Page 5

From the moment I brought him home from the hospital, I had done everything in my power to make sure my little boy felt loved and protected. I got out of the game because I knew that I was the only one he could depend on.

Trisha popped in and out of the picture, making sure he kept just enough hope to think she cared about him. As much as I despised her, I was torn about keeping Victor away from his mom.

Her presence was more of a hindrance than a help since all she did was get our son’s hopes up about coming around more, then disappear like she had never been there. I wanted him to have a present mother, but time after time, Trisha continued to prove that she wasn’t it.

Since my plans had been changed, I called Jake and let him know to use his company card to pick up lunch. I didn’t know how long I would be at Victor’s school, but since he was coming home for the rest of the day, he was going back to work with me.

I walked into the building and spotted my son sitting on a bench outside the office. I tried not to jump to conclusions, but him getting into his second fight of the school year before we made it to winter break wasn’t a good look for either of us. I felt like a failure for not being able to get through to him.

He was a smart kid, but rules weren’t his thing unless they came directly from me. My father was a hard man who let his fists do the talking. I wanted to take a different approach with my own son. As soon as he spotted me, he jumped to his feet.

“Dad, I didn’t start it.”

I squatted so that we were eye to eye before speaking to him. I saw that on a parenting show one time. I wasn’t sure how much that shit worked, but so far, we had kept a pretty open line of communication.

“What happened?” I asked him.

“Mr. Woods, we were completing family trees. Victor and another student had a disagreement.” His teacher Mrs. Green filled me in.

“It sounds like it was more than a disagreement if I had to come down here.”

“Is this the little bad ass that put his hands on my son?” a woman barked as she burst through the doors of the nurse’s office, holding a little boy’s hand.

“There he is, Dad. He said that I didn’t have a mom. That’s why my dad always has to pick me up from school.”

“Wait a minute, Mrs. Green. Take the boys in the assistant principal’s office while I talk to their parents,” the principal, Mr. Strong, instructed.

“Go ahead, buddy. I’ll talk to you in a minute,” I told my son before standing to my full height.

“Right this way,” Mr. Strong said, leading the way into his office.

I craned my neck, trying to work out some of the stiffness as I followed him inside and stood in front of his desk. The other kid’s mom stood to the far left with her arms folded across her chest like she was already in defense mode.

“As you both know, we have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violence. Mr. Woods, this is Victor’s second incident already this school year. I’m afraid we have no other choice but to send him home for a few days,” Mr. Strong stated.

“You need to teach your son to keep his hands to his self!” the woman added.

“No, I think you need to talk to your son about talking trash, because Victor is never going to back down when he feels threatened. I taught my boy to stand up for himself, and I’m not talking him down.”

“It’s one thing to stand up for himself and another thing to put his hands on somebody else’s kids,” she snapped.

“Well maybe if you taught him how to act before you sent him to school, my son wouldn’t have had to get on his ass.”

“You see how he acts. No wonder his little bad-ass son doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself.”

“And no wonder your son can’t fight. Let me guess, he doesn’t have a father at home. I can see why a man wouldn’t put up with you for over five minutes.”

“Enough! You two are supposed to be role models for these kids. No wonder they’re acting like hooligans,” Mr. Strong interrupted.

“I apologize, Mr. Strong. I’m having a rough time with Victor, but he understands that fighting isn’t the way to solve his problems. I’ve already spoken to you about him saying some of the kids were bullying him. I assumed that you would do something about it, but seeing how he thought he had to take matters into his own hands shows otherwise.”

“My son is not a damn bully, and I’m not going to sit here and let you keep making those kinds of accusations.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Lane, but a couple of the kids have mentioned that Theo is a part of the crew that has been picking on some of the other kids. Unfortunately, we haven’t quite got a grip on things. Maybe a few days home will do both of the boys some good,” Mr. Strong mentioned.

“What? I can’t keep Theo at home. I have a business to run.”

“So do I. Victor wasn’t even the one who started it. Why does he have to stay home too?” I quizzed.