The Bad girl is a Church girl

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“After all she is my daughter . . .”

I took a deep and steady breath, not understanding the meaning properly. I had no idea how many times I had to process the few words that had happened to slip out of Chuck’s lips but I did anyway.

Of course, being me, myself and I, I honestly couldn’t comprehend how. How did Chuck—a person that could be so loving and caring—create such an evil alien of a daughter named Lilani Smithers? How did she turn into a form of such sarcasm and wickedness from a man that was smiling at me with his crooked teeth?

They were complete opposites. Chuck had a slight twang to his southern hill-billy accent he must have inherited as a younger child back in the day and Lani was the typical Australian girl who had the thickest accent with the perfect slang. Yes, the tattoos and the mischievous grin that tormented Lani’s lips did represent Chuck’s in a way, as well as the dark shade of brown they had as the colour of their eyes. But it still didn’t quite fit.

“I—Her—You,” I sputtered, trying to familiarise myself and my surroundings.

Chuck’s grin widened. “Well, if you want to put it in proper terms she’s actually my step-daughter,” he informed, his fingers twitching and snaking down to the pocket of his jeans for another cancer stick. “But it would be nice if you just don’t say anything at all—her mother Clary and she aren’t on good terms—”

“It’s fine, I don’t think Clary really has a soft spot for me anyway,” I quickly produced, the whole sentence coming out as one big sigh.

Chuck laughed quietly at some inside joke that I didn’t know. “Clary isn’t that bad, she’s a sweetheart, one hell of a beautiful soul that woman has on her. You must’ve caught her on a bad time, especially with the fight that Lani and her are going on about—best not for me to get too into it.” Suspicious, was the only thing I could think off, but it would be best if I didn’t pry.

A few meters ahead the car’s revved their engines as they energised themselves to overcome the hurdle they were about to pass. A loud bang brought me out of my reverie and then they were off, disappearing over the hill and toward the big blocks of buildings that stood in the distance. The only sounds bouncing back were the squealing of the tires and whooping of the crowd.

“So you and Clary—”

“Clary and I love each other very much. But she has some important things to attend too. By doing so she forgets about Lilani, so Lil comes here to—” he shrugged—“let some steam off, I guess. She doesn’t usually bring a lot of people here besides one other.” He looked at me from the side, his sharp eyes hidden under the curtain of his lashes. “So what I’m trying to figure out is why she brought you here.”

I licked my dry lips and looked ahead of me, trying to keep my eyes well away from his in case he happened to spot anything I didn’t happen to have found yet. I was wondering the exact same thing Chuck. We stayed in silence after that—me staring ahead, afraid to get closer to the couple that couldn’t keep their engrossed hands away from each other and him, criticizing me, trying to understand me better. No one really could—except one person.

Finally he spoke again, “She’s a good person Colton; don’t let her push you away. She may do that at times because she feels like somehow she may put you in danger, but trust me, she’s fragile outside just as she is inside—and she doesn’t even know it,” Chuck mumbled, the cigarette sitting in between his lumpy fingers as he tapped it with his pointer at the ground. He didn’t have to look at me for me to consider it, I already knew, I could see it—I could feel it. “Promise me you won’t hurt her.”