Alyssa plants her hands on her hips. “That’s not kind, Avery.”
“Be nice to your sister.” I hand Avery the house key as I lug my work bag up the stairs. “Go inside and set the table.”
The kids head into the house, and my eyes trail up Chance’s tall frame until I’m met with his dark gaze. “You really didn’t have to?—”
“What happened to Avery’s eye?”
I let out a long exhale. “Some kids are bullying him at school.”
“And they put their hands on him?”
I nod.
He crosses his arms over his chest. “What is the school doing about this?”
“Avery doesn’t want to rat out the kids bothering him. He’s worried it’ll make them mad.”
“So, you’re just going to sit back and let it keep happening?”
My chin jerks back. “I’m notlettinganything happen. But I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here, and I don’t know how to help him. I’d always call my sister for help when I needed advice, but she’s not here so I’m alone, and I’m fucking this all up, and I just don’t know?—”
Chance wraps his arms around me and swallows me in his embrace. My tears soak into his sweatshirt as they spill out. His palm presses against the back of my head, holding me against his warm body like he’s trying to shield me from everything.
“You’renotalone,” he whispers.
Four years ago, I was thrown into a life I had no clue how to manage. I still don’t. It never gets easier. As the kids get older, a new kind of danger presents itself, and it’s different than the last one. Just when you think you have a handle on the first little fire, another one starts up somewhere else. I’m doing my best, but my best doesn’t feel like enough.
I need help.
Chance pulls back just enough to look into my eyes, his thumbs coming up to swipe at my tears. “Let me talk to Avery, and we’ll come up with a plan so that no one will ever lay a finger on him again.”
My chest aches at the reminder that Chance was once in Avery’s shoes. Only, it wasn’t a punk-ass kid putting his hands on him. It was his own father. On top of that, Chance lost his mother at a young age too.
Maybe Chance is the perfect person to help Avery navigate this situation.
I stretch up on my toes to reach him and press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for being here. And thank you for dinner.”
He slides my work bag off my shoulder and slings it onto his own. “Anything for you, Presley.”
I stamp down the butterflies swarming my stomach as we step inside the house.
The kids have already ransacked the food. Chance makes me a plate before making one for himself, and he takes the empty seat beside Avery.
Avery keeps his head down, keeping his bruised eye turned away from us.
“Do you know how to defend yourself?” Chance asks.
No lead up to the conversation; he dives right in. That’s how Chance is. He doesn’t speak much, but when he does, it’s about something important.
Avery shakes his head. “Wouldn’t matter anyway. There are three of them and one of me.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to take all three of them at once.” Chance dabs the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “Go for the leader. There’s always a leader.”
“Austin.” Avery’s eyes dart from me to Chance. “He’s the leader, and the other two are his minions.”
Chance nods. “After dinner, I’m going to teach you how to throw a punch.”
Alyssa’s eyes fly to me. “Can he teach me too?”
