Chapter 11

After driving down a few of the streets for about 15 minutes, Hailey tapped Mark on the arm. Mark pulled aside of the road in front of a house with a white fence, and rose gardens. "Is this your house Hailey?" he asked her. She smiled "Yep." She replied quietly. He looked at the house again. He could tell the look of the outside that Hailey's family seemed quiet welcoming and warm and loving, even though he hadn't even met them before, he just knew. "Hail's I'm gonna go knock on the door. You stay in here I'll be back in 5 minutes ok?" he explained. "Ok" she replied quietly. Mark smiled and hoped out of the car.

He walked threw the gate and up the porch to the front door. There was a big welcome sign on the door and a bird bath near the edge of the porch. He knocked on the door, and after a few seconds a woman answered the door. She had blonde hair like Hailey, expect it was tied up in a high ponytail and she was wearing glasses. She obviously was Hailey's mom. "Urr Hello." She said quietly looking at this huge man with all these tattoos down his arms and one on his chest as he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Urr Hi, Are you Mrs. Jones?" Mark asked. "Yes, why?" She replied. "Well I happen to know your daughter Hailey and apparently she got into some trouble with a couple of kids." Mark explained. "Oh really?" Hailey's mom said confused. "Yes, I'm Mark by the way." He said holding out his hand. "Oh I'm Joanne." She replied shaking his hand. "What kind of trouble?" She asked with a little worry in her voice. "Well she was kind of beaten up by these kids and I saw it happen and came around and scared them off." He explained. "Oh god! Is she alright?" Joanne asked gasping. "She's not too bad, but she's in a bit of a daze." Mark replied. "Where is she?" Joanne asked again. "Oh she's in my truck, I gave her a lift home." Mark answered. "Oh Ok, thank-you." Joanne said. "No problem, come on she's out here." Mark pointed to the ute and he and Joanne walked over to it. Hailey looked out the window and saw her mom and started crying again. Mark saw and quickly opened the door. "Shhh Hailey its ok, come on" He said soothingly. He helped her out and picked her up into his arms. "Oh sweetie." Her mom said looking her. "Mommy…" Hailey said quietly. "Come on, let's get you inside." Mark said. He started heading back towards the house with Joanne following. "Urr…how do you know Hailey?" She asked curiously. "I'm a regular customer at her work." Mark replied carrying her inside. "Oh go up the stairs Mark and the third door on your left is her room." Joanne said. "Yep, thanks." Mark replied. He carried her up the stairs to her room. He walked in and laid her on the bed. Joanne followed and sat down next to Hailey. "Hunny, what happened?" Her mom asked looking at her swollen lip. "I was shutting up the shop when these kids came up and called me a…" Hailey stopped and looked at her mom. "It's ok, hunny you can say it." Her mom smiled. Hailey and her brother were not allowed to swear in there home. "Oh, they called me a bitch and I told them to leave me alone and a guy punched me and then started kicking me." She explained. Joanne grabbed Hailey's hands and rubbed her knuckles. "Oh how awful." She said disgusted. "What did you do it deserve it?" She asked. "I don't know, but if Mark didn't come too quick I could have ended up a lot worse." She said looking up at Mark. Mark smiled back at her. "Does Danny know?" Her mom asked. "Danny?" Mark said confused. "You know the owner of the diner were she works." Joanne explained. "Oh, she doesn't work at no diner." Mark replied. "Oh?" Her mom said looking confused at Hailey. Mark remembered how Hailey had told him about the reason she was working at the bar was to get out of being suspended. "Hailey, I think you should tell your mom the truth." Mark said looking at her with raised eyebrows. "What truth dear?" He mom asked. "Mum, I don't work at the diner." She said. "Oh, then were do you work then?" Her mom asked again. "I work at the biker bar a few doors down." She explained. "Oh I see." Her mom said. "It's not really a part time job either; it's a way out of being suspended from school." She said. "What? A way out of being suspended?" he mom said. 