Stopping what I was doing, I glanced up at Melissa. “The coach is a real asshole and I’d give anything to be able to tell him that. When I asked him to educate his team on the effects of bullying, he practically laughed in my face. Claimed no one on his football team was bullying anyone and if they were, he’d kick their ass. The guy wears blinders to everything that happens.”
My boss pushed out a deep breath. It was a constant struggle in our profession. Parents, teachers, coaches, all claiming it isn’t their kids causing the trouble. No one ever wants to admit something is wrong until it’s too late. My job was to make sure it was never too late.
With a smile, I hugged my notebook to my chest. “Mitch has a girlfriend. I think that’s helped.”
Melissa frowned. “That can be a good thing or a bad thing. If things end badly with the girlfriend, that might not be such a great thing. Keep that in mind, Meagan.”
My heart ached a bit because I knew she was right. I also remember thinking I wish I had had someone to save me from all the shit that was happening to me in college. The lump in my throat grew bigger as I walked back to my office. Why me of all people thought a girlfriend would be the answer to all for Mitchell confused me. I knew better and had to make sure Mitchell knew that as well.
Before I had time to even sit, three knocks on the door signaled Mitchell. “Hey, Meg!”
Turning to face him, I smiled when I saw his dimpled smile staring straight at me. He reminded me so much of Grayson it wasn’t even funny.
“Hey there. You’re a little early.”
Mitchell shrugged. “You said we were heading out on a field trip and I’m all about field trips.”
I couldn’t wait for Mitchell to find out we were headed to the police station. His dream was to become a cop, like his father was. Unfortunately, his father died in the line of duty, leaving his mother to raise three boys on her own. That was the main reason they left California and moved back to Colorado, so Mrs. Haus could be close to her family to help with the boys.
“Yep, we are for sure headed out on a field trip today. Have you had lunch yet?”
Mitchell shook his head. “No ma’am.”
Grabbing my purse, I motioned for Mitchell to follow me. “Good, because I’m starving.”
I decided to take Mitchell to one of my favorite places to eat lunch. Snow was slowly falling, making it a bit tricky to drive for me, seeing as I was still new to driving in this stuff. If it snowed in Texas, everything shut down and you stayed home.
“I hope you like pizza!” I said as we walked into Fired Up Pizzeria.
Mitchell laughed. “Who doesn’t like pizza?”
“I can’t argue with you on that one. Let’s grab that table over there before someone else snags it.”
After sitting down and ordering our drinks, Mitchell and I settled into a casual conversation about how school was going. His grades, how his little brothers were adjusting to life in Colorado as well as how his mom was doing.
Mitchell glanced up and smiled as I felt warm breath hit my neck. “Hey beautiful,” Gray whispered as he placed a kiss on the side of my face. I instantly felt my cheeks flush as I glanced over to Mitchell. The goofy smile on his face spoke volumes.
“Ah, Meg has herself a boyfriend!” Mitchell teased as Gray reached out and shook Mitchell’s hand.
“Indeed she does. You must be Mitchell, Meg speaks very highly of you.”
Now it was Mitchell who turned red. “Mitchell, this is my boyfriend, Grayson, but everyone calls him Gray.”
“The pleasure is all mine, sir,” Mitchell said. It didn’t take long for both men to get lost in the talk of sports as I watched Mitchell. Seeing him so happy was a far cry from a few months ago when his mother sat across from me in my office and told me her son hated life.
The adjustment from being one of the best high school football players in Sacramento, California and a super popular kid, to someone who had to fight to get onto the football team and was hated almost instantly by a group of jealous guys, had been a hard one. The fact that Mitchell was so good had intimidated the other players. Instead of them welcoming him in . . . they shunned him. It didn’t help matters any more when recruiters from colleges kept showing up to watch him play.
“So you’ve already had colleges interested since your sophomore year? Man dude, that is impressive.”
Mitchell grinned. “Yeah, it was crazy. When we told my football coach we were moving, I was almost positive I saw a tear in his eye.”
Grayson and I both laughed. “It was hard at first moving here. It didn’t help that a scout from Stanford showed up to talk to the football coach before I was even here.”
Mitchell looked down. “I think that’s why I had all the trouble when I first moved here. A lot of guys on the football team gave me hell.”
“Why?” I asked with a frown.
Mitchell shrugged. “A few of them accused me of coming here to get away from the competition in California. Like I was looking to catch recruiters’ eyes here better or something. It’s all so stupid.”