Page 63 of Only Temporary

I talked to Kieran a little bit about the bully at school, but he’s a tough nut to crack. He didn’t want to talk about it, and I finally relented and let him go to his room to read and decompress.

I’m going to trust Kellan to handle that because I have all the faith in the world that he can. Cason—he’s another story. He’s a powder keg, ready to go off, and I think he might be the one who’s the most like Kellan—even if they don’t realize it.

“Where’s Kieran?” Cason asks me, his gaze deadly serious and cold.

“He’s okay. He’s relaxing. How are you?”

I can see his face and knuckles are bruised, but he looks otherwise physically okay. “I’m fine. I’m going to check on Kieran.” He doesn’t word it as a question and just takes off down the hallway.

Kellan looks dead on his feet and slumps down onto the couch. “What happened?” I ask as I sit down next to him but keep my distance, even though I want to wrap myself around him.

“Blake happened.”

I take a deep breath and release it, my anger intensifying. “The fight was with Blake? Did something else happen with Raegan?”

Kellan covers his face with his hands, and I can feel his tension from here. “Nothing new. Well, not physically. He was talking shit about her, I guess, and Cason got pissed-off. Hit him, and another poor kid got in between them.”

Well, I don’t condone violence normally, but... “He had it coming, it sounds like.”

Kellan drops his hands and turns his head to look at me, surprised. “Are you allowed to say that?”

I grin. “Off the record.”

He laughs slightly at that, but his face goes grim. “I still can’t believe he did that. I’m going to lose them.”

“No. You aren’t,” I say firmly, wanting so badly to touch him. To reassure him.

“He punched two other kids. He’s suspended. For an entire week. That looks terrible on the report.” He’s keeping his voice level, but I can tell he’s close to full-on melting down.

“Do you think you can get away tonight?” I ask very quietly.

Still, he looks behind him toward the hallway and then back at me, keeping his voice low. “Maybe.”

“Okay, I’m going to start dinner. Raegan and Braylen should be home soon. I want to talk to Cason, and then I’m going home. Meet me there when you can, and we’ll talk.”

He grins, devastatingly transparent. “You going to make me feel all better?”

I smile, the need to kiss him clawing at my insides, but I keep it quelled. “Yes. Any way I can.” Promising him all the things without saying one word, but I can see it’s relaxed him.

After dinner, I ask Cason to walk outside with me for a moment on my way out. He’s not thrilled, grumbling all the way out the door, but he does it. “What?”

I sit down on the front porch—it’s been repaired by Kellan and Tatum recently, so there’s no risk to my life in doing so. “You know you can’t do that again, right? No matter how angry you are.”

Cason doesn’t sit next to me. He leans against the railing instead. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Except I do. He hurt your sister, and you wanted to make him pay. But you’re now suspended, and it does have to go into my report.”

“Seriously?” he snaps. “You’re going to put it in your report? Why? I thought you were our friend, Phillip.”

“I’m your friend. But I’m also the social worker assigned to your case. It’s my job to report things like this.” Maybe I’m being extra paranoid, now that I’m breaking all the rules with Kellan. I need every bit of the rest of the case to be legitimate. I have to do my job so I know I’m not blurring lines. With any other client, I’d report it.

“So it’s best for us to go back into the system?”

“You won’t,” I say with total confidence. It would take more than just one incident. “But it can’t happen again. This was handled, and between you and me, justified. But they won’t see it that way, especially if you keep fighting with Blake.”

He sinks down onto the step next to me, his shoulders slumped, and he looks defeated. I’m not used to seeing Cason look like this, and I don’t like it one bit. The kid has fight—he’s had to. “I was the one who was there. Always. I had to keep her safe, and I let her down.”

“Raegan?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

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