'Yeah." She said looking away. "Hailey Marie Jones you tell me what you did to nearly being suspended right now." Her mom said. Hailey gulped, she knew when her mom called her by her full name she was in trouble. "I wrote a letter to Principal Wilson as Courtney addressing it to Michelle, as I wanted to get them expelled." She explained. "Why did you want to get them expelled for?" Her mom asked. "Because they were always teasing me, and I was sick of it." Hailey answered. "Hailey, you just could have told me, and then we could have sorted it out." Her mom explained. "I don't think you would have believed me, so then Mr. Wilson said take this "Job" or a suspension would follow instead." She replied then started crying again. 'Oh Hunny." Her mom sighed and cuddled her. Mark could see that Hailey and her mom were close, he smiled at the thought. "Joanne? Are you home?" A voice called out to her downstairs. "Oh Hailey it's ya father." Her mom said to her. "Up here Kirk, in Hailey's room!" She called to him. Her dad walked up the stairs into Hailey's room and saw Mark standing near her bedside with Hailey on the bed and her mom next to her. He looked at Mark curiously, and Mark nodded his head to him. He then saw Hailey with a cut on her lip. "Oh, what happened here?" He asked. "I was in a fight daddy." Hailey said with a sad look on her face. "Oh but it's not like my little princess to be in a fight" He explained. "She didn't start it though." Mark spoke looking at him. He had Black hair with glasses too. Kirk looked at him "Oh, I see." He replied. "Hailey hunny, let me take a look at those ribs." Her mom said starting to lift Hailey's top up. "Kirk, Mark if you mind?" She said to the men. "If course dear." Kirk smiled at Joanne. "Yeah, no problems." Mark smiled at Hailey. They walked out of Hailey's room and Kirk closed the door. "Can I have a word with you downstairs?" her dad asked Mark. "Yeah, sure." Mark replied. They went downstairs into the kitchen. "So what exactly happened?" Her dad asked him. "Well I didn't see it start, but I saw a boy a little bit older than Hailey kicking her in the ribs, so I came over and broke it up, and punched the hell out of the guy." Mark explained. "You bet up a kid?" Kirk said with raised eyebrows. "Well the way I grew up I was taught that violence against women was wrong at any age." Mark explained to him. "Yeah, same too." Kirk smiled. Mark smiled slightly back. "Kirk Jones." Kirk said holding out his hand. "Mark Callaway." Mark said shaking it. "You have a sweet little girl up there Kirk, don't you forget that." Mark said to him looking into his eyes. "Thank-you, I could never forget." Kirk replied smiling. "You have my full trust, thank-you." Kirk said seriously. Mark nodded. Just then Joanne walked back into the kitchen. "Mark, Hailey wants to see you." She said smiling. "Oh ok." Mark said and started walking towards the stairs. "Oh Mark, Hailey had this in her hand." Joanne said giving him back his t-shirt. "Oh Thanks." He laughed. "Sorry about the blood, I can get you a new one?" Joanne asked. "Oh no, don't worry about it." He smiled and walked up the stairs. He walked into Hailey's room. He saw her lying on her bed. "Hey Hailey, you ok now?" He asked her sitting down. "Yeah, I have a few bruises on my stomach but I'm ok." She said. "Well as long as you don't have any on that pretty face, that's the main thing." He said smiling at her. "You think I'm pretty Mark?" she asked him. "Yeah Hailey I think your very pretty." He said taking her hand. She smiled back. "Thank- you for helping me." She said. "That's ok baby." He said. "Mark would you like to have dinner with me and my family tomorrow night?" She asked. "Well, I don't know…" He started. "Please Mark?" She said rubbing his hand. He looked down at her and saw her smiling, he smiled back, something about her made him smile. "Ok then." He replied. "Thank-you." She said again. Her mom walked in putting some clothes away in her draws. "Mom, I asked Mark if he wanted to have dinner here tomorrow night." She explained to her. "That's great hunny, you want to Mark?" She asked. "Yeah, sure." He replied. She smiled and walked out. He turned back to Hailey, "Well I better be going Hailey, I'll see ya tomorrow night." He said. "Ok." She smiled. "You take it easy I'll tell Andrew that you won't be in at work tomorrow." He explained. "Ok thank-you." She said and sat up and kissed him on the cheek. Mark smiled. "Thanks baby." He said rubbing her little nose together with his. She giggled. He sat up and walked towards the door. "Bye Hail's." He smiled. "Bye Mark." She smiled. He walked out of her room down the stairs. He saw her parents in the kitchen. "I'll see ya's tomorrow then." He said to them. "Yep, at 6 o'clock." Her mom smiled. Mark walked out of the front door towards his car.

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