Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,64
of the reason why he’d barely managed more than a few hours of sleep over the past two days.
Charlie.
He hadn’t been able to get enough of her and thank god, she didn’t seem to mind. He’d lived out several of his fantasies over the past few days and a few that he was ashamed that he’d never thought of before and…
He couldn’t wait until he could pull her back in his arms, but he was going to have to because he had other things to take care of. During the day, he’d focus on his children and work and then at night, he’d be able to focus all of his attention doing all of those things with Charlie that he couldn’t seem to get enough of.
“It’s against my religion,” the little smart ass said, reminding him that it was time to focus on his children, the same ones that had their teacher sending him an email last night, asking him to come in early for another meeting.
“It’s against your religion to have a meeting with your teacher?” he asked, handing Dustin his backpack as he climbed out of the car.
“I’m afraid it is, Daddy,” Abbi said with a heartfelt sigh and a sad shake of her head.
“I see,” Devin murmured as he closed Dustin’s door and made his way around the car to find his daughter frantically trying to lock the car. This was just fucking sad, Devin thought as he pulled his keys out of his pocket and hit the unlock button as he reached over and opened her door.
“You want to tell me what you’re afraid your teacher is going to tell me?” Devin asked as he unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her before she could dive into the front seat.
“But what if she doesn’t mention them? Then I’d be tattling on myself and you told me that tattling was wrong,” Abbi mumbled sadly, making him bite back a smile as he threw her over his shoulder. God, she was a fucking handful, Devin thought as he grabbed her backpack, closed the door and headed towards the school with Dustin by his side.
“Then you should definitely tell me,” he told her as they made their way to the front door.
“That just sounds wrong, Daddy,” Abbi said as Devin shifted his attention to Dustin.
“You’re being quiet this morning. Is everything okay?”
Shrugging, Dustin didn’t say anything as he reached over and pushed the doorbell. Before he got a chance to ask his son what was wrong, the door was opening and their principal was there, ushering them inside.
“Good morning, Mr. Bradford, how are you?” she said with a warm smile as they walked inside.
“We’re good,” Devin said although he wasn’t so sure about Dustin at the moment.
“Why don’t we go talk in my office?” Mrs. Haskins said before shifting her attention to Dustin. “Dustin, why don’t you and your sister go upstairs and see if you can help your teacher set up for morning crafts?”
“We’d rather stay with Daddy,” Abbi said as Devin placed her on her feet.
“And I’d rather find out why your principal needs to talk to me,” he said, handing Abbi’s backpack to her.
Narrowing his eyes on his baby girl, he said, “Go.”
“Fine,” Abbi sighed heavily as she reached over and took her brother’s hand and started heading towards their classroom.
“Right this way,” Mrs. Haskins said, gesturing for him to follow her.
“What did my children do now?” he asked, throwing her a sympathetic wince that had her lips twitching.
“Many things, Mr. Bradford,” she said, smiling as they walked into her office. “But I actually called you in for a different reason.”
“And what’s that?” Devin asked as he took a seat.
“Well, I’m not sure if you remember, but in the beginning of October we suggested getting Dustin tested so that we knew what his strengths and weaknesses were so that we had a better idea of how we could help him,” she began as Devin sat there, trying to prepare himself for what was coming.
Dustin had always been quiet even as a baby. While Abbi would cry over damn near everything, his son…hadn’t. He’d simply smile, content to enjoy his bottle or watch Devin as he worked. At the time, Devin had been relieved that his son was taking it easy on him, but as Dustin got older Devin began to worry. He was more reserved than his sister, could happily sit for hours playing by himself, and didn’t seem