Page 21 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)

EIGHTEEN

WESLEY

M y head was still spinning.

I might have only been kissed on the forehead, but he may as well have claimed my mouth with his.

And it was that…feeling, that sensation that made my skin feel tingly and electric, that spurred me on.

Because the closer I got to the house, the harder it got to breathe. It was one thing approaching the dad when I had none of the details, it was a whole other thing approaching it undercover.

“Oh god,” I muttered and pushed a little more strength to my knees that threatened to give out.

I took a deep breath, stepped up to the porch, knocked on the side of the door, and waited.

I waited, and waited, and when no one came to answer my call, I knocked again, louder. And again and again until I forgot all about my nerves and frustration took over.

“Hello! Anyone here?” I shouted, leaning through the beaded curtain.

I almost jumped out of my skin when a mountain of a man walked out at the same time and collided with me.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled and looked up.

“What?” he asked and crossed his arms, flexing his muscles.

That wasn’t the boys’ dad. I knew that for sure, even if I’d only met the guy once.

“I…um…I’m here for the twins?” I managed to say and mentally slapped myself. That was so not clear, was it?

“Who?” the man asked.

Seeing as the mountain man showed no initiative to take a step back and give me some breathing room, I did, and my neck already thanked me when it didn’t have to strain to look up at the guy.

“Um, Valentin? Niko? I’m their teacher. I’m here to talk to their dad.”

That didn’t seem to make it any clearer for him, so I sighed and pointed into the house.

“The guy who lives here? He has two kids?”

The mountain man grimaced.

“Wait here,” he grumbled and walked back into the house, giving me the chance to recompose myself.

How could he not know about the boys? How could he be so confused? I had to admit, the more I saw of this place, the less confident I became about the boys’ safety. I feared the kids were indeed trapped in a drug den. That Teddy, Wyatt, and all the others weren’t exaggerating.

I didn’t have to wait long for the mountain man to return, and he did with Barnes. The Dad of the Year.

“It’s you!” he said as soon as he saw me. “What do you want?”

The mountain man sat on the bench on the porch next to me, and even though I felt a little trapped, I shoved the feeling deep down and focused on the task at hand.

“I’m here because the boys have missed more school,” I said.

“Yeah, and?” he answered.

I smiled with a huff and plastered the fakest smile on my face when I spoke again.

“Like I told you last time, Mr. Barnes, the kids can’t miss any more school. It’s only the start of the year, and they’re already academically behind.”

“And like I told you last time, you should mind your own business.”

I huffed.

“I am. That’s why I’m here, Mr. Barnes.”

“What? Are you here to tell me off?” He chuckled and looked to his mountain man friend for support, who also laughed.

“Mr. Barnes, I don’t think you’re taking this seriously at all, are you? We’re talking about your kids here. If the state thinks they’re not being looked after, or are being prevented from getting an education, they will take them away from you.”

“The hell did you just say to me?”

It all happened in a flash. One moment, I was standing there, breathing as easy as ever. The next, I was pinned against the porch railing, held up by the collar of my shirt, and looking Mr. Barnes straight in the eye.

“Mr.…Mr. Barnes, ple-please.” I choked. “I didn’t…I didn’t say…”

He stared at me as if he absolutely could and would kill me right this moment if he had the chance. And he did. Because as far as he was aware, no one was here to stop him.

“What were you saying?”

“I…” I started. “I was…I can’t…I can’t breathe.”

He eased his hold on me, and as I tried to recompose myself, I remembered the bug under my collar.

I coughed and pretended to tidy up my shirt just to check on the bug, and to my relief, it was still there.

“I wasn’t threatening you. I was…I was just telling you what happens when the school thinks a student isn’t keeping up and missing too many days. I’m trying to help you,” I got it all out before he attacked me again.

“You? Help me? How can you help me?”

“Well, for starters, you can make sure your kids come to school. On time. If you can’t do that, the principal himself will raise the issue with child services.”

He grimaced with disgust as if what I was saying was unsavory or too ridiculous for words, but it was the truth.

The SEAL guys might want to take things slow, but if the boys kept missing school, there was nothing I could do to stop CPS from getting involved.

“I’ve managed to keep things at bay,” I said to smooth things over with the man, “but unless you work with me, it will all have been in vain. Can you promise me they won’t miss any more days?”

He looked behind me for a moment, and with a huff, he nodded.

“There’s also another issue,” I said, kicking off my plan to get closer to him and the kids.

“What?”

“The boys. They’re behind. They’ve missed so many days, and they’re struggling.”

“So what? Not everyone is great at school,” he said, and I bit back a retort.

As if he would know.

“I know. That’s…it’s true. But I want to make sure they keep up. That’s why I wanted to ask—offer—to tutor them after school so I can ensure they stay on top of things,” I said.

That wasn’t necessarily a lie, but the kids’ performance wasn’t such a major concern yet. Not that their dad would know, which I hoped would be the white, little lie I needed to get in on the inside as planned.

“Tutor? What does that mean?”

Did he seriously not know? Or was he playing stupid?

“I thought I’d drop by once or twice a week, and do some extra lessons with them until their performance improves,” I said.

“I don’t think?—”

“I really, really don’t want to upset you again, but we don’t really have a choice. If…if the principal thinks they’re underperforming, you’ll be in trouble, so really, I’m doing you a favor.”

I was doing him nothing of the sort, but he struck me as the kind of guy who only cared about himself, so I hoped appealing to his ego would work.

“Fine.”

“Great. Can I…? Can I come in?”

“What?” He winced. “Now?”

I shrugged.

“Better late than never.”

I didn’t even give him a chance to ask me to return another day. I needed to get things rolling. If I had any doubts about the kids’ safety before, there was no doubt in my mind about it now.

