“But then they’ll call me a girl,” he said in a small voice.
“Jace, you are safe here. You can cry here if you want to. I’m not going to tell anyone.”
“I don’t want to cry,” he said.
“Okay, then you don’t have to. I know this is going to be hard, but I want you to try and ignore this stuff. You know you are a boy. What they say doesn’t matter. They are just a bunch of mean kids who probably feel bad about themselves. They might have their own problems.”
He didn’t look convinced. “I’ll try,” he said.
I smiled and ruffled his hair. “I’ll leave you alone. If you want to watch a movie, I’ll be in the living room.”
He nodded and went back to his book. I was so sad for him. All I wanted to do was protect him. I wanted to keep him in a little bubble for the rest of his days.
Chapter 16
Nash
Bobby pulled to a stop in front of the building. I was not looking forward to going in, although I did have a bone to pick with Saige. I went to find her at the end of the day, and she was gone. I discovered she’d left hours earlier. No one was willing to tell me why.
I barely stepped into the building when Saige ambushed me. “I was thinking you weren’t going to show up.”
“Would that have made you sad?”
“Not at all,” she said.
“You left early yesterday,” I said.
She nodded. “I did.”
“Why?”
“Girl problems,” she said with a tight smile.
“Oh,” I said, but I didn’t believe her. She wasn’t a girl. She was a woman and every woman I knew had their girl problems well in hand by this stage of the game.
I started to move to the elevator when she stopped me. “No,” she said.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“I told you we have work to do today,” she said.
“Yes, we have a lot of work to do. We should probably get up there.”
“Nope. I’ve let them know we won’t be in until later, if at all. I have no idea how long this will take. You’re a difficult student.”
“Student?” I scoffed. “I haven’t been a student in a long time.”
“I think you missed good social skills one-oh-one. We’re going to get you up to speed.”
I could have told her no. I could have told her to kiss my ass, but I was feeling feisty. I wanted to see what she had up her sleeve. “Are we going to be staying in the building?”
“No.”
“I’ll have my driver pull back around and he can take us to school,” I offered.
I expected her to tell me we didn’t need him. “That sounds great.”
I grabbed my phone and called Bobby. He was in front of the building within minutes. I held the door open for her. “Where are we going?” I asked.
“We are going on a little field trip,” she said and gave Bobby an address.
“Where exactly is this place? A tearoom? Am I going to be taught decorum?”
“We are going to my first job,” she said.
“Your first job?” I questioned.
“Yes. I worked here for a couple of years. I learned how to run a tax firm here. I learned from one of the best in the business as far as I’m concerned.”
“I don’t think I have ever heard of it,” I said.
“No, I doubt you would have.”
“I don’t understand why we are going here,” I said. “I appreciate your attempt to teach me how to be a good boy, but I’m not sure it’s going to take. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
“I think we can certainly try. I’m hoping to teach by example.”
“I will not allow you to humiliate me.”
“I would never think of doing that,” she said with sarcasm. “I told my old boss I wanted to stop by for a visit. We’ll just pretend you are my boyfriend.”
I almost choked. “Boyfriend?”
“I don’t think you can pass as my brother.”
“Boyfriend it is,” I said.
When we got to the place, it was out of the way and in a very small building. Saige walked in and was immediately greeted by a middle-aged woman. “It’s so good to see you again,” she said and gave Saige a hug.
“Hi, Mary,” Saige replied. “This is my boyfriend, Nash.”