Trip
“You excited, sweetie?”
“Mmhm! I’ve never been to a school before!”
I had Rose’s little hand slipped into mine. I was walking her to her classroom—her first classroom. It was her first day of school after a hell of a lot of hoop jumping getting her registered. But she would be almost a year behind if we put it off, and Misha and I knew that she couldn’t just hang around the house or the bar for the rest of forever.
Oddly enough, it was kind of scary. I was leaving my daughter with strangers after I’d just started getting to know her.
However, I couldn’t let that get in the way of what was best for her. It was all a part of this parent thing that I was doing. Parent, family man, kind of thing. We got some odd stares, probably from people who weren’t expecting some biker guy to be dropping off a little girl, but I didn’t care. I only wished that Misha hadn’t had to pull a double at the diner and had been here to see her off, too; seemed like a thing a mom should be able to do.
“Mr. Trip.” I hadn’t realized Rose was tugging on my arm. I looked down.
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“Do you think I’ll make friends? I’ve never had a friend, except for Mr. Holland, but he was an adult.”
I frowned and stopped with her, standing off beside one of the walls.
“You were never around other kids with the Jackals?”
“All the kids were older … and mean,” she said softly. “And Mama said she didn’t want me getting involved with them, either. so I stuck with Mama and with Mr. Holland. He used to give me sweets and help me color.”
I pursed my lips. I still hadn’t gotten over the fact that the bastard had basically been allowed to act as a surrogate father to Rose all these years, but that was neither here nor there, and I couldn’t change it, anyway. I squatted down in front of her.
“You’re such a sweet girl, Rose,” I told her. “I’m sure you’ll make a lot of friends, and they’ll all be very, very nice to you, too.” Her eyes lit up.
“You think so?”
“I know so. Besides, you’re cool and smart, too, and people will want to be your friend because you’re so cool and smart.”
She smiled brightly, and flung herself on me, wrapping her arms around me as she did so.
“Come on, Mr. Trip. It’s almost time for class!”
I laughed and stood up, taking her by the hand to walk her to her class. There was a small line as parents dropped off their kids. Apparently, there was stuff that we had to take. When it was my turn, I knelt down and kissed Rose on the head, letting her sprint into the room with the other couple dozen tiny Gremlins too. The teacher, a short, younger woman, smiled up at me and I caught the way her eyes lingered.
“Hello there,” she said, holding out a folder for me. “This is all the class information that you’ll need to help everything run smooth and easy this year. All my contact information is in there as well, in case you have any questions for me personally, Mr …?”
“Trip,” I said, taking the folder, making a mental note as the teacher continued to stare to bring Misha with me next time so that maybe I wouldn’t get the creepy, unnecessary bedroom eyes.
Hell.
When had I become the man that didn’t like the creepy, unnecessary bedroom eyes?
Pondering this, I made my way back out into the parking lot. I’d borrowed Travis’ truck, and knew that if this was going to be a regular thing, I might need to invest in an actual vehicle to take Rose to and from school, not to mention to and from other places. I still wasn’t very comfortable having her on the bike just yet.
Look at me, being responsible.
I walked out to Travis’ truck, and paused. Amid the realization that I was maturing a little faster than planned, I got that feeling you only get when you’re used to watching your back.
Like someone was following me.
I played it cool, though. Worst thing to do in such a situation was to tip off the person that was following you, that you knew that they were following you. It made them act rash, and I wasn’t about rash anymore. I got in the truck, turned it on, and pulled out. A few moments later, there was a beat up two-door pick-up behind me. The windows were grimy and I couldn’t get a good look at who the person was, but they were definitely tailing.
“Well, fuck.”
I pulled out my phone and rang up Brig. He answered on the second ring.
“What’s up? You piss yourself trying to figure out how to navigate an elementary school—”
“Someone’s tailing me?”
“What?” I heard some rustling. “Who? You get a face?”
“Nah, they’re in some shitty ass truck though, nasty windows.”
“That’s not a lot to go on when everyone in town has a shitty truck, Trip.”
“Suck a dick. I’m gonna ride around and see if I shake ’em. Expect me at the bar in twenty if not. Also—send someone over to the diner. Don’t tell Misha, just make it seem like a friendly visit. Rose will be safe in school and it’s only me, Misha, and you that can pull her out of school and they ask for I.D.”
“You got it, boss. See ya soon.”
I hung up and kept an eye on whoever the hell it was that was following me. I knew they were following, because they still hadn’t ditched me in all my random driving through town, and kept following me until I pulled up to Ace of Pride. Of course, they were greeted by about a dozen or so Pride boys hanging out front. I didn’t have a problem in stepping out of Travis’ truck and joining them.
“Who the fuck is that?” Travis asked, leaning over. I shrugged. The person hadn’t yet come out.
“Fuck if I know. They trailed me from the school.”
“Did you notice them following you to the school?”
“Don’t think so, but I could be wrong if they were all over my ass after leaving. Maybe they didn’t want me seeing them on the way to school …”
I kept my eyes on the car, and the person inside still hadn’t come out. I squinted, trying to make sure that it really was just one person, before the side door opened. Everyone stood straighter, at attention, and a man came out.
He was kind of small. Like, wimpy kid that gets shoved into lockers in crappy high school movies kind of small. He didn’t seem like much, and I relaxed.
“H-hi …” My brows furrowed as he stepped closer.
“The fuck do you want?” I asked. “And how about you just stay right over there, yeah? I don’t think you need to come any closer than this.”
The man stopped. He looked at each of my boys and gulped.
“I didn’t think you’d drive over here.”
“Yeah, well, you thought wrong, didn’t you? The fuck do you want, before we decide it’s time to get a little rough with you?”
“Listen, I wouldn’t have, all right? But I need to talk to Misha. She doesn’t know—”
I strode forward, backing the guy against his truck.
“You need to talk to Misha about what?”
He swallowed.
“Rigger,” he said. “He’s looking for her.”
It took about two seconds for me to have the man’s shirt in my hands.
“You’re not talking fast enough for my tastes,” I said. “So you better start making some chatter—”
“Listen, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you! I just don’t want her hurt!”
“Come on, Trip. Let’s take him inside and see what he’s got to say.”