Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
“I can’t say I’m glad it ‘worked out,’ if that’s what you want to call putting your life in danger.”
“He could have hurt you. He could have stabbed you, James. These Wyachet addicts are a fucking virus. A kid like that would have done it simply because he was scared, and he wouldn’t have thought twice about the fact that you’re a human being.”
“He could have done that to you too.”
“Would have liked to see him try.”
I’d considered it, but I hadn’t been afraid. Not just because I knew I could take the guy, but because if he had, would it have been such a terrible thing for the world?
I knew that wasn’t the way to think. Tex sure would’ve been worried if he knew I thought that, but it was true.
Again, James glanced over from the windshield, eyeing me peculiarly, that pretty face and his kind eyes guarded behind his glasses. His eyes returned to the road before he asked, “You ever do volunteer work?”
“The fuck?”
That came out of left field.
“We all have stuff we have to get through, and a few years back when I was going through a rough patch, I signed up for this thing called Housing 4 Hope.”
“I’ve heard of it.” It was a statewide housing project created to help build homes for families in underserved communities.
“I was there today. I go every Saturday,” he went on. “As crappy as my life can get sometimes, it’s distracting. And makes me feel like even if I’m feeling bad about what’s going on in my own life, at least I’m doing something to help someone else’s. Not saying you need to do that, but you might be able to find something—”
“Mr. Warner, why don’t you quit the free therapy session? I’m not this big mess you need to fix.”
He pressed his lips together. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come across that way.”
“You might not have wanted it to come across that way, but it was what you meant by it.”
“Am I speaking with Kyle or Scowl right now?” he teased, turning to me once again, and I had to chuckle.
In fact, I hated myself for laughing at it. He seemed to have this power to crack right through all my defenses, every one I’d spent a lifetime building up.
“Smartass,” I muttered, waiting for him to chastise me or remark about that being inappropriate for me to call my teacher, but he grinned, as though proud of himself for earning the nickname.
“You’re not like other teaches, Mr. Warner.” Although, I wondered how much I thought that because of the kindness I’d seen him display, and how much was because he was hot as sin.
Our conversation settled, not in an uneasy way, like I’d assumed such a drive might be after the fucked-up shit that had gone down in town. When he finally made it to my neighborhood, I helped him navigate until he pulled up alongside the curb.
“I can come in and talk to your parents about where you were and what happened.”
“That won’t be necessary. Just go home.”
“Okay. I stand by everything I said about how you should have thought of yourself more before taking action back there, but even still, I appreciate that your heart was in the right place. Thank you.”
Given how annoyed he’d seemed by my jumping into action, his gratitude took me by surprise. And between that and having my eyes locked with his brown irises, I felt warmth in my cheeks.
The hell?
“No prob.” I got out quickly, but before I closed the door, there was one thing I had to say, needed to fucking say. I popped my head back in. “Mr. Warner, you’re a good guy. We don’t need good guys bloodied up in dark alleys, losing them to the very assholes who should be the ones lying there, bloodied up in those dark alleys.”
It was all true. Even during this short trip, all he’d been was kind and as chill as I could have hoped.
He reflected on my comment before smirking. “Very wise words, Mr. Forsythe.”
“Consider that a little Kyle 101 for tonight,” I teased. “End of lesson.”
“That’s fair. Are you sure you don’t need me to come in and talk to your parents?”
I snickered, tucking my face down and shaking my head. This guy really didn’t get it. “This isn’t my parents’ place.” I winked at him. “And we’ll save that for another lesson. Good night.”
He started to ask something, but I closed the car door and headed into the yard, to the front door, trying to wrap my thoughts around everything that happened.
8
James
“And he just happened to be there when this mugger attacked you?” Dr. Henry asked as she reviewed my incident report, skimming more than reading it, it seemed. I’d emailed her the night of the incident, as soon as I got home, figuring Wyachet High’s principal would want to ensure we handled everything by the book. We’d agreed to meet up before school on Monday to follow up about the details. However, aside from having filed a police report, there wasn’t much I could do.