Page 11 of Shield and Savior

Our protector juts his chin at the other man and keeps his hands clasped in front of him. “Hey.”

“Didn’t think this was your sort of gig.” The guy pushes his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose. “Aren’t you normally with?—”

“Honey Badger, yes,” he cuts off the other guy. “This is Nessie and Champ.”

The names sound weird. I expect a smirk or impolite laughter, but the other guard nods his head. “Nice. Lake monsters.”

The little girl, who must be the other guard’s client, smiles and waves at Lance. Jesus, does he know everyone? He bends down and gives her a high five. “Hey, Rainbow Glitter Sparkles.”

The little girl giggles and whines a little. “Lance, you know my name is Olivia.”

Lance puts on an overly apologetic tone. “My mistake. Whatcha learning about in school today, Olivia?”

Olivia, probably five years old, spins around, arms wide open. “Numbers and the weather.” She has haunting blue eyes. And her dark brown hair is held back with a barrette…holy shit, is that made out of diamonds?

Who is this kid, and how does she know Lance?

The guard shakes his head and readjusts his glasses. “I have the ‘come to the circle’ song playing in an endless loop in my head.”

Rainbow Glitter Sparkles, sorry,Olivia, pulls Lance’s arm, “Are you going to tell Aunt Alana you saw me today?”

Lance bends on one knee and meets her gaze, like she’s the most important girl in the world. “I’m gonna see you every day. And Aunt Alana will get a constant update so she can report back to your mom and dad at dinner this weekend.”

The little girl smiles and nods. “I better be good, then. No one likes it when Alana gets mad.” She waves and turns away, running into the building, causing her bodyguards to jog after her.

The teacher with bright red lips stops us from following the group to go inside. “Are you Drew? I’m Ms. Hammerstein. Come with me, and I’ll get your mom and dad settled.”

“He’s not my dad,” Drew says, no emotion, no annoyance, only stating a fact.

Lance doesn’t let the uncomfortable exchange linger, diving right into the important stuff. His head drifts upward. “I thought this school was supposed to have snipers on the roof.”

“Budget cuts. But I assure you safety is our number one concern. We employ eight security officers who travel around the school. And nearly twenty of our students have their own security or Secret Service.”

Lance grumbles under his breath. “I’d feel better if there was a sniper.”

“I wouldn’t!” I snap.

Ms. Hammerstein nods, “Another reason for the cut in staffing.”

We follow her into the front office where the desks all have marble tops, and everything else is made of mahogany. She opens the door to an office and sits behind the massive credenza. Is it a requirement when you hit a certain age and level of success, you get some big fancy desk. Like does someone arrive at your door with a giant-ass desk when you make 200K a year?

Photographs of her with celebrities, heads of state, and a president watch us as we sit. Maybe it’s if you can play celebrity bingo with the people on your phone you get a fancy desk. Yeah, there’s probably a club of some sort.

“We have a rigorous curriculum and state-of-the-art technology because we educate the literal future leaders of the world.” Her voice shocks me out of my thoughts. Right, I need to focus. “They sent your transcripts over last night. They seem to be acceptable for now.”

Drew was a top student in his old school, above grade-level reading and writing. Two grades ahead in math. Acceptable is a slap in the face. My son glares at me. “Mom, what are we doing here?”

Your father is an asshole, and your grandfather and uncles are overprotective and paranoid. But I don’t tell him the truth. Thankfully, I’m able to keep the word vomit out of my mouth. Instead, I say in my fake happy mom voice, “This is a great opportunity.”

He gives me a side-eye, completely unconvinced.

“Let’s get you to class.” Ms. Hammerstein matches my fake voice as she calls out into the office, “Mrs. Johnson, can you walk Drew to room 112?”

Wait, he would be leaving right now? No, I’m not ready. He’s been within ten feet of me for the last two weeks, and now this Mrs. Johnson lady is going to take him away. Hugging him until he squirms out of my grasp, I remind him, “I love you and try to make some friends.”

Lance puts his hand on my shoulder. It’s the first time he’s touched me, and my stomach flips. It does triple-axel flips when he looks Drew in the eyes. “Hey Champ, I’ll be right outside at the end of the day. We’re taking Ian, Shae, and Maria home with us.” Lance leans in more and whispers, “You can come up with code names for them too.”

My baby boy flashes a smile I haven’t seen in weeks. “Can I go mad with power?”

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