“I don’t know. Why?”
“I think someone’s phone is going nuts.” The more Zane heard the vibration, the more he thought that he was probably right. It was most definitely a phone. “I hate phones.”
“Me too.” She started to move, but he caught and held her fast against him. “I think it’s in the kitchen.”
“Let it wait,” he suggested.
She swirled her fingers over his chest in a way that was sure to tickle. “Are you sure that’s wise, all things considered?”
“All things considered?” What was that supposed to mean?
She nuzzled his nipple and lightly bit the sensitive skin. “You know. Think about it. Our lives seem to constantly veer toward disaster. So is it wise to ignore the indication of another disaster looming?”
“I don’t know.” He considered her comment and came up with the best answer he could think of. “Maybe if we just ignore it, we can ignore disaster. What do you think? What we don’t know can’t yank the rug out from under us?”
“Great plan,” she snorted. “I’ll keep that in mind as we build our life together. Just don’t tell you the bad things. Got it.”
Sometimes Zane could not help but feel like this would be the best option around if he had a choice. But he didn’t. And that was why he knew that whatever was happening with the phone was going to become the next fire on their list.
Chapter Thirty-One
“So this isn’t really a disaster, right?” Landry leaned over and whispered the words to Zane as the two of them waited in hard plastic chairs outside Principal Trujillo’s office. “I mean, it doesn’t count when it’s supposedly good news, right?”
“Supposedly?” Zane took her hand and lifted it to his lips. He fiddled with the princess cut diamond ring. She’d noticed that he did that when he was nervous. “I don’t think the word supposedly can indicate good or bad. Doesn’t it pretty much cover both possibilities?”
“Right.” Landry bobbed her head. It wasn’t like she could argue with that kind of logic. “So then we can’t actually say whether or not the phone buzzing was bad or good. We just have to wait.”
“Seems that way.” He was chuckling now. His dark eyes were gleaming with good humor. “Kind of irritating. Like someone should have the courtesy of telling us whether or not things are going to suck or not before we have to drive down here?”
“Yeah!” Landry put both hands over her mouth to stifle the huge giggle that wanted to bust out. “Like, I don’t want to drive down here and waste my time with bad news. Just text me so I don’t have to bother with it.”
“Exactly.” He was nodding his head in a sage sort of way that suggested deep thought on a Zen level. “It basically just means you don’t want to have to waste a single second on bullshit.”
“Maybe.” She heard the door creak as Principal Trujillo stepped out into the office. There were several kids waiting to talk to Mrs. Hart, but Landry and Zane were the only ones there to chat with Trujillo. “I don’t suppose they’re going to be expecting you to be with me.”
“That’s fine. They can expect whatever they what. Nobody is going to intimidate my girl without me around to wipe the floor with them.” He sounded extremely male and very grouchy. It was kind of endearing.
“Ms. Fisher?” Mr. Trujillo glanced at Zane and frowned. “I wasn’t expecting Mr. King for this meeting.”
Zane got up and tugged Landry along. “If you want to talk to Landry, she’s right here. Have at it. But I’m tagging along.”
“Fine.” Mr. Trujillo exhaled a grunt as though he were just really tired of pretty much everything. He glanced at Landry with a strange expression on his face. “Apparently, there was an incident of vandalism here at the school last night. Fortunately, there was no lasting damage. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Yeah, because Zane here was patrolling the neighborhood,” Landry quickly added.
Trujillo cranked his head around with such force as he entered his office that he nearly slammed his shoulder into the doorway. “Excuse me? Did you say that Mr. King was here?”
“Yes. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on the neighborhood at night,” Zane said by way of explanation. He just couldn’t actually explain how he was doing it. “Usually it just means intentionally leaving my run till late at night. But I caught some vandals on the school property.”
“Well, thank you.” Principal Trujillo took a seat behind his desk. It was obvious from his expression that he was rethinking whatever earlier opinions he’d had about Zane being at this meeting. Good. That was what really mattered. Then Trujillo cleared his throat and folded his hands on the desktop. “Ms. Fisher, the school board has looked at your case and has made a decision about the situation.”
“All right.” Landry was feeling very, very apprehensive about this but she didn’t really understand why. What did she honestly have to lose? “And what has the school board decided?”
“You are a wonderful teacher.” Mr. Trujillo said this as though he were trying to convince Landry of something that she already knew. Wow. Did the guy think she doubted her own abilities? “Your evaluations have always been great. Your record is good. The kids like you and you seem to have success in teaching them. That really isn’t the issue.”
Aha. So there was a but coming very soon. Interesting. Landry could barely sit still as she contemplated what was coming next. “But?” she prompted.
“What?”
“But,” Landry said again. “You were about to say but something. I could hear it in your voice.”
“No. I wasn’t actually. There was no but. You’re a great teacher. You are able to perform your job with far more than just satisfactory results. That’s important. We have lots of teachers, but not all of them can accomplish that.”
“So I can come back to work?”
“No.”
