Chapter 3

Chapter Three

A ustin parked the Acadia, closed his eyes, and counted to ten.

Then he counted to ten again.

Then he counted to ten one more time. All right.

He wasn’t sure why the school had called him again about Dallas.

But he knew what it couldn’t be.

He knew his son hadn’t gotten into a schoolyard fight. He knew the chance of his son having gotten hurt playing on any playground equipment was as likely as a hurricane in Nebraska. His son was not apt to talk back. He wasn’t into talking at school at all.

So this was either some asshole kid had beaten his son up again. Maybe Dallas had had an asthma attack in PE class. Or possibly he’d simply refused to answer when the teacher called on him.

Maybe Austin should homeschool.

He really didn’t have time to homeschool.

He had books to write, and it was tough as hell to write books while homeschooling your awkward yet brilliant six-year-old.

God, how had he ended up with a six-year-old? Seemed like yesterday he’d picked Dallas up from the hospital, the surrogate having already left after her delivery. Dallas had been such a tiny little thing. So frail and riddled with lung problems, even then it hadn’t mattered.

Not for a single second.

Austin had fallen in love at first sight, and that hadn’t changed.

However, all the love in the world didn’t make him want to homeschool.

He got out of the car, straightened his T-shirt and headed across the still-warm parking lot as if he were storming a castle.

Austin waited at the door of the school to be allowed in. And then he wandered in toward the office with a patently false smile on his face.

“Mr. Williams. Please come in. Principal Waters will see you in just a few minutes.”

He gave Kari Ann, who was sitting behind the desk, a conspiratorial grin. “So what happened?”

“Well…we’re waiting for another parent.”

“So did somebody hit him? Push him? Is he okay?” Jesus, he’d wanted to have a charismatic, popular kid who was invited to every party.

He’d ended up with a little geek, like him.

Seriously, he knew why he was sort of that guy. He hadn’t been tough and outgoing, but then he had a brother and sisters, not to mention his mom and dad with these huge personalities.

So even if he hadn’t been the most sociable, socially acceptable kid on Earth, nobody had noticed. He was just one in the sea of Williamses .

And he’d always had a book. That was something else he and Dallas had in common.

Her smile widened. “He’s perfectly fine. Seriously? You’re never going to believe this one.”

“Uh-oh.” Okay, curiosity was going to kill him. He was a writer. He could come up with half a dozen impossible scenarios without even breathing hard…

“Yeah, a little oh, but mostly aww.” She grinned at him. “Just remember that you still love him.”

“Right. Now I’m really scared.”

“Please, have a seat.”

He tapped his Birks on the floor, amusing himself with possibilities while he waited.

Maybe Dallas had been abducted by aliens.

Maybe Dallas had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Maybe Dallas had developed amazing superpowers—invisibility, super strength, the ability to shoot anti-bully rays from his eyes…

About the time he’d convinced himself that Dallas was going to be overlord of the universe, a tall son of a bitch walked in, wearing dirty jeans, a button-down shirt that had seen better days, and a cowboy hat that had been beat to hell and shadowed his face.

Lord, it was like Pig Pen. He walked right up to Kari Ann and said, “Pardon me, ma’am. The rumor is that you have my little girl here in the principal’s office.”

Kari Ann just smiled. “Hello, Mr. Hale. Yes. Have a seat. We’re waiting on another parent.”

Austin blinked at this Mr. Hale. Then up at Kari Ann “What? They ganged up on him? You telling me there was more than one? This is kindergarten. How is this fair or reasonable?”

“I guarantee you my little girl didn’t gang up on anybody!” Pig Pen snapped, and Austin gave him his best eyebrow, while still glaring at Kari Ann.

Kari Ann opened her mouth to answer, when a woman in a suit and heels so high she had to be begging to get an ankle broke stormed through the door.

Ah, Elizabeth Franklin. Lawyer, head of her HOA, and mother to Wayne Franklin, the little shit who had broken Dallas’s glasses twice.

