Kevlar to My Vest

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I thought about the question before I explained with all honesty. “Well, I feel that the department could vastly improve. Right now we see anywhere from four to eight students an hour, most there for help during tests. Leona has been a super help. I feel that the SE department would do much better if we had some sort of...bonding exercises. There’s still a huge gap between the two schools, and I have no clue how to bridge it. Sandra doesn’t like me because I took her job, and those that were under her at the other school follow her lead.”

  Ronald was new to the school. The two schools decided that they’d hire out of either school system for the right person for the job. The two previous principals had retired, not wanting to fight what they saw was inevitable when the two schools merged, making it possible to out-source the job.

  Ronald had been in the public school system for nearly thirty years, starting out as a history teacher after his stint in the marines, and moving up the chain of command from there. He was an excellent principal, and all the students loved him.

  Even both sets of teachers from the opposing schools.

  “Okay,” he nodded. “I understand how that could be a problem. I’ll be having a talk with Sandra. From there, I’d like you to plan out your retreat, and I’ll mandate the teachers to attend to count as their continuing education. Win-win for all parties!”

  His smile was infectious, and I smiled back at him in return.

  “I’ll get right on that, Ronald.” I answered.

  “How’s the new baby doing? Did your sister get the flowers I sent from the administrative office?” He asked.

  I nodded my head. “Yes, she called to tell me they were beautiful. Saylor is doing wonderful. She was seven pounds even when she was born.” I beamed.

  Adeline had called early this morning to tell me she’d gotten zero sleep, and that she needed some caffeine. I’d told her to wake her lazy husband up, but she’d refused and told me he’d stayed up the entire night with them.

  Although I’d thought it was nice of him, I still didn’t feel bad for calling him minutes after hanging up with my sister to tell him Adeline needed coffee.

  I was on the way to work and he was just lying there. It was time to get used to it. Babies were one hell of a commitment, and being sleep deprived was only one of the new responsibilities they’d have.

  Although I did promise to sneak a beer in my purse when I came to check on them later.

  “Excellent. All right, well you brainstorm on what you’d like to do, and get back to me.” He said standing and holding the door open for me.

  As I walked out of the office, I thought long and hard about what to do with Sandra and her inability to pass my messages along.

  In the end, I decided that maybe I should just wait to say anything. It really wasn’t a hanging sentence what she’d done, so I would give her another chance. I wasn’t a total shrew, but if she kept it up, I damn sure wouldn’t let her get away with it.

  After three more stressful hours at work, I decided to stop early since my head was pounding. Not to mention that my eyesight had dwindled down to just barely twenty-five percent.

  Sandra had been even more of a rude cow than usual. Thankfully, it was my slow day, so I was able to get out of there with minimal juggling of my workload.

  Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I called Trance only for it to end up going straight to voicemail.

  The same went for Adeline and Kettle.

  Then, I called the cab company only to find out that the two usual cabs were both busy on assignments and couldn’t come pick me up, which led me to either stay here or walk.

  Sandra chose that moment to start bitching about how I was doing my reports incorrectly, which made the decision for me.

  “Leona, honey, I’m going to go early. I’m not feeling well. I’ll be back tomorrow, though, okay?” I said as I started shoving my things into my bag.

  Leona looked over at me worriedly, but the small smile I sent her seemed to appease her concern, and she waved as I exited the CE rooms.

  I was surprised to see Falco in the parking lot when I finally made it out the front door. Falco was on work program, which allowed him to leave half way through the day to go to work.

  “Hey, Falco. What are you still doing here?” I asked.

  The bells that signaled the end of third period had rung nearly ten minutes ago, and the work programmers didn’t waste any time high tailing it out of the parking lot, regardless of whether they actually had to go to work or not.

  “My truck won’t start. Again.” Falco sighed.

  “Well, that just sucks.” I said sincerely.

  “Yeah, looks like I’m going to be walking to work today.” He groaned as he turned and headed in the direction of the guard shack and front gate.

  “Where do you work again?” I asked as I fell in step beside him.

  He looked at me curiously, but didn’t protest my company.

  “I work at a pattern shop off of Highway 80.” He said.

  The guard wasn’t in the shack that checked the comings and goings of the traffic, so we sidestepped the gate and proceeded walking down the paved road.

  “That’s not too far, is it?” I asked.

  “No, about a mile or so. Why are you walking with me?” He blurted.

  I giggled and asked, “Sterling Patterns?”

  At his nod, I continued. “I’m in need of a ride myself, but no one is picking up their phones. I believe The Dixie Wardens have a clubhouse around that area, correct?”

  “Uh, yeah. A couple blocks down from there. At the dead end.”

  “Excellent. I’ll just walk with you then, and then I’ll head on to the clubhouse. Maybe I can find a ride there.” I said, happy that I’d come up with a workable plan.

  It was only lunchtime, and there was no way I was waiting another two hours for Trance to come pick me up.

  We walked in companionable silence, and I was struck anew with how good of a person Falco was. He was everything I would hope for in a teenager. Strong, courteous, caring. He worked his butt off. Got good grades.

  “You ready for the football game on Friday?” I asked to break the silence.