Beside Landry, she felt Zane’s whole body tighten in anger. He cleared his throat. “So you’re letting Landry go because that parent has filed some kind of suit against the school system.”
“Yes.” Trujillo looked uncomfortable. “It’s just not that simple. It is standard policy within the district to let a teacher go when they’ve had a direct issue like this. The parent is claiming misrepresentation by the teacher and by the school and claiming that his kid has been discriminated against because of some reason I cannot recall. Learning disability or something.”
“Joel Lambert doesn’t have a learning disability.” Landry was very confused. “Why would he say that? Is all of this actually about making sure his kid doesn’t think that his father was wrong? That is preposterous! Have they actually evaluated this guy? I think you’d find him a cornucopia of clinical issues.”
“Except that you’re not qualified to determine that,” Mr. Trujillo pointed out. “Believe me, we’ll be appealing and appealing and asking for mental evaluations for personality disorders and such. But for now we need to think about cutting our losses and making sure it seems to the public like we’re trying to do our best for the student above all else.”
“I get it.” And Landry did. She stood up. “I will expect a fat severance package though. Either that or you guys are going to be hearing from a union attorney.”
“Are you sure?” Zane whispered to Landry. He lightly touched the small of her back. Neither of them had actually sat down in the principal’s office. They were both just standing there and it felt almost as though Zane were about to leap over the desk and strangle the principal. “We will get a lawyer and we will get your job back if you want.”
Trujillo looked rather concerned as he processed that threat. It was kind of empowering, but Landry didn’t want that kind of power. She just wanted what was due her. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she told the principal. “You know that. I think even Mr. Lambert knows that.”
“Yes.” Trujillo nodded. “I understand. But you have to realize that our school district is plagued by problems and this is one of them.”
&nb
sp; “Be careful letting that man win,” Landry advised Trujillo. “The second you start letting parents decide who passes and who fails and what grade they get, you’ve completely lost the purpose of public education. And if you think that this parent isn’t going to let every other parent in the school know what he was able to accomplish with one temper tantrum, then you’re out of your mind.”
“You’re just angry,” Trujillo murmured. “I understand. It’s natural.”
“I’m actually not angry.” Landry was pretty sure that she was more surprised about this than he was. “I don’t think this is the place for me anymore.” She bit her lip. This was the time. Now or never. “You went behind my back and discussed my mental health with my coworkers. You did it under the guise of being concerned for me, but it was embarrassing. You dug into my past. You used it as a reason to have the school counselor talk to me like she’s some kind of EAP. She’s not.” Landry could not help but make her voice firm right now. “Do you get what I’m saying? Mrs. Hart had no right to talk to me about what she did. I could have sued. I could have made a huge deal about it and I didn’t.”
“We were concerned, Landry.” Trujillo murmured the words, but Landry could tell that he knew he was in the wrong.
She shook her head. “You were concerned for you and for your school. And honestly, I believe that this whole situation is just an excuse to act on the reservations you had about me before.”
“What?” Trujillo was gripping the arms of his chair with both hands until his knuckles turned white. “That is preposterous!”
“Is it?” Landry shook her head. “I don’t think so. And that’s why I’m not upset. Because you are going to pay me for all of this and you’re going to be fair about it or I’m going to make things very uncomfortable for you. Is that understood?”
Zane took her hand and turned around to leave. At the last second he tossed one last thought over his shoulder. “She’s a King now. Never forget it. You mess with Landry Fisher-King and you’re going to be sorry. You got me?”
“Yes, sir.” Mr. Trujillo was trying to stumble to his feet, but at the last second his foot caught on his desk and his hands slammed down to catch himself. “I wish both of you all the best in your upcoming marriage.”
“Yeah. I’m sure.” Landry shook her head at the man. “I’ve worked here for years, Mr. Trujillo. I’ve been a good teacher. I’ve worked hard to make the school a better place. I love the kids. Middle school is hell and I’ve always been convinced that I can make a difference with that. But since I was attacked in my backyard by a bunch of kids who used to go to your school I’ve been struggling emotionally and financially. But instead of getting real support from the lot of you I’ve gotten nothing but judgment and a hard time.”
“That wasn’t our intention,” Principal Trujillo began to step around his desk, but Zane’s hard look stopped him cold. Trujillo twisted his hands before him instead.
“No?” Landry snorted and shook her head. “I’m glad this happened because you’ve been looking for an excuse and at least now I can stop worrying. But let me warn you. There are a whole lot of vandalizing, criminal-acting teenagers out there right now. There’s something weird going on in our neighborhood and if you think it’s not going to touch you somehow, then you’re out of your damn mind. So when it does, don’t come crying to me.”
Trujillo stumbled over his words and then gave up and fell silent. He just nodded at Landry and Zane as they exited his office. They had only made it out to the hallway in front of the main office before Zane stopped walking and turned to look at Landry.
She looked back, curious. “Why did you stop? I think we can probably leave now. In fact, we should before they call the cops and call us terrorists or something.”
“Ha!” He was grinning like a mischievous boy now. “I was just thinking that we should determine the status of this excursion.”
