22. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
I wish I was full of tacos instead of emotions.
Magnolia was still reeling from everything today and it was only one in the afternoon. She turned around in the front passenger seat to look at Lucas, who was on his phone as Ezra steered out of the parking lot.
“Did you at least get to take your final?” she asked. After being in the hospital, then the tense meeting with the principal, she simply wanted to sleep but that would come later.
Grinning, he nodded. “Aced it. That was awesome how you went at him like that,” he said, looking at Ezra, who was quietly driving.
Ezra simply lifted a shoulder. He’d been all calm about everything when she’d wanted to strangle the principal’s neck. That sneaky bastard. All he’d been concerned with was making sure nothing was made public, that the two boys from wealthy families didn’t face any blowback. And very likely he didn’t want the school to receive blowback. He hadn’t said one word to her about the young woman involved when she’d talked to him privately. He’d made it sound like two boys had simply gotten into a scuffle over a girl, but that everyone wanted to let it go since it was the holiday season. He’d made it sound like he was doing them a favor with a short suspension. Jerk was trying to cover his ass and the school’s ass.
Then he’d tried to backtrack in the office and say the only reason he hadn’t said anything about the young woman involved was that he couldn’t talk about a minor, but that was bullshit.
“Just so you know, Martina just texted me, said she’s headed down to the school with her mom. She’s on scholarship and I think that’s why Principal Merrick was trying to sweep this under the rug. Plus Conway’s parents donated a bunch of money to the solarium project.”
“Asshole,” she muttered. She didn’t care for the Beauregard family and this only added to it.
Lucas looked at her in surprise, likely because she’d probably cursed in front of him only one or two times in his life, then grinned. “Yep. She said her mom reached out to Camila after I gave her the detective’s number. Camila is going to meet them there to confiscate the phone and take her statement.”
“Good.” Magnolia nodded through her exhaustion. Getting potentially poisoned this morning then being called to her son’s school had not been on her bingo card this morning. “So…are you dating this girl?” she asked, hoping she sounded casual.
Lucas blinked. “No. And I don’t need to be dating someone or into them to do the right thing for them. What he was doing was wrong. Gross.”
“I know,” she said, reaching back and squeezing his knee. “And I’m so proud of you.”
He nodded, then frowned when he saw the little ID bracelet on her wrist. Crap, she’d forgotten to cut it off in the rush to get to the school. “Wait, what’s this? Were you at the hospital today?”
“Yes, but everything is fine. I had a bad reaction to mushrooms. Luckily Ezra was quick with the EpiPen and everything is totally fine.” She pulled her sweater sleeve down, silently cursing her mistake.
“You’re really careful about what you eat.”
“We think it was in some brownies, and intentional. The cops have sent the food to be tested,” Ezra murmured.
Magnolia knew that Ezra had also kept one brownie and tucked it away so his team could get it tested faster. She glared at him. “Really?”
“He has a right to know.” And Ezra sounded totally unapologetic about it .
Oooh, her feelings toward him were so complicated right now. She was grateful he’d taken over at the school today—and you know, saved her life!—but he was still maddening.
“I do have a right to know,” Lucas said from the back, indignant.
“Of course you do. I’m just exhausted,” she said, leaning back against the headrest. “And I won’t be talking about this anymore.” Sniffing, she closed her eyes and tried to tune everything out.
Her son was okay, not suspended, and now that Camila was involved, Magnolia knew she would handle the legal end of things. She also knew that the school mess likely wasn’t over and that there might be more fallout, but she couldn’t do anything about the situation now.
And if she was being honest with herself, she simply wanted to crash for a couple hours and block out the entire world.
“Your mom is okay,” Ezra continued. “And I’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”
Lucas sighed but she heard him mumble “Okay.”
She turned in her seat. “I really am proud of you. Truly. It’s hard to stand up to stuff sometimes, especially when others don’t agree with you.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I had a good teacher.”
She reached back, squeezed his knee once more before she sat back and closed her eyes again.