Page 121 of Cain

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you in—”

Georgie appeared from behind a shelf, her gaze landing on our daughter, zeroing in on her face.

“Don’t freak out.”

“Your brother once got himself stuck in a playground fence, upside down. I don’t panic easily. What happened?”

“Some jerk at school—”

“Jerk. Meaning a guy? A guy hit you in the face?”

“Only because I took his phone.”

“You took his phone. Why?”

“He was using one of those stupid AI apps to create porn about all the popular girls in our class. I wanted to show the principal. He decided it was worth hitting me in the face over. Since he knew he was going to get suspended and he might lose his football scholarship.”

“So he thought hitting you was the answer?”

“At first, he was just trying to get the phone back from me. Then, well, he got too angry to think straight.”

“And he punched you.”

“Just once,” she said, lips curling up. “He regretted it pretty quickly.”

“I’m sure he did. Are you okay? Did he hurt you anywhere else?”

“No, he didn’t get a chance.”

Georgie glanced at me, exhaled hard, then looked back at our girl.

“So, you’re suspended?”

“Yes.”

“And him?”

The look she shot her mom gave her the answer.

“I provoked it, or some other garbage like that. Never mind the deepfake porn he was making or anything. But Joey’s dad and the principal are friends.”

Georgie’s gaze slid to me, and I watched as she sucked in a deep breath. I knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth.

“Tell him I said it’s fine,” she said, meaning our younger son, “but he can’t swing first.”

And if our son failed to get the kid suspended, some other club kid would get the job accomplished.

You didn’t fuck with our girls.

That was clearly a message this new generation of kids needed to learn.

And I was pretty sure our son would be happy to teach them.

“So, if I’m suspended… can I take the car and go up to Hailstorm?”

I handed her the keys after I got a nod from her mother.

“Be careful. No more injuries,” Georgie called after her.