Page 159 of Deadly Sweet

That's when I see him. “Carter!” Excitement blossoms within me.

“Savvy!” His big brown eyes light up when he sees me.

Laughing, I crouch down and let the little guy run right into my arms. “Missed you, little dude.”

“I missed you, too.” His hugs are so tight and warm. I could get used to these.

“How are the bullies?” I ask when we pull apart.

“What bullies?” he shrugs, grinning. “No one will come near me because they’re afraid of the big scary blonde lady.”

That has me laughing. “Good.” I ruffle his hair. “You here to eat with Jake?”

“Who’s Jake?” he asks, scrunching his nose up.

“I am.” Jake laughs. “Holloway is my last name.”

“Ohhh.” He nods as if it’s an obvious answer. “Yeah. I always come here at lunch.” I knew that, and I knew he would be here.

“Well, come on, let’s eat.”

The baby is still sleeping, so we push her over to the side of Jake’s desk, where he has it cleaned off, and I place the food down.

“What do you have to eat?” I ask Carter when we all sit down.

He looks at his lunchbox and frowns. “A ham sandwich the cafeteria gave me. It’s got nothing on it. Just bread and ham,” he sighs heavily.

I look at Jake and see a sad look on his face. He gives me a forced smile, and something tells me this isn’t a new thing for Carter.

Do his parents not even fucking feed him? And is that all this damn school gives him?

Jake leans in and whispers. “I’m not allowed to buy him anything. I tried once, but the school says I can’t show favoritism.”

My brows shoot up, and I snort. “Fuck that shit,” I whisper back. “You might not be able to, but I sure as fuck can. If they have an issue with it, I’ll deal with it.”

“How about we put that sandwich away. Make room for this.” Reaching into the bag, I pull out a box.

“What is it?” His eyes light up like it’s Christmas morning.Yeah, I’m gonna be looking into his parents more.

“Open it.” I wiggle my eyebrows.

With newfound excitement, he opens it up, and his eyes go wide. “Pizza!”

“And it’s all yours.”

“Really?” He looks up at me like I just handed him a million dollars.Nope. Not gonna cry. Not gonna cry.

“Yup. Go on. Eat.”

The way Carter digs into the pizza breaks my heart because it looks like he hasn’t eaten in days.

Jake and I talk about his day. What the kids are doing and what he’s teaching in class.

Carter asks questions here and there, but I can see how happy he is just to be here, with his pizza and around people he feels comfortable with.

About halfway through lunch, Athena wakes up.

“Hey, Little Bug.” Jake takes her out of her car seat. She looks so adorable with her messy hair and sleepy face. But when she sees Jake, her face lights up and she gives him a big, toothless grin. He laughs and starts to kiss her cheeks, making her giggle.

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