Page 62 of Just a Heartbeat Away

Following the echoing, reverberating voice, Sebastian found himself half a hallway down from Via’s office.

“If this bitch thinks she can tell me shit about how to raise my daughter—”

Sebastian left his stomach behind as he ran even faster.

One of the third-grade teachers poked her head out of her classroom door; clearly the man’s voice was carrying.

Sebastian was ten feet away from Via’s open office door when he heard the firm, dulcet tones of Principal Grim’s voice. Well, thank God Via wasn’t in there alone.

Sebastian skidded to a stop in the open doorway, one hand on either side of the frame. His breath caught at what he saw.

A humongous man, maybe six feet tall and a doughy two hundred and fifty pounds, was leaning across Via’s desk, viciously pointing a finger at Via and Principal Grim, who stood side by side. Via’s cheeks were pink, but she looked calm. Shit, even her hands were tucked into the pockets of her trousers. Fin’s purple necklace glinted against the golden skin of her chest.

Principal Grim looked just as calm, if not a little less patient. Her wild dyed hair was starting to come a little loose from her barrette. She raised a hand to quiet the man shouting obscenities, and when that didn’t work, she raised her voice herself.

“Mr. Tate. I’m going to ask you one more time tositdown. And you are obviously being extremely inappropriate if even Mr. Dorner could hear you all the way in the cafeteria.” She gestured toward the doorway.

Sebastian intentionally pulled up to his full height of six foot four. He wasn’t as big around as this guy, but he wasn’t as squishy either. He crossed his arms over his chest and let his biceps flex a little.

The man, a sheen of sweat shining on his forehead and his brown hair sticking up in a few places, sneered at Sebastian. But he sat his ass down in the chair.

Principal Grim gave Seb a meaningful look, and he stayed right where he was in the doorway.

“Mr. Tate, I understand that you have taken offense to some of the things that Miss DeRosa has written in this report. And that you resent being asked to come in to go over them. But I will have you know that I familiarized myself with your situation and reviewed this report before she was authorized to show it to you. I stand by everything she says. I have complete confidence in her.”

“She doesn’t know shit about my family life.”

“She’s a licensed and qualified professional who knows a great deal more than you think she does. And honestly, the fact that you view this kind of aid as a personal attack reveals quite a bit, Mr. Tate.”

He puffed up. “She can’t tell me I can’t see my own fucking kid.”

Via took a small step forward. “Mr. Tate, I’m going to repeat myself here. I’m not the one who said that you couldn’t see Sarah. The courts did. I had to get special clearance to even allow you to come in for this meeting, seeing as it isn’t during your previously appointed visiting hours. Your case administrator and I thought it would be a good idea to go over some strategies—”

“I don’t need strategies to hang out with my own fucking kid.”

“I’m telling you that, based on my conversations with Sarah, youdoneed strategies. Some of them aren’t as bad as you think. Here.”

Seb watched as she opened up a folder and selected a few papers to hand across the desk.

The man leaned forward and, in the blink of an eye, smacked the papers out of Via’s hand with a full swing of his arm. Via gasped and jumped backward, cradling her hand against her stomach.

“Hey!” Principal Grim and Sebastian yelled at the same time.

“It’s okay!” Via shouted.

“Out.” Sebastian’s voice was deadly low, on a register that was only ever used for fighting. Lithe as a cat, he’d inserted himself between the desk and Mr. Tate and that put him pretty close to nose-to-nose with this guy.

Seb’s adrenaline pumped through his veins, making everything stand out in high definition. The bead of sweat on Mr. Tate’s brow, the chip on one of the teeth he was currently baring, the spiraling, rainbow glitter of the crystals catching the light in the window of Via’s office.

“Out. Now.”

“Fuck this,” Tate growled as he stalked to the doorway, Sebastian not more than two inches behind him.

Principal Grim was there too, the ballsy little lady. She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled to the security guard who was running down the hall, belatedly on the way to see what all the ruckus was. The guard radioed for some assistance, and it wasn’t more than three minutes before Mr. Tate was escorted out of the building with three guards and Principal Grim. Sebastian didn’t follow.

The lunch bell rang; they’d need him in the cafeteria, wading through an ocean of tiny people, opening juice boxes and settling swapped sandwich disputes. But he didn’t go. Instead he turned back into Via’s office and quietly shut the door behind him.

“It’s okay,” she repeated. She was standing with her back against the far wall of the office with one hand cradled in the other.

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