Eat Crow (Cheap Thrills 6)

“So where did he get the complaints from?” Cole asked, looking through the groceries Kirkwood had left behind. “Oo, what do you think he uses this for?” he held up a bottle of lube to show the stragglers from the crowd who all wrinkled their noses at it.

Glaring at his grandson, Hurst shook his head. “I dunno where we went wrong with this one.”

I don’t know if I’d say they went wrong, but he was definitely unique.

“Could have used this when Louis went through the wall,” Cole said, throwing it in the air and catching it again. “Squeeze some on his arm, and pop, it would have been easy getting him back out again instead of calling the Fire Department.”

I couldn’t help it, I had to ask. Who wouldn’t? “Why was he in the wall?”

“Father of the year here decided to put mattresses on the stairs and make a slide. His kid went down faster than he expected, and his arm went through the drywall and got stuck.”

“It’s online,” someone shouted out. “Piersville Fire Department also released footage of them cutting him out. I think the moment he goes through the wall is a gif on social media, too.”

“It is,” Cole confirmed. “He’s really proud of it.”

How could I go from feeling suffocated to feeling uplifted?

What had just happened to me was something every teacher was scared about. Added onto that was what he’d threatened to do to Pops? I’d covered my bases and explained in a lengthy letter to the parents why I was bringing in a piece of literature with that title. They’d had the option to either not allow it or for their kid to attend a study period in the library.

“Don’t worry about it, Bexley. The PTA is very thorough with things, and you gave parents enough time to read through what you sent out and to look up the book and what it was about. No one reported any issues back to Colette, and she set up a special meeting online after the class just in case,” Hurst said as he picked up some spaghetti and threw it into his cart, almost like nothing had happened. “And Lawrence is just fine where he is. If someone tried to exhume him, I’d let my bull loose on them, and then I’d let my grandsons loose on them.”

“Could they do that, though? What if a kid was affected by the book and class like he was saying?”

“The answer to the first is no, and the answer to second is that I’m going to press him for copies of the complaints. I’ll also get Colette to speak to the principal to see if he’s had any complaints, and…” he trailed off, wincing at whatever had occurred to him. “Ah, hell. I’m going to have to tell Lindee I’m running for mayor.”

“You’re a dead old man walking, Gramps. She’s going to be pissed,” Cole snickered as he walked up to us and threw a can of beans in my cart. “Saw the list in your hand and recognized it, but you didn’t have the beans for chili taco casserole. There you go.”

Then, both men walked off like nothing had happened.

“I wouldn’t worry, honey,” a woman called Evita, who I recognized as one of the parents who collected one of my eighth grade students, Cody, said softly as she walked past.

“I know for a fact that if anyone had complained like that, you’d have been hauled into Ross Teller’s office and had your ass handed to you. He’s one of my neighbors, you know. We’ve only been living next to each other for almost three months, but even he said he was impressed with how you got through to those kids.

“It scared the hell out of me when I heard about those two kids who tried to kill themselves. I’ve been lecturing Cody about not listening to crazy stuff online for years now, but short of changing the password to the internet, I had no clue how to get through to him.”

She looked like she was close to tears. “Thank you for getting through to my son. For that, I’ll never be able to thank you enough, but I’ll try. If Kirkwood even goes near your grandpa’s grave, I’ll smack over the head with Cody’s baseball bat. Alex will probably give me hell for even saying that, but I’d do it for you and your family in a heartbeat.”

Then, not giving me a chance to say anything, she walked away.

Pulling my phone back out, I rang my dad to warn him about the mayor's threats and ended up holding the phone far away from my ear while he ranted down it.

Because the alarm system was fixed, school was back tomorrow, but I wasn’t sure I could face it. I felt like I’d failed the kids and let down my family.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Dad yelled. “Put this phone back to your ear this instant, young lady.”

Doing as I was told, I stared blindly into my cart, preparing myself for a lecture like when I messed up as a kid.

Instead, he blew out a breath to settle himself. “I’m so angry right now, Bexley, that I’m struggling to find the willpower not to go over to Kirkwood’s and punch him in the face.

“I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. You’ve got a gift with kids and teaching, one that you knew in your heart and went after. I don’t believe for one second that you described it in a way that made rape sound good or took away the power of how grotesque it was.”

My lower lip started shaking, but I was determined not to cry in the middle of the store.

“Now, Logan will be able to confirm this, but I know for a fact that Kirkwood’s in deep shit right now, so he’s trying to take everyone down with him. He’s hoping that if he upsets us, we’ll distract Logan away from his part into the investigation into him.”

Looking cautiously around me, I whispered, “What are you talking about?”

“Right, he can’t talk about it,” Dad murmured to himself. “But I guess I can. So, the Kirkwoods and Ingleston are in shit. Something about bribes, drugs, and shootings. He’s hoping to buy himself time to hide whatever they could find on him, so he’s trying to distract everyone. Well, how do you distract a young man from his job? You go after his woman.”