LOVESTRUCK ━ lip gallagher¹

03 | i can take her

★

"I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD be concerned to why Frank has a baby," Amara stated, watching as the older man walked into the bar, cradling an infant in his arms. She paused on cleaning out one of the cups with a rag, glancing over to Kate who had her brows raised. "Does that not concern you? Like what bus stop did he steal this one from?"

"Morning, Frank," she greeted, shooting Amara a warning look, although she was failing to hide her amused smile. "Who's your handsome friend?"

"You hear that, Hymie? That's Kate. She has good taste."

"Hold up," Amara cut in. "Hymie? Like Karen's kid?"

"And that's Amara," Frank went on, ignoring her. "Kind of a bitch, but Lip insists on keeping her around." The brunette rolled her eyes as she continued to wash the cup in her hands, and she put it back under the bar before retrieving another dirty one off the counter. "Hey, Kate, give me a shot of JB, a pickled egg, and a thumbtack."

"Thumbtack?" Kate repeated, looking over to Amara with a bewildered expression on her face. She shrugged in response. Frank was weird; there was nothing abnormal about his behavior; or his demand for a thumbtack.

"And a band-aid."

"What in God's name are you doing?" Amara asked accusingly, and her jaw fell open as she stared at Frank—who had just dipped the thumbtack into the alcohol he ordered—and stuck it in Hymie's arm.

"It's all over, little buddy," Frank muttered in his ear, peeling the band-aid off before applying it to the baby's skin.

Kate shook her head at his request for another drink. "Yeah, I'm calling the police and reporting child abuse."

"Hey, where is your sister?" Frank abruptly asked, glancing to Amara who shifted on her feet suspiciously.

"At the grocery store with Fiona, why?"

"Damn it," he muttered. "Never mind."

Amara glanced at him with a knowing look. "I hope you weren't planning on dragging her into one of your schemes. I'm not allowing her to get caught up with your bullshit."

"Bullshit? It's not bullshit, I'll have you know-"

Frank was interrupted by the sound of Amara's phone ringing, and she turned away with another eye roll, grateful for the distraction as she flipped open her phone. Her face scrunched up in anger as she listened to what Fiona had to say.

"That mother fu—I'll be right there. Kate, can you cover for me?"

"Of course. Where you off to?"

"I'm about to beat the fuck out of some grown man who was whipping his wong at my little sister."

"Great?" Kate was clearly taken aback. "Have fun."

★

"Holy shit," Mandy breathed in shock as she stared at the computer screen in front of them. Silvia's eyes widened from beside Debbie, who looked equally as surprised. Amara felt her insides churn at the amount of circles just in their area. "Lot of red dots."

"All those red dots are sex offenders in our neighborhood?" Debbie questioned fearfully.

"Wait, check this out," Lip clicked on a random dot. "Child rapist, three blocks over. Did five years and out on probation."

Amara shook her head in disbelief, disgust taking over her features. "This system is fucked."

Mandy nodded in agreement. "How does a child rapist only get five years?"