Beneath the Scars (Masters of the Shadowlands #13)(123)
“Oh, yeah,” he murmured. “We’ll start with that.”
Chapter Thirty
On Wednesday evening, they’d eaten late because Josie and Carson apparently liked waiting for Holt to get home from the hospital. His sweet submissive was spoiling him.
Smiling, Holt wiped down the counters while Carson loaded the dishwasher. After a meal of Josie’s shrimp fettuccini, Holt figured he’d better add extra time to his workouts and an extra mile to his morning run. The woman liked to cook—and he liked to eat. If he didn’t take preventative action, he’d end up too fat to climb a ladder.
“Hey, Poe.” He tossed the cat a piece of leftover shrimp.
As Poe did a perfect two-pawed pounce, Carson laughed—an open happy sound. Almost a week after the house fire, the boy was returning to normal. It helped that Brandon wouldn’t be returning to their middle school.
Holt rinsed out the sponge. Since Josie’d cooked, she didn’t pull cleanup duty and had gone to finish a scene she was working on. Stella’d bailed since she had her church group.
Good. He and Carson could talk without upsetting the ladies. “So, ace, how much grief are you getting in school these days?”
The boy grimaced as he racked plates in the dishwasher. “I guess Mr. Jorgeson knows who tried to burn his room. He marked all my essay answers way down on the last quiz. Yukio got a 60 percent, too. And we’ve always gotten As on our tests before.”
That fucking teacher. Holt managed to smother a growl. “Are you doing okay with your classmates?”
“Kinda. Some of ’em act friendly, like weird friendly, cuz they like that I did illegal stuff, and…” The big brown eyes showed Carson’s confusion.
“And that’s not the kind of person you want for a friend?”
“Yeah.” Carson brightened. “But Yukio wants me to come over on Friday, and his dad’s taking us to that new horror movie. You like horror—you should come. Mom won’t go, that’s for sure.”
Holt tilted his head, realizing he’d acquired a new movie buddy. This parenting job had some good perks. “I’d like that, thanks. Sounds like you haven’t lost your friends over this.”
“Guess not.” Carson snorted. “Maybe. Might only be Ryan, Juan, and Yukio if they suspend us forever.
Damned if he’d let that happen. “Speaking of suspension, my email box is full. I bet I have a bunch of Jorgeson movies.”
Carson grinned. “The guys and I spread the word, and everyone’s sending you their recordings of him being a jerk. What’re you going to do now?”
“First, I’ll save everything without any identifying information. Then we’ll snip the moments where Jorgeson is out of line and put everything together in a short video.”
“We? I get to help?” Carson’s face lit.
“Absolutely.” He rested his hand on Carson’s shoulder. “Fighting the bad guys doesn’t always mean violence. This is another method.”
“Awesome.”
Later, Holt decided that “awesome” wasn’t the right word. With each recording, his urge to go for a violent resolution grew. Jorgeson was past due for a beating.
Considering Josie’s elevated color and tensed muscles, she was experiencing the same fury.
With an effort, Holt smoothed out his expression and looked at Carson. “You said you have a bit of homework left to do before bed?”
The boy’s wrinkled nose was so much like Josie’s expression that Holt laughed.
Josie smiled. “Off with you, then. We’re done here.”
Carson rose and hesitated. “I was mad at Mr. Jorgeson because he’s mean and makes kids cry, but I didn’t see the girl stuff. How they look when he gets too close or touches. It’s kinda worse.”
Holt looked at him and nodded. “It is, yes.” The boy had a good heart—and the courage to stand up for what he believed.
Josie felt tears rising to the surface and breathed past them. Her son was growing up—and turning into a good man. “It is. Now you’ll know when you see it again.” She pulled in a breath and added the harder part. “Sometimes it’s not only the girls who get targeted that way…so if it happens to you, you’ll know to tell me?”
“Yeah, Holt warned me, too.” Carson grinned. “I’ll just tell him, and he can throw the guy over a car like he did that mugger.”
Although Holt’s lips quirked, his eyes held satisfaction. “It would be my pleasure. I’ll even let you help.”
As her boy giggled and trotted off to his room, Josie dropped into Holt’s lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Rather than push inconvenient children and women away, he would do anything he could to rescue them. “You are so amazing,” she whispered, “and I love you so much.”
His brows drew together. He had no clue what he’d done. His arms closed around her.
She leaned her head against his. “We’ve got enough on this video for any reasonable administration to fire Jorgeson, yet I’m not sure it’s enough. The school board has already heard about his behavior from the students and parents.”
“True. But physical evidence is more compelling.”