Bang Gang (27 page)

Tonya made an exit and I can’t say I blamed
her. She headed over to Mia who was still yapping on to Daisy on Skype.

Trent opened a fresh pack of cigarettes. He stuck another in his pocket. Shop run. Of course.

Godawful timing.

He looked at me, then looked at Ruby.

“What’s going on, Rubes?”

“His tyres are bald,” she said. “Tried to warn him. Guess he got butt-hurt.” I heard her pathetic excuse for a whisper. “I didn’t say any garage words, Dad, I promise.”

Garage words. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

He ruffled her hair, then lit up a cigarette while Audi-man gawped. My stomach dropped as Trent took a step back onto the road, eyed up the car’s back tyres.

And then he kicked them.

“Those tyres are balder than you are, mate,” he said. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so horrified. “She’s done you a favour. Got wire showing on the rear driver’s. It’s fucked.”

Ruby folded her arms, gave the man a smug nod. “Told you,” she said. “Balder than you are.”

I wished the ground would open up and swallow me.

Audi-man didn’t even look at his tyres. “Your daughter shouldn’t go around kicking cars,” he said.

“You shouldn’t be driving on those tyres,” Trent said.

“Stay away from my car,” the man said.

“Stay away from my fucking daughter,” Trent said. “Raise your voice to her again and it’s not going to end well.”

The man sneered. “No wonder she has no manners.”

I put a hand on Trent’s arm.
Please stay calm.

“I think you should get in your fancy fucking car and drive away,” he said.

“I was planning on it,” Audi-man said. “I should never have parked up in this backwater shithole. Full of halfwits.”

“Roll on, mate,” Trent said.

Audi-man bleeped his central locking, slipped into the driver’s seat. I took a deep breath as he drove away.

Darren put his hands on Ruby’s shoulders. “Good spot,” he said. “You were doing him a favour, ungrateful prick.”

It wasn’t exactly how I would have put it, but it
was
exactly the moment I decided to handle the Tyler Dean situation with the school and definitely not with Darren.

I watched Ruby watch the car down the street, a quizzical expression on her face.

She turned to look at her dad when the car was out of sight.

“Can I ask you a question?” she said. “A garage question?”

He smiled. “Go for it.”

I nearly smiled along as he dropped to her level to hear her out, my skin prickling at the memory of his body against mine.

Ruby folded her arms, and scowled. She jabbed a finger at the spot the car had vacated and let out a sigh.

“How come a cunt like that gets to drive such a nice bloody Audi?”

I sent Ruby over to Tonya with a tenner for ice creams. She took the girls over to the shop and I tackled this Audi shit with Jodie.

“He was a prick,” I said. “She was right about his fucking tyres, arrogant cunt.”

“That’s not the point,” Jodie said. “She kicked someone’s car, Darren, and she was rude.”

“She kicked his tyres, it’s totally different.”

“She’s eight years old,” she said. “She shouldn’t be kicking anyone’s anything.”

She looked tired. Really tired. I pictured her under me, squirming as I fucked her tight ass.

“You should be in bed.”

You should be in
my
bed.

“I came out for breakfast with Tonya. The girls were up early.”

I looked her in the eye. “You alright, Jo. About everything?”

She nodded, gave me a crappy smile. “I’m good, yeah. You?”

“Alright.”

“Good,” she said. “Then we’re alright. That’s good.”

So fucking awkward. She played with her fancy fake nails. I watched her, just watched her.

I sighed. “You should get some sleep this afternoon. I’ll take the girls.”

“But it’s not your weekend…” she said.

“Fuck that, Jo. When have I ever cared if it’s my fucking weekend or not?”

She looked at the floor. “I thought you might be… busy…”

Busy
Bang Ganging.
That’s what she thought. That’s what she meant.

Ruby came charging down the road, her face covered in whippy ice cream and chocolate sauce. She had the ice cream clenched in her fingers, trying her best to lick it and run at the same time. Even Mia had hung up Skype for the sake of a whippy cone, but she was more demure about it,
walking slowly at Tonya’s side.

