“You really think so?”
“I know so,” I said gently, clenching him tighter. “I screwed up too. Big-time. And what I did was a lot worse than yelling in her face when I was upset.”
“What did you do?” he whispered in shock.
“That’s not for you to know, bud. At least not now. You’re too young. All you need to know is I screwed up, and she forgave me. She’ll do the same for you.”
He went back to contemplating his shoes for several seconds before pulling in another breath. “All right,” he finally stated, breaking the silence that had filled the room. “I’m gonna apologize.”
Christ, this kid undid me. “That’s good. I’m glad.”
He pushed off the bed and started for the door, stopping once his hand was on the handle to look back at me. “Thanks, Cord,” he said in a voice so soft I had to strain to hear it.
Just like that, the burn in my gut was extinguished. “Any time, Zach. You ever need me, I’m here. I’ll always be here.”
And I could tell by the way his eyes began to shine that he believed me.
Rory
“I hate that kid,” I declared with quiet rage, staring at Cord’s naked chest.
When Cord had gone back into Zach’s room early that day, I hadn’t held out much hope that he’d break through. But to my surprise, when he came out a few minutes later, Zach was with him. And I was even more surprised—delightedly so—when Zach broke away from him and came up to me.
“I’m sorry, Rory,” he’d said in a soft, remorseful voice. “I never should’ve yelled at you like that. I was just… I was really mad. And I took it out on you.” His gaze met mine, and I saw it was swimming with regret. “I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m really sorry.”
Zach still shied away from affection, and I’d been careful with my hugs, but just then, I couldn’t hold back. I didn’t want to. Grabbing hold of his shoulders, I pulled him in to me and wrapped him in the biggest, tightest hug.
“It’s all right,” I croaked, my eyes growing watery. “It’s forgiven. Don’t think about it for another second.”
We lapsed into silence as I closed my eyes and basked in the moment. Eventually Zach said, “Uh, Rory? You’re kinda squishing me.”
“Deal with it. This is my moment, and I’m taking it.”
Cord chuckled as he came up beside me. “Christ, baby. You’re gonna smother him. Give him a break, yeah?”
“Just a few more seconds.”
“Cord,” Zach groaned miserably. “Help me.”
My man’s long fingers wrapped around my arms and forced me to disengage. “Okay, dollface, that’s good. You got your fill, now let the kid breathe.”
My face pulled into a severe pout, but I allowed Zach to escape and Cord to take his place. I snuggled in deep, breathing in and filling my lungs with the scent of cedar and musk and man.
Once that drama was out of the way, the three of us sat at my kitchen table and listened as Zach finally told us what had been going on the past few weeks. Specifically about the punk kid who’d been bullying him mercilessly. He made fun of my boy for being a foster child every opportunity he had, which was a lot since they were in most of the same classes. He told Zach no one wanted him, that he’d never be loved by anyone because he was so stupid and ugly that even his own parents didn’t want him. He’d sit behind him in class and spend the whole time kicking him under his seat. And he did and said all of these vile, nasty things when the teachers’ backs were turned so none of the adults had a clue what was going on, because my boy just sat there and took it.
Today, he’d finally had enough, so when the kid started picking on him on the bus, calling him orphan trash and smacking him in the back of the head, Zach finally had enough. He shoved the kid back. His punk friends then held Zach’s arms down while he punched Zach in the face. The bus driver stopped and broke it up but hadn’t bothered contacting any of the parents to inform us of what had happened.
By the time Zach finished telling us, I was positively seething. All I could see was red. I wanted to hunt this kid down and beat the holy hell out of him and his parents for raising such a little jerk. But I was the adult in this situation. I was responsible for raising Zach to be a good and decent human being, so I had to tamp down that rage and put on a brave face.
“Honey, I’m so sorry you’ve been dealing with this all by yourself,” I managed to get out in a calm tone. “But I’m glad you finally told me, and you can bet I’ll be having another word with your principal first thing tomorrow.”
“He’s not gonna do anything,” Zach mumbled, staring down at the table and scratching at the finish. “The jerk’s popular and gets away with everything because his parents are totally loaded.”
