Somethin' About That Boy

My brows rose.

“Go,” she mouthed.

I patted Perry’s thigh with my hand and then stood, walking outside to find my brother on the phone.

He gestured me closer with his hand and then continued to speak as I polished off my donut.

It was when he was finished that I realized why I was outside.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “You’re thinking that beating the absolute shit out of him would be really, really nice right now.”

I gritted my teeth.

Beating him wasn’t what I was thinking.

Killing him was more accurate.

“Don’t do it,” he said. “Today, after you get the restraining order against him, it’s going to look really bad if you go out there and pick a fight with him. We need him to break the restraining order. But there’s only so much that the judge will allow before he thinks that you’re the one who instigated it.”

I clenched my teeth.

I knew that.

But the reality of the situation was that I needed to control myself, and I had no control left.

“He hurt her,” I croaked.

There were literal fucking tears burning my eyes.

She meant so fucking much to me, in such a small amount of time, and Vance had almost hurt her so badly that she wouldn’t have been able to recover.

And I was just supposed to be okay with that?

“Yes, you’re supposed to be okay with that,” Ford said. “You have to take the higher ground.”

“How about you leave the rest up to us?”

Dawson.

I turned to find him standing next to my father on the top step. He was staring at me as if he’d never seen me before.

“You love my girl.”

Not a question. A statement.

“Yes, sir.”

“Then how about you let us figure it out from here,” he said. “Keep your nose clean. Don’t do anything that’ll jeopardize that career of yours. You being at that school will help my girl be safe. If you’re not there, who’s going to take care of her?”

Who indeed?

Because, though I liked my boys there, they weren’t me.

They cared about Perry, but I was sure they wouldn’t take a bullet to the chest for her.

But I would.

“Okay,” I finally said. “I’ll try to be good. But the moment that he gets too close, I’m not going to allow him to get away with it.”

“Restraining order will keep him away a hundred feet,” Ford said. “But we’re going to need to talk to the school officials. The principal. The resource officer. They’re going to have to change everything around so that he’s no longer in any of your classes, and definitely not in the same lunch as you.”

I scratched the back of my head as I thought about that. “I don’t have all of the same classes with her.”

“That won’t matter if they make it to where Vance is nowhere near her,” Dawson grumbled. “Because, I tell you this now, they’ll either get him away from her, or I’ll pull her from that school. And that’ll cause a big ass stink when I enroll her in the rival high school. She’s a star volleyball player, cross-country runner, and track girl. They’re not going to want to lose her. And Vance ain’t shit at that school.”

That was true. But still… I just hoped that the restraining order helped. Even though I had a sinking feeling that it wouldn’t.

***

Dawson

“This isn’t going to work,” I said to the men in front of me.

Ford and Trance.

They looked intimidating as hell as I stared at them.

I was glad that they were on my side.

“You’re going to have to do something more drastic than a restraining order, Dad. And you know that,” Ford murmured quietly.

I looked over at Trance to see him wince.

“I was trying to play nice,” Trance admitted. “I was trying to do this the easy way. The nice way. The kid just lost his dad, and I know that that’s hard, but fuck. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t have Banner living like this. I already sent him away from his home during his senior year. He changed schools. We did everything right. Yet, still he persists.”

“None of that was on you,” I said. “I heard the story from your son. There was nothing you could do there. The sooner you realize that, the better it’ll all be in the long run.”

Trance sighed. “I fuckin’ took that kid to the movies when he was nine.”

“Well, he tried to beat the shit out of my kid last night. The kid that your kid loves. You’re going to have to choose a side, man. Your kid’s or Vance’s,” I told him bluntly.

Trance rubbed his face. “I think we need to go visit Vance.”Chapter 22

I hate people and bras.

-Banner’s secret thoughts

Banner

“Stay,” she pleaded.

I hadn’t been home in two days.

I needed a change of clothes, and Dawson had given me the ‘you’re going home tonight’ look.