Captivation Creek (Haven Brothers #5)

Chapter 1

Theo

The noise of locker doors, shuffling feet, and murmured conversations filled the Tilikum High School hallway as students made their way to lunch. I paused, leaning against the doorway of my classroom, and crossed my arms, surveying the mostly controlled chaos.

A group of girls clustered in a tight circle, heads bent together, trading news or gossip or maybe just deciding where to sit for lunch.

A few of the sophomore boys, currently caught up in the school’s latest nerd fad, raced to see who was the fastest to solve a Rubik’s Cube before grabbing their lunches and heading for the commons downstairs.

One of my students, a big junior with a history of…well, being a jerk, came up behind a freshman boy. I cleared my throat. When the junior looked up and realized I was watching, the beginning of a grin left his face, and he moved on.

Not on my watch.

My football players were easy to spot. It was a Friday—game day—so they wore their jerseys to school. A few walked by, decked out in green and white with the Timberwolves logo, heading for the stairs.

“Hey, Coach.”

I tipped my chin to them.

Glancing up and down the hallway again, I made sure none of the current couples were making out by the lockers. Teachers emerged from their classrooms, some lingering to keep an eye on the kids. Others ducked around the congregated students and beelined for the teachers’ lounge, ready for a break.

Down the hall, the last door opened and Penelope Fallbrook emerged from the art room.

She was a mess, as usual. Dark hair in a bun that was probably not that loose on purpose, and a bit of paint on her beige blouse. She pushed her dark-rimmed glasses up her nose as she turned and made sure the door shut behind her, then glanced in my direction.

She smiled and nodded toward the stairs. I returned her nod. I’d see her in a few.

My eyes narrowed as I watched the boys watch her walk down the hall. Heads turned, eyes fixated on her chest or backside.

Penelope didn’t dress provocatively. She was a professional and wasn’t intentionally giving all the walking hormones in the building spank bank material. She just turned heads, no matter what she was wearing.

Not mine, though. Pen was super cool, but we were just friends.

No, really. Not “just friends” who were secretly pining for each other or destined to hook up. Actual friends who had no interest in each other romantically. Penelope lived with her longtime boyfriend. And I’d graduated from dating and moved into my single-forever phase.

Which wasn’t just a phase, it was a life choice. And the forever part? I was serious about that.

Three of my five brothers had walked down the aisle over the past couple years, and we all figured Luke wasn’t far behind.

They were busy having babies and being family men.

Which was great. I love having nieces and nephews.

All the cool stuff about kids without the crushing pressure and responsibility. Or the need for a wife.

Because that was a hard no.

The hallway cleared, and I headed down the wide staircase that led to the commons—a big multipurpose area.

Students sat at round tables, eating cafeteria food or packed lunches.

One of my players held up an apple like he was getting ready to throw it at someone.

I pointed at him, and he lowered his arm while his buddies snickered.

“Watch it,” I said. “Or you’re all running laps.”

“Sorry, Coach.”

I gave them my best serious-coach look and kept going.

The teachers’ lounge was behind the front office, near the main entrance to the school.

It offered a student-free space with some tables and a couple armchairs next to the window, plus a fridge and a counter with a sink.

I’d always thought it looked more like the waiting room at a doctor’s office than a place to relax.

Penelope and I had been lobbying for a remodel—or at least some better furniture—but so far, no luck. Budgets and everything.

I went in and nodded to the other teachers congregated with their lunches. Penelope already had a spot, so I grabbed my lunch from the fridge and joined her.

“How’s it going, Pentacular?” I asked. She had a black speck on her nose, so I reached over and tried to wipe it off with my thumb.

“Do I have paint on my face again?” She rubbed the bridge of her nose and checked her fingers as her glasses slid out of place.

I tilted my head and looked at her nose. “Still there. But it’s not very big.”

She adjusted her glasses and rolled her eyes. “I’ll get it off later.”

“Were students flicking their paintbrushes again?”

“We weren’t even painting today. Which means I did it at home and left the house this morning without noticing.”

I chuckled. “You’re a mess.”

“Tell me about it. Thanks, Sean, for the heads-up before I walked out the door.”

I grunted a noncommittal reply. It wasn’t that I didn’t like her boyfriend. It was just that—

No, I didn’t like him.

