She spotted me and smiled.
“I was informed to come up here to gather my son’s things,” she said matter-of-factly. “Would you be a dear and show me where his locker is?”
“I’m sorry, but no. I was just leaving,” I replied helpfully.
Her mouth fell open as if she hadn’t been expecting that answer.
“I’m sorry, but what? It won’t take but a few minutes,” she tried.
I was about to say no, because why the fuck would I want to do this bitch a favor, when I found myself staring at the business end of a rather large, mean looking gun.
And all I could think to do was say, “You do know it’s illegal to bring firearms onto a school campus, correct?”
Booth’s hand found my wrist and he squeezed, obviously telling me without words to shut the fuck up.
Gladly.
I snapped my mouth shut and glared, even though I wanted to reach up and take that gun.
“Since you’re making me do this the hard way,” she said as she gestured to the back hallway with a flick of her head. “I need to get into Romeo’s locker. Now.”
Why?
“I don’t know where Romeo’s locker is,” I found myself saying. “I’m the school nurse. That’s information only the office will be able to tell you.”
“You’ll figure it out, or you’ll die,” she snapped.
I shivered at the venom in her words.
She was pissed, and I didn’t know why.
What the hell was going on here?
“I don’t mind asking questions,” I said. “I’m just telling you that I’ll have to do that if you’re expecting information from me.”
Tiana lifted her lip in a silent snarl, and it struck me as humorous that when I stared at her, she had a slick of red lipstick on her teeth.
Such a weird woman. She looked utterly ridiculous.
***
Louis
“I’m going to the school to meet Booth before he takes my woman home,” I said to his brother. “Want a ride?”
Bourne nodded and hopped into the cruiser with me, not bothering to do his seatbelt up.
We were about a block and a half away from the school, and I had no doubt that I’d catch them before they left.
Booth had literally just texted me that he was there and walking into the building.
“What were you doing that you couldn’t go get her?” Bourne asked.
I grimaced. “I was running by to check in with Tiana. She wasn’t home. But, interestingly enough, her friend from dinner last night was. She was exceptionally talkative.”
Bourne looked at me with curiosity. “About what?”
“About the fact that Tiana doesn’t even have a Florida house,” I explained. “That she talks about it all the time, but they’re convinced she doesn’t actually have one because, according to the woman, Tiana is broke as fuck.”
“She doesn’t dress or act like she is,” Bourne murmured. “She was wearing thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry the other day when we saw her. And I saw that fucking purse. I bought one for my mom last Christmas. That bitch was a thousand bucks. And it was on sale.”
I nodded. “That’s the same thing that I told the woman. And she said that Tiana has a friend. A man friend that funds her extra-curricular activities.”
“Meaning a sugar daddy,” Bourne surmised, his eyes on the road that we were traveling down.
I nodded once. “Yep.”
“And what else did you find out?” he continued as I turned into the school parking lot.
“I…” I had to swerve hard to the side to avoid hitting someone.
A man.
A man that was…
“That’s fucking Julian,” Bourne said as he practically bailed out of the car before I was even to a complete stop.
Before the kid could even so much as take a step away, Bourne had him on the ground.
Seconds later, after I finally got the vehicle in park, Bourne had his cuffs on him, and he was standing him up.
“No, no, no!” he cried. “Mom! Help!”
That’s when I looked up and found what was going on in front of the school.
Son of a bitch.
Bourne froze beside me as we stared in horror at the woman pointing a gun at Calloway.
Tiana whipped her head around to stare at her son frantically crying and Booth made his move.
***
Calloway
Booth moved like lightning as Tiana finally diverted her attention away from us.
One second he was standing at my side, holding me still. The next, he was practically knocking the woman out with one punch straight to the temple.
The gun dropped with a thud to the ground, and it was all just… over.
Just like that.
No more gun pointed at my face.
No more Julian running around with no idea where he was.
And… Tiana got punched like the bitch she was.
Score!Chapter 17
I don’t normally do this, but…you’re a real sexy bitch.
-Text from Calloway to Louis
Calloway
“Let me get this straight,” I said as I stared in horror at Louis. “She… told her son to do that.”