Page 23 of The Doctor

At least that was the hope. All the teens who were doing the course were friends, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t welcome another person into their group. Besides, most of them had been through some sort of trauma over the last few years.

“I don’t need any friends.” The kid was determined to give me attitude.

Logan turned around and glared at him. “Dom. I understand we are not your parents. At least, not in any way we should’ve been. But you came to us. And we are more than happy to protect you from the assholes who took your mom and stepdad. All we ask is that you show some respect.”

Dom looked at his feet and nodded. “Fine.”

“Another thing to remember,” Logan continued as if he was born to parent a surly teenager. Or maybe one particular surly teenager. “Bex is your best shot at keeping you and your siblings together. I’ve seen enough kids come through the ER to know that fostering is hit or miss a lot of the time. Victoria stands the best chance of getting out of the system, but if you want to stay together, your best shot is staying right here. In Marina De Ferrier. So, it is probably in your best interest to make some friends. If the social worker can determine all three of you are fitting in nicely, things will run a lot more smoothly.”

He rolled his eyes and then immediately apologized. “Sorry. I’ll try.”

“Good,” I said smiling, knowing I was about to upset his apple cart once more. “Because come Monday, you will be starting school at MDF high.”

“What?”

“What?” Logan frowned and I continued. We’d discussed it and came to the conclusion he would fall too far behind if we didn’t get him into school. But I had gone ahead and actually done it since Logan had a few double shifts that week.

Dom frowned at me but I carried on. “I have requested a more experienced resource officer at the school and there will also be someone from Salinger on the school property at all times. But Dom, you have a near perfect grade point average, you cannot afford any more time off school if you want to maintain it.”

Father and son both looked ready to argue with me. I could see them forming the thoughts in their mind. They were so much alike it was really creepy. And then I could see they both accepted what I was saying was the truth.

Logan nodded. “You're a smart kid, so it won’t be difficult to catch up on the few weeks you’ve missed.” He turned to me, concern lacing his features. “What do we do about his transcripts? Won’t it be dangerous to get his records from his school in San Francisco?”

I tilted my head to the side. “As you said, I am good at my job. I’ll be enrolling him under a false name and his records will not be linked to his previous school.”

I had already spoken to Nick about it. Jared had hacked the school and downloaded Dom’s records. All that remained was changing his name and hoping no one double-checked. I didn’t want to inform the school yet. I wasn’t sure what gang wasinvolved in SF and if they had connections as far south as San Diego or Marina De Ferrier.

Before I could explain anything further the buzzer sounded and security let us know Cassie was down stairs. She would be babysitting the little ones while Dom went to Salinger Security and Logan and I did whatever Logan had planned.

Cassie had her nine-month-old baby with her as well. Little Daisy was still asleep but like me, Cassie was determined all three children would fit easily into our lives and have cousins and friends and spoiling aunts and uncles and good role models all around.

Victoria was also asleep but Landon, who had been playing with the building blocks on the floor, eyed the newcomer to the apartment. His lip quivered as I kissed him goodbye. I was about to tell Logan we should stay when Cassie held up her hand to me.

“No. I’ve seen our niece and nephews pull this crap. He will be fine.”

I looked at Logan and then back at Cassie. She was right. I babysat for my brothers often enough to know that toddlers crying after their parents left only lasted a few minutes. “If he is still crying in half an hour, call us and we'll come back. We won’t be gone for too long.”

Cassie shooed all three of us out of the apartment and within twenty minutes we were pulling up at the Salinger Security building. I took Dom through the property, showing him around all the buildings. We arrived at the training and tactical building on the other side of the property only a short while later. Besides several obstacle courses, we also had shooting ranges for both rifle and pistol training, a gym with several rings for sparring and hand-to-hand combat training. We also had simulation courses which used lasers and a paintball course. When my brothers opened the doors four years earlier, there were only two gun ranges and one simulation course with a small weighttraining gym. I was proud of how much we had grown in such a small space of time. Even though I had joined later than everyone else, I always knew I would end up working for the family business.

I was about to turn into the LazerGames simulation course, when I received a text from Nick.

Nick:We’re not doing the LazerGames course. Bring him over to the PaintBall room.”

He called it a room but honestly, the course was about the size of four blocks.

“Change of plan kiddo. Looks like you'll be playing PaintBall.”

Although our courses were all Nick’s designs, with some help from Ollie, everyone knew the general concept. I had no doubt Dom was familiar with it all.

“What all do you guys do here?”

I smiled, knowing his curiosity was peaked. “Stick around, kid. You’ll get to experience it all, if Nick has his way.”

It was true. Nick wanted all the kids in our circle to be trained in self-defense and survival training. The simulation courses were supposed to give those who wanted to go into the military or law enforcement, a leg up. But mostly the kids had fun.

“That’s your oldest brother, right? The one who called Logan down to the parking lot so he could yell at him.”

“Yeah, you’ll meet him now.” I figured I might as well be honest with him. “He’s not happy I kept you from him all these years.”

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