Not because he was with her. I wasn’t jealous or anything. He was just one of those guys who made you want to put a fist through his face just for existing. You know the type. Douchey and a little doughy with a cocky sneer he couldn’t back up.

I didn’t know what Penelope saw in him, but it wasn’t any of my business.

I tended to avoid saying anything when he came up in conversation.

Getting my sandwich out of my paper lunch bag and taking a bite was a good excuse not to comment on Sean and his lack of warning that she had paint on her nose.

“Why are your lunches always so boring?” she asked.

“What’s wrong with a ham sandwich?” I asked around a bite, eyeing her glass container filled with a colorful salad-like concoction. “Why are your lunches always so pretentious?”

“At least tell me there’s cheese on that.”

I pulled open the bread slices to look. “No. Forgot.”

“Ugh, just ham? And this isn’t pretentious; it’s a chopped salad. It’s healthy and also delicious, thank you very much.”

I swiped her fork out of her hand, dug into her salad, and shoved a big bite in my mouth. Damn it, she was right. It was good.

“Okay, fine. This is better than my sandwich.” I stuck the fork in her bowl and started to drag it in front of me. “Can we switch?”

Our fingers brushed as she put her hands around the container and pulled it back. “Absolutely not. It isn’t my fault you suck at packing lunches.”

Involuntarily, I flexed my hand—the one that hers had touched—and I jokingly scowled at her before taking another bite of my stupid sandwich.

“The recipe isn’t hard,” she said. “I use variations of it for meal prep all the time. You can make a big batch, portion it out, and then eat it for lunch every day.”

“That sounds like planning and work.”

“Theo, you’re a teacher and football coach. You plan things all the time. Lesson plans, practice drills, formations, starting lineups.”

“I know, which is why I don’t meal prep. You think I have time to do more than throw some ham on bread?”

She snort-laughed. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you could figure it out.”

“Boy?” I gave her a crooked grin. “Honey, I am all man.”

Another snort-laugh. She was actually pretty cute when she did that. “Sure, you are.”

I opened my mouth to fire back when Ashley, another of our colleagues, came in. She was around our age and taught English. But that wasn’t why Pen and I pretended we weren’t watching her, while absolutely watching her.

She was totally hooking up with Jeremy, who taught history and social studies. At least, Pen and I were convinced they were hooking up. We’d been trying to find out if we were right since school started in September.

I kept an eye on Ashley while Pen shifted in her seat so she had a view of Jeremy. Ashley got a drink out of the fridge, then chose the seat right behind him.

“So there’s that new movie out,” Pen said.

“Yeah, looks good. Maybe I’ll go this weekend.”

There wasn’t a movie. We were just covering. It wasn’t like we were going to spread gossip about our coworkers if we did find out the truth. Pen and I wouldn’t tell anyone—we just wanted the tea for ourselves.

Don’t judge. It made work more fun.

Pen nudged me and I cast a quick glance at Ashley and Jeremy. They were leaning down, as if one of them had dropped something. And they were whispering.

I raised my eyebrows at Pen. She raised hers back. Yep, there had to be something going on there.

“Do you think the weather is going to hold out for the game tonight?” Pen asked.

I took the last bite of my sandwich. “I think so.”

Jeremy got up to leave, and sure enough, Ashley followed a moment later.

Well, wasn’t that interesting?

I met Pen’s eyes again and she nodded. Without a word, we cleaned up our lunches, tossed our trash, and slipped out of the teachers’ lounge.

“Which way?” she asked, leaning closer so I could hear her over the din coming from the commons.

Narrowing my eyes, I glanced around. I knew all the good make-out spots in the building. Not from my time as a teacher. But I’d been a horny teenager once. A horny teenager with a bunch of brothers. We’d discovered ways to make out with a girl without getting caught, even at school.

“Let’s try outside by the field.”

She nodded and we made our way toward the back doors that led to the football field.

The fall air was crisp, but fortunately, it wasn’t freezing. We crept around the base of the stands—they were raised above the level of the track—and peeked around the other side. But no one was there.

“Maybe they went into the home ec room,” Pen suggested. “I thought I saw them coming out of there last week.”

“Did you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought I did.” She glanced around. “The home ec window is right over there.”

Grinning, I waggled my eyebrows at her. She stifled a giggle, and we tiptoed our way to the window. Not that we needed to, but tiptoe-ing seemed like the thing to do.