I shouldnotbe wondering if he’ll use that voice on me later…
Except I already am.
I quickly shake it off when he walks out of Principal Grant’s office. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me tight to his chest as he works to get his breathing under control. I hold him, running my hands up and down his back to help soothe the anger. When he’s finally calm, he leads us to where Leah and Farrah are still sitting.
Our expressions must be communicating exactly what happened in there because Farrah grimaces. Holt steps over to the secretary. “Would you call Lauren’s teacher? I’d like to take both girls home for the day.”
The secretary nods and picks her phone up from the cradle.
“We’re going home?” Leah asks me.
I shrug. “Looks like it. Did you already eat lunch?”
“Yep. But I think some ice cream would be great.”
A startled laugh makes me snort. “Oh, it would, huh?”
Leah nods repeatedly.
“Let’s see what your dad has planned first, yeah?”
With a disappointed sigh, Leah says, “Fine.” I bite my lip to hide my laughter. Leave it to Leah to turn my shitty mood around with only a quick sentence.
Farrah pulls me to the side where we’re out of Leah’s earshot. “So that didn’t go well, I take it?”
I roll my eyes. “Not even in the slightest. Basically, she reprimanded Leah for standing up for herself, and Mason isn’t going to get in trouble at all. Mrs. Halbrand said that what Mason did was an accident.”
Farrah’s eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. “Seriously? What’s Gina’s deal? Even I’ve seen Mason be a bully, so it’s not like she doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“I’d like to know why Gina’s word is stronger than the other teachers’.”
“Melanie never talked to us. She only brought in Gina.”
“What?”
“Yeah, that’s why I was waiting. I thought she’d want to ask me about what I’ve seen.”
“Jesus. What a mess.” I run my palms down my face. I am way out of my depth here. I don’t have time to think about it because Lauren comes through the office doors. She gasps in surprise, running straight to Holt for a hug.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“Thought we’d play hooky and spend the afternoon together,” Holt responds.
A grin stretches across Lauren’s face. “We should go get ice cream.”
Thick arms wrap around my waist as I place the final dish on the drying rack next to the sink. Since Holt cooks for us most nights, I figure the least I can do is clean up when we’re finished eating.
Holt presses a kiss to my neck, and I tilt my head to give him more room. “Thank you for coming with me today. I’m not sure I’d have kept my composure without you there.”
I turn in his arms to lean back against the counter, keeping a tight hold on his shirt. “I probably should have kept my mouth shut, but I just couldn’t listen to her try to justify her decision when it was bogus. I hope it was okay that I spoke up instead of letting you handle it.”
After we left the school, Holt and I took the girls to get ice cream. We talked about what happened with Principal Grant during our meeting. Lauren was as outraged as we were, butLeah took the news like a champ. She acknowledged that she shouldn’t have pushed the kid down and was fine with getting in trouble for it. I was really proud of how mature she was being. Holt ended the discussion with the warning that defending herself is acceptable if she thinks she’s going to get hurt, and that he was proud of how she’s been honest with us about everything.
Holt grins down at me. “I gotta say, it was really fucking hot watching you get all protective.”
I widen my eyes. “Me? How about you, Mr. Lawsuit?”
He grimaces, huffing out a self-deprecating laugh. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
