with the seatbelt then pulled away from the curb, noticing that Elise stood watching until he hung a left turn.
“You don’t want me to have any friends.” Lucy’s lower lips pushed out and she turned away from him and stared out the passenger window.
“Don’t start with me. If I didn’t want you to have friends, why in the hell would I arrange for you to hang out with Paisley and Hope? Aria can come over, just not this week. I got a lot going on at work.”
Lucy kept staring out the window.
“Now, you’re mad at me? Fine. You have to learn that you can’t always have what you want.”
“I already knowthat. I don’t have Mom, remember?”
“How can I forget—you keep reminding me.”
For the rest of the drive neither of them spoke, and when Animal killed the engine, Lucy leapt out of the car and dashed into the small three-story building.
“Wait up!” Animal strode over to the entrance and saw his daughter leaning against the wall, shuffling her feet. “Don’t ever fucking do that again. If you’re pissed at me, your mom, or the damn world, that’s fine, but you don’t run off like that. Something can happen to you in a blink of an eye.”
Lucy looked up her eyes shimmering. “So what?”
Animal dropped to one knee in front of her. “So what?” He grasped her chin with his hand and tilted her head up until her eyes met his. “Soeverything. There’s no way I want something to happen to you or lose you. You mean everything to me.”
Several tears spilled down her cheeks, and he wiped them away with his fingers then pulled her into a tight hug.
“I know you’re disappointed about Aria not being able to come over tonight, but I promise you can have her over next week. And I know you’re real pissed at your mom. I am too, but it’s not because she left you with me—hell, I’m thrilled about that; it’s because she’s hurting you and I can’t fuckin’ fix it.”
