Page 7 of Armor
Forty-Five Minutes Earlier
I had just stuffed the Triple Chunk Rocky Road brownie into my mouth, chewed, swallowed it, and reached for another. Man, I was going to have to work out extra hard after this.
But for Creedence to be enticed by small things after she achieved something, I wouldn’t be complaining.
Not at fucking all.
It was half an hour later when I heard a cell phone ring. I knew it wasn’t mine, and it wasn’t Cree’s.
“Sorry, give me a second to silence this,” she told Cree. I watched her grab her phone from her bag and look at the display; a curious expression marred her face.
“I’m sorry, let me take this,” she murmured as she got up and walked a few steps from the kitchen table.
“Hello?” she asked.
I watched as she listened intently to whoever was calling her.
“Yes, he’s one of the students I tutor.” It was then that Cree even watched her after she glanced at me with a nervous expression.
Valerie gasped. “Is he okay?”
I could even see her hand starting to shake.
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m on my way.” As soon as she said that, I got up and walked over to her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Umm.” She was breathing heavily. “A student that I tutor, his parents... they...”
“Hey, it’s okay, take a deep breath and calm down.”
I watched the rise and fall of her chest as she did as I instructed.
“They beat him. He’s in the hospital. I gave him my number if he ever needed me. He had it on him and had been clutching the paper in his fist.” I wiped away a tear that fell from the corner of her eye.
“Cree, throw some shoes on and grab a jacket, babe,” I said to her.
“Sweetheart, grab your bag,” I murmured in her ear.
“Oh, y’all don’t have to come,” she said stubbornly.
“Sweetheart, you’re shaking. No way can you drive in your condition. Not to mention if his parents come after you, they’ll have to get through me,” I told her sternly. It just so happened that she fell under my protection for no other reason than being a good person to my daughter.
“And nobody gets through my dad.” Cree held her own bag and Valerie’s. She put her arm through one of Valerie’s and pulled her out the front door.
After I grabbed my keys and wallet, I locked the door and jogged to my truck, opening the passenger side door and the rear door for them.
The whole way there, not a word was spoken. Valerie was holding tight to her emotions if her fists clenching and unclenching so hard was anything to go by, they were white.
The moment we made it to the hospital, I parked the truck and climbed out with them.
As we made it to the nurse’s station at the emergency room, I wanted to scream. Could I not go anywhere without women checking me out? Come the fuck on.
“Hi, my name is Valerie Strickland. I got a call from a nurse about Alexander Lawrence.”
The nurse who had been batting her eyes at me looked down at her computer screen.
“Yes. Can you take them to room nineteen?” she asked another nurse.
