WITSEC

Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Keelan and Knox showed up right before Gabe’s parents did. Mr. Morgan took Gabe and his parents into his office first. We could hear Gabe’s mother yelling from behind the closed door. Colt was quietly explaining to Knox and Keelan what had happened while I paced, unable to sit still. This was all my fault. I should have gone to the office instead. I needed to find a way to fix this somehow.

I still had a towel wrapped around my drenched dress. Colt and Creed had been provided swim team shirts from their coach to wear with their swim trunks.

“Shi, it’s going to be alright. Just sit down, please,” Creed pleaded.

I paused my pacing to argue, but Mr. Morgan's office door swung open and Gabe’s mother came storming out with Gabe and his father right behind her.

She stopped in front of where the guys were sitting and sneered down at them. “We’ll be pressing charges.”

When she went to leave, I stepped in front of her. “If you’re going to be pressing charges, then so am I,” I threatened, channeling Shayla. “Your son grabbed me and threw me in the pool. That’s battery. I don’t know what his motive was, but this isn’t the first time he’s tried to hurt me. He shoved me in the gym a month ago and there were many witnesses. I wonder what a judge will make of that. He also groped my breast when he grabbed me today. So I’ll be going after him for sexual assault as well.” I looked at Gabe. “Good luck getting into a decent college with that on your record.”

“Whoa, now,” Gabe’s father said, stepping closer.

Knox got to his feet and came to stand behind me.

Gabe’s father looked up at Knox, taking in his giant build before his gaze dropped back to me. “Let’s talk about this,” he said, sounding a little nervous. “I’m sure we can find a way to settle things amicably.”

“Henry!” Gabe’s mother hissed. “The little bitch is bluffing.”

I took all of her in. Her hair was big, her makeup was heavy, and her clothes were too young for her. Her handbag told me all I needed to know. The label read Louis Vuitton, but it was a knockoff. I could tell from the stitching. This woman was trying to look like she had money.

“I come from money and a lot of it. I will get the best lawyer money can buy and I will take you to court for however long it takes. Lawyers charge a lot of money by the hour. I can afford it. Can you?” I asked.

Insinuating that she was poor only made her red in the face, but I was really talking to her husband. He seemed to be the reasonable one at the moment.

“What can we do to resolve this?” he asked.

“Henry!” his wife hissed again.

“Shut up, Connie!” Henry snapped. “Gabe admitted to throwing her in the pool and the principal said they caught it all on the school’s security cameras. An assault charge could fuck up his future, especially a sexual assault charge.”

“If you promise not to press any charges against Creed, I won’t press charges either,” I said.

“Shiloh, don’t,” Creed said, standing.

I refused to look away from Henry. “It’s my deal to make.”

Henry nodded. “We’ll agree to that.”

Connie huffed and stomped out of the office. Gabe walked past me next. “This isn’t over, bitch,” he threatened.

“Gabriel!” Henry barked.

Knox moved me behind him. “It better be, because we’ll be getting a copy of today’s footage of the pool. If you touch her again, it’ll be the first thing she’ll hand off to her lawyer to use against you.”

Henry grabbed Gabe by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out of the office.

My shoulders slumped with relief.

“Now that’s settled, Creed, can you and your guardians please come into my office?” Mr. Morgan asked from where he stood by his door watching us.

Keelan and Knox followed Creed into Mr. Morgan’s office. I sat in the chair next to Colt. He took my hand in his and we waited.

About a half hour later, the guys came out. All of them looked a little defeated. “What happened?” I asked.

“I’m suspended for two weeks,” Creed answered.

My mouth dropped open. “Wait here,” I said and stormed past them into Mr. Morgan’s office.

“Two weeks?” I said a little loudly.

Mr. Morgan looked up from his desk. “Miss Pierce, why don’t you shut the door and take a seat?”

I didn’t move. “Did Gabe get the same punishment?”

Mr. Morgan laced his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. “He was suspended.”

I narrowed my eyes at the way he said that. “But not for two weeks?”

He didn’t confirm or deny it. With all the yelling Gabe’s mother had done in here, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d threatened Mr. Morgan into giving Gabe a lesser punishment.

I shook my head. “That’s unfair and you know it.”

“We have a zero?—”

“Tolerance for violence policy, I know,” I finished for him. After I’d had to serve lunch detention for defending myself against Amber, I’d read up on the school’s policies. “The policy states that you have to punish the student, but it doesn’t state the severity of the punishment. It’s at your discretion.”

“That is true,” he confirmed.

What would my parents do in this situation? Shayla had always gotten into trouble. She’d been caught smoking weed behind the bleachers. She’d keyed a student’s car after they’d insinuated that I’d already been screwing Mr. X and when he’d been caught trying to rape me, I’d thrown Mr. X under the bus to save myself. She’d also smashed a girl’s face into the basketball court after the girl had said Shayla looked fat in her cheerleading uniform. To be honest, Shayla had been a Cassy and my dad had made a lot of donations to our school to keep her from getting into any serious trouble.

