Valentin (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #6)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Ouida Mae laughed out loud, her gaze sweeping over her new coworker. He was tall, broad-shouldered and athletic-looking, with a neatly trimmed beard that gave him a slightly dangerous appeal. That might help to intimidate the teenagers he would be working with, perhaps enough to keep them in line. But the man was clueless.

She could warn him all day long about the difficulties of working with hormonal teenagers, but, in this case, experience was the only way to learn.

She grinned. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Welcome to Bayou Mambaloa Junior High, and good luck.”

His dark brow dipped, adorably confused. “Thanks…?”

A man Ouida Mae recognized stepped through the door, carrying a box full of paint supplies. “Everything all right in here?”

“Yes,” Ouida Mae responded. “Everything is as well as could be expected.” She smiled. “You’re Lucas, Felina’s fiancé, right?”

Lucas nodded. “That’s me. And you must be Felina’s friend, Ouida Mae, the science teacher. Or should I call you Miz Mo?”

“I’ll answer to either,” she said.

“Then I’ll call you Ouida Mae since Felina called you that, and you’re not my teacher. Although, I might’ve been a better student if you had been.” He set the box of supplies on her desk and held out a hand. “Lucas LeBlanc at your service.”

“Nice to finally meet you,” Ouida Mae said. “And congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I’m a lucky man. She actually said yes.” He glanced around the room and let out a low whistle. “Looks like we have our work cut out for us. We’re on painting detail.”

Ouida Mae looked from Lucas to Valentin. “You know each other?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucas said.

Valentin’s elbow connected with Lucas’s belly. “Lucas and I worked together after we both left the military.”

“Are you part of that group of men who came to town about the same time Remy Montagne appeared?” Ouida Mae’s brow dipped. “What was it Felina called you? Some kind of brotherhood?”

“Bayou Brotherhood Protectors,” Lucas said.

“What is that…some kind of bodyguard work?” she asked.

Lucas shoved a hand through his hair. “Yes, ma’am. Something like that.”

“Is that why all those men came to Bayou Mambaloa?” Ouida Mae turned to Valentin and raised an eyebrow. “Is that why you came?”

Valentin hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She shook her head. Was he nuts? “That sounds a lot more interesting than teaching junior high students.”

Valentin shrugged. “Business has been a bit slow. I was looking for something to fill the time.”

She stared at the big, former military guy. “You couldn’t get on at the hardware store or help the Broussards with the general store?”

“I heard Principal Ashcraft was in a tight spot, needed a substitute PE teacher and that it was a temporary position until she could get a permanent replacement. My buddy Landry volunteered to help out until the janitor recovers.”

Lucas clapped Valentin on the back. “That’s right. Community service at its best.”

Ouida Mae looked from the new PE teacher to Lucas and back. Something about their story didn’t sit right with her.

Mr. Garner, the Math teacher, stuck his head in the door. “Did you kill it?”

Ouida Mae held the arm up with the snake wrapped around it. “Of course I didn’t,” she said. “You know Houdini is the classroom mascot.”

Mr. Garner frowned. “Couldn’t you have chosen a bunny or a gerbil, instead?”

“Snakes are more interesting,” Ouida Mae said. “Anyway, he’s not a threat to you. I just need to get him a new home since his terrarium was destroyed in the attack.” She marched past Mr. Garner.

The math teacher backed away, his hands held up as if warding off a curse.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Garner,” Ouida Mae said. “Houdini is just as scared as you are.” She headed for the teachers’ lounge, where she knew of an old aquarium stored in a closet that wasn't being used. She hoped it still had a lid, otherwise it wouldn't keep Houdini in for long. She felt bad that she hadn’t looked for the snake sooner. The incident had shaken her so much she hadn’t been thinking straight.

Once she found the aquarium, she placed Houdini inside. Thankfully, the lid was still intact. She placed it over the top. “We’ll make you more comfortable once we get the classroom in order,” she promised.

Ouida Mae carried the aquarium back to the classroom, where she placed it in the middle of her desk, out of the way of the people sweeping up glass and spreading plastic sheeting around the room. While she pretended to adjust the aquarium’s position, her gaze went to the new PE teacher as he applied masking tape around the top of the door frame, his arms stretching high, the muscles rippling in his biceps.

No doubt, the man would be a distraction to all the single female teachers as well as the married ones. Already, he was a distraction to her. She shook her head as if that would clear her mind of the man. It didn’t.

And she didn't have time for a distraction. Her classroom needed to be up and running by Monday morning when the students returned to school.

Lucas held up a roller and a paintbrush. “Choose your weapon.”

“I’ll take the roller,” she said. “The sooner the red spray paint is covered, the better.”

Lucas tipped his head toward two other men who were busy taping off the windowsills. “Those two boneheads are part of our team. The tall one’s Gerard. The other guy is Beau.” Lucas raised his voice. “Guys, say hello to the science teacher, Ouida Mae.”

Gerard and Beau glanced her way.

“You’re the science teacher?” Beau asked, his eyebrows rising.

