Love, Honor, and Betray by Roby, Lawson (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

brown eyes of hers, felt his legs weakening, and wished she would step away from him. But Sharonmoved even closer, caressed his chest with both hands, and pushed his blazer back and partway down his shoulders. Thankfully,though, his phone vibrated again, and Curtis was glad for the interruption. He quickly pulled his jacket back over his shouldersand looked at his BlackBerry. This time it was a text from Matthew, saying, 911 cant call u.

Now Curtis panicked. He wondered what was wrong with Matt and if maybe this was the reason Charlotte kept trying to contacthim. So he dialed into his message system. His heart skipped a beat when he heard how frantic Charlotte’s voice was: Mr. Rushwas holding a group of students hostage in a classroom. There was also a message from Lana saying basically the same thingand that he needed to call Charlotte as soon as possible. Curtis wasn’t even sure how he’d missed Lana’s call, although maybeshe’d tried calling him right when Charlotte had.

“I have to go,” he told Sharon and rushed out of her house and into his SUV. He drove out of her driveway, sped down the roadlike a madman, and called Charlotte.

“Oh my God, Curtis, I think Matthew is one of the kids still inside,” she cried.

“Are you at the school?”

“Yes. And where are you?”

“I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. But in the meantime, you try to stay calm, baby, okay?” he said but deepdown, he had never been more frightened or worried about anything. He was terrified, to say the least, and he wondered ifthis was all his fault. He couldn’t help wondering if God was already punishing him for consorting with another woman—foralmost giving in to her sexual demands—for wanting her to do all the things she’d been promising she could and would do tohim if he let her.

Curtis would never forgive himself if something happened to Matthew, and he prayed his son was going to be okay. Then he thankedGod for allowing Matthew to send him that text when he had. If he hadn’t, Curtis knew things would have gone too far withSharon, and there would have been no turning back for him. The day would have ended on a very shameful note, and Curtis wasgrateful he’d been stopped. He was glad God had stopped him cold.

Chapter 28

When Curtis arrived near the school, squad cars, detective cars, personnel from all the local media outlets, and many otherswere scattered throughout the street. As he drove closer, he even saw a large number of students standing around as well,some who were in tears and already embracing various adults, probably their parents, and some holding on to each other. Sadly,though, Curtis did not see Matthew, and his stomach knotted.

After driving as close as possible to the scene, Curtis finally found a parking spot on a residential street, grabbed hisfull-length, black cashmere coat from the passenger seat, and went looking for Charlotte. He pushed through groups of people,many of them speaking to him along the way, but turned around only when he heard Charlotte calling his name. She was onlya few feet away. To his surprise, she hurried toward him and fell into his arms, crying.

“Hey,” Curtis said, smoothing his hands across her back. “Matt is going to be fine. God is going to fix this, and we can’tthink anything different.”

“But what if he’s not all right? What if…oh God, no. Not my baby,” she said, weeping loudly.

Curtis’s eyes watered, and as he looked around and saw tears rolling down the faces of other parents, those who obviouslyhadn’t seen their children come out of the school yet either, his faith was shaken. He wouldn’t let on to Charlotte or toanyone else how he really felt, but he struggled with utter fear for the first time in a while.

He struggled for a few minutes. However, it wasn’t long before he remembered his strong belief in God and how God could doall things, no matter how impossible they might seem. Needless to say, his faith was quickly renewed, and he had no doubtthat Matthew would soon come walking out safe and sound, and this would all be over.

When Charlotte had settled down a little, she said, “He tried calling me, Curtis, but I didn’t answer the phone in time.”

Curtis frowned. “He tried calling me, too, but when I dialed him back I couldn’t reach him.”

“Why do you think he didn’t leave a message?”

“I don’t know. He did finally send a text, though, saying he couldn’t call but that was it.”

Curtis looked up when he saw a band of teenagers, heading toward them, one of whom was Elijah, Matthew’s best friend.

“Elijah,” Curtis said. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. Matt just flipped out, I guess. He had a chance to flee just like the rest of us, but when he saw who Mr. Rushwanted to keep in there, he wouldn’t leave.”

“Mr. Rush said he only wanted those two girls to stay,” one of the girls in Elijah’s crowd said. “Those girls who made thoseaccusations against him.”

“I just don’t get it,” Elijah continued. “Because the next thing we knew, Matt was telling Mr. Rush he wasn’t going anywhereand that if he was going to shoot those girls, he would have to shoot him, too. So, Mr. Rush told him fine and that he coulddie right along with those—excuse my language, Mom Black and Pastor Black—but he said Matthew could die right along with thosesluts because it made no difference to him.”

“Why did Matt do that?” Charlotte blurted out. “Why didn’t he run out with the rest of you?”

“We don’t know,” another student said. The rest hunched their shoulders.

Charlotte burst into tears again and laid her head on Curtis’s chest.

“So it’s not a whole class of students in there?” Curtis asked. “Just Mr. Rush, Matthew, and the two young ladies?”

“Yep,” Elijah said.

“Did Mr. Rush say why he was doing this?” Curtis asked.

“He told Jennifer and Tasha that they never should have snitched on him, so now he had