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“You’re not testing today,” I said softly. “You’ve really honestly got a day full of blow-off classes. And they’re going to understand, just like I do, that you don’t want to let her go. Whether you admit it or not, you’ve lost a very big part of your life.”
Slone closed his eyes, his shoulders seeming to slump in defeat.
“I…fuck.” I patted his hand. “Can I hold her? You can go run to the bathroom. Do what you need to do. Clean your face. Then you can come back and have her.”
Slone looked down at his child, his protective instincts screaming at him to hold on and never let go.
Something that I knew all too well when I let Hayes go today, knowing damn well and good he was going to put himself in harm’s way the moment he stepped out of the police station.
“Yeah,” he finally said. “I think I need to go do that.”
He leaned forward and placed the baby in my arms. She was adorable and looked exactly like Abilene.
Holy shit.
There was no way that Slone wouldn’t see Abilene every single time that he picked her up.
None.
Slone walked away slowly, disappearing from sight moments later.
I watched as a young girl moved into the nurse’s office across the hall and then looked down at the little girl
“Briley,” I said softly. “You look so much like your mommy.”
There was a moment of silence, and then muted laughter started to come from the vicinity of my desk.
My heart started to pound as I looked over just in time to see Bailey crawl out of the hiding spot that my desk offered.
“That was quite a sob story you just spun there,” he said softly, his eyes on me. “You walk out of here willingly, and I won’t shoot every student I see as I walk out of this place.”
I swallowed hard, the baby in my arms smiling happily at me as she patted my chest.
She had no idea.
“Okay,” I whispered.
He looked at the kid. “Keep the kid.”
No.
One word, but I felt it in my soul.
“I’ll put the baby down,” I said as I laid her down gently on the bean bag that I had in the corner of my office for a student if they wanted to sit there and talk. In fact, the last person that I’d seen sit in one had been Abilene, the baby’s mother. “I won’t scream. I won’t do anything but walk with you. Which door are we going out?”
Bailey didn’t say a word as he gestured for the door. “The gym. It’s away from Toomey’s office.”
It was.
Shit.
Nobody would see us if we used that exit.
Athletics wasn’t in yet. Coaches taught first periods.
There would be no one there to notice us leaving.
And I’d just heard first period tardy bells ring right before I’d sent Slone to the bathroom.
Needless to say, with today being testing day, there would be barely anyone out in the halls. And if they were out in the halls, they would be out there under watch and guard. And they wouldn’t bat an eye if they saw Principal Bailey and I walking together.
“Let’s go,” I whispered.
The little girl that was the mirror image of Abilene gave out a frustrated cry when my feet met the threshold. I glanced at her one last time, making sure that she was okay, then left with Principal Bailey at my side.Chapter 18C’est La Fucking Vie.
-Coffee Cup
Slone
The sound of my daughter wailing at the top of her lungs had my head lifting and my feet speeding up. Before I knew it, I was standing in Ms. Downy’s office looking around for my baby.
I found her half-off a beanbag, and Ms. Downy nowhere in sight.
My stomach knotted as I looked around, a bad feeling starting to form in the pit of my stomach.
She wouldn’t have left my daughter here unless it was an emergency.
The only question was, what was it?
“Everything okay?”
I looked up to see the school nurse, Ms. Alvarez, staring at me in worry.
My daughter’s cries had calmed, but my heart hadn’t stopped beating fast.
“Slone?” Ms. Alvarez repeated.
I shook my head. “Ms. Downy was holding Briley while I went to the bathroom. And when I got back, Briley was on the bean bag screaming her head off. And I have a really bad feeling…”
Ms. Alvarez didn’t look like she had just a bad feeling.
She looked downright terrified.
She left me standing in the office, and when I tried to follow, she pointed to Ms. Downy’s desk. “Stay in here. Door closed. Don’t let anyone in. If they need in, they’ll have a key. Sit. Stay. Don’t move.”
I blinked. “Yes, ma’am.”
Then she closed the door on me, leaving me staring at a poster that said, ‘Do you want fries with that? Number one reason to get a diploma—so you don’t have to say this phrase thirty times a day.’
