Page 75 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

Selene let out a strangled gasp, and I felt a dire urge to personally find the two boys and give them a good, old-fashioned ass whooping.

"Well, we're going to get that sorted out for you. But even if we couldn't, you know what? We think you're much more capable of getting rid of those bullies on your own! What good is that dimwit principal, anyway?"

Ollie let out a weary chuckle. "You know Mr. Sanders?"

I had no clue about him. bless the bloke. But he was obviously doing a shitty job.

"Sure, I do," I lied shamelessly. "Now, what do you have that the bullies don't?"

Ollie scrunched his face in ferocious thought. "Better food?"

"You sure do," I said as I ran a gentle hand over his hair, "but also something else. You're much, much cleverer than those crappy little idiots, you hear me?"

"You swore," Oliver said innocently. "Now you have to put a dollar in the swear jar."

I exchanged a glance with Selene, who flailed her arms helplessly. "I'll put a whole twenty in there. That should tide me over until tomorrow night. Now, the next time those bullies try to get to you, you know what you'll do?"

"No?"

"Well, you tell them you have something special for them, and that you're going to give it to them once school ends. After it does, Mommy and her honcho—Biscuit—will be waiting for you near their car, you hear me?"

Oliver nodded, his eyes rapt with attention.

"You can leave the rest to Biscuit, can't he, Selene?" I smiled at her. She nodded immediately, understanding the assignment.

“You've been bullied? What happened to you?"

Oliver's tears began to subside, replaced by a glimmer of hope. "Does it get better?"

I smiled warmly at him. my voice filled with reassurance.

"Yes, Oliver. Over time, things always get better. You learn to stand up for what you believe in and stop giving a crap about what other people want to force you to believe. Yes, that's another dollar for the damn jar."

Oliver's face brightened, and a small smile formed on his lips. "I want to be strong like you, Dom."

I patted his shoulder gently. "And you will be, Oliver. You're already showing incredible strength. We'll work through this together, and I promise you, things will get better."

With Selene's worried gaze fixed on us, I extended my hand toward Oliver. "Why don't we go back to your room, Oliver? We'll stay with you until you fall asleep. You're not alone in this."

Oliver hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gripped my hand, his small fingers seeking reassurance. Together, the three of us walked back to his bedroom, Selene following closely behind.

I watched as Selene tucked him in and read him a story. Ever so slowly, he drifted off to an easy sleep. Even after that, we stayed by his side for an hour.

"Leave the little blue light on," Selene whispered as we finally stepped out of his bedroom. "It gives him comfort on the harder days." As we walked down the hall, she held my hand.

"You were amazing. That thing with Biscuit. I wouldn't have thought of it myself."

"You're too close to the scene," I replied. "And that's fine, Selene. It is as it should be. It's hard to look at stuff objectively when the person you love the most in the whole fucking world is in pain. Man, that swear jar will be stuffed by the end of this night."

Selene laughed. "You're forgiven. Don't worry about it."

* * *

Selene

Biscuitand I stood by my Fortuner, waiting for Ollie to appear. School had just ended.

The carpool lane of Southridge Academy looked less like a normal place for picking up kids after school and more like a runway for luxury automobiles.

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