Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Knox
I know I shouldn’t be here.
I fucking know it.
But I still park my car behind Ivy’s and get out to follow her into the elementary school.
Her face during that call, the fact that she doesn’t realize that I’m trailing her, even now, the way her hands shake as she reaches for the handle and yanks open the door…
Yeah, no.
I’m not going anywhere.
“Ms. Pierce,” the woman behind the desk says, and I don’t miss the slight sneer in her voice. And I don’t fucking like it either.
“Where’s Evie?” Ivy says.
“In Ms. Hearst’s office.”
Ivy nods and starts down the hall, and I send a hard look in the direction of the receptionist before I trail Ivy around the corner and through a door.
My temper spikes almost the moment I follow her in.
Because Evie’s turned at the sight of her mother entering and?—
She has a scrape down one cheek and…
A fucking black eye.
“Mom,” Evie says, her face crumpling.
Ivy has her in her arms in a second, holding her daughter tight as Evie cries. “Shh, honey,” Ivy says. “I’m here now. Everything will be okay.”
The principal, a frumpy middle-aged blond woman whose name has got to be Karen (otherwise I’ll eat my right hockey glove) scowls. “Ms. Pierce we need to talk.” Her gaze flicks to me and her scowl deepens. “Alone.”
I lean back against the door frame, cross my arms.
But I don’t move.
And Ivy doesn’t release Evie. “Anything you have to say to me in private, you can say in front of Evie.”
A long, tense pause. Then, “I’m suspending your daughter.”
Ivy’s mouth drops open.
Evie’s eyes go wide. “Mom,” she whispers. “What does suspending me mean?”
“It means that you’re being punished for your behavior and you can’t come to school for three days,” Ms. Hearst says.
Evie?
Sweet little Evie had done something so egregious that she’s being suspended for three days while somehow also ending up with a scrape and that black eye?
Not a fucking chance.
I straighten from the door frame, move closer to Ivy and Evie.
“Explain,” Ivy says, her tone like steel, exactly like when she’s telling us to get our sorry asses into gear and to fucking just do another goddamned rep already.
Ms. Hearst leans forward in her chair. “We have a zero tolerance policy for violence in this school.”
There’s a taut moment of quiet as Ivy clearly waits for the same thing I am—a fucking explanation and not a goddamned sentence that brings about even more questions.
“And?” she eventually asks, when Ms. Hearst doesn’t go on.
“And your daughter was violent.” She picks up a stack of papers, straightens them by tapping one edge on the table. “I’ve made the decision that the suspension will only be for three days considering that this is her first offense?—”
“And the other child?” Ivy’s question is filled with ice.
“Excuse me?”
“Well,” Ivy says and the frost dripping off her words drops the temperature in the room by a half-dozen degrees at least, “Evie didn’t get these injuries on her own. So,” she presses, tone even colder, “what is the punishment that the other child is receiving?”
“I—” Those papers are shuffled again and restacked. “Well, the other child’s parents have already been here to pick up their student.”
I wait.
Ivy waits.
“And what does that have to do with anything?” Ivy asks quietly.
“Their punishment isn’t something I can discuss with you.”
“James shoved me first, Mom,” Evie says softly. “He wanted to go first on the monkey bars, and I kept letting him go, but then he called Rylie a bad name and shoved her down so hard that she scraped her knees and started crying. And when I told him that wasn’t nice he shoved me .”
“That doesn’t?—”
Ivy puts her hand up, cutting off the principal, giving Evie the time to go on.
“When I fell I hit my face on the bar, and I was bleeding and James started laughing. I said he was mean, and he hit me, Mom.” She touches her eye and winces. “Right here. Really hard.”
Ivy tsks quietly, runs her thumb gently over the bruise. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. That was really not nice of him.”
“None of that changes what your daughter did in response.”
My brows shoot up.
And so does the rage in Ivy’s frame, in her voice. “And that was?”
“She punched James,” Ms. Hearst says.
“I did,” Evie admits. “I know I shouldn’t have, Mom. But I thought he was going to hit me again and?—”
“You protected yourself,” I say, seeing the principal preparing to chime in with more bullshit and interjecting before she can accomplish that.
Ivy’s head whips around, eyes flaring wide in shock, but before she can—rightfully—kick me the fuck out of here, the idiot behind the desk decides to speak again.
“Evaline didn’t need to protect herself,” Ms. Hearst says. “There are staff on yard duties to mediate these kinds of disputes?—”
“And where were they when James was hitting and shoving his classmates?” I ask.
That has the bullshit drying up.
“Exactly,” I say. Then look to Ivy and Evie. “Let’s go, girls.”
The principal starts to stutter. “A-and where do you think you’re going?”
“Home.”
“Th-that’s not acceptable. Paperwork must be filled out and?—”
“Look, lady. I play for the Sierra,” I say, no shame in pulling out the big guns. “Evie, Ivy, and I are going to speak with the team’s legal department before we agree to any punishment.” Her face pales but I press on. “And get some advice on sexist rule enforcement in schools and how best to go about pressing assault charges on a minor.”
“He’s six years old,” she sputters.
“And so is Evie,” Ivy says, murder in her eyes as she glares at me before she glances back to Ms. Hearst. “And if you’re going to punish her then I expect that same punishment to be handed out to all involved parties.”
“I’m certainly not going to be bullied into changing my decision by?—”
“I think we’ll also stop by the media team’s office,” I say slowly, tapping a finger against my chin. “I’m sure they will love to hear something about this. Stories like this go absolutely viral.”
Ms. Heart’s face pales further.
“What was the team’s social media following last time you checked, Ivy honey?” I tilt my head to the side. “Four million?”
“Something like that,” Ivy says tightly.
I flick my brows up at the principal.
And she caves. “Well, I suppose I could let this be considered a warning.”
Ivy’s shoulders relax, just a tiny bit.
“But if it happens again, we’ll have to take further action.”
“Yes,” I agree, increasing the volume of my voice so the bitch at the front desk can hear me too. “Especially because what James did to Evie and her friend was absolutely unacceptable. If we hear that he’s bothering her at any point during the school day then we’ll be forced to consider actionable next steps—and those will not include tolerating unfair treatment.” I look to the girls then tilt my head to the door. “Let’s go.”
I half expect Ivy to argue on principle—I’ve leaped over at least a dozen societal boundaries by coming here and jumping in—but she just nudges Evie back so they can both stand up then precede me into the hallway.
My eyes connect with Ms. Hearst’s. “I trust that we will not have any further issues.”
Her throat works, but I don’t leave until she nods.
I catch up with Ivy and Evie as they’re pushing out the front door of the school, pausing to catch the panel before it can slam in my face (and because pausing gives me another chance to glare at Karen Two behind the front desk).
Then I’m out into the cool winter sunshine, watching the breeze ruffling Ivy’s and Evie’s hair as I walk over to their car.
“Buckle in, honey,” I hear her say before she shuts the back door and whips around to face me.
“You had no right to come here,” she snaps, eyes flashing, words quiet but no less intense. “No fucking right to interject in our lives?—”
I wave a hand. “Evie needs you more right now than you need to yell at me for overstepping.”
Her mouth opens. Closes. Opens again. “Excuse me?” she asks, her tone deadly.
“I fully acknowledge that I have overstepped. But you can be pissed at me later.” I nod at her car. “Go home, give her the comfort she needs.”
She chokes, outrage roiling through her expression.
“Or better yet, get the kid some ice cream and remind her that you love her no matter what.”
She opens her mouth.
Closes it again.
Then finds her voice.
“You are so fucking dead the next time I see you, Knox Adler.”