Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Uh, kind of?” she hedged. “You know, we have something in common, me and you.” She gestured toward my carrots and ranch dressing. “This is actually something that I used to do when I was small. Kind of a comfort thing at this point. My dad didn’t allow us to keep anything sweet in the house, or snacky. Like yours. So this is what I used to snack on when I was hungry.”
“That’s completely fucked up,” I admitted. “No snacks at all?”
Even the healthy person that I was, I still had snacks in the house.
“None,” she said. “You probably know what I’m talking about since you knew how to make chocolate syrup.”
I scrunched up my nose. “I do. Did.” I shrugged. “It started out differently. My mom was great. My dad was around. Then shit went south. They all changed for the worse, and suddenly we were the ones suffering from it.”
Before I could say anything else, explain, my phone rang.
I looked at the readout from where it was sitting on the coffee table and reached for it.
“Bain,” I said quietly. “What’s up?”
“You need to get down to the school,” he ordered. “Aodhan and I are here, and we have some shit that you might want to see.”
CHAPTER 25
Don’t stop, get it, get it.
-Motivational Quote of the Day
WAKE
I didn’t know what I’d encounter when I got to the school, but it definitely wasn’t a Tasmanian Devil of a little kid, being restrained by his shirt scruff at the back of his neck, swinging wildly at Bain.
Bain stayed out of range, but barely.
“Oh, shit,” my wife, who refused to stay at home, said as she rushed forward. “Pedro!”
Pedro, the kid she’d told me about that was being abused by Graydon’s sister, stilled.
He turned, saw Dutch, and then broke down into tears.
I took much slower steps toward them, my eyes taking everything in from the crowbar at Bain’s feet, to the shattered glass of the school’s front door, to the way Bain looked disgusted. Definitely not with the kid, though. With something else.
“What’s going on?” I asked as my boots crunched on the glass underneath my feet.
Bain’s eyes shifted from Dutch and Pedro to me, and a look of utter fury rolled into his eyes.
“What’s going on is,” Bain said, “he was trying to burn down the school.”
My brows rose, and Dutch’s breath hissed in.
“What?” she asked, pulling back from Pedro. “Pedro, why would you do that?”
“I was transferred out of her class,” Pedro said so quietly that I could barely hear him. “But she still came. Asked for me to come to her class. A lot. I refused, and I got in trouble with the principal for it. I did what you said! I was never alone with her again! But she tried. She tried, and she tried, and she tried. And… I don’t know!”
Anger started to roll through my own veins.
I’d been looking into Annalise Graydon. But it was like looking for a rat inside a house that was protected by a king rat. It was hard to find a goddamn thing on her, and I had quite a few men on her already.
Maybe it was time to hire outside help. The kind of help only another ex-con could provide.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “Kid, you’re gonna stay home sick for a few days, okay?”
Pedro looked at me like he couldn’t believe his ears. “But I have perfect attendance.”
I snorted. “You’re easier to control than the teacher we’re looking into. If you’re not there, I don’t have to worry about keeping you safe and finding information on her.”
“What about a homeschooling thing?” she asked. “If you’re sick, we’ll say with the flu, then they’ll likely send you your schoolwork, and count you as here, if you’re able to attend the Skype classes that some of the other kids do. Right?”
That was a new thing I’d heard the school district was doing. Allowing some students to work from home due to an influx in kids attending, without the places to put them.
Actually, Lolo had talked to me about attending the online option for herself a time or two, saying that boys at school were horrible, and making it harder for her to concentrate in class. But that was all before Dayden. Which reminded me, he actually was good for something—keeping her normal, and in school.
“I’ll consider it.” Pedro’s chin jerked up. “But only for a few days. I have friends.”
My lips twitched.
“Bain,” I said. “You got the time, I’d appreciate you utilizing the front door’s new opening. Make sure you have a hood up, though. I remember them saying something about cameras.”
Bain nodded his head in understanding, and together, Dutch and I walked Pedro home the two blocks to his grandmother’s house.
His grandmother answered the door, saw us all, and her eyes went wide.