Ouida Mae waved at the two. “That’s me.”

“I might’ve been more interested in science if I’d had a teacher like you,” Beau said.

Gerard tossed his roll of masking tape at Beau. “Better not let the senator’s daughter hear you say that.”

“Aurelie knows I love her to the moon and back,” Beau said and waved at Ouida Mae. “Nice to meet you, Miss Ouida Mae.”

“The students call her Miz Mo,” Lucas said.

“And you’re okay with that?” Gerard asked.

Ouida Mae smiled and dipped her roller into a pan of soft French gray paint. “Absolutely.”

“Pretty and nice,” Valentin said behind her.

At the sound of Valentin’s voice so close behind her, Ouida Mae spun, forgetting she had a wet roller in her hand.

Paint slung across the plastic sheeting and Valentin’s faded Def Leppard T-shirt.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Ouida Mae reached out to wipe the paint from his shirt, only managing to smear it over the faces of the band members.

Valentin captured her wrist in his big, warm hand. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” she cried. “Maybe I can rinse it out before it dries.” She set the roller down in the pan and reached for the hem of Valentin’s shirt. “Take it off.”

“Yes, please,” a female voice called out behind her.

“Yeah. Take it off,” another said.

While she’d been focused on the men in her room, Ouida Mae’s fellow teachers had entered.

“Take it off. Take it off. Take it off,” they all chanted as one.

Lucas laughed. “Do it, Valentin.”

Ouida Mae’s hands were halfway up Valentin’s chest when another voice sounded from the doorway.

“What’s going on?” Principal Ashcraft stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest.

Ouida Mae’s paint-splattered hands fell to her sides. Heat burned in her cheeks.

“Ah, Principal Ashcraft.” Valentin gave a brief smile. “Miz Mo was just helping me get some paint out of my shirt before it dried.” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it up over his head, managing to get paint in his beard and hair. He held out the shirt to Ouida Mae. “Do you really think you can get the paint out? It's my lucky shirt.”

Her cheeks still hot, Ouida Mae nodded.

Principal Ashcraft’s brow puckered. “Mr. Vachon, Ms. Maudet can show you where to find the teachers’ lounge, where you can work on getting the paint out of your beard and hair, too.”

Donna Durand, the tall and wispy-thin English teacher, raised a hand. “I could show Mr. Vachon to the teacher’s lounge.”

Principal Ashcraft’s lips pressed together in a tight line. “That won’t be necessary. Miz Mo is headed there anyway, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ouida Mae choked out. “Follow me,” she said to Valentin.

He murmured something that sounded suspiciously like to the ends of the earth.

Ouida Mae chalked it up to her addled brain. How had the new PE teacher reduced her scientific, logical mind to muddled mush in less than thirty minutes of knowing him?

As she passed her friend and coworker, Donna, the other woman muttered, “Lucky dog.”

Lucky? Was she crazy? The last thing Ouida Mae needed was more time in the man’s presence. She had enough problems with the vandal who’d destroyed her classroom.

She didn’t wait to see if the man followed her but took off at a quick pace toward the office.

She’d almost reached it when Katherine Edouard stepped through the front entrance, dressed in a neatly pressed white painter’s jumpsuit, her hair tied back with a colorful scarf and makeup expertly applied.

As the wife of a local politician, President of the Parent Teacher Association, Sunday school teacher and mother of the junior high’s star quarterback, Ms. Edouard called a lot of the shots at the school and in the community. She liked being in charge and leading protests against things she deemed unacceptable.

She’d been in discussions with Principal Ashcraft, trying to put a stop to Ouida Mae’s sex education curriculum, even though parents had the right to opt out of the instruction for their students. She didn’t think any student should be subjected to the instruction, claiming it would lead to promiscuity in teens too young to understand the risks.

When Ms. Edouard spotted Ouida Mae, she advanced on her, a scowl marring her perfect face. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised your room was targeted. It appears I’m not the only member of this community gravely concerned about what you’re teaching our children. Whoever trashed your class just took it a step further. Maybe now, you’ll pull sex education and evolution from your syllabus.”

The stress and worry weighing down on Ouida Mae bubbled up into anger. “You condone the vandal’s actions?”

“Of course not.” Ms. Edouard lifted her chin and stared down her nose at Ouida Mae, taking complete advantage of her superior height. “But it did get the message across.”

“He almost killed Mr. Jones.” Ouida Mae drew herself up to her full five feet two inches and stood toe to toe with the other woman. “Was Mr. Jones’s life worth getting the message across ?”

Katherine Edouard took a step back, her lip lifting on one side. “You’re being overly dramatic. Mr. Jones is an old man who should’ve retired years ago. How do you know he didn’t just trip and fall?”

Ouida Mae tamped down her rage. It was wasted on someone like Katherine Edouard. She couldn’t see any other point of view that wasn’t her own. “I know he didn’t fall because I was there. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a classroom to clean up so I can teach my sex ed curriculum on Monday.” Ouida Mae stepped around the woman.

