Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Wizard caught the movement, using the wheels in the chair to turn back to Jesus. “Go on.”
“Anyway,” Jesus continued, “I gave him a ride home on my bike. He had me drop him off a street away so his parents wouldn’t know he was being picked on. He asked me everything about my bike and The Last Riders. To make a long story short, either Puck, Buck, or I sit outside his school every day to give him a ride home.
“Couple of weeks ago, I noticed he was already outside before school was out, so I asked if he was ditching school, and he told me he had. Said he wanted to quit, that he would run away if he had to keep going there. When the kid showed me his back where they had punched him, I told him I would teach him to ride a motorcycle and how to fight if he stayed in school. When he still wouldn’t go back to school, I caught him walking on the road near here. I took his ass back home. The next day, Puck caught him walking about a mile away.
“Wizard, he thought you would let him in the club if he asked. Said if you told him no, he would run away. I told him about the rule, and he still argued that he would ask first before taking off. What was I supposed to do? I knew you would say no. I didn’t want the kid to run away. Fuckers out on the street would have a field day with him, and you know it.” Jesus ran his hands through his hair again. “So, I told him he had to stay home, but he could guard the door a few hours a night. I didn’t know what else to do to keep his ass at home.”
“Basically, you let a sixteen-year-old railroad you into getting what he wanted,” Wizard finished for him. “What you should have done was come to me.”
“I should have,” he agreed.
Ashamed at herself for misjudging The Last Riders, she was about to apologize for the things she had said when Wizard turned his chair back toward her.
“You can leave. I’ll make sure none of the brothers give your brother the time of day from now on,” he stated frostily, waving his hand for Doom to step away from the door.
Slowly getting to her feet, Arden didn’t immediately head for the door. Instead, she faced Wizard’s unforgiving expression. “Please don’t penalize any of them for helping Luc. None of us were aware of what he has been going through. I only found out today that they were making fun of him for not having a car. I have an appointment to speak to the headmaster to get him back in school. I’m sure once he’s aware of what bullying Luc has been dealing with, it’ll stop.”
Wizard didn’t respond, just stared pointedly at the door.
Turning, she left feeling two inches tall, without offering the apology she wanted to give. His attitude plainly showed he didn’t want to hear anything else she had to say, and she couldn’t blame him.
Starting her car, she blinked back furious tears as she drove away. Luc had planned to run away, and they had stopped him. Their dad would be home tonight, so she wouldn’t be able to talk to Luc without him overhearing. She would call into work in the morning and tell them she would be a couple of hours late. She would take Luc to school herself. Once he knew the headmaster would help, he would return to the fun, loving brother she was used to.
Worry about Luc had her wanting to go home and curl up in bed, pretending this day never happened, instead of driving to work the last few hours of the shift she was late for. This day sucked. At least tomorrow would be better.
CHAPTER 4
THE OFFER
“Nothing is going to change.”
“Yes, it will. You’ll see,” she promised a gloomy Luc, who was walking alongside of her with dragging footsteps.
Coming to a stop at the headmaster’s office, she reached out to touch him, but he shrugged away from her touch. She let her hand fall back to her side.
“We’ll talk after school. I’ll be outside waiting.”
“Yay.”
Arden watched until Luc was out of sight before entering the office.
She was still in the main office an hour later when the secretary finally told her the headmaster was ready for their appointment.
Twenty minutes later, Arden returned to her car dispiritedly.
Inside, she tiredly laid her head on the steering wheel. She had only managed a couple of hours sleep before having to get dressed. Making no attempt to start the car, she sucked in deep breaths to keep from bursting into tears.
What was she going to tell Luc after school? Was she supposed to admit he was right? The headmaster had been informed by the staff that Luc was being mistreated, chalking it up to boys being boys and they would grow out of their misbehavior. If she did, there would be no way Luc would continue going to Skyline.