“Lower his punishment to two weeks lunch detention and I’ll make a generous donation to the school.”

He huffed a laugh. “Are you bribing me, Miss Pierce?”

“I’ll donate ten thousand dollars,” I said. “I wasn’t lying when I told Gabe’s parents I came from money.”

His eyes widened a little. “Miss Pierce?—”

“Twenty thousand,” I upped. “As I was looking at schools in this area to attend, I saw that you were trying to raise money to get new computers for the school’s computer lab. Twenty thousand dollars could help you reach that goal a lot faster.”

He was quiet for a minute and I could tell he was debating it.

“I could bring you a check first thing tomorrow morning,” I added.

“Two weeks lunch detention, the donation, and he’s also off the swim team for the next two weeks,” he countered.

“Deal.”

He gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Will you please take a seat now? I want to get your statement of what happened today. I heard your tires were slashed?”

I sat and began telling him everything that had happened. As we were talking, he informed me that he would be investigating the locker room incident and see if they’d caught the person responsible for slashing my tires on camera.

“We don’t have a lot of cameras on campus, but there is one pointed at the student parking lot,” he told me.

After we were done talking, Mr. Morgan followed me out of his office. The guys were waiting where I’d left them.

“Mr. Stone,” Mr. Morgan said, looking at Creed. “Your punishment has changed. You’ll be serving two weeks lunch detention and you’re suspended from the swim team for two weeks. If any of you have any questions, you know where to find me.”

I scooped up my wet backpack from the floor next to where Colt was sitting. Knox shook Mr. Morgan’s hand, and we left the school admin office. As soon as we were outside, Creed got in front of me. “What did you do, Shi?”

“Yeah, how did you get Mr. Morgan to lessen his punishment?” Colt asked.

I sighed. “I just reasoned with him.”

They both frowned at me.

“Can we please just go home? I’m tired, wet, and I need to call a tow truck or something for my car. No, wait. I can’t call because both of my cell phones are ruined from my trip into the pool. I don’t have my car to go get replacements, either. Which means I don’t have a way to check in with Logan tonight.”

Keelan came forward, put his hands on my shoulders, and leveled his gaze with mine. “I already called a tow truck and they picked up your car while you were talking with the principal. After we get home and you get dry, I’ll take you to get however many new phones you need.”

I sagged against his touch. “Thank you.”

“Why don’t you two go get your stuff and we’ll meet you at home?” Knox said to the twins. Colt and Creed agreed and left for the boys’ locker room.

Keelan took my bag from me and the three of us headed for the parking lot. Keelan’s Jeep was parked in the spot next to where my 4Runner had been parked. Once we were on the road, heading home, I remembered the class I was supposed to help Keelan teach. From the back seat I read the time on Keelan’s dash. The class should have started a half hour ago. “Keelan, I’m so sorry about today’s class. Not only did I miss it, but it’s my fault you missed it, too.”

“It’s okay, baby girl,” he said as he pulled into our neighborhood. “I was able to get a couple of other instructors to cover today’s class.”

That was good. The car went quiet again, but as we were about to turn into their driveway, Knox spoke. “I know what you did, Shiloh.”

“What?” I asked. He had been quietly staring out the side window the entire drive.

He turned in his seat to face me. “You paid to get Creed’s suspension brought down to lunch detention.”

I looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The door was open. I heard everything,” Knox said.

Keelan shifted his Jeep into park and looked at Knox. “How much?”

“Twenty thousand,” Knox answered.

“Holy fuck.” Keelan gaped.

“Where are you getting that kind of money?” Knox asked me.

“I told you my family left me money,” I said.

Knox shook his head. “You said you bought your house with your parents’ life insurance money.”

“I did. That’s what I choose to live off of because I have to, not because I want to. I don’t like to touch my family’s money,” I explained.

“Why?” Keelan asked.

I chewed on my lip as I debated how honest I wanted to be. “The only reason I have it is because they’re dead and the reason they’re dead is because of me.”

Keelan reached out to touch my hand. “Shiloh, no?—”

I moved out of his reach. “It’s true. Today was my fault, too, and I did what I could to fix it.”

Knox made a frustrated noise and climbed out of the car. Keelan and I watched him as he rounded the vehicle, coming to our side.

“I’m tempted to lock my door,” I joked.

“Please don’t. My car will suffer for it,” Keelan said as my door was ripped open.

“You’re a royal pain in the ass, you know that?” Knox raged at me. “You need to stop being so hard on yourself. Mr. X is a psychotic bastard who developed an obsession with a young girl he had no business even looking at. You are not responsible for what he did to you and your family. He is. You did nothing wrong then and you’ve done nothing wrong today.”

He was quite literally chastising me for doing the same thing I had talked to the twins about earlier today regarding Cassy.

