Page 81 of Tutoring Mr. Hotshot

But first I have to explain.

“The bully — the one who kept bothering him — got to him today.”

She gasps, her hand moving to her chest as she drops onto the chair. I’m thankful she was close enough to one. It didn’t occur to me she might take the news so badly she’d lose her footing.

I remain standing as I keep going. “The guy didn’t actually hurt him how you think. He made threats mostly. Then he…”

“Then he, what? What did he do?”

“He grabbed him,” I spit out. “He grabbed him and when Rodney tried to get free, he fell. It wouldn’t have happened if the guy left him alone.”

“Which makes it his fault! He hurt my baby.”

“He did. As soon as I saw his condition, I took our boy to the nurse. She had us file a report with the campus police. I need help to finish filling it out, then we have to turn it in.”

She nods. “Good. I won’t sit by anymore. I can’t let him get hurt.”

“You don’t have to worry about it,” I tell her honestly.

Her eyes take me in. It’s like she sees my intention without me saying a word.

“You’ll take care of it, won’t you? Because you love him?”

“I do. He’s not going to have to worry about it any longer. No one else will ever put their hands on him like this again. You have my solemn vow.”

Rather than tell me not to worry about it, she gives me a smile. Her hand reaches out for me.

Leaning down, I hold steady as her hand pats my cheek. It’s a gentle touch that has a smile forming to match hers.

“You are a good one. I knew it all along. Thank you for taking care of my baby.” She lets go, then stands slowly. “Now I need to go cook or else I’m going to go stir crazy until he wakes up. You wanna help?”

“No, ma’am. I’ve got some things to plan.”

She leaves the room with one final nod. Once I know she’s out of sight, I drop the smile to focus on the anger still lingering in me.

Grabbing my phone, I open the Daddy Alliance group chat.

Andry:911. Need backup.

The responses come in immediately.

Aries:TELL ME EVERYTHING.

Bellamy:About to wrap up practice. Can be wherever ASAP.

Leon:Madd and I are prepping dinner. Can come after.

Bishop:Who am I hurting?

Luke:I need my players uninjured. If you need extra hands, let me know before risking one of them.

I smirk at the last message. It figures the coach of the Bears would rather get involved than lose out on his team being able to play.

Aries:Everyone come to my place. I’ll order pizzas for the hungry people. Bring your boys too. Raymond would love to entertain them.

That message gets a bunch of thumbs up reactions. I head into the kitchen to let Ma know I’m going to head out for a bit.

“He’ll be fine. Our boy is real sensitive to medicine. He may not even wake up until tomorrow morning. I can text you when he does if you want.”

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