Once again I noticed the makeup on her, and it made me feel weird. Made
me
feel old. She was too young for all that shit, but then again, what did I know? All her friends were probably doing it.

“Wanna come with me, girls?” I said. “We’ll take the truck over to Sam’s place. Get some practice on the track. How about it?”

They didn’t need much convincing.

I sent them ahead to the truck with the keys and Jodie said her thanks.

Tonya took her by the arm. “Better get this one back to bed,” she said. “I’ll stay on call for Nanna.”

I smiled at her, gave her a nod.

“I’ll be seeing you,” I said.

I took the truck up to Sam Brown’s. He’s got an off road set-up up there, perfect for letting the girls loose.

Sam was working on an old Honda Civic when we pulled up. He raised a hand as I lowered the window, gave the girls a wave.

“Alright,” I said.

He headed over. “Good day for it.”

“Hoping to take the girls up the track, let them have a go behind the wheel.”

“Be my guest,” he said.

I shook his hand. “Cheers, Sam.”

He kept an elbow on the window. “Big event at the Brecon track end of this month. Gary Finch can’t make it, family wedding up north. Think you’d be game? Nothing major, would just appreciate an extra pair of hands if we need it.”

“I’m game for that,” I said.

I didn’t need to see Ruby’s face to know she was busting a gut to get in on it. “Rally cars?” she said. “Can I come?”

Sam smiled. “It’s an open event,” he said. “Plenty of people gonna be camping. Bring a tent, make a weekend of it.”

“Might just do that,” I said.

Ruby wouldn’t let it go as I took the truck on up to the ridge. “Please!” she said. “Please, Dad! Pleeeeease! I’ll be good, I promise! I won’t kick any tyres or anything! Not even one!”

“I’ll have to think about it,” I said. “I’ll be busy, it’s work for me, Rubes.”

“Mum could come!” she said. “She could get a tent, she wouldn’t mind!”

I laughed. “Not so sure about that. You’ll have to ask her.” I looked back at Mia in the rearview. “What about you, Mia, you up for a weekend’s camping?”

She shrugged. “Will I get phone signal?”

“I dunno,” I said. “Maybe Daisy could come, too. Talk to her in real life for a change, how about that?”

She smiled. “Cool, Dad.”

I pulled up on the flat, nothing but open fields ahead of us. “You’re up, Rubes,” I said. I patted my lap and she clambered over the gearstick, sat between my legs and strained to reach the pedals. Her feet kicked short. “Not quite,” I said. “You’ll have to grow a bit.”

She groaned. “Sucks.”

“You can steer,” I said. “Steady, remember?”

She pulled a face. “
Yeah
, of course I
remember
.”

She giggled as I put the truck into first, her cute little fingers so small on the wheel. She was a natural, cranking that wheel and setting us right on the track lines. I pushed us up through the gears and she handled it like a champ, skirting the edge comfortably in third. She bounced as the truck did, shrieking in delight at the bumpy ground.

She’d done three laps by the time Mia came up front for her turn. Mia could reach the pedals. Ruby huffed in the backseat at the revelation.

I took the passenger seat, told Mia to buckle up and take it slow.

She knew the drill. She put us in first and crawled around awhile before she got brave enough to notch it up to second.

“That’s the way,” I said. “Give it a bit of welly now
.”

She was grinning her head off by the time we’d done for the afternoon. “I did it,” she said. “I can practically drive already!”

“You’re on your way, sure enough.”

Ruby was sulking when she climbed back up front. She folded her arms in the passenger seat and glared out of the window. “She wasn’t
that
good,” she said. “
She
hardly even went in third.”

“You were both great,” I said. “
Both
of you. It’s not a competition, Rubes.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“I mean it,” I said. “You’re sisters. You should be supporting each other, not squabbling over stupid shit.” I shot them both a look. “There’s only two of you, make it count.”

Ruby was quiet for a minute. “Why does there have to be only two of us? Violet Harvey’s got two sisters
and
a brother, and Kelly May has three brothers all to herself. Why can’t
we
have a brother?” She sighed. “It’s not fair. I’d like a brother,
he’d
like cars too. Violet doesn’t even like
her
brother, she says he’s a pig.”