Chapter 3- Uncle Jerry

Charming was… small. It was really quiet and boring too. There is literally nothing there and nothing to do. Daddy and Mom were out all the time doing whatever for Daddy's business and Jack was always either out trying to find that gang or at school so I was left alone all day. I got really bored of lounging around the house after about three weeks. It was a lot smaller than my old house but Daddy let me have the biggest room with a joined bathroom. There was a cute balcony that faced out to the backyard so that was good but I got fed up of just looking out to the garden. I shut my laptop with a sigh and lay back on my bed. Life was so hard.

As I looked up to the top of my canopy bed I sighed again, cuddling Romeo on my chest. Bored, bored, and bored. I guessed I could take Romeo for a walk again but he's only got little legs. It was only 2:00pm and we had been out twice already today so he was tired. Back home in LA, I would be shopping with my friends or out to lunch, maybe partying later on but I never drank alcohol. I looked at my phone for the third time in half an hour, nothing. None of my friends had even texted me since the end of my first week.

"Miss Cat?" Greta called from downstairs, "are you still home?"

"Yeah Nanny!"

I heard her footsteps coming up to my room. She knocked then came in, looking at me with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised up; making her forehead wrinkle more. She was a really cute old lady and I loved her a lot. She closed the door behind her, moved the curtains away from the side of the bed and sat down. I looked up at her as she ran her hands through my hair, working out some tangles and spreading it out across the duvet. She has always done this since I was a child.

"Oh Miss Cat," she cooed, stroking my cheek with the back of her hand, "you are so grown up now. When did that happen?"

"Greta?" I asked with a small frown, she looked almost sad, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing Sweetheart, just reminiscing. That means to think back to past events," she explained when I looked confused.

"Oh. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes of course! Do you want to come to the store with me? I need some things to make your dinner."

"Yeah ok. You wanna drive?"

She shook her head and told me to put some comfy shoes on because she wanted to walk. More walking, great. But I could never say no to Greta; she has been a really big person in my life since I was a child and the only person not to shout at me when I was failing in school. I always knew I was dumb, Jack and Daddy told me enough times, but Greta always made me feel a bit better about it. She taught me how to play the piano and sing, we would sit for hours just playing around on it.

"Your talents lie outside the classroom; you shouldn't feel bad about your grades," she would say to me, "you are a beautiful dancer and a beautiful singer and I have never heard anyone play the piano as well as you."

I knew she was lying to make me feel better but it worked.

I had my arm linked through hers as we walked down the streets. She was pointing out all the dogs she could see and tried to tell me to talk to some good looking guys. I laughed but told her not to be silly; she knew I wasn't allowed a boyfriend. I never really understood why me and Jack weren't allowed to have boyfriends and Daddy never explained it to us. He wasn't so strict with Jack but I was the golden girl, the eldest so he always watched me like a hawk. Mom wasn't so bothered but I never really saw her; she was either out with her friends or in bed with a migraine.

"Oh look at him over there!" Greta said, pointing across the road, "he's very handsome and he has a dog! He's perfect for you, go and talk to him!"

"Greta!" I laughed, "Stop it! You'll get me in trouble!"

"Oh what your father doesn't know won't hurt him! Come on let's go and speak to him."

"Nanny!" I scolded and stopped dead in the street, looking at her with wide eyes, "you're terrible!"

She looked behind her at me and rolled her eyes. I knew she was right but I was far too scared of what Daddy will say or do if he ever found out; I was never particularly rebellious, not like Jack, and I think the only thing I've ever done to go against Daddy's wishes was one time when I had a full sugar coke instead of a diet one when I was 14. I guess I'm just a daddy's girl like Jack always tells me. Greta was a bad influence on me but my small fear of Daddy was always enough to keep me from being badly behaved. I was a good girl right to the middle.

"Ok, ok, Miss Cat, I understand. Let's get this shopping."

I loved spending time with Greta. We always had fun and a good time. She always told me about her childhood and when she was a younger woman. The reason she was such a bad influence was because she was a rebel chick in her youth. She ran wild, she would tell me, and go around with boys and drink alcohol and eat cake. In a way, I wish I was like that too but it just wasn't me.

"Let's get some of these, Miss Cat, and then we can go and have a picnic in the park," Greta said and picked up some pre-packaged sandwiches with some chips and a packet of cookies, "like when you were little. It's a lovely day."

