Page 22 of Single Teddy
I shook my head and unwrapped my sandwich.
“It was just a student. There was an…incident in class.”
“Wow. That looks bad. Are you going to file an incident report?”
I blew air and rolled my eyes.
“Oh come on. The school year has just started. I don’t want to get any students into trouble from the word go. Besides, it was an accident.”
Monica sighed.
“You know better, I guess, but I’d keep an eye on them. And definitely talk to the parent to find out if there are any issues.”
I nodded and took a bite of my sandwich. Ihadpromised myself to be more vigilant about bullying, and after today’s incident, I had to keep my eyes open at all times.
I needed to nip any animosities right in the bud. After the way I failed Mackenzie last year, I was even more determined to be and do better. Which reminded me…
I grabbed my notepad and made a note to check with Mac’s new teacher how she was doing and how Grace, the bully, was treating Mac and others.
As I made a note, I noticed Teddy’s name above my note.
Well, I had been meaning to talk to him about Bear anyway. I guess I could kill two birds with one stone.
Which meant I was going to come face-to-face with Dream Man again. Boy, Ruby would have a field day with that.
Too bad I was going to keep it to myself.
SEVEN
TEDDY
“So? What am I missing?” I asked a couple of hours later.
We were parked a few doors down from the house the guys had been staking out for months, with a box of chapssaltteok to share and our very own bubble teas, courtesy of Hwan, who refused to let us go without sustenance.
I was still quite new to all these flavors and frills, but despite all that, I couldn’t stop sipping the taro and coffee boba drink Hwan had named after his boyfriend. The Mother Parker. Not that I knew much about bubble tea, but I hadn’t realized there were coffee-flavored ones too. The flavor was sweet and nutty but also quite strong, since it contained both black tea and coffee. No wonder my leg wouldn’t stay still.
“What do you mean?” Azrael turned to me and narrowed his eyes in confusion.
I shrugged and pointed at the house.
“This. Goodman. This whole mission. Why is everyone so keen on helping him with this crusade?”
Azrael grimaced.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a crusade.”
“He’s taken the law into his hands.”
“Yeah, because local law enforcement can’t do shit about it.”
“And you’re okay putting yourself and your son at risk trying to make enemies of a criminal gang?” I felt wrong even saying it, because I knew he wasn’t, but I needed to understand. I needed some reassurance.
“Of course not. It’s hard to explain. Any logical person would leave this island and never look back. I was supposed to. But…I couldn’t abandon Duke. Not after everything he went through and what he got himself involved in.”
I nodded, thinking back to the young blond man who had been through hell this year. And to top it all off, he’d gotten mixed into this crap somehow, and his animal sanctuary had ended up being used to launder money and traffic drugs. Which was how they’d uncovered this alleged stash house we were parked in front of.
Slade, the tech wiz of the group who had retired due to an injury, had traced a drop to this quiet house in Aster Lane.