“Creed had accepted his suspension because at the end of the day it was his choice to pummel that little fucker. If I had been there, that punk would have gone home in a wheelchair because he should have never put his hands on you.”

My mouth opened but I had no words.

“Did you only offer the money to Mr. Morgan because you felt guilty?” Knox asked. “If so, don’t you dare pay it.”

“No, that’s not the only reason I did it,” I said.

“Then why?”

“You know why,” I shot back.

“Tell me anyway.”

“Why must you be a pushy jerk?” I snapped.

“I’m only pushy when it comes to you,” he snapped back.

“That makes me feel so special,” I said caustically.

Keelan sighed and climbed out of the car. “I swear I’m going to lock the two of you in a room together until you hash out whatever is going on between you.” He shut his door and went inside their house.

I looked up at Knox. “Can I get out now? I need to shower.”

“Not until you tell me.”

Cheese and rice . He infuriated me. “Fine.” I slid across the bench seat and exited the car from the other side.

He slammed the Jeep’s door. “Very clever, Shiloh.”

I thought so.

He met me as I rounded the Jeep. “Why can’t you just answer the damn question?”

“Why do I need to? You made your point. I offered that money to protect Creed—to protect his academic future. I know he doesn’t know what he wants to do right now, but having a suspension on his academic record will limit his options when he does decide. I would have offered a lot more if I’d had to because he’s important to me. You all are. But you already know that because I’ve told you that before.”

“Then how come it’s okay for you to protect us but it makes you feel guilty when we do the same?”

I walked around him. “I told you why I felt guilty today.”

He followed me. “I’m not just talking about today. It’s a battle anytime we want to do something for you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grumbled as I dug around my wet backpack for my keys.

“Keelan offered to train with you for free, but you couldn’t just accept it, and he had to give you a job so that you’d be comfortable with it,” he pointed out and picked up his pace so he could cut me off before I reached the steps leading up to my front door. “The twins had to argue to bring you home after Gabe hurt you the first time. And what about the swing that’s been sitting on your back porch waiting to be built? You have yet to ask any of us for help. We don’t even charge you a membership fee to our gym anymore and we haven’t told you because you’d fight us about it.”

“What?” I hadn’t even noticed. “When did you stop charging me?”

“Of course that’s all you heard,” he muttered.

“What is your point, Knox?”

“I think it scares you.”

His words knocked my soul on its butt. I walked around him again, trotted up the steps, and unlocked my front door.

“You have nothing to say because you know I’m right,” he said from behind me.

“Yeah, well, I’m still mad that you kissed me,” I shot over my shoulder and went inside.

He followed me. “We’re not talking about that right now.”

I whirled around to face him. “Why, because it’s not something you want to talk about?”

He let out a frustrated sigh. “I want to know why it scares you to rely on us.”

“Because it just does,” I admitted, just as frustrated.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t know how to French braid my hair,” I blurted.

He blinked at me. “What?”

“My mom always used to French braid my hair. It’s what she did if I was ever upset or stressed. She’d start off by running her fingers through my hair to help calm me and when she could tell I was feeling better, she’d braid my hair. I never learned to French braid my hair because I thought I’d always have my mom around to do it.” My voice broke and I had to pause to find the strength to continue on. “I’m terrible at putting nail polish on my right hand. Shayla would always help me. And my dad…” My eyes began to burn, and I had to look up at the ceiling to regain my composure. “My dad was who went with me to see the newest Marvel or DC movie that had released and who I would yell for when there was a spider.”

Knox was quiet as he listened.

“Every day I find something new that reminds me that I don’t have them anymore and it’s a living hell. So when the four of you try to do something for me or help me, it scares me sometimes. Not all the time but sometimes. And it’s not the stuff that you do, but how I feel when you do it. I feel happy and not alone. I honestly love it, but I know how easy it is to have all that ripped away. That fear overwhelms me.”

“We’re not going anywhere, Shiloh,” he said softly.

“There are other ways to lose people you care about,” I pointed out. Not that I needed to. He knew. I saw the understanding in his eyes.

“After my dad died, I felt that way for a very long time,” he admitted. “It scared me to death when the twins wanted to get their driver’s licenses. But living in fear isn’t living.”

I nodded. “I know. I’ve been trying to get past it because I won’t be able to move on if I don’t. So please be patient with me.”

His shoulders slumped. “You don’t even have to ask.”

“Are you sure about that?” I asked with an incredulous look. “You’ve been up my butt about all this since Keelan put the car in park.”

His signature frown returned. “That’s because I wanted to understand what was going on with you and instead of answering like a normal person, you had to be a pain in the ass about it.”

I ground my teeth together to keep myself from exploding. “I’m going to go take a shower now.” My tone was pleasant, yet I was hitting him repeatedly with a stick in my head. “Lock the door when you leave,” I told him and headed for my bedroom.