Chapter Twenty-Four

PROMPTLY at ten o’clock the next day, Thane and Kit were escorted into the principal’s office. Thane had hoped to see Blake before the meeting started to get an idea of what to expect, but Blake wasn’t waiting for them outside. He nodded politely to Mr. Williams and squeezed Kit’s shoulder. They’d get through this and everything would be fine.

A few moments later, another set of parents came in, followed by a big kid with a cocky swagger. The exact kind of kid Thane would have taken down a notch or two when he was in high school. He took a deep breath and reminded himself of Blake’s advice. He wasn’t a high school punk anymore. He could take the high road.

“Thank you all for coming,” Mr. Williams said. “I hope we can clear everything up today.”

“Where’s Mr. Barnes?” Kit asked.

“He won’t be joining us today,” Williams said. Thane waited for an explanation, an excuse, anything, but Williams went right on, oblivious to the way Kit shrank in on himself.

“Tell us what happened on Monday,” Williams asked Kit.

“It didn’t start on Monday,” Thane interrupted. “It’s been going on since January.”

“I’m aware of the pattern of behavior, Mr. Dalton, but the previous incidents have been dealt with already. We’re here to discuss the fight on Monday.”

“It wasn’t a fight,” Kit said. “I didn’t touch him. He punched me, and Zach and Phillip pulled him off me.”

“You didn’t do anything to provoke him? Maybe you said something to him?” Williams asked.

“No, I’ve never had anything to do with him,” Kit said. “He’s always been the one to come up to me, yelling, shoving me, making threats.”

“What kind of threats?”

Kit looked at Thane desperately. Where was Blake? He’d promised to help Kit through this. “It’s okay. I’m here,” Thane said softly.

“He said… he said they’d teach me what happened to faggots at this school. And then this time he said he’d show me what it felt like to be fucked over the way I’d fucked him over. I didn’t do anything to him. I don’t understand why he hates me so much.”

“Mr. Barnes said there was security camera footage from Monday,” Thane interjected. “That should prove Kit didn’t do anything to start the fight.”

“His accusations caused our son to be unable to play baseball during the height of scouting season,” the other boy’s father said. “Because of that, he didn’t receive any of the scholarship offers he was promised. You can be sure that isn’t ‘nothing.’”

“I saw that incident too, as did Mr. Barnes. Your son and his friends started that one too,” Thane said.

“Of course you would say that. You’re his father.”

“I wasn’t the only witness.” But Blake wasn’t here to back him up, and Kit had hunched in on himself. He hadn’t looked like that since the first time Thane had been called into Blake’s office.

“Mason is a model student. He attends church on Sunday and goes to youth activities on Wednesdays. He’s never had any trouble at school before now,” Mason’s mother said. “Can you say the same?”

“My religious beliefs and how I practice them are not at issue here,” Thane said, holding on to his temper by the skin of his teeth. “And not that it’s any of your business since your son attacked Kit, not the other way around, but Kit didn’t have any disciplinary problems at his previous schools either.”

He turned to Williams. “Kit is not at fault here. And I resent you calling that into question.”

“Something has to explain the change in Mason’s behavior,” the father protested. “He wouldn’t act this way without extreme provocation.” If Mason’s father wasn’t a lawyer, Thane would eat his hat.

“And what provocation do you suppose a fifteen-year-old boy in a new school where he knows no one but his brother and is grieving because his mother just died offered your son?” Thane said, his voice low and harsh. He hoped they heard the threat in his words because he’d gladly put his fist through the bastard’s smarmy face.

“Shouldn’t you be asking your son that question?”

“No, I shouldn’t, because I know Kit didn’t do anything wrong,” Thane retorted. “Ask your son what caused him to act so out of character.”

“He kept calling me a fag or other similar things,” Kit said. “Like that was an excuse or something.”

Thane had known that, had even heard Kit say it earlier, but he’d reached the end of his patience. He rose and took Kit’s arm. “Kit has been through enough. If you have any other questions for him, you can ask him privately. I hope we can settle this at school, but if we can’t, my lawyer will be in touch with assault charges. I will not allow Kit to be bullied this way.”

Mason’s parents sputtered protests, but Thane was done. He guided Kit out of the office and toward the front door.

“I need to go back to class.”

“Not until I know that rat bastard can’t hurt you. We’ll get your assignments so you can do them at home, but I won’t put you at risk.”

Kit got a mulish look on his face, reminding Thane so much of Lily in that moment that it hurt to look at him. “I’m still going to stage crew, even if I have to walk there. Between Mr. Barnes and the other kids, I’ll be safe.”

