"Yeah," he said softly. "Because she needed help, and I knew I could help her. I barely even remember that. I just saw this group of little girls, and the one they were whaling on was crying and she was bleeding. I picked her up and carried her to the nurse, but all I could think was that Meredith was pregnant and I'd just dropped out of football. I was supposed to have gone to college on a scholarship, and my life was ruined. I never even looked at her damned face because I was so worried about myself."
"But she looked at yours," I reminded him. "It doesn't matter if you don't remember who you saved. You still saved her, and she still thinks about it."
"Yeah, so tell me how to save my little girl, Ash."
"One step at a time," I promised. "It'll be messy, but we'll make sure she survives."
"And doesn't break," he added. "Because if Faith does, then I will too."
"Then we'll make sure she doesn't break," I swore.
Chapter Seventeen
We got Luke's stuff ordered. It would be delivered early next week, so he headed out to help Cy come up with a plan for the cabins. I went the other way, tapping at the door to the guest suite. When Cessily called for me to come in, I did, finding her in the reading nook. Darnell, however, was on the floor with a gun torn apart in front of him, cleaning each piece meticulously.
"Good, not Luke," he said, flashing me an impish smile that made it clear he didn't honestly care.
"Actually," I said, moving before him, "I was looking for you. Think you can teach Faith how to throw a punch?"
His eyes narrowed. "Why the fuck would I want to do that?"
"Because school sucks, and she feels helpless."
He nodded. "Her dad gonna be ok with this?"
"Yep," I assured him. "I already took the blame. Seems her fan club is saying she slept with Brody. I'm not even sure Faith knows what that means, but she knows it's icky."
"Never mind the added trauma," Cessily added.
I just pointed back at her. "That."
Darnell sighed. "Just don't feel right teaching a kid how to fight. Self-defense, maybe?"
"No." I wasn't going to budge on this. "I want you to teach her how to punch a girl in the face. Hard."
"She's gonna get expelled," he said.
"Suspended," I corrected. "First offense is usually a day or two out of school. If it happens, we'll tell her to make sure she doesn't get caught the next time."
"Don't corrupt her, Ash," Cess said. "While she lived with her mother, she was a model student, made good grades, and never acted up. Well, not until the end of last year."
"Which is when the bullying started," I told her. "Cess, she was cutting. That's what startedallof this. Violet saw a girl with cut marks in the bathroom at the grill. She didn't even know Luke had a kid. She just did her thing, gave the girl her card and some liquid Band-Aid. Then she went to talk to Luke, and guess who was sitting across from him?"
"Oh, damn," Darnell said. "Talk about on the spot."
I nodded. "Yeah. So Crimson, you're going to teach Lilac to protect herself. Chartreuse, you will make this go away."
She dropped her file on the table with a huff. "It's not that easy, Ash! We're talking about a goddamned bubbaville judge, in a courthouse that's ruled by Christian values. That child is supposed to be seen, not heard, and save herself for marriage. Her only value is in how many kids she'll give her husband. This is backwoods country, and their minds are stuck in the Middle Ages!"
"So make it better," I snarled at her. "I will not let my boyfriend - "
"Friend," she corrected. "You and he? Not dating."
"Fuck that!" I snapped.
Cessily just stared at me. "I'm serious, Ashton. Put your dick away, get the blood back above your shoulders, and let me do my fucking job."
"You want to prove you're the best?" I asked. "Then make this mess work. Here's some news for you: I'm in love with that man. We are not letting him go, so you fix this, Chartreuse. You fix it fast, because the only one who's going to get hurt in all of this is Faith."
