Free The Luck of Love by Serena Akeroyd Page A

elbow, dragging him to a halt.
    “Slow down. There’s no rush.”
    “There is. I need to get out of this place. It makes the fucking army seem lax.”
    While she understood his anger, shared it, she sniggered. “Aren’t you glad Lexi isn’t a part of this place anymore? I don’t care if the word academy is a part of the title.”
    “We’ll find her someplace where bigotry isn’t on the curriculum.” He hollered out the word bigotry , earning himself another glare from the secretary.
    The oak-lined walls, the somber mulberry carpet, and the high shelves loaded with the various accomplishments earned by the many students unfortunate enough to have attended this place in the past added a refinement to the air that was as stifling as it was impressive.
    Maybe it was her past, and maybe Mrs. Jacobie picked up on that and had always treated her like she was less because of it, but either way, she was relieved as hell to get away from here. As it was, they had to wait for Lexi’s teacher to escort her to the principal’s office. Then they were out of Gold’s Academy for High Achievers. For the final time.
    Gia nearly popped her hips and jerked her arms into a happy dance. “I hate this place.” Instead of dancing, she cupped her elbows, and he spotted the gesture, curling his arm around her shoulder to tuck her close.
    “I can see why. It seemed decent that open day we looked around, but I’m not having it said that that brat can terrorize my daughter because it would infringe his right to free expression and stunt his verbal growth to be told otherwise.”
    Those words were quoted from the “old bitch’s” mouth.
    “We should sue.” He growled. “Goddamn, I’d love to do that. Drag this place through the gutter press.”
    She patted his arm. “Brigadier generals in the US Army don’t do things like that.”
    “No, but pissed-off fathers do.”
    “Yeah, but you’re both.”
    “It sucks.”
    “I know it does. But our hands are tied.”
    His mouth pursed. “If I asked for another post, somewhere not in the Bible Belt and somewhere Lexi might be allowed to have some freedom of expression of her own, would you be okay with that?”
    “Texas is my home.”
    “No, we’re your home.”
    She bit her lip. He was right. “You’re serious? The whole place isn’t bigoted, love.”
    “No. But it sure feels like it at this minute.” He growled again. “Imagine somewhere in California.”
    “You can’t just pick and choose, baby.”
    He grabbed his cap from his head and crushed it in his fist. Josh stayed quiet for a few seconds, something obviously percolating in his brain.
    She was kind of relieved he’d had this reaction to the principal. It made her feel less of a wuss when she considered how often Mrs. Jacobie had tied her tongue into so many knots that she’d spent the rest of the day unraveling them all.
    “How about we home tutor her?”
    Gia blinked. “Home tutor Lexi?”
    “No, Luke . Of course Lexi.”
    She bumped her hip into his side. “I’m not a tutor, Josh. I couldn’t teach her the things she needs to know. Plus, she’d be missing out on interacting with other kids.”
    “Screw that. We can take her to the park more often. Make her join groups or whatever. There’s always plenty of shit she can do to make friends. We can hire a tutor.”
    “That will cost a fortune.”
    “And this place wasn’t costing a bomb? We can afford it.”
    “You want us to do that? Are you sure?”
    “No, I don’t. I’d like to find her a nice school where the worst thing to happen on a daily basis is a storm cloud bursts and rainbows fly about. As it is, this is reality.
    “I don’t care what Luke says. I don’t care that she has to get used to it. I don’t want her getting used to it yet. She’s too goddamn young to be worrying about stuff like this. And if that is an example of the school’s policy for dealing with ‘abnormal’—and I still can’t believe she called us that—family