I agreed wholeheartedly, which I told him in the next moment.
“I agree, but I’m not sure how to fix it,” I admitted. “There are a lot of Rachel Howells in the world. You can’t just kick them out of school.”
Lynn tilted his head. “I agree. But we know where to start.”
We did.
“Rachel better not be at that school when I get back Monday morning,” I told him bluntly. “Or I’m going to raise holy hell.”
“She won’t.”
I blinked, looking up to the doorway beyond Lynn to find Derek standing there, looking wiped.
He was in the same thing he was in earlier, only he was carrying a duffle bag that indicated he’d gone home.
He looked at the mayor and tilted his chin up. “Mayor.”
“Lynn,” he corrected Derek. “Call me Lynn.”
Derek didn’t bother to reply as he came in the room.
He brought a brown paper bag over that I hadn’t seen until now, and then placed it on the little rolling cart before pushing it over next to me.
“I called and asked what you were allowed to eat,” he said as he moved it to my level. “Sierra said there were no restrictions, so I got you a burger and fries. I had them put all the fixings on the side since I didn’t know what you would like.”
The smell of the burger was tantalizing.
I hadn’t had a burger in so long.
It was just an expense that I couldn’t justify seeing as it would cost me ten dollars to buy it and a fraction of that to make it at home.
I peeked into the bag and smiled when I saw not one, but two burgers and fries in there.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t know you’d be here or I would’ve offered to bring you something,” Derek apologized.
Lynn waved his worry away with a flick of his hand.
“And how did the interrogations go of Rachel Howell?” Lynn asked.
I perked up at that.
The police officers who had just been here had apparently been at the scene after the incident had happened. They were checking up on me and taking a statement all at once.
Derek took the chair that was next to the recliner and reached over into the bag for his burger.
I watched silently as he took a bite of his burger, chewed, swallowed, then went into his explanation.
“We’ve decided to charge her for attempted murder,” he said as he swallowed. “But the interrogation went pretty dismally. She wouldn’t speak about anything at all. She wouldn’t admit to pushing Avery. Wouldn’t admit to refusing to leave the moment she knew Avery was there. She pretty much was bitter, antagonistic, and felt that her lawyer would save her from having to face the ramifications of her actions.”
The mayor snorted.
“She sounds like a bitter little pill,” he admitted.
I reached into the bag, then paused. “I feel rude eating in front of you.”
Lynn looked at me with a lazy smile on his face.
“I’ve already eaten. I ate before I came,” he told me. “Please feel free to eat, kid.”
I felt a blush steal over my face.
“I’m nineteen, so not necessarily a kid anymore,” I admitted.
The mayor’s beautiful eyes locked on mine. “You’re quite a few years younger than me, so yeah, that would make you a kid in my book.”
I rolled my eyes and ate my burger, listening to the two men talk about what could possibly happen in the long run.
“She won’t be at school,” Derek said as he finished off the last of his burger. “I left and my father was already calling the principal. As of right now, Rachel Howell is suspended indefinitely.”
“Good,” I muttered, chewing slowly.
I felt like I was going to choke.
It was the weirdest thing, not being able to move your head or neck.
Derek watched me eat, his eyes never leaving me for more than a few seconds.
His worry was almost palpable.
I took another slow bite of my burger and thought about what I was going to do for the next six weeks.
The doctor had been in to see me right after I’d forced Derek to leave, and I’d come to find out that Sierra was correct. I would be needing help over the next six weeks. Though, he did say that I could take the padding off of the vest and then it’d become waterproof. I would just have to be very careful to keep the pin sites on my head—I had fucking holes in my head—dry and clean.
Also, I’d have to find a way to get to classes seeing as I could no longer drive.
Or lift anything heavier than ten pounds.
I was so lost in what I would need help doing over the next six weeks that I didn’t realize that the conversation that Derek and Lynn were having had come to a halt and that the mayor was now leaving until Derek called my name.
I looked up in time to see Lynn looking at me thoughtfully.
“Mayor,” I tried to nod, but quickly found out that I could do no such thing when my entire body hunched forward.
Lynn winked and waved his hand. “Take care of yourself, Avery Flynn.”
I laughed humorlessly. “I thought I was taking care of myself.”
His eyes went to Derek.
“Then maybe you should let him take care of you for a little bit,” he suggested, his eyes once again moving back to me. “He’s gone to bat for you already today. I’m fairly sure that he’d do anything at this point. Even yell at his chief of police father in the middle of a crowded police station.”
With that parting comment, he left the room quietly.
His shoes didn’t even squeak on the tile underneath of him.
I watched him go, wondering what in the hell his spooky thing was all about, when Derek’s big body filled my vision.
“You’re not checking out an old man’s ass, are you?” he asked.
He actually sounded kind of pissed, too.
“Ummm,” I hesitated. “One, the man is hot. It doesn’t matter how old he is. B, I was watching his feet as he walked out. He didn’t even make a sound, Derek.” I paused for a breath. “Thirdly, what in the hell was he talking about you going to bat for me?”
Derek sat where Lynn had vacated, his body practically looming over mine.
Lynn was a big man, but not nearly as big as Derek.
His knees were almost touching my own.
Then again, there were things that Derek did to me that were just so much more intense just because he was Derek.
Like look at me.
Talk to me.
Breathe.
Things like that.
“A, you need to learn how to count. B, the man is wayyyyy older than you. C, I was fucking pissed after you kicked me out of your hospital room. I might or might not have lost my shit.” He looked at me so intently that my breath caught. “I’d had a really long day, and my dad hadn’t answered any of my phone calls. And he’s my dad, not the chief of police. No matter how professional I really should be acting in front of him.”
I agreed wholeheartedly with him.