Her ever so carefully coifed hair reminded him of growing up in Texas, the mass of highlights not even moving a bit in the breeze. He couldn’t imagine how much superglue it took to stick hair on a head like that, but it had to take quite a bit.

“You get me Charlene Waters, and you get her for me right now!” Franklin said. “I will not have anyone accusing my son of bullying someone.”

She met Austin’s eyes, and pointed one finger at him and man, that fingernail was long and sharp. Good thing he knew they ended up being dull for the most part, those acrylics. His mom wore them all the time. “This is your fault. Your son is a sniveling crybaby and possibly needs to be in a Special Ed class. There’s something not right about him.”

Pure ice hit Austin’s veins like he’d been dunked, and he stood up.

And up.

And up.

There wasn’t a whole lot about him that was intimidating, but being six-six didn’t hurt a God damn thing. “Pardon me? Am I to assume that your son is one of the troglodytes terrorizing mine? Again?”

“‘Troglodyte’?” she screeched.

“Yes, dear. Troglodyte. You know. Cave dweller? Comes from the Greek root trōglē , which means hole or cave. The adjectival form is troglodytic, and somehow I don’t have the slightest doubt you understand what it’s like to be a wee bit troglodytic yourself. You know, a hole?” He let those words come out in his very, very best sneer.

Rule number one. Never fuck with an author. Rule number two. Never fuck with an author’s child. These were rules to live by. Austin was convinced of it.

The cowboy chuckled, soft and low, and he glared over, but he just got a bland smile.

“Ah, looks like we’re all here.” The principal came out of her office. “Please join me, all of you. Thank you, Kari Ann.”

They followed her, Franklin marching, him and the cowboy sauntering.

“Please sit down,” Principal Waters said.

“Daddy! Daddy, the boy was being mean to Dallas. He pushed him down, stole his glasses, and he was going to poop on him. He said so. And so I kicked his butt, and I’m not sorry.” That little girl’s eyes were lit up with pure fury, her shirt was ripped, and one of her braids was all askew.

He searched out his son who was sitting next to the girl, one eye blackened, glasses gone, and that rage hit him again. “Seriously?”

The man sitting beside him muttered, “How troglodytic.”

“What nonsense. You know full well that my Wayne wouldn’t do anything like this.”

“‘m not a liar. I do not lie. That Wayne is a bully. He pushed Dallas down. He shoved him onto the ground. He took his glasses, and he has them in his backpack. And then he said if Dallas told he was going to squat down and poop in his mouth. I don’t lie.”

“Well, that’s just nonsense. He wouldn’t.”

Austin arched an eyebrow at Dallas. “Son? Is your friend there telling the truth?”

Dallas nodded without saying a word.

“I waited until you got here to do the backpack search,” Principal Waters said. “And I had Miss Grange here watch them while I came to get you so no one could cry foul play.”

“So, do it. Dallas needs his glasses.”

“You do not have my permission to search it,” Franklin stated.

“I don’t need it. There’s a definite reason to suspect, and I am only searching for the glasses in his backpack.”

“My girl doesn’t lie, lady,” Cowboy Hale drawled. “They’ll be in there, and if they are, your son is all the bad things they say and more.” He gave her a pointed glare. “I can see where he gets it from.”

Oh, nice one. He fought the urge to fist-bump the guy. That would be frowned on, Austin thought. But if that guy’s kid had defended Dallas, he was grateful.

“And who, exactly, do you think you are?”

“That is my daddy, Kyler Justin Hale, the bronc rider.” That little girl was a firecracker. “Don’t you be mean to him!”

The lawyer’s lip curled. “Or what?”

“Mrs. Franklin, that’s quite enough.” Principal Waters’ voice was cold as ice. “Paige, please sit down. Wayne, your backpack. Now.”

If he was straight, he’d so be into her.

The glasses were in there. Broken again, of course, but in the backpack.

“I bet they were planted.”

The principal, the cowboy, and Austin stared at her. “Come again?” Austin spat.

“One of them planted them so they could get Wayne in trouble, and then she probably hit him so that there would be bruises.”

