Holding On (Love In Montana Book 3)

After dropping off Rihanna, Hunter was in a fowl mood. Their discussion had brought back painful the memories of his past, those that he didn't want to remember. He hated the word pregnancy after he had found out that his girlfriend of two years, Eva and his best friend, Mike had been betraying him. She was pregnant with Mike's baby and had begged Hunter to forgive her. Hunter had broken ties with both of them. He was deeply hurt by both of them. However, what happened the next day was more traumatic, something that he had never imagined in his worst nightmares ever. He left Arkansas forever. There was nothing left for him in that place.

The next day, he dropped an eager Robbie off to school. He rushed towards the school gates and Hunter drove back to work. His mood hadn't improved at all. Eva and Mike's face revolved in his head and the betrayal that he had felt three years back was fresh in his mind again. As such, he couldn't concentrate on anything. Thankfully, his housekeeper, Samantha Jones who had been looking after Robbie for the last three years took care of everything and he didn't need to bother much.

Robbie sat in his class in the same manner as he had on his first day of school. Rihanna knew instantly that something was up. The enthusiasm and the excitement of the last two days was absent and he was back to how he was on the first day of school. Rihanna started her class as she was late today after the stunt Ryder pulled in the morning when he realized that Anastasia had actually left for LA forever. He was inconsolable and tried to leave the house and go after her but their granny was adamant. She made him understand that you couldn't force someone to love you back so the best thing to do would be to let go and move on. He decided to marry Hailey to forget Anastasia forever.

Throughout the class, Robbie didn't pay any attention to her. He was lost in his own world but what bothered Rihanna was the red mark on his cheek. It looked like he was hit by someone but she wasn't sure. She would need to talk to him after the class was over.

Afterwards, it was breaktime and Rihanna went towards Robbie and sat with him. "Where's your lunch, Robbie?" She asked him. Robbie looked down at his hands as a tear drop fell from his eye.

"What's wrong Robbie? I'm your friend. Won't you tell me?" She asked him gently.

"I didn't bring lunch, Miss Anna, " he said softly,  still not looking up.

"Oh, do you want to share my lunch with me? I made it myself and it's yummy," she offered and Robbie looked at her and nodded slightly.

"Wait, I'll go and get my box," she said, getting up to go towards her bag. She took out her lunch box and took it to Robbie's desk. She opened it to show Robbie the chicken sandwiches and potato wedges that she had packed. Robbie licked his lips and picked up a potato wedge. He bit into it and finished it in a second.

"You make yummy food, Miss Anna, " he said, picking up a sandwich and biting into it.

"Thank you Robbie," she said, picking up a sandwich and eating too.

"Will you make food for me everyday?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, I'd love to," she told him. Robbie smiled for the first time since morning. Rihanna checked the red mark on his cheek from close. Yes, it looked like someone had slapped him. Was it his uncle? She had to find out. It wasn't right to hit a small child this way.

"Your cheek looks red, Robbie. Did anyone hurt you? You can tell me. I'm your friend and I want to protect you," said Rihanna, feeling concerned about the little boy now.

"I can't tell you Miss Anna, " said Robbie, looking scared.

Rihanna was suspicious by now. Was the child being abused in some way? "Tell me Robbie. I'll protect you. I'll take care of you," said Rihanna, gently.

"She hits me everyday," he whispered with scared eyes which held a lot of pain. Rihanna was immediately alerted.

"Who hits you, sweetie? Tell me, I'll keep it a secret and save you from her," said Rihanna.

"Ms Samantha, she looks after me when uncle Hunt isn't at home," he whispered like it was a secret.

"Oh, she's a bad woman," said Rihanna, nodding her head in understanding.

"Yes, very bad. You know, she ate my lunch and told me not to tell uncle Hunt else she'd chop me to pieces and feed me to her doggie," said Robbie with wide scared eyes. Rihanna's jaws dropped. It seemed that this woman was mistreating the child. He really needed help.

"You like this lunch? I'll make something yummy for you everyday," she promised.

She got up to interact with the other children too. She checked the guardian details from the students register to check Robbie's uncle's number. She punched his number, waiting for him to accept her call.

"Yes? Hunter Bradshaw here," drawled his deep voice from the other end. Rihanna felt goosebumps erupt on her arms hearing his voice.

"Um, I'm Rihanna Wilson, your ward, Robson Bradshaw's class teacher, " she started but she was cut off by his lazy and bored tone.

"I know who you are, baby. So, did you miss me so much that you needed to call me?" He asked in a husky tone. His words made her mad with anger but she couldn't flare up now. This was an important issue and a child's future was at stake. She needed to deal with this with maturity. 

"This is an official call, Mr Bradshaw. I need to see you immediately after the class today," she told him, keeping her tone as professional as possible.

"Sure. I'll be there. Is this our first official date or what?" He asked in that same tone. Rihanna rolled her eyes. She somehow wanted to erase that smirk from his face. She knew that he was smirking like an arrogant a*sh*le.

"Thank you," she said, disconnecting the call abruptly. The lunch break had ended and she resumed her classes. Robbie responded better than he did in the morning half and she was glad. Classes were soon over and Rihanna saw all the children go out in a line to be dispersed by the attendants in charge of the job. She asked one of them to show Robson Bradshaw's guardian to her classroom for a meeting.

"Won't we go home, Miss Anna?" Asked Robbie, coming towards her desk.

"Yes, Robbie but we need to punish Ms Samantha for hitting you, don't we?" She asked him but he looked very frightened after hearing her.

"No no, Miss Anna. If you punish her, she'll kill me," he said in a panic.

"No sweetie, we'll throw her out. She wouldn't be able to do anything to you. Just trust me, okay?" She said gently. Robbie nodded.

"I'll tell your uncle and we will scold her and throw her out," she comforted Robbie.

"Okay Miss Anna. Can I stay at your house?" He asked as a tremor ran down his little body.

"Yes, you can," she promised him.

The door opened and his uncle Hunter Bradshaw peeped inside. "Hey, good afternoon, Rihanna, " he said, coming inside without being invited.

"I'm Ms Wilson to you. Take a seat Mr Bradshaw, " she said but he had already made the classroom his home, sitting sprawled on the floor. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" She asked with concern.

"Do you think I'll fit into your tiny chairs? They'll break from my weight. It's all muscles and bones in here," he winked with a pat on his arms and stomach and Robbie giggled. His actions drew her attention to his muscles and bones but no, she couldn't look or she would forget the agenda for the meeting.

"Silly uncle Hunt," Robbie said, his mood already improved seeing his uncle. Hunter grinned at his nephew.

"So what did you want me for, Rihanna?" He asked with a tilt of his head, inspecting her minutely. Rihanna loved the way he said her name despite her asking him not to.

"I wanted to discuss something important," she told him and he quicker his eyebrows looking at her with interest. Rihanna looked at Robbie. "Robbie can you take this picture and sit at your desk and color it while I talk to your uncle?" She asked him, handing him a sheet of paper with farm animals drawn on it.

"Sure, Miss Anna, " he said, taking the picture and going away towards his desk. Rihanna turned towards a smirking  Hunter and got up and sat down on the floor with him. He looked more interested by now.

"So are you gonna ask me out to a date, Rihanna?" He asked with a smirk.

"High hopes, Mr Bradshaw. I wanted to tell you that your ward Robson Bradshaw is physically ab*sed everyday," she said with a poker face.