Ethereal Love (Book 2 LS Series)

Chapter 6

Michael's POV

I blink rapidly after she's gone, having told me off in public again. Prince looks more shaken than me, his chest heaving as he looks after her, blinking back his tears.

"That's... my daughter. That's... my Skipper." I want to tell him that she's my Skipper, but instead I just watch him panic. Touching her again was so amazing, and when she didn't pull her hand away the feeling was even better.

And then everything went south. Again.

"You brought her to me." He says, his eyes drifting over to rest on me. I sigh, rubbing a frustrated hand over my face. "You should probably go get her." I tell him flatly, and he nods, walking quickly through the crowd.

"Come along! We'll go in the limo," He throws over his shoulder, yelling over a crack of thunder. Rain begins to fall from the sky in mass amounts as I catch up with him. He slips into a black limo, and I go in after him.

"Look, I know Skip, and she's probably running on foot right now. It would make the most sense of we went on foot," I attempt to explain to the man as the limo pulls off. "No, I have terrible hips. There's no way I could run after her."

I want to give him a medical analysis for that, but there is a time and place and now is not it. "Fine. But running around in heeled boots isn't helping."

I guess I am pretty pathetic for never telling Skipper of her own father. Once Prince became big, he became a friend to the family, and a personal friend of Joseph. He came to all of the family functions since '78, when 'For You' came out.

I took a liking to him, I was eleven and it was around the time when Joseph began seeing Celeste. He would distract me while Joseph went off with her, and that is the first time I ever heard of Skipper.

"What kind of name is that?" I asked him when he told me of her, but he only laughed. Joseph walked out of the room as he began to describe her. She had to be around nine then.

"She was my world, you know?" "Then why did you leave her?" His eyes became distant. "It's a long story. Much too complicated for you." I shrugged, slightly offended by that comment. He knew I had seen more than an eleven-year-old's share of tragedy. "She sounds fun," I told him, flipping through a health magazine.

"I think you'd like her," He smiled at me. My face heated at the thought. "Would she like me?" He laughed deeply, shaking his curly head. "I doubt it."

I snap back into reality when the limo door shuts, to see that Prince has exited the limo to finally chase her through the rain. I peer through the midnight window as they disappear in the haze of wetness.

Maybe I never told her because I thought it would cause her more harm than good. Or maybe I was just being an asshole.

A few minutes later, Prince gets back into the limo, wiping stray tears from his face. I pretend not to notice, to protect his dignity. "She's gone."

"She's just gonna run around until she gets tired. Just keep driving."

****

Skipper's POV

The sound of my hair dripping does nothing to distract me from the disapproving look the airport worker is giving me. "Well... There's a connecting flight that leaves in 30 minutes, it goes from St. Louis to Manhattan."

"Put me on it!" I tell her, wringing out my wet ringlets of hair. She eyeballs me again, pursing her lips. She adjusts her Panam Airlines name tag before clearing her throat. "I'm gonna need a credit card, hon." I thought of that. I dig one out of my pocket, and slide it across the desk. I'm glad I stopped by the hotel before running here, or I would've been screwed. Michael shouldn't have given me his hotel key to hold.