Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Twenty
Apparently when someone says “get a grip,” by the throat is not what they meant.
—Odin to Black
Odin
Anger coursed through me as I listened to the principal explain the incident to us more fully.
“We were outside for the final recess of the day. This is fairly normal as long as the weather is decent. All the kids had their jackets on, and we were heading outside. To get to the playground we kind of have to walk around the school because the back door is getting a new sensor put on it. There’s a brick wall on one side, and the metal slatted fence on the other. It’s narrow, about four feet. And this man came out of nowhere. Pulled up, got out, and reached for several kids before the teacher could react. He yanked the kids forward, slamming their little heads against the bars. I have a video if you want to see.”
Constance gave a single, jerky nod, and the principal pulled up her phone with shaky fingers.
Constance leaned forward so that she could see Judith’s phone once the principal had finally managed to get it out and the video pulled up.
We both watched as exactly what Judith had described had happened, happened.
A man wearing a face mask, dark clothes, and gloves got out of the truck, stalked to the kids, and yanked two of them by their jackets into the bars. Wendy and another kid.
When both kids sat stunned, the man let them go, muscled himself up half over the fence, and leaned down to pick them up.
That’s when the teacher kicked into gear and started fighting the man back.
The kids scrambled, and the guy left in frustration.
“Did the cameras pick up a better view of the truck?”
“Unfortunately, no.” Judith sounded pissed.
As she should be.
There was never any scenario that the cameras shouldn’t have picked this up. I’d say she was rightfully pissed off. That was a huge fuck-up in the security. Probably one that would get fixed quickly, too, if I had to guess.
“This angle is all that we have of the vehicle. And the teacher was way too frazzled to really get a good look at the truck. She was worried about all the blood.”
I could see that.
Head wounds bled heavily. They always looked way, way worse than they actually were.
And both of the kids that’d been attacked had suffered a head wound with the force in which they were yanked against the metal slats.
Wendy’s had happened right over her left eye. The other kid’s happened over his right.
Even worse, when Wendy had fought back, she’d caught her wrist on a rusty part of the fence, partially tearing open a vein there.
I looked over at Wendy, who was in the hospital bed, looking pale but in good spirits.
She was a smart kid and knew that she was safe.
She laughed at something her grandmother said to her, then pointed at her grandfather.
“Ma’am,” a doctor that I recognized but couldn’t put a name to the face, interrupted the principal. “Do you have a moment?”
Judith stepped away, going to talk to another administrator in the lobby as Constance and I waited for what the doctor had to say. I never thought about leaving, and she never thought about telling me to go.
I knew what was about to come out of his mouth before he said it.
“Ma’am.” Dr. Garza turned, finally allowing me to see the stitching on his coat pocket. “Wendy is going to be just fine. However, out of an overabundance of caution, I’d like to give her a unit of blood just in case, due to her anemia.”
Hell.
“Oh, no.” Constance’s face went white as a sheet. “I can’t…”
“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand as I looked to the doctor. “Wendy has Rh-null blood. You’ll have to take the donation from me.” My eyes went serious. “And if you share this information with anybody, I’ll make you regret it. I’m serious. This better not even show up in any charts.”
A swift inhale and then, “What?”
The doctor frowned. “Protocol…”
“I regularly donate to her already,” I said. “You can check with her doctor, Dr. Pendelton, if you don’t believe me.”
Constance made a sound in the back of her throat that sounded like panic.
The doctor nodded. “I’ll check with Dr. Pendelton, and then we can proceed.”
The doctor went to the nurse’s station, and I was left with Constance, who was starting to hyperventilate.
I took her face in my hands and leaned close before whispering, “Breathe.”
She gasped, big, hulking breaths as she stared at me with hope and awe.
Then she threw herself at me and kissed me.
It was by far the best kiss I’d ever had in my life.
Not even with my ex-fiancée, Madalyn, had I felt this kind of connection.
I returned her kiss, leaning my entire being into it.
She threaded her arms around my neck and pushed into me.