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The principal, Mrs. Jameson, scowled at my arrival or maybe it was the way Paval rushed over to me as if I was saving him from whatever torture her office offered. We usually sent Gianni because he was the least threatening of us three but I hadn’t been thinking.
It was obvious that she hadn’t been expecting me.
“Uh, yes. Mr. Kolas, please have a seat.” I followed the request as she continued speaking, Paval snuggling a little closer. “There was a fight on the playground and Paval here, won’t apologize. The other family is insisting that there is some remediation at home before he returns.”
“Noted. Did anyone ask Paval what happened?”
She bit her lip as a little sigh fell from her mouth. “That’s not-”
“It’s very important.” I tried to weather my anger, knowing that the monster I kept locked up had no business showing up at an elementary school. “Paval,” I tapped him on the back as he twisted around to look at the teacher. “Tell us what happened.”
“I was just standing up for myself. You said that I should do that,” He said, looking at me.
Oh, I was so fucking proud of my little boy. “Yes, I did. But you can’t go around hitting people.”
“I didn’t mean to. Sam kept saying really mean things. I told Miss. Riley but she wasn’t listening to me.” I swallowed the response Iwantedto give as Paval continued. “Sam kept getting in my face, talking about how my parents didn’t want me and how I was too much to handle. That three men had to take care of me because no mother loved me and-” Tears started down his face as he clung to me, my gaze drifting to Mrs. Jameson.
She cleared her throat and sat forward, clasping her hands on the desk. “Mr. Kolas, have you ever considered a more female touch at home? Maybe a nanny? Someone who-”
“Mrs. Jameson, your concern is noted. However, his parental situation is not the issue. What are you doing about the other kid? Sam? Have you spoken to his parents about the bullying or did you only let them know about the final altercation?”
She shrunk back, trying to hide her emotions and failing miserably. “Mr. Kolas, the issue here is that violence has no place at this school and I feel like he might be picking things up at home considering…” She trailed off as she waved her hand toward my face, pointing at a dark bruise at the edge of my jaw. I hadn’t bothered covering it up because it hadn’t mattered at the time.
I should have known that there would eventually be a conflict between Mrs. Jameson’s core family values and the life we had chosen to live. Her idea of heterosexual monogamy was so… old-fashioned but it ruled most of her decisions, which meant Paval’s actions were heavily scrutinized regardless of what he did. A little too much violence? It was a result of the lack of female influence. Didn’t say thank you after receiving something at lunch? Not enough female influence at home. Standing up for himself?Not enough female influence.
Not to mention that she made assumptions about our profession and our ability to parent Paval, regarding the few bruises that accompanied our visits to the school.
Mrs. Jameson began to speak, to defend her position and possibly also Miss Riley’s but I had heard enough. “I’ll take Paval home to reflect. He shouldn’t be resorting to violence when his words aren’t heard. We’ll work on that. However, I’m disappointed that the bullies aren’t being dealt with similarly. If you despised how I and my partners raise my son so much, I wished you would have denied his admission for a second semester.”
“Mr. Kolas!”
I stood up, cradling Paval against my chest. “I don’t think you’re a bad person, Mrs. Jameson but your professional attitude could use a tune-up. I will be unenrolling Paval next semester and should I find a more suitable elementary school in the meantime, he will be transferred immediately.” I didn’t wait to hear any more of her lies and excuses as I walked off the school grounds, strapped Paval into his car seat, and took off down the road.
“Dad?” Too angry to answer, I just grunted. “I didn’t mean to.” He hiccupped, another onset of tears pouring down his flushed cheeks. I couldn’t bring myself to look in the rearview mirror, knowing that I’d see a younger version of my brother staring back at me.
“Fuck. Yeah, I’m not angry with you, Pav. I’m pissed that I can’t do anything to make it better. That the only option we have isnotdealing with it.” As my emotions settled, there was something else I realized. I should have told Gia and Dmitri that I’d swing by later to pick them up but we were nearly back at Rhys’ house so there wasn’t much point. “Pav, we have to finish an estimate. You okay to sit in the car? I can call grandma to come pick you up but we shouldn’t be much longer.”
“Take me with you! I like seeing the houses.” He wiped his face as I took a chance and twisted around to look at him, Paval smiling wide. It hurt that he thought he had to hide his emotions but it made sense seeing who his fathers were. We were constantly trying to weather our expressions around him and hide the pain. It was only a matter of time before our kid did the same.
“Alright. One house coming up,” I said before focusing on the road again. Paval wasn’t just the last piece of my brother I got to hold onto; he was also the perfect kid. He loved drawing pictures and observing different structures. I could see him being an architect at some point, designing his own buildings and houses, following in our footsteps. The legal ones at least.
Chapter twelve
RHYS
Nearly twenty minutes later, dressed in something alittlemore respectable, teeth brushed, and hair a lot less tussled, I wandered toward my office, wanting to avoid the kitchen altogether. The front door had opened and closed at some point as I lingered out of the way, not wanting to fall victim to the gorgeous testosterone in my house.
I had no problems with them being here in general.
It was more of the fact that they were working on a kitchen renovation that I hadn’t orderedandI had slept with two of them last night. Ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away, especially when I couldn’t stop remembering the way they took me apart in my living roomand then fucking cleaned it up.
Like who did that?
That wasn’t even just aftercare. That was…
I shook away the idea that last night had been more than it was, despite Gianni’s statement that somehow Valentyn had already claimed me.Can’t trust that.Turning my gaze to the small laptop on my desk, I sat down to focus. The device whirred to life, bringing my project to reality. Numbers and letters ran across the screen as I stretched and began working through the newest algorithm I had programmed into the system.
There wasn’t much time before my dissertation and everything had to be perfect. My entire life’s work depended on it and while that sounded like an exaggeration for someone as young as I was, it wasn’t. I had poured every ounce of my time and effort into this. If it didn’t work, I’d be devastated and possibly looking for another line of work.