Thane bit back the demand to know where Blake had been on Monday when Mason first punched Kit or where he’d been today after he’d promised to be in the meeting to support them. As angry as he was at Blake, he didn’t want to hurt Kit worse by pointing out Blake’s failings. He’d just have to talk with Phillip and ask him to keep an extra close eye on Kit. Phillip wouldn’t let his brother down.

THANE waited until Kit and Phillip got home from stage crew with the news that Blake hadn’t been there again today before he reached the end of his rope. He sent the boys to work on their homework, took his phone outside so they wouldn’t hear him shouting, and called Blake.

The phone rang six times before it went to voice mail.

“What the hell kind of game are you playing, Blake? You promised Kit you’d be at the meeting, and you weren’t there. You promised me he’d be safe, and he still ended up with a black eye. Hell, you promised the stage crew kids you’d work with them this spring, and you weren’t there today. You better have a damn good explanation, because if this is how you keep your promises, I’m not sure this is going to work between us.”

He ended the call with a pang in his chest, but he ignored it. He had Kit and Phillip to think of now. If Blake couldn’t keep the simplest of promises, Thane couldn’t let Kit and Phillip come to rely on him more than they already did. They’d had enough loss in their young lives. They didn’t need to get attached to someone who would let them down.

Never mind that Thane had done exactly what he didn’t want them to do. He was an adult. He’d get over it.

Thane’s phone rang a few minutes later, Blake’s name showing up on the screen. “You finally decided to talk to me?” he snapped.

“You know what? Never mind,” Blake said across the line. “I was going to call and try to explain that I wasn’t at the meeting today because I wasn’t allowed to be there, not because I didn’t want to be there, but it’s not worth it. You’re so determined to think poorly of me when I’ve done everything I can—and more than I should have, in some cases—to show you I’m different. Take your temper and your bad attitude and shove it up your ass. I’m done.”

“What do you mean ‘not allowed’?” Thane demanded.

“I was told my involvement with you was a conflict of interest in the case, and that if I was lucky, it would just be the case and not my job that was in danger,” Blake said. “Think what you want about me, but I will always put my students first. Good-bye, Thane.”

The line went dead before Thane could reply. He almost called back to demand more of an explanation, but Blake had been more than clear. He didn’t consider their relationship worth fighting for, and Thane had his pride. If Blake wouldn’t fight for them, Thane sure as hell wouldn’t waste any more time on it. He had far more important things to do with his time.

Like figure out how to keep the fallout of this from hurting Kit and Phillip.

Fuck it all to hell and back.

He spun on his heel and slammed his fist into the door. He’d had one job after Lily died. One. And that was to give her boys some sense of safety and security. Instead he’d let himself get distracted by a pretty face and prettier ass, and where had that gotten him? Alone again, and with the burden of explaining to Kit and Phillip why Mr. Barnes wasn’t coming over anymore. At least they’d finished building the sets. He wouldn’t have to deal with their hurt looks because he wasn’t coming to stage crew to help. He didn’t know anything about lights or sound, and he’d just be in the way with props and moving sets. He could tell them honestly that he’d done all he could to help rather than admit he didn’t want to see Mr. Barnes anymore. He could tell them things had run their course.

They didn’t have to see him licking his wounds.

BLAKE set down his phone and leaned against the back of the couch. That wasn’t the way he’d hoped their conversation would go. He’d hoped he could explain his situation to Thane and they could figure out a way forward. A hiatus, maybe, until school was out and Kit and Phillip were no longer his students.

Mr. Williams already knew Blake was gay. For all that Mason’s parents tried to make that an issue, it wouldn’t have been one if Blake had been seeing anyone other than the guardian of the student their son was accused of bullying. Blake had tried explaining to the principal that he’d thought the case was resolved when he and Thane started dating, but it didn’t matter. He’d crossed a line, however unintentionally, and he was lucky to be removed from the case and not from his job entirely. At least he could go in to school tomorrow and tell Mr. Williams it was over. He’d have said it even if he and Thane had agreed on a break instead of a breakup, but this way he didn’t have to fudge the truth.

He ought to be glad it had happened now. Thane had a temper, and Blake got enough of that at school. Better for things to end now while he was only a little gone over the man rather than a year or two from now when it would break his heart completely.

And he’d be able to cross one thing off his list of unattainable fantasies. For a few short weeks, he’d been Thane Dalton’s lover.

A few short weeks was better than nothing, right?