“I want my mommy,” he repeated, sobbing now.
Jamie’s aunt appeared in the doorway, her face pale. When he saw her, he ran to her, and she caught him in her arms. Her eyes met mine, wide with shock and gratitude.
“Where’s my mommy!” Jamie sobbed.
“She’s okay,” his aunt reassured. As she mouthed, “Hospital. Okay,” relief flooded me so hard my legs nearly gave out. Jamie burrowed closer to her, his tiny hands gripping her sweater like a lifeline. Seeing him safe in her arms was the moment my fear finally broke.
Walker hovered nearby, keeping watch until the police took my statement. He held my hand, and I waited as he gave his statement. We agreed to go to the station tomorrow for a formal interview since Principal Lewis was waiting for us in the hall.
“How did he get in?” I demanded of her as soon as she’d finished talking to a cop, my voice shaking with disbelief and fury. “We have lockdown procedures, we had security, we had… ” I trailed off, choking on the words. “How did he get in?”
Principal Lewis swallowed hard, her voice brittle. “He forced the side door open. Broke the glass and let himself in. The silent alarm triggered, but he was in before anyone could do anything.” Her eyes were bright with tears, and she rubbed a shaking hand down her face. “The cops are speaking to the security company now.”
I glanced toward the hallway where officers lingered, their radios crackling as they controlled the growing crowd of reporters outside. Bright camera lights flashed against the windows, and through it all, the overwhelming sense of disbeliefclung to me like a second skin. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not here. Not at my school.
Not with my kids.
Walker put his arm over my shoulder, pulling me close, his warmth grounding me in a way I hadn’t realized I needed. I let myself breathe for the first time in what felt like forever, but it had only been ten minutes or less. I clenched my eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears. I didn’t notice how tightly I’d been wound until now, not until I felt his solid presence beside me, reminding me I wasn’t alone. The fear, the helplessness, all of it began to crack open inside me. My fingers twisted into his shirt, and he held me tight as though afraid to let go.
“How did you know to come?” My voice wavered, still raw with everything that had happened.
“I was here to say sorry,” he admitted. “But when the secretary ran out, screaming that there was a shooter… ” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I couldn’t leave you and the kid in here.” His voice was low, rough around the edges, as if he’d barely kept himself together. I stared at him, my heart hammering in my chest. The words landed hard, sticking in my throat. He couldn’t leave me. Walker could’ve been killed, and yet he’d walked in here without hesitation. Because of me. Because of Jamie. Because he couldn’t turn away. I didn’t know whether to hug him or scream at him.
“You should have left,” I said. “Waited for the cops… you didn’t have to put yourself in danger.”
“I couldn’t.” Walker’s voice was firm now, low and steady. “I couldn’t walk away. I couldn’t let another kid suffer like… like I did.” His voice broke, the words catching in his throat.
I closed my eyes briefly, swallowing hard before leaning closer and pressing my forehead to his shoulder. My breath hitched, and suddenly, everything I’d held back—the fear, the panic, the helplessness—surged up inside me. My fingers twistedinto his shirt, gripping tight as though he was the only thing keeping me upright.
“And I couldn’t… I couldn’t let anyone hurt the man I love,” Walker confessed, his voice rough with emotion. His words hit me like a lightning bolt, cracking open something I hadn’t even realized I’d kept locked away.
“What?” My voice barely worked, a whisper that caught in my throat. “You love me?”
Walker huffed a small, breathless laugh, then pressed a lingering kiss to my head. “From the moment you faced a classroom of puck pushers and faced all that anger, I loved your fire, your courage… and I… I just… it was easy… I love you.”
I blinked rapidly, too overwhelmed to say anything meaningful. Instead, I squeezed him tighter, whispering, “I love you, too.”
He exhaled, the tension in his body finally unraveling. “Let’s go back to your place, yeah?”
FIFTEEN
Walker
Finn was badly shaken.
After the cops were done with us, I curled over my guy like a protective eagle curling its wings around their chick and shouldered our way through the press corps shouting questions at us. I led Finn to my car, got him in, closed the door, and spun to face the thicket of reporters. Bright lights from the rolling cameras made me wince as I addressed the reporters desperate for a story.
“Mr. Carter and I are not commenting at this time at the advice of the Rochester police.” That was a lie. The cops had not told us anything, but I had to assume that the criminal justice system would work better if we didn’t go blabbering to the press about what happened. If we deviated one inch from our statements, it could fuck things up when things went to trial. And Isowanted this piece of shit to go to trial. I could taste the need for retribution on my tongue. It was metallic and cold like old blood. “We ask that you respect his need for privacy at this most upsetting time.”
And with that, I nudged a guy asking me about my relationship with the teacher aside as only a hockey playercan nudge. If not for a random cameraman behind him, that reporter would have been planted in the snowbank. When I got into my car, I locked the doors, cranked her over, and off we went, sending the press scattering to get out of the way.
“Fucking vultures,” I grumbled as my seat belt alarm pinged steadily. “It was the same in New York after that whole twink incident that got me sent down.” I threw Finn a look as we slowed at a stop sign to leave the school grounds. I shoved the belt into the latch plate and the pinging stopped. “You okay?”
He looked pasty. “Just cold.” His hazel eyes locked with mine. “What twink incident?”
Well shit. I had a lot to tell him. But not right now. “I’ll tell you everything when we get to your place, okay?” He nodded. His slim shoulders drawn to his ears. “We’ll have heat soon.”
“You handled them well,” he whispered as we sped toward his little apartment complex.