“I did not! You liar!” Paige stood, face screwed up, and her daddy shook his head, raised one hand.

“You know full well that that’s not what happened.”

“Nonsense, Wayne is… ”

“This is enough,” Austin snapped. “I want to press charges.”

“What?” The shock in Mrs. Franklin’s voice was delicious.

“This is the third pair of glasses. He’s going to have to go to the doctor for that eye. I want to press charges, and I want Wayne out of my son’s class. Immediately.”

“I’ll call the police, then.”

“You will not. I’ll sue you.”

“For?” He couldn’t wait to hear this one.

“For— for harassment.”

That was weak, and they both knew it.

“You will not. It’s well-documented that your child is a terrorist.”

Wayne, who had been oddly silent, grunted, wrapping his arms around his waist. And Austin would have felt bad for him, but he’d had ample opportunity to amend his behavior already in this very short school year.

And he hadn’t.

“I’m taking Wayne out of this shitty school.” Franklin slapped her hand down on the principal’s desk.

“That doesn’t change the fact that Mr. Williams wishes to have the police called.” She hit the intercom button on her desk. “Kari, Mr. Williams would like to press charges.” She was cool as a cucumber.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Now, if you would like to go sit in another room with a teacher present while we wait, you’re welcome to,” Waters told Franklin.

“I want to talk to my son.”

“Naturally. Miss Grange, take them to the lounge? I believe Mr. Diaz is in there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once they were gone, the principal turned to him and Hale. “I’m very sorry about all this. Would you like Paige and Dallas to go out and wait with Kari Ann while we discuss things?”

Kari Ann appeared at the door. “I made the call. Paige, Dallas, would you like some juice and a cookie?”

“I love juice.” The girl jumped to her feet, holding out a hand for Dallas. “Come on, Dal. We’ll go have something yummy and let the adults do adulty.”

Dallas glanced at him, and he nodded. “Sure, son. Go have a cookie. I’ll be out in a few.”

“Okay, Poppy.” Dallas slid off his chair and followed Kari Ann and the little girl out of the office.

“So.” The cowboy leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet at the ankles. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”

“Of course.” Principal Waters sighed. “Wayne is a bully. It’s a situation we’ve been dealing with since the start of the school year. As you can see, his mother is not at all helpful. His father is… distant. He travels for work.”

“And this is the third time he’s attacked my son,” Austin snapped.

“Yes. We had already set the wheels in motion to switch Wayne’s class, but frankly, we’re a small school with right over four hundred students. We don’t have that many classes.” She folded her hands. “Wayne has already been in detention, so our next course of action is suspension. Which, if you press charges, Mr. Williams, will be the only option.”

He stared at her. “Am I supposed to feel bad for him?” His kid was sporting a black eye.

“No, of course not. I simply wanted to apprise you of the situation.” She switched her gaze to Hale. “Now, as for Paige, what she did was completely understandable. In fact, we encourage students to step forward if they witness bullying behavior.”

Hale grinned a bit. “Well, that’s sure what she’s been taught. ”

Williams smiled faintly in response. “Yes. But we also suggest that, if the behavior persists, that students go and get the closest adult rather than taking matters into their own hands.”

“Uh-huh.” Hale crossed his arms now too. “You telling me my kid is going to get detention?”

“No, sir. But I will have to file an incident report.”

“You gotta be kidding.”

“It’s protocol.”

“Look, I want to file a police report, even if I don’t actually get any action on this. But I do want him moved out of my son’s class sooner rather than later. Agreed?” Austin was really starting to get peeved.

“Yes.” Principal Waters nodded. She recounted the incident as she filled out the forms. Wayne had accosted Dallas. Threatened to shit on him. Paige cleaned his clock. And then a teacher had stepped in.

She handed them the report to review just as the police showed up.

When Hale stood and took off his hat for the officers, Austin stared.

Oh.

Oh no fucking way.

He knew that cowboy. Sort of intimately.

Kyler Hale was on the cover of his best-selling series…