I nodded happily; any time spent with Nanny was the best.

I had called Daddy to tell him about the picnic, he sounded fine with it and said he could order pizza or something for the rest of the family. It would have been pepperoni so I wouldn't have had any anyway.

We lay on the grass and ate our food. Greta was pointing out different things that she could see and all the men with dogs.

"Now that is something I would let get behind me," Greta told me and I laughed in disbelief at her rude comments, "Miss Cat, he is looking at you."

I rolled my eyes again and looked over to where she was looking. When I saw who it was my heart stopped then felt like it was going to come out of my mouth. I swallowed and stared back at him. It was him. I sat up onto my elbows to look at him better and Greta made an interested 'ooo' noise which made me laugh.

"He is exactly the kind of man I would have gone for," she whispered to me, "go and speak to him."

"Nanny…"

"What have you got to lose?"

"My life. Look at him, he's obviously a criminal."

"Even better! Go!"

She shoved my shoulder and wouldn't let up until I stood and made my way over to him. When he saw me approaching, his lips curled up into a small smile once before settling back into the flat expression he had the past 2 times I had seen him.

"Sorry Sir," I said to him once I was close enough, "Nanny wouldn't leave me alone until I came to speak to you."

"Nanny?" he asked.

His voice was the same gruff, kind of raspy one that he had in the motel. I thought maybe he had a bad throat or something but I guess he always sounded like that. I swallowed again, his eyes left my face and went to my throat, before I nodded and pointed back to where Greta was looking at us through her Chanel sunglasses, waving when she saw us looking.

"She your grandma?"

I shook my head and waved back to her, the man did the same.

"No, she was my nanny when I was a baby but when I was 18 she became our housekeeper."

I was just about to look back up at him but was distracted by a huge white dog bounding towards me with a torn up tennis ball in its mouth. I gasped excitedly and crouched down to meet it. The ball was dropped at my feet and I ruffled the dogs ears. It looked like a pit bull or something like that, maybe a boxer dog, with tattered ears that had bite marks in them and only one eye. He had a scar on his lip and jaw but he was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. I already knew it was the man's.

"Is he friendly?" I asked but didn't wait for an answer, just carried on fussing tis huge muscly dog.

"Scrap," the man said, "he's a rescue."

I looked up at him and saw that he was looking at me like I had grown two heads but then surprised me by crouching down with me. He stroked the dog himself with a small smile. He said that Scrap was part of a dog fighting ring in Lodi, just a few miles away from Charming. I cooed and fussed and made baby noises at the poor dog.

"Poor baby," I pouted, "but your daddy is taking very good care of you, isn't he? I bet he is, yes, I bet he is. You are such a lucky boy, yes you are, yes you are!"

"I didn't want him to be killed," The Man said.

"No," I said, still pouting with my baby voice and fussing Scrap who was loving every moment of my attention, "killing things is wrong isn't it? Yes it is! But your daddy is a nice man isn't he? Oh yes, he saved you didn't he Baby?"

Scrap rolled onto his back so I could rub his belly and play with his paws. I laughed as this massive dog melted and squirmed, his tail wagging so hard that his but was wiggling. I knelt on the grass fully so I could be more comfortable but The Man stayed squatting over me, I could feel his intense eyes on my face but I didn't care; there was a dog here. Scrap panted and drooled onto my pretty pink dress but I wasn't bothered.

"Oh you are the most handsome boy!"

I heard The Man breath out a laugh and looked up at him, kind of forgetting he was there. He was looking at me but it wasn't as much of an intense thing this time. I smiled at him, happy that he had saved this dog's life. How bad could someone be if they saved a life? Not that bad, I bet. Maybe he wasn't as scary as I thought he was. He did look scary though but now that I was closer I got to see his tattoos more. He had loads. I blushed when I realised he was watching me admiring him but I guess he gets girls looking at him all the time.

"Sorry Sir," I said again, "I should let you get back to playing. Yes I should!"

"You're Catherine, right?" The Man asked and I nodded, "I'm Happy Lowman."

"It's nice to meet you Mr Lowman and it's good to meet you Scrap! I should let you get back to playing."

"No, it's ok."