  He smiled down at me.

  Did I mention he was a handsome young man that made all the young girls swoon?

  His smile was killer, and made him never run short of female company. It didn’t hurt that he was the running back for the football team, either.

  “Yeah, I think we are. Why, are you coming?” He asked.

  “I was asked by Jade to come. She said that the homecoming was the best one to come to.” I explained.

  Falco snorted. “Yeah, it is. We’re playing Kilgore. They’re one of our biggest rivals.”

  “As in Kilgore, Texas? You play a team a state away?” I asked in surprise.

  He shrugged, hefting his bag further on his shoulder. “Yep. They used to be 2A like us, but they raised districts, and now they’re 3A. We still play them in scrimmages at the beginning of the season and at our homecoming game. It always turns out to be a really good game.”

  “Well that’s nifty. I’ve been here how many years now, and I haven’t heard about it.” I joked.

  He laughed. “Jade’s a nice girl. She probably didn’t realize you couldn’t watch the game. She likes you though, with how you helped her pass her TAKS test last year.”

  I looked over at Falco, studying him. “You’ve got a crush on her.”

  He shrugged, but then grabbed my hand and gently moved me out of the way of a pothole I hadn’t seen, before releasing my hand and answering. “Yep. She’s got a thing for the quarterback, though.”

  I grimaced. That sucked. I couldn’t place right off hand who the quarterback was, but I knew for certain that Falco was a good man, and would be excellent for one of my other favorite students, Jade.

  My phone chose that moment to ring in my pocket, and I looked down to see the cab company’s number.

  Ignoring it, I shoved it back into m
y pocket and walked another half a mile before we arrived at Falco’s shop.

  “Thank you for accompanying me, Falco. I’ll see you Friday, okay?” I said, patting him on the shoulder before continuing on my way.

  “You too, Ms. Sheffield!” He called back at me.

  I tossed him a smile over my shoulder, waving. “Have a good day.”

  I’d never actually been inside the clubhouse before. I was a little nervous at what I’d find.

  I’d gone with Trance the day I’d gotten my new phone, but I’d stayed in the car and spoke to my sister while he’d gone inside.

  Rounding the street that ran alongside the clubhouse, I cut through the grass to the parking lot, and knocked softly on the front door.

  There were bikes in the parking lot, but I still didn’t know Trance’s well enough to say if he was there or not. I did know that someone was there, though, and that’s all that mattered.

  I studied the lettering on the front door as I waited for someone to answer.

  After another couple of minutes of nobody answering, I tried the knob, and was relieved to find it unlocked.

  Pushing through the door, I was surprised to see just a large space.

  It resembled a bar of sorts, but there were sofas and couches interspersed periodically throughout the room.

  What did surprise me was the ass poking out of the shirt that was straddling someone.

  Turing my head so I could see more clearly through my limited vision, I found the woman topless with her blue jean skirt riding up over her ass, exposing her underwear that disappeared in between the globes of her butt.

  I couldn’t make out who was on the bottom, but there were only so many men in the city of Benton who had a dog that answered to Radar.

  Through a slight haze, I felt my rational thought depart from the cognitive abilities of my brain.

  With a haze of red covering my limited vision, I took off, grabbing Tillie by the hair and yanking her back by the extensions.

  Tillie cried out in pain, but I didn’t stop there.

  I punched the stupid slut over and over again.

  On the second hook of my arm, I felt the bone in her nose break, making a nice crunching sound. The third a spatter of blood squirted from her nose, and by the fourth, I was unaware of what I was doing.

  Tillie was wailing like a drama queen, but I didn’t care. She was on top of Trance, and Trance was freakin’ mine! There was no excuses, unless she was performing CPR, but even then, I’d think someone else would’ve been in the room.

  “What is going on here?” A voice bellowed from in front of me.

  I didn’t stop in the introducing of my fist to Tillie’s face, though. Instead, I grabbed her by the hair to hold her immobile seeing as she kept turning her face away from my punches. Then proceeded to hold her still while I got a better hit in.

  A strong arm looped around my waist, pulling me into that of a big ass body. I wasn’t surprised to find myself in Miller’s arms, but I was surprised he was trying to keep me away from that bitch. Particularly since he was the one to tell me to fight for what I wanted.

  My arms were wind milling with no effect, so I used the next weapon in my arsenal. Words.

  “You stupid bitch, if you don’t keep your hands off my man, I’ll fucking kill you. Do you understand me?” I shrieked.

  I knew I was being irrational, but I couldn’t help it. My mind was taken over by the territorial bitch inside of me, and I couldn’t control her when she was like that.

  Tillie was being helped up by Silas...well more like dragged since he got her around the arm and yanked her up.

  “He was fucking mine before he was yours. If he wanted you, he’d have been with you.” She whined nasally.

  I glared at her. “Fuck you. I have a goddamn job. Unlike you. What do you even do here all day, anyway? Fuck for a living? I bet you offer your body to them just for a little spending money. You wanna know what that’s called, sweetheart? Yeah, it’s called being a mother fuckin’ whore!”