“What?”
He winked at her. “So? Good or bad?”
“Oh.” Landry had to really think about that one. Maybe this was all about a clean start. Maybe it was all about trying to make sure that the old did not destroy the new. “I’m going to say good.”
“Good?”
“Totally good.”
He started laughing. Then he pointed to the front doors of the school. “Are you ready? Because you know they’re waiting.”
Landry took his hand and held tight. “Oh, I’m ready. Totally ready. Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
The two of them pushed their way out the front doors of the Washington Middle School and found two reporters waiting right outside the door about as close as the security guard would allow them to get. They were waving and clamoring for Landry’s attention.
“Ms. Fisher!” A woman from the main local news station held up her microphone. “What can you tell us about the decision that the school and the school board has made regarding the incident on school property just a few days ago?” The reporter was talking so quickly that it was actually difficult to answer her questions before she shot another one out there. “You were attacked by a parent, right? We saw Mr. Joel Lambert, Senior, taken away by the police after the incident.”
“That’s right,” Zane stepped forward. He pointed at the reporter. “My fiancée was attacked by Mr. Lambert because she refused to change his son’s test grade.”
“Seriously?” The reporter’s mouth was hanging open. Even her blonde hair seemed to pause in surprise. “He got angry because you would not change a test grade? Would you say it was an unfair grade?”
“No.” Landry shook her head. “Even more upsetting is the fact that the way I weigh my test grades with the homework grades, the test did not affect the young man’s grade in my class at all. He has a B because he’s a good student who works really hard and takes advantage of the help sessions that I offer. I reward hard work. Tests are just a measuring tool.”
There was a low rumble of disbelief and anger from the reporters. But this wasn’t the end of the story. Zane glanced at Landry and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Shall we let them have it?”
Landry cleared her throat. “According to the principal, the school board has decided to permanently terminate me from my position here at the school pending further investigation and allegations from the parent.”
The reporter was waving to her camera crew to make sure they’d gotten that. “You cannot be serious. You’ve been terminated?”
“Yes.” Landry had no doubt that she was very strangely agreeable about it. At least in their eyes. “But that’s okay. They can do what they need to do. My future husband and I will be starting over with something else entirely. I’m not sure what.” Landry glanced at Zane and knew she had a sappy and very strange expression on her face. “But I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of us. Maybe we’ll be taking on the strange and rather dangerous trend of teenage vandalism that seems to be so rampant in our neighborhood.”
“Is that a personal mission for you?” The reporter seemed very interested.
Landry was feeling as though this was exactly what she and Zane were supposed to be doing right now. How odd. She took his hand and lifted it to her lips. “Yes. It’s very important to both of us. The residents of Dallas should not have to be looking over their shoulders because of bored teenagers with a penchant for destruction. I think it’s time to start poking at the juvenile justice system to get them to actually do something about this problem! Kids need to realize that there are consequences when they choose not to contribute to society but to abuse it instead!”
“My Landry is a crusader,” Zane announced. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead right in full view of the cameras. “But the two of us are going to be using everything available to us to increase awareness of the problem. We’re done being victims.”
Landry wondered if anyone realized just how true that was. Victims of violence. Victims of family greed and selfishness. They were just done. It was the two of them against t
he whole world and they were absolutely ready to take on the challenge.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Orion King stared at the television and tried to ignore the bottle of Absinthe sitting on the corner of his desk. The blonde reporter with the bouffant hair was eagerly sticking the microphone in the faces of both Zane and Landry.
“My Landry is a crusader,” Zane said with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Orion rubbed his hand down his face. “Oh, for the love of … Seriously?”
“What are you muttering about?” Devon pushed his way into Orion’s office. “And actually, why are you here? It’s after three o’clock in the afternoon by now surely. I thought you were leaving early for that meeting at the country club.”
“Yeah?” Orion swept his hand toward the flat screen television on the wall. Sometimes he could not believe what his younger brothers believed was acceptable behavior. “Are you ready for what our middle brother has now decided to announce to the world? Because I’m not sure our freaking company can take much more of this crap!”
“He looks happy,” Devon observed. He tilted his head to one side and seemed to be giving Zane and Landry both the critical once-over. Considering they were nothing more than images on a television screen Orion could not imagine what good it would do. “I’m glad he’s happy. I mean, realistically, you can’t fault the guy for deciding to walk away from this company. He’s smart. He realizes that our father’s will provides for him, for Jason, and for Edward regardless of whether or not they work for the company.”
Wait. What? Orion swung around to face Devon. “What are you talking about? Provides for them?”
“The three of them draw a six-figure salary just for being on the hypothetical board. There is a board of directors. I know you don’t quite grasp how that works because you’ve never bothered to pay much attention,” Devon said derisively. No. Derisive was the wrong word. Angry. Yes. Devon was freaking angry about it! His lip curled in disdain. “You never seem to think past your next meeting or your high or whatever it is that you do. I swear sometimes, Orion, I don’t know who you are anymore.”
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