Harder (Stark Ink Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

sheet shows Ava as present, but her teacher has noticed her absence. And the last assignment Ava’s turned in for those classes was approximately four weeks ago.”
    Adam sat down in Jeannine’s chair with a thud. His damp hair dripped onto the Formica of the desk. Ava had skipped that much ? It didn’t seem possible. Ava was a good kid. Sure she had a foul mouth on her occasionally and she’d thrown a punch or two on the playground over the years, but he couldn’t picture her doing anything like this. And Sienna? Hell, no. Sienna wasn’t some kind of hellion running loose on the streets of Rapid City. Sure, Sienna’s mother was MIA more often than not, but Ava and Sienna just wouldn’t take things that far.
    “Look, Ms. Winslow,” he said firmly. “I don’t know what’s going on here. Or what you think is going on here. But you’re wrong. You’ve got it all wrong. I know Sienna Rhodes. I’ve known her since she moved to Rapid City when she was nine years old. She and Ava, they’re… sometimes…” He struggled for the right word. To paint Ava as a handful—and God knew she was more than that—would be to give credence to this woman’s absurd accusations. “They’re…”
    “Mr. Stark, Sienna and Ava are about to be suspended.”
    Adam froze. “Suspended?”
    “Yes. But we need to have a conference with Sienna’s mother and with Mr. Stark, your father, Ava’s father , so we can fully determine just what is going on here and whether or not anyone else is involved.”
    Adam sat silently, gripping the receiver tightly in one hand while running the other through his tangled, brown hair. He pictured the old man, staring like a zombie at I Love Lucy reruns, mostly grunting responses, if he acknowledged anyone at all. He pictured piles of laundry surrounding the man when previously, he’d meticulously cared for the Stark’s lawn while Adam’s mother kept the inside of the house spotless.
    “Ms. Winslow,” he said, all trace of sarcasm and sharpness now vanished from his tone. “My father really can’t handle this right now. My mom… well her death hit us all pretty hard. He just… there’s just no way.”
    Ms. Winslow sighed on the other end of the phone. It wasn’t an irritated or angry sigh. She genuinely seemed to feel terrible about the circumstances. “Can you come?” she finally asked. “She’ll probably be suspended. And she’s so behind in her classwork that she might have to retake it next year and extend high school an extra semester.”
    “Jesus,” Adam muttered. “I just… I had no idea. I don’t know what… This can’t happen. Coming at her now, with both barrels. I don’t know what’ll happen.” Adam had little experience with teenagers, especially teenage girls. Weren’t they prone to erratic outbursts, crazy behavior? He could definitely picture Ava going off the deep end at this and he was in no way equipped to deal with something like that.
    “Come to my office this afternoon,” Ms. Winslow told him. “We’ll discuss it, formulate a plan from there. This really is serious, Mr. Stark. Though I don’t think I need to stress that,” she said gently. “Please come.”
    Adam picked up a pen and clicked it. “What time?”
    Adam scribbled the time and room number on his palm and gently hung up the phone. There was no way Mom and Pop had had any inkling of what was going on with Ava. Mom was loving and gentle but firm as a drill sergeant when she needed to be. He supposed she’d gotten that from raising himself and Dalton. And Pop would have had Ava’s ass in a sling if he knew. Her list of chores and homework assignments would have been so long that it might take more than an extra semester’s time to finish them all.
    Adam briefly considered calling her, but she would be getting ready for school at the moment. That was, if she ever planned on going again. Though Ms. Winslow had said that Ava only missed the last class of every day. Maybe there was a