  She shrieked loudly and tried to launch herself at me, claws first, but Silas’ reflexes showed to be much quicker, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and holding her still

  “Honey, no matter what you saw, it wasn’t Killian’s fault. He was attacked at your apartment earlier, and we brought him back here so we could figure out what the hell to do.” Foster said as he stepped in front of me.

  I turned my head until I could see Trance fully, and found him still on the couch, only he wasn’t moving, or reacting to the altercation at all. Well, trying being the operative word. He was very much awake now, but he definitely wasn’t feeling good. In fact, his eyes were already turning black, his eyes looked a bit out of it, and he looked like utter shit.

  I gasped and squirmed out of his hold until I dropped down on my knees beside Trance’s face.

  “Oh, baby.” I said running one finger down his jaw.

  He winced at the light touch.

  “I’m sorry.” He rasped.

  “For what?” I asked in concern.

  “Tillie. I was asleep.” He groaned.

  I smiled at him. “It’s okay, honey. I know how she is. Adeline told me all about her.”

  He let out a relived breath, and then passed back out into his drug-induced haze.

  “What happened?” I asked in concern.

  “Doc said he has a concussion. Should be fine in a couple of days, but I poured a ground up pain pill in his shot of whiskey earlier. He passed out shortly after.” Foster said from the arm of the couch where he was sitting.

  “What reason did they have to attack him?” I asked worriedly.

  Grim faces followed that statement, and I got a very, very bad feeling I wasn’t going to like what they had to say.

  Chapter 11

  Sisters are like fat thighs…they stick together.

  -Viddy to Adeline

  Viddy

  Phone ringing, I walked out of Trance’s room, and into the hallway so I wouldn’t disturb his sleep.

  The poor man had been hit on the head while going back to get dressed at my apartment.

  Apparently, Trance had parked near a panel van belonging to a cable TV provider. He’d seen the man bent into the back of the van sorting through tools, and hadn’t been paying attention to the other car he’d parked next to.

  He heard the car door opening, but he was already stepping onto the curb to head into my apartment when he was hit from behind with a piece of firewood.

  The man working out of the van heard the commotion, but only found Trance on the ground with the piece of wood on the concrete next to him.

  He’d then called 911 and Sebastian had been the one to pick him up.

  While in the ambulance, Trance had come to and refused transport to the hospital, so they’d taken him to the clubhouse instead.

  Somehow, during the commotion, the person who’d been in the car had slipped away. Which was later found out to be stolen.

  “Hello?” I answered quietly.

  “Viddy?” Adeline sobbed. “I need you.”

  I didn’t question her, instead I went back into the bedroom and slipped into my tennis shoes with no socks, walking back out into the living room to stand next to Foster’s chair before I answered.

  “I’ll be there in a few. Same room?” I confirmed.

  “Yes,” she said desperately. “Please hurry.”

  When I hung up, I looked at Foster who was staring back at me with a raised brow. “I need a ride.”

  ***

  “What’s the outlook here?” I asked the pediatrician who was standing at the foot of Adeline’s bed.

  Adeline was holding the baby to her chest with tears leaking down her cheeks in torrents.

  “Well, I’ve set up an appointment with a specialist for Friday. However, until she’s seen at that appointment, there’s not much more I can tell you. Overall, she’s a perfectly healthy little girl. She just didn’t respond well to the hearing test.” The docto
r explained.

  Kettle was sitting on the chair beside the bed with his hands buried in what little hair he had at the top of his head. Adeline’s face was closed off, as if she didn’t know what to think, and Dixie was sitting in the corner of the room, having arrived just after me.

  Dixie was one of my favorite people in the world. One of the oldest members of The Dixie Wardens, he was one of the co-founders. Hence the name.

  When I first met him, he’d introduced himself as Dixie Normus, grabbing my hand and shaking it rapidly. My sister had explained to me that Dixie nearly resembled Santa Claus, only in black leather. And he sure as hell did now that I could see him with my own eyes.

  “Thank you, Doctor.” I said quietly and held the door open for him.

  I walked to my sister’s bed and pulled her head into my chest. “It’s all right, honey. You don’t have a definitive diagnosis yet, so you haven’t a clue where this is going to lead.”

  Dixie, who’d followed me over, sat on the edge of the bed. “Let me hold that girl.”

  Adeline gave Saylor over reluctantly, but then giggled. “So has she been naughty or nice?”

  Kettle snorted and finally looked up. His eyes were grave and hard and etched with worry.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This baby is perfect, and that’s all that matters.” Dixie said softly, running a pudgy finger down Saylor’s cheek.

  Something in Kettle’s eyes seemed to change when he heard Dixie’s declaration, and when next he blinked, all of his doubt was gone. In its place was resolve and love.

  I nodded at him and he gave a small smile back at me before standing and moving to the edge of Adeline’s bed, curling her into his side.

  I moved my gaze from them, feeling like I was intruding on their moment, and instead settled my eyes on Dixie.

  “You’re good with her.” I observed.

  He smiled. “I have four kids, ten grandkids, and one great grandkid. I know my way around these babies.”

  I looked at him closer, and noticed he still wore a wedding ring, even though I’d seen him with women that were most definitely not his wife, seeing as they were a third of his age.