Ms. Edouard grabbed Ouida Mae’s arm. “Seriously? You’re still going through with that lesson plan?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Valentin stepped closer. “Please release Ms. Maudet’s arm.”

The woman retained her hold and glared up at Valentin. “Who the hell are you? Miz Mo’s shirtless bodyguard?”

Valentin shook his head. “No, ma’am. I’m the new PE teacher. Now, release Ms. Maudet’s arm.”

“Or what?” Ms. Edouard challenged.

“Or this,” Ouida Mae said, tired to the bone of the woman’s high-handedness. Ouida Mae grabbed the woman’s wrist, stepped to her side and twisted her arm up and behind her back, pressing the wrist up between the self-righteous bitch’s shoulder blades.

“You’re hurting me,” Ms. Edouard said. “I could have you fired for attacking me.”

“The way I saw it, you attacked Ms. Maudet,” Valentin said with a dangerous smile. “She could file assault charges against you.”

“Don’t. Ever. Touch. Me. Again,” Ouida Mae said into Ms. Edouard’s ear before giving her a slight shove at the same time as she released the woman’s wrist.

Katherine Edouard straightened, rubbing her wrist. “I’m not done with this conversation.”

“I am.” Ouida Mae passed the woman and continued toward the office and the teacher’s lounge.

“I will not have you teaching my impressionable young son how to have sex,” Katherine called out.

Ouida Mae stopped and turned back. “I’m not teaching anyone how to have sex. Most likely, he already knows that. If you think otherwise, you’re burying your head in the sand. I teach them what can happen if they do have sex—the consequences of unprotected sex, like sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. I also teach them that no means no . Young men and women don’t always get that information from their parents. Have you explained any of that to Chase?”

Ms. Edouard’s lips curled. “I will when he’s ready.”

“Lady,” Valentin said, “at his age, he’s dangerously past the ready mark.”

“You don’t know my son like I do,” the parent said.

“I was a teenage boy. I knew about sex before I got pubic hair. Kids need to know what can happen after sex to help make better decisions before engaging in it, to include abstinence.”

“I care about my students,” Ouida Mae added. “My goal is to keep them safe from disease and teen pregnancy.”

“Well, none of that will happen to my son,” Katherine said, “because you won’t be putting those ideas into his head.”

Ouida Mae’s eyes narrowed. “Then make sure he comes to school Monday with the form I sent home with him, with your signature and the box checked indicating you do not wish your child to receive the sex education instruction.”

“What form?” Katherine demanded.

“You know your son; ask him.” Ouida Mae turned and walked away.

Valentin followed. “Are all parents like that one?”

“Thankfully, no.” Ouida Mae passed the office and pushed through the next door marked TEACHERS ONLY.

Still amped up from her encounter with the sanctimonious Edouard woman, Ouida Mae couldn’t look at Valentin. Anger was a passion of its own. Gazing at Valentin’s naked chest might unleash that passion in a very different and frightening way. For a science teacher who valued logic and strict control of her emotions, the new PE teacher was a real threat.

With the paint-stained shirt still clutched in her hand, she weaved her way through the tables and chairs to the kitchen sink on the far side of the room.

“There are school T-shirts in the cabinet to the right of the copy machine. Find one your size, my treat.”

She didn’t wait for a response but found the plug for the drain and filled the sink with warm, soapy water. After dunking the shirt in and out several times, she rubbed the fabric together, working the paint out a little at a time. The repetitive motion and strenuous rubbing also eased some of the tension from her body.

“Mind if I get some of that soap and water?” Valentin’s deep voice said so close Ouida Mae felt the warmth of his breath against her ear.

She jumped, dropping the shirt into the suds.

“Preferably before the paint sets in my beard and hair,” Valentin added.

Ouida Mae glanced up in time to catch his grin and a wink.

Her knees wobbled, and her heart skipped several beats and then thumped hard against her ribs. The man was close enough that all she had to do was raise her hand, and her fingers would graze his naked, muscular chest.

His brow furrowed. “Sorry. Did I startle you? I tried to get your attention, but you were rubbing that shirt so hard, I’m betting there won’t be much left of it.” His smile was back.

“Couldn’t you find a shirt?” She winced at how breathy her voice sounded.

He held up a T-shirt with the school logo.

“Didn’t want to put it on until I’ve got the paint out of my hair.”

“Oh, right.” She had to force her gaze upward from the broad expanse of his chest to the splash of French gray paint in his beard.

Ouida Mae had always wondered how it felt to kiss a man with a beard. Would it tickle? If he went down on her, would it send tingles throughout her body?

Hell. Just the thought of him going down on her sent tingles. Beard or no beard.

His lips quirked. “If I had a mirror, I’d do it myself. If you could point the way to the bathroom, that would help.”

She swallowed hard and fought for a grip. “That won’t be necessary,” she managed. “I’ll get the paint out. It was my fault to begin with.”

She snatched a paper towel from the roll beside the sink, dipped it into the soapy water and turned back to Valentin, his naked chest and that neatly trimmed, tempting beard. She was doomed before she started.