Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
CORD
Icould hear Rory raging from inside the moment I stepped onto the front porch, and when I pulled opened the screen door and twisted the knob to let myself inside, that rage grew even louder.
She was pacing the living room and ranting into the phone held to her ear. Instead of interrupting her, I decided my best course of action was to wait until she was finished.
“I’m telling you, my child came home today with a black eye and a bloody nose. That is unacceptable! And seeing as you’re the principal and you’re responsible for the well-being of these children, I want to know how you intend on handling this.”
I leaned my shoulders against the wall and watched with a growing sense of pride as she ripped the principal of Zach’s school a new one so brilliantly, I didn’t think the man would be able to sit for at least a week.
She went quiet and continued her pacing as she listened to whatever the man on the other end of the line was saying.
Then she stopped and barked out, “Yeah, you do that. And I expect to know what the outcome of your investigation is.” Another pause.
“Uh-huh.” Then “We’ll just see about that, won’t we? ”
Then she hung up and, with a sound akin to a growl, launched the phone across the room. Fortunately it hit the couch so it didn’t break.
“I take it that call didn’t go as you’d hoped.”
She spun around and glared, but through it, I could see the pain written all over her face.
“He won’t talk to me about it,” she clipped, throwing her arm out and pointing in the general vicinity of Zach’s bedroom.
“And the principal doesn’t have a goddamn clue what’s going on.
So all I know at this point is that my boy’s been beaten up.
I don’t know by who, I don’t know where it happened, and I don’t know why, so I can’t fix this for him and make everything better! ”
Tears of frustration formed in her eyes and immediately started falling down her cheeks.
I pushed off the wall and went to her, wrapping her up tight in my arms as she struggled to calm her breathing.
“Okay, dollface. It’s all right. It’s gonna be just fine,” I said softly, hoping to god I could soothe her, because I hated her seeing so distraught.
She looped her arms around my waist, holding on to me just as tightly as she pulled in a deep, calming breath. “I just want him to be okay,” she whispered a minute later. “I want him to be happy and have a good life.”
I removed one arm from around her and placed my fingers beneath her chin to tip her face up to mine. “He already has a good life, baby. You made it that way.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and shook her head.
When she finally looked back at me, shadows darkened her beautiful blue eyes.
“God, Cord. You should’ve heard that guy.
He was so condescending. He actually asked me if Zach started the fight.
Can you believe that? The principal of a school!
One of his students is being beaten up, and his first instinct was to blame him!
It’s like he’s not as important as the rest of the kids because he’s a foster child. I hate that guy.”
I did too, and at that moment, all I wanted to do was track him down and beat the shit out of him. But after witnessing Rory’s outburst, it was clear that I had to remain the levelheaded one this time around.
“Let me try talking to Zach, see if I can get him to tell me what’s going on.”
She inhaled deeply, casting her gaze over my shoulder as she nodded. “Yeah, okay. That’s a good idea. And while you do that, I’m gonna have a glass of wine.”
My lips stretched into a grin. “Okay, honey.”
“A big one. Maybe even two.”
“Do what you gotta do, Rory.”
I leaned in and gave her a kiss and one last squeeze before letting her go and moving down the hall to Zach’s room.
I rapped my knuckles on the door and waited for his permission before twisting the knob and stepping inside.
The second my eyes landed on his face, that fire that had been burning in my gut exploded as if gasoline had just been tossed onto it.
I had to clench my jaw against the need to rage, knowing it wouldn’t do anything but terrify him.
“She still mad?” Zach asked as soon as I closed the door behind me.
“She’s upset, yeah,” I answered, moving to his bed and sitting down on the side of it. He pushed away from the headboard and scooted down to sit next to me, his little legs dangling beside my longer ones. “But can you really blame her? You came home bruised and bloodied. She hated seeing that.”
He hung his head, staring at the toes of his shoes as he muttered, “She’s been yellin’ for a while. She didn’t sound upset. She sounded pissed.”
I didn’t bother correcting him on his language.
That was something I’d leave up to Rory.
Truth was, my vocabulary was a lot worse when I was Zach’s age, so it didn’t bother me the way it did her.
“Yeah. She’s pissed. She called the school and didn’t feel like they were doing all they should to protect you, so she made her unhappiness about the situation known. ”
He whipped his head up, his eyes big. “She was yellin’ at someone from the school?”
“Your principal.”
“Wow,” he breathed in wonder, looking straight ahead.
“She’s fierce when it comes to the people she cares about, Zach, and she cares about you a great deal. You’re important to her, and if something bad is happening to you, she’ll fight tooth and nail to put a stop to it.”
His chest rose as he pulled in a deep breath, and once he let it out, his shoulders slumped. “I yelled at her,” he said quietly, his tone full of contrition. “She just wanted to know what happened to me, and I yelled right in her face. I shouldn’t have done that.”
Lifting an arm, I wrapped it around his shoulders and pulled him closer so we were side to side. “No, you shouldn’t have. But we all do things we regret when we’re upset. It isn’t the end of the world, bud. You’ll go out there, and you’ll apologize.”
He looked up at me, panic filling his brown eyes. “But… what if she doesn’t—”
“She will,” I cut in. “She’ll forgive you, kid. Don’t ever doubt that for a second. She’ll forgive you because you mean something to her. That’s what people who care about each other do.”
“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 snapped.
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.