Someone Like You by Kathryn Shay

too. But a lot of kids’ parents die and don’t hurt themselves.”
    “Nick, do you want to tell him or should I?” Dylan asked.
    “I will.” Nick hadn’t sat down, but stood behind Brie. “Mr. Mayor, Matt’s talked to me a lot. I know you and him aren’t getting along. I know what’s gone on between you.”
    The guy didn’t flinch and for a second, Nick wondered if he’d been wrong to believe what the boy had told him. No! He hadn’t. He’d witnessed the agony Matt was experiencing.
    “We’re close,” Nick added.
    “If you’re close, why didn’t you know he was doing this cutting thing?” Keller’s tone turned sarcastic and though Nick knew the man was capable of far worse, he was still surprised.
    Nick lifted his chin. “I did know. What’s more, I got him to see a counselor outside of school.”
    The mayor’s eyes widened and his face flushed. “Let me get this straight. You’ve known my son has been mutilating himself? You got him help and you’ve obviously counseled him?”
    “That about covers it.”
    “What gave you the right to keep a problem my child is having from me?  My child,” the mayor emphasized. “Not yours.”
    Dylan intervened. “We need to table that discussion and find Matt.”
    “He’s probably gone off to lick his wounds. The boy’s too sensitive. Let him be. He’ll come home with his tail between his legs soon enough.”
    The counselor shook her head. “Don’t you want to find him, Mayor Keller?”
    “I want some answers about my son. If I’m not going to get them from you, I’m calling my attorney.”
    Shocked faces on everyone but Nick.
    The mayor stood and started out. Brie rose and blocked his way. “Is there any place he might have gone that no one but you would know about?”
    A huff. “I have a hunting cabin near Letchworth Gorge. I suppose he could have absconded there. But mark my words, he’ll come back. And when he does, we’ll end these shenanigans.”
    Dylan snatched a pad off his desk and held it out to the mayor. “I want directions to the cabin.”
    A glare, but the guy scribbled on the paper then stormed out.
    Dylan faced Nick. “Can we take your car? I have to make some calls on the way down.”
    Brie said, “Let me get my purse.”
    Oh, God, that’s all he needed. Again, he didn’t look at her, but said flatly, “I don’t want her to come with us.”
    “What? Why?” Brie asked.
    “Dylan, she’s not coming.”
    “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but we don’t have time to argue. Brie, I’m sorry, you’ll stay here. We’ll call you as soon as we find him.”
    She grabbed Nick’s arm. “Nick, please.”
    Flinging her off, he walked out the door. He couldn’t stand her touching him.
     

 
    Chapter 7
    Brie was unsteady on her feet as she left Dylan’s office. She was terrified for Matt. Educators had a sense of when a student was seriously in trouble and she’d gotten bad vibes from the boy. Dylan knew it, too. And Nick. No, she wouldn’t think about Nick and how he’d looked through her, how cold and uncaring he’d been when he refused to let her go with them.
    Sheryl had called in subs to cover for her and Nick so Brie left the school and went out to sit in her car.
    And worry.
    Rolling the windows down, leaning back into the seat, she closed her eyes and thought about the news reports of teens hurting themselves these days. No one had used the word suicide but Brie knew that’s what everyone was concerned about with Matt. Except his father. The man had been a robot. Insensitive. Selfish. She conceded that he’d lost his wife a year ago, and remembered her own loss of Jared. But Brie knew for a fact that nothing, nothing could ever make her treat her daughter as badly as he’d been treating Matt.
    Mayor Keller was a monster. She only hoped it wasn’t too late for his son.
    o0o
    Staring through the windshield, Nick blanked his mind as he drove to Letchworth. Vaguely, he was aware of Dylan taking