“We’ll just see about that,” I gritted out, reaching across the table and taking Zach’s hand in mine. “Money isn’t everything in this town, sweetie. Trust me. I’ve lived here all my life, so I know that for a fact. I’m gonna fix this, you have my word. But until I get this handled, you stay away from this boy, all right? At least as much as you’re able to until I can get the situation fixed, okay?”
“Yeah, Rory. Okay.”
After that, Cord and I both went out of our way to make the evening as pleasant as possible. We ordered Chinese takeout for dinner and ate it sprawled out in the living room as we binged several episodes of Stranger Things, a show I absolutely loved and had totally gotten Zach hooked on. After one episode, Cord was hooked too.
After dinner, I headed into the kitchen and made hot fudge sundaes for everyone, and we watched one last episode before it was Zach’s bedtime.
But my anger and frustration had eaten at me the entire evening.
Cord and I finally headed to bed not long after, and that brought us to now, lying cuddled up in my bed with me resting against him, my head on his chest, an arm hooked over his abs and my leg thrown over one of his, resting between his thighs.
“And I know that’s horrible to say. I mean, he’s just a child, but I really do hate him.”
“I’m not a big fan of the kid either.” Cord’s low baritone voice made his chest vibrate beneath my ear. “But we’ll get it all square.”
“We damn well better,” I muttered under my breath, causing him to tense his arm around me and hold me even closer.
“I promise. We will. But in the meantime….” Cord rolled and took me to my back, his eyes dancing as he hovered over me, using his knees to spread my legs wide so his hips could settle between them. “Why don’t I see about taking your mind off of it?”
A fire built deep in my belly, and my breasts instantly swelled. “Hmm.” I squirmed beneath him, arousal already dampening my panties. “You think you’re up for it?”
“Oh, baby.” He thrust against me, pressing his rock-hard erection against the most sensitive part of me and forcing a gasp from deep within my chest. “I’m definitely up for it.”
With that, his lips came down on mine in a hungry, passionate kiss, and he went about taking my mind off it.
And I had to say, he excelled at it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rory
I scrubbed furiously at the bar top, the rag in my hand drawing hard circles in the exact same spot over and over as I worked to temper my rage.
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t settle. That was because I’d called the school three times to speak with the principal about what I’d found out the evening before, and all three calls had gone unanswered. The messages I left had been ignored. It was now a quarter past one, well into the school day, and I hadn’t heard a word back.
“Calm, dollface,” Cord ordered gently, his hand coming out to halt mine. “Everything’s gonna be all right.
“Oh, it will be,” I growled, snatching my hand away to resume scrubbing. “It’ll be fine when I get that man removed from his job for being a complete and total asshole.”
I heard Eden’s giggle and looked up to where she sat across the bar, tucked int
I appreciated that he was trying to sooth me, but until I had my chance to lay into that incompetent principal, I knew there was no chance of that happening.
“You’ve gone all mama bear,” Eden pointed out, her smile radiating with approval. “It’s a good look on you, babe.”
“Not sure it’ll be such a good look when I’m arrested for beating that man unconscious,” I grumbled in return, making both Cord and Lincoln laugh. “I’m not joking,” I informed my man. “I’m dead serious. I don’t know what all you guys do at Alpha Omega, but I have a general idea, and I know you guys have connections, so just a heads-up, you’re probably gonna have to pull some strings to get me out of the clink.”
The humor remained on Cord’s face as he declared, “Dollface, first off, no one calls it the clink. Second, you get arrested, I’ll get you out. You don’t have to worry about that. But can you at least try to hold yourself back? At least until you’re a full-fledged foster parent?”
He had a point. Since my case had been fast-tracked, seeing as there were extenuating circumstances and Zach was already living with me, I’d made a lot of headway in my training classes, and my application had already been pushed through, but I wasn’t quite done yet.
“Fine,” I said on a sigh. “I won’t beat him up, but I reserve the right to give him a verbal lashing.”
“That, I can accept,” Cord decreed. “I’m actually looking forward to witnessing that.”