I smiled, he didn't want me to leave I guess. That was kind of a nice feeling. I glanced up at Greta and saw that she was looking at me smugly. I glared at her but secretly, I was happy that she sent me over because Scrap was the cutest thing I had literally ever seen and I was pleased I wasn't so scared of Mr Lowman anymore.

Suddenly, Scrap was on his feet and pushing the tennis ball towards me. I laughed and stood up to throw the ball for him. I didn't have so much arm strength so I didn't manage to throw it very far. I guess Mr Lowman threw the ball further than I did because Scrap ran way further than where the ball was. I laughed again and Greta was still looking with that smug look on her face; she had actually persuaded me to go against Daddy's orders. We stayed away from people with tattoos and just men in general.

Greta stood up and made her way over to me, greeting the muscle dog in a friendly voice and giving him a crust of a sandwich.

"Your phone had been ringing, Miss Cat," Greta said and handed me my bag, "hello Sir, how are you?"

I reached in and took out my phone to see I had 5 missed calls from Daddy. Oh no; I was going to be in massive trouble. Why didn't Greta answer the phone for me and let me know? I had to call him back straight away.

"Hello Ma'am," Mr Lowman said to Greta politely, "it's good to meet you."

"Hi Daddy, I'm sorry; I didn't hear my phone," I said, "are you ok?"

"I need you home straight away Catherine. Where are you?"

"What's happened?"

"I just need you home; you have been out for long enough."

I didn't understand what that meant. He was never normally this angry when I was out, especially if I was with Greta. I just really didn't understand.

"Daddy?" I asked, frowning into the phone and glancing between Greta and Mr Lowman, "I don't want to come home. I'm having fun with Greta."

"Now Catherine."

The line went dead and I couldn't believe it. He was never like this ever. Greta was now looking at me with a concerned face and Mr Lowman was back to the emotionless face. The older lady put her hand on my arm and rubbed it lightly. I told her what Daddy had said and she scowled. She never pretended to like Daddy since I was old enough to make up my own mind on things but sometimes she said that Daddy put ideas into my head.

"Sorry Mr Lowman, I didn't mean to interrupt your walk. See you later, bye." I said with a small wave and a quick fuss of Scrap and kissed the dogs head before we left.

I spent the rest of the way home being worried about what was happening. Daddy never made me come home when I didn't want too so it had to be really important.

When we did get home the smell of pizza hit me straight away but I wasn't hungry. I helped Greta in with the bags but didn't hear anything in the house so I went around calling for Daddy or Mom. I heard murmuring coming from Daddy's office so I just went in. There was some quiet voices coming from Daddy's office so I decided they were obviously in there. Not even bothering to knock because Daddy never cared if I heard about his business, I walked in and the room went quiet.

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, "Uncle Jerry! Hi!"

"Hello Honey!" he called back, his face lighting up.

I ran across the room, dodged around Daddy's huge desk, and jumped into Uncle Jerry's arms. He picked me up, like he always did, and spun me around. His hand was on the back of my head while his other arm was around my waist. Once he put me back down, he kept his hand on the small of my back while he kissed my cheek. I was beaming up at him; I had missed Uncle Jerry. I hadn't seen him for about a year or something? Like, it had been ages but he hadn't changed at all.

"Look at you honey, all grown up!" he said and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"I've looked like this for years Jerry," I laughed and hit him lightly on the arm, "what are you doing here?"

"I've come to help Daddy with some business, he's having a bit of trouble with the development. You know he hasn't got that much business sense."

I giggled and laughed at Daddy who was sat in his chair smiling at me. He wasn't angry with me, thank goodness, I think he just wanted me to come home to see Jerry. I pulled away from Jerry and went to kiss Daddy on the cheek. He asked if I wanted to stay in the office and I obviously nodded happily, and went to sit myself in the squashy armchair by the fireplace and bookshelves. I was a bit nervous because I always thought the fire would go everywhere with the bookshelves.

"Don't sit there honey," Jerry said and held his hand out to me, "some and sit on the desk like when you were little."

"I'm not little anymore though Uncle Jerry," I said with a frown, he was being so weird today, "I'll take up too much room."

"Do as you're told, Catherine," Daddy said firmly, making me turn around and walk back over.