“Fine,” he grumbled again, and I wasted no time.

I made my way inside and found the twins in the same dirty living room I’d found them before. They were running around, chasing each other, but as soon as Mr. Barnes walked in, they froze on the spot and looked him dead in the eyes.

“Are you being dickheads again?” he asked them, and I could feel the steam coming out of my ears, but I held my composure and my thoughts to myself.

“Hi, boys,” I waved at them, and their expressions softened. “How are you? Your dad and I were talking, and we agreed I’d pop by every week to help you with homework. How does that sound?”

They both nodded but kept quiet.

“Okay then. Where is the best place to do the lesson? The kitchen maybe? Or do you have a dining?—”

“Here is fine,” the dad grumbled and left the room.

“Okay then.” I smiled and inspected the space, trying to find the best way to do this.

I grabbed a couple of cushions, gave them a good pat to get rid of the dust, and told the boys to sit on them as I took the greasy armchair that stunk of cigarettes and breathed through my mouth.

“How are you kids doing?” I whispered. “Are you hungry?”

I retrieved the sandwiches I’d made at home for them, and they didn’t even say anything. Just snatched them up and wolfed them down.

“You guys are such sweethearts. I’m trying to help you, okay? Just remember that no matter what happens.”

“Don’t,” Niko said, glancing at the door. “He’ll hear you.”

My gut twisted at the fear in his eyes as he confirmed my worst nightmare.

“Okay, so we’ll do some studying instead while I try to figure out what to do.”

Niko nodded, and I walked them through addition and subtraction with the colorful number blocks I’d brought for them.

“So ten is the same as two fives?” Valentin asked, holding the two five-blocks on top of each other next to the ten-block.

“Exactly. See? They’re the same height when you stack them.”

“So if they’re the same height, they are the same number?” Niko asked.

“They make the same number, yes. See? When you put the three on top of the seven, they also become the same height as the ten-block. So if five and five makes ten, so does fifty and fifty make one hundred.”

Valentin had already started stacking other numbers to see which ones had the same height, and we worked on those for about half an hour and they took to the exercise quickly, which was very encouraging.

At some point, Barnes passed by the room with a beer in hand and a scowl on his face.

I ignored him. It was rare that I got the chance to spend so much time with only two kids in class, and I was really enjoying seeing their eyes brighten a little as they grasped a concept and understood what I was trying to teach them.

And for the hundredth time, I thanked whoever had invented these number blocks because they were an absolutely brilliant visual aid for math.

“Okay, I need to go soon, but we’ll work on reading next time, okay? Do you want to hold on to these blocks or?—”

“No. Take them!” Niko said and shoved them back in my tote bag.

I didn’t ask why, but I did as told.

“Are you boys safe?” I whispered, my heart breaking for not being able to do more.

“We’re okay,” Niko said, but Valentin just pursed his lips.

“You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

Niko looked back at the entrance, and I stopped talking. I didn’t want to make trouble for them, but I would definitely be having a conversation with them in class tomorrow. If they turned up.

“Right. I’ll get going. But can I use your bathroom first?” I asked, and even though Niko showed me which way to go, I went the other way.

I located the kitchen, which could only be described as derelict, with an empty pantry. Then I made my way upstairs, even though they were creaky as fuck.

I made it all the way to the top of the stairs when Mr. Barnes appeared from a door and shouted.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he shouted, shutting the door hastily and rushing to square up to me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was looking for the bathroom.”

“Downstairs,” he grumbled and practically pushed me down.

Once I was back on the ground floor, he all but shoved me into the bathroom, and I took a moment or two before I turned the tap on and breathed in. I needed to plant the bug before I left, but where?

I couldn’t do it in the bathroom. Going back upstairs was a death sentence at this point. I guessed the best bet was the living room, where we had our lesson.

“Okay. Let’s do this,” I mumbled, turned the faucet off, flushed the empty toilet, and came back out.

The dad wasn’t there anymore, so I made my way back to the living room, but the boys weren’t there anymore either.

I looked everywhere, tried to find the best place, and when I heard footsteps from the hallway, I took the bug off and shoved it under the armchair’s pillows.

My hand came back all sticky, and I didn’t even want to know what was down there. I didn’t have the chance to find out anyway because Barnes appeared in the doorway and glared at me.

“Can I help you?” he grumbled.

“Oh, sorry. Yes. I thought I left my bag here before I remembered it was on my arm,” I laughed.

Damn. That was a silly lie, but I hoped it was believable enough to not make this guy mad.

He grimaced, clearly not amused, and I came out of the living room. I got all the way to the front “door” with him as my shadow behind me. I turned and smiled.

“Are the boys around? I wanted to say bye to them,” I said.

“The boys are in bed. And you should go home now too,” he said with a marbled expression.

“Right. Sure. Yeah,” I said and got the hell out of Dodge before he had half a mind to pick me up by the shirt again and kick me out.

Teddy’s car wasn’t where it had been parked before. My stomach clenched and my throat tightened for a moment. Until I checked my messages.

Teddy:

We’re down the road. Keep walking.

I did, taking deep, long breaths.

I all but ran down Aster Lane until I got to the first crossroads and found Teddy and Asher parked around the corner.

“We didn’t want him to see you getting into someone else’s car and raise suspicion,” Asher said as I dove into the back.

“Good thinking,” I said and caught Teddy’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

“You did really well, Wesley. Really,” he said, and even after everything that had happened in the last hour, the feeling of his lips on my forehead came back full force threatening to knock me off my feet.

Good thing, I was sitting.

“Thanks,” I said, and even though I knew I should pry my eyes away from him, I didn’t.

Because…

The more I looked at him, the easier it became to breathe.

The easier it became to simply exist after all this danger and chaos.

His eyes…offered me peace. How could I look away?