The phone in my back pocket began to ring and I whipped it out, looking at the display before muttering, “Looks like you’ll be getting that chance sooner than expected.” I engaged the call and lifted the phone to my ear. “It’s about time someone got back to me,” I clipped. “I’ve been calling all—”
“Miss Hightower,” Principal Jefferies broke in, “I’m afraid I’ll need you to come down to the school as soon as possible.”
“What? Why?”
“I have Zachary in my office. It would appear he’s beaten up another student.”
Well, son of a bitch.
“Stay with me, Rory,” Cord murmured from beside me, giving my hand a squeeze. “Just try and relax. It’s gonna be all right.”
I took the strength Cord was offering, letting it fill me up as I clenched his fingers with mine. We passed a sea of lockers and pushed through the door of the front office. A second later we were escorted into the principal’s office.
Seeing Principal Jefferies for the first time, I instantly disliked him. He was a short, rail-thin man with a heavily receding hairline and an unpleasant disposition. It was written all over his pinched face. I could read him like a book, and if that hadn’t been enough, I’d gleaned from our conversation the night before that he was one of those unhappy people who had no business working in a job with children for the simple fact that he didn’t seem to care much for them. And looking at him now, I could tell my assumptions had been right.
My eyes scanned through the rest of the room. In the back corner, seated on a dark leather sofa, was a woman clutching the shoulders of the blond boy sitting next to her. His face appeared to be in much the same condition as Zach’s, and I knew by his vicious sneer that this was the kid who’d been bullying my boy.
Ignoring everyone else, I disengaged from Cord’s hold and moved to where Zach was seated in one of the two straight-back chairs in front of the principal’s desk, crouching down low and resting a hand on his knee. “Hey, honey. Are you okay?”
My question seemed to take him aback, and his eyes went wide as his lips parted to issue a reply. But before he could, Principal Jefferies spoke. “Miss Hightower, if you wouldn’t mind, please take a seat.”
I pushed to my full height and gave the man a withering look. “I’ll take a seat after you tell me what’s going on.”
“What’s going on is that little hooligan beat up my son!”
I spun around to take in the woman on the couch. She was dressed in a trendy twinset, khaki ankle pants, and designer flats. A delicate string of gleaming pearls was wrapped around her neck, and the massive rocks on her finger and in her ears shined as if they’d just been polished. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a demure ponytail at the base of her neck, and her face was made up to absolute perfection. It was obvious by the quality of her clothes and her jewelry that she came from money, but it was the way she held herself, with her back rigid as a board, her ankles crossed primly, and the haughty tilt of her chin as she stared down her nose at me, even from her seated position, that told me she’d also let that money go to her head. She thought she was better than Zach and me.
And she thought wrong.
Ignoring her rude outburst, I looked back to the principal, feeling Cord come up to my side in solidarity, and issued a sharp “Well?”
“Mrs. Niedermeyer is correct, ma’am. Zachary was witnessed by two teachers striking Matthew in the face multiple times.”
I crossed my arms, cocked out a hip, and turned to face him fully. “And?”
“And?” Principal Jefferies asked in bewilderment and began to sputter “I… we… that is… the school’s policy on physical altercations is quite clear, Miss Hightower. Because of his actions, Zachary is suspended, effective immediately.”
“Oh, that’s not going to happen.”
“I—what?” the beady-eyed little man cried at the same time Mrs. Niedermeyer sucked in an affronted gasp.
With Cord’s heat at my back, his strength spurring me on, I gave my attention back to Zach and asked, “Is that the kid?”
He pulled his lips between his teeth, not out of shame or embarrassment or anger but to hide his smile as he nodded.
At his confirmation, I whipped back around to the principal. “You won’t be suspending Zach unless that boy”—I flung my arm in the punk kid’s direction—“is suspended as well.”
“Excuse me?” Mrs. Twinset yelped, but I didn’t have time for her.