Why were they being weird? Daddy always let me sit in this armchair because I could always fall asleep by the fire. I frowned again but hopped up onto the mahogany desk beside Daddy and watched them as they looked over paper with lines all over it. I wasn't really sure what it was but it said something about apartment buildings. Probably for the new buildings. I didn't listen, swinging my legs over the side of the desk and looked around the office but my ears perked up when I heard them mention the Sons of Anarchy.

"Are you sure you can trust them Duke?" Jerry asked, using Daddy's nickname, "they are criminals after all. Where is this money coming from that you are gonna use to pay them? How much are you paying them?"

"They told me they could offer protection for the site to stop people breaking into it. I have spoken to Clay and he seems like a pretty top kind of guy; friendly you know? I told you Jerry, the investors are just going to have to put some more money into it."

"How much, Duke?"

Daddy sighed and looked at me. He looked kind of sad so I put my hand on his arm with a smile. I didn't know what was going on my they didn't sound really happy. Daddy smiled back and covered my small hand with his huge one, rubbing it gently with another sigh.

"$30,000."

Jerry bashed his hand down on the desk making me jump and flinch slightly. I covered my heart and looked up at him with wide eyes. that wasn't really that much money, like, an hours work for Daddy or something. Jerry growled and looked at Daddy with a really angry face.

"Are you fucking kidding me Duke? $30,000 a month?" Jerry shouted at him and I gripped onto Daddy's arm, "the investors are not going to support that! Especially to pay off a bunch of criminals."

"Jerry-"

"I can't believe you would be so stupid!"

I frowned again. Daddy still looked sad and Uncle Jerry just looked angry. He started walking around the office with his hand pinching his nose. Me and Daddy watched him walk around and huff. He then started laughing and looked over at us. When he came back to the desk, he stood next to me. His arm went around my shoulder, squeezing me and putting his hand on my bare leg. I looked up at him, confused and kind of uncomfortable. I tried to move my leg out from under his hand but he tightened his grip on me a bit.

"Uncle Jerry? I… I don't like this," I said quietly, looking over at Daddy for help.

"Don't be stupid, Catherine," Jerry said with a smile at me, "your Daddy said this was fine."

"But-"

"Do as youre told Catherine." Daddy said with another sigh.

I had literally no choice but to sit on the desk with Uncle Jerry's hand holding my leg so hard that my skin was kind of dipping under his fingers, and his arm holding my shoulder. I shuffled uncomfortably but was obedient like I always was even though I kind of wanted to cry. I felt kind of scared but there nothing I could do. Daddy was not looking at me on purpose I think.

I don't know how long I sat on the desk for but I felt really stiff and tense. Eventually though they stopped talking and I was let go. The place where his hand was had gone red and sore. I hoped I wouldn't bruise.

"Call them in tomorrow," Jerry said, "I want to talk to this Clay."

Daddy nodded.

"Off you go then Catherine. We'll see you down here for tomorrow's meeting ok? Make sure you wear something nice. I want these men to see how beautiful you are and then they will feel bad about taking all of our money, ok?"

"Y-yes Sir," I whispered and hopped off the desk, "goodnight Daddy."

I kissed Daddy's cheek before almost running out of the office. For once, I ignored Uncle Jerry's asking for his own kiss and ran upstairs to my bedroom. After making sure that Romeo was in my room, I locked the door; double then triple checking the door wouldn't move. Something was weird about Uncle Jerry today, and Daddy. They never acted like that. They are like best friends and had been since they played football in high school together. Jerry had introduced Mom to Daddy and everything but they argued and Jerry scared me.

I didn't like how he grabbed me. I used to sit on his knee and fall asleep when I was younger and I always hugged him and stuff but he never touched me there. Mom and Daddy always told me that it was a really private place and that men should never touch me if I didn't want them too but Daddy let Uncle Jerry touch me when I didn't want him to.

I made sure I had on my most covering pyjamas and hid under the covers, hugging Romeo to my chest and trying not to cry out of confusion and fear.

OH NO! - Poor Cat! There's always a creepy uncle in these rich families, isn't there? How do we feel about him? Is he an actual threat or just a bit dodgy?

Cat is so innocent and cute, I love her. I'm wanting her to get stronger and know her own mind the more we find out about her but like we already know, she is going to need to grow up pretty quickly fairly soon!

Please give me your feedback on this and the other chapters, I'm not sure if we are liking this or not. (I'm a needy bitch ok)

See you in the next one.

Lots of love,

Doe

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