Page 210 of Cowboy Daddies

“What sort of names?” she asked.

“Like fart breath and four-eyes. Because she wears glasses.”

“How unoriginal,” she drawled.

“What did you do, Wyatt?” Jeb asked.

“Billy is a bully. Everyone knows it. But no one wants to stand up to him because he’s bigger than everyone else.”

“Hate bullies,” she muttered.

“Nobody likes a bully. But that doesn’t mean that you can start a physical fight with them,” Jeb told Wyatt.

“I didn’t!” Wyatt straightened, trembling with anger. “I told Billy to quit it and he turned on me. He pushed me over and then Josie tried to tackle him and he shoved her. So I hit him.”

Wyatt slumped back sullenly.

She tried to keep herself relaxed but Casey knew this moment was important. This was a chance for Jeb to build his relationship with his son or really hurt it.

Please let him make the right choice.

“That’s not okay,” Jeb said as he stood. “You shouldn’t be called into the principal’s office for sticking up for a friend and yourself.”

“You . . . you’re not mad at me?” Wyatt asked.

“Of course not.”

The door to the office opened and an older man who had to be the principal stepped out. He was followed by a boy who was about half a head taller than Wyatt as well as two people who must be his parents.

So this was Billy.

She narrowed her gaze at him.

“Casey, you’re glaring at Billy,” Wyatt whispered.

“I don’t like bullies.”

“Were you bullied at school?” Wyatt asked as he unwrapped his lollipop and popped it into his mouth.

“Not really. Didn’t really have any friends, though. Believe it or not, a lot of people think I’m weird. I had my best friend, Jordan. And that was all. The other kids were nice to me, but not because they liked me. They wanted to be friends with my brothers so they used me to get to them.”

“You have brothers?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah, four of them.”

“I wish I had brothers.”

“No, you don’t. Pains in the ass, all of them,” she told him.

“Excuse me, we don’t say that word here.”

She glanced up at the principal who was sneering down at her. He wore a button-up cardigan and a tweed coat with a white shirt and green pants. Wasn’t he hot?

“What? Brothers? Yeah, I don’t blame you. Dirty word.”

“I think he was talking about ass,” Wyatt told her.

“Wyatt Wilder! Do not say the word ‘ass’.”