“I called you yesterday to report that my boy had come home with a bloody nose and black eye. I called you again this morning, three times, all of those calls unanswered and my messages unreturned, to report to you that Zach had been attacked on the bus on his way home from school by this kid and his friends. Now, I understand this school has a policy against fighting, but it’s my understanding it also has a policy against bullying, something that has been happening to Zach on an alarmingly regular basis. I can imagine that today he finally had enough of being pushed around and—” I slapped my hands down on the desk and leaned closer to the small man—“he... pushed... back. Something I don’t blame him for one single bit. And I’ll be damned if I’ll allow him to be punished for defending himself when no one else would.”
“That’s ludicrous!” Mrs. Pearl Clutcher cried. “Your boy was clearly seen assaulting my son!”
“Because your kid’s a bully,” I shot back, pinning the woman with a vicious glare. “I know what he’s been saying to Zach, and they’re some of the most vile, despicable things I’ve ever heard, which leads me to believe that your son is nothing more than a mean kid. And looking at him now, I feel confident in saying he got what he deserved.”
“Miss Hightower, that’s quite enough,” Principal Chickenshit piped up. “Your ward—”
“My son,” I threw back. “You’ve disrespected my son enough, not only by not protecting him from the likes of pathetic schoolyard bullies but by treating him as the problem child when he was the victim, then punishing him when he did your job of defending himself. A word to the wise, Principal Jefferies. Don’t do it again, and that includes referring to him as my ward.”
He reached up and adjusted his ugly monochromatic tie before sallying forth. “Zachary was seen striking another student. I understand that you’re upset he had an altercation—”
“Is that what you call being pinned down by three other students while another one punches him in the face?”
He stopped to clear his throat at my glare. “Yes, well… I understand you’re upset, but as I was saying, there are no witnesses to that incident—”
“If you were to pick up the phone and answer a single one of my calls this morning, then you would know that the bus driver was most certainly a witness to this incident. When we spoke yesterday, you assured me that you would be investigating the matter. And since it appears you don’t take your job seriously, you’ll forgive me if I don’t have faith that your investigative skills will turn up anything of value. Therefore, I’ll be handling the situation on my own.”
Jefferies’s entire face blanched white at that, and he fell back into his chair, his throat bobbing on a heavy swallow.
“This is unbelievable!” Mrs. Spoiled Rich Bitch clipped, shooting to her feet. “That child is a menace! He shouldn’t be allowed in a public school. He should be carted off to one of those places for troubled kids. He’s a danger to all the other children here!”
I’d been as diplomatic as I possibly could during this sham of a meeting, but at the insults that woman had just hurled at Zach, I was officially done.
“Honey,” I said softly, barely containing my fury as I turned to Cord. “Do me a favor and take the boys outside for just a minute, would you?”
His eyes, which had been shining proudly, went soft as he murmured, “You got it, dollface.”
Zach instantly stood to follow him out, but the other boy, now looking nervous, stayed at his mother’s side as she sputtered incredulously. That was until Cord gave him a very unhappy look and prompted, “Let’s go.” Then he shot up and scurried out of the office.
Cord shot me a wink before closing the door behind them, and the minute it clicked into place, I spun back around on Principal Jefferies. “What I have to say to you will be quick, so I suggest you don’t interrupt. When I walk out of this room, I’ll be making some phone calls to very good friends of mine to voice my concerns about how you’re running this school and what I believe to be neglect of the children attending it. One of those friends is someone I’ve had the privilege of growing up with and who hasn’t missed a single one of my family’s Christmas parties in decades. She’s currently the superintendent of this district. The others are five members of the schoolboard who I see every week when we meet up for book club. I’m sure they’ll find your inability to return my phone calls regarding a student being physically assaulted just as upsetting as I do. A student, it just so happens, who has only recently been removed from an extremely dangerous, abusive home and is currently finding himself on a new path that he’s still unsure of. It’s unfortunate that you, as an adult and an educator, have rebuffed any attempt at making him feel welcome in your school and in doing so have broken what little trust he may have been building. The fact that you would call me in to inform me of Zach’s suspension for fighting after seeing the bruises on his face and not even bother questioning why the fight occurred in the first place is, quite frankly, disturbing. Your complete disregard for me and my child has proven that you aren’t fit for this position, and I’ll be making my feelings on that matter known.”
-->
