Page 55 of Only You
“You know what. Slurs are a punishable offense at this school. They will not be tolerated.”
Blake looks at me with uncertainty for the first time since I’ve known him. The cocky little shithead has always been so sure he won’t get suspended. “You can’t prove I said anything.”
I turn to Liam. “Did he call you a slur? You don’t have to say the actual word or words, but did he?”
Liam looks over at Cason, who furrows his brow at him but doesn’t give him any direction otherwise. Liam then looks at me and gives a stilted nod. “He did. Several. Many, many times.”
I’ve heard enough. “Okay, thank you for being honest with me, Liam. You should go on to class, but if you need to talk to anyone about anything, please reach out. To me or to the school’s counselor.”
I notice his eyes roaming over Cason quickly, but then he gives a brief nod and hightails it toward his classroom.
My eyes go to Raegan. “Are you okay?”
She nods, her eyes on Blake. “He doesn’t scare me.”
Good girl. I can’t help but feel pride at her standing tall and confident. “Okay, go on to class.”
I make a mental note to talk to Felicia about the incident, so she can check in with Raegan, but then my attention is on Blake.“Let’s go to my office and call your parents. You’re suspended from school for two weeks.”
“What? You’re fucking crazy. You can’t suspend me for words.”
“I can, and I am,” I say, guiding Cason and him to my office.
“What about him? He assaulted me!” Blake gestures toward Cason, who looks totally unbothered, taking one of the seats in my office as Blake takes the other one.
“Cason isn’t any of your concern.”
“You’re fucking corrupt, you know that? My dad is going to sue your ass.”
“See you in court then,” I say and then make the call to his father, telling him to come pick up his son. There are some threats when his father arrives, but nothing I can’t handle, and when it’s just Cason and me in my office, we sit in silence for a bit.
Both lost in thought. Cason doesn’t look too worried about being suspended. I know I’m supposed to do that, but I also think I need to go with my gut.
“Aren’t you going to ask me?”
“Ask you what?” I say.
“About Liam. About what happened with him.”
That honestly hadn’t crossed my mind. “I don’t think that’s really any of my business.”
“Nothing fucking happened. Blake doesn’t know what he saw. It was just a moment of me being a crying little baby and...”
I hold up a hand to stop him. It’s apparent this whole thing has left him rattled. And I don’t need to know what happened between Liam and Cason. “Cason, all I see is a kid who I would have killed to have as a friend when I was growing up.”
His brows pull together in obvious confusion. “What?”
“Well, I mean I did sort of have a friend like you. Tatum,” I say, though it’s obvious who I’m talking about. “But he couldn’t always be around. And I’m glad Liam has someone watching his back.”
Cason swallows hard at that, visibly shaken. “We aren’t like you and Tatum. I don’t like him like...” He huffs. “I’m not fucking moving in with him someday or some shit.”
I can’t fight the smile but do manage to quell the laugh trying to bubble up. “Okay then.”
“So am I suspended?” He doesn’t appear to care either way, but I shake my head, coming to the final decision.
“No. You were protecting your friend. Physical violence isn’t okay, but I think with Blake being suspended, I’m not going to see any problems with you.”
“He’ll be back though,” he says grimly.
