Valentin (Bayou Brotherhood Protectors #6)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Some of the ladies stayed to help clean up after the poker game. Ouida Mae would’ve preferred that they leave and let her do it herself. She had a lot on her mind and had been less than focused on the game. And she wasn’t the only one.

The game hadn't even begun when the teasing started. Ouida Mae's cheeks still flamed every time she thought about standing in the hallway in next to nothing when her friends had come through the front door and spied Valentin behind her. She had hurried to explain herself, but friends had just given her knowing looks and quickly filled in the others as they arrived.

Which made for an uncomfortable evening, playing poker with the girls. She wished she had canceled the game when she’d had the chance.

And if she had canceled the game, she might’ve had that shower with the sexy PE teacher after all.

A shiver of desire slipped across her skin as she loaded the dishwasher with glasses and plates. She’d run the load in the morning after breakfast. For the moment, she wanted to sip a glass of wine, listen to soft music and lie in bed with B.O.B., her battery-operated-boyfriend.

She’d learned long ago that she didn’t need a man to satisfy all her needs. That’s when she’d gone all the way to New Orleans to an adult toy store and purchased B.O.B.

After all, how many human boyfriends would be content to be shoved in a drawer and brought out, at the most, once a week and only if she felt like it?

Ouida Mae poured her glass of wine, selected her favorite soft rock music on her cell phone and connected it with her mini speaker.

As romantic music filled the air, she rummaged in the bottom drawer of her nightstand for B.O.B.

As her fingers wrapped around the long shaft, she heard something besides the music. She froze and strained her ears to listen to the sound again.

There it was. Maybe footsteps on the porch?

Ouida Mae adjusted the volume lower on her speaker.

The muffled creak of a wood board made Ouida Mae’s pulse quicken. She released B.O.B. and grabbed her cell phone, her first thought to dial 911. When she brought up her contacts list, Valentin’s name was at the top.

She pressed his number, turned off the light on her nightstand, and tiptoed to her bedroom door. Twisting the lock in the door handle didn’t give her much of a sense of relief. Anyone could kick that door in with a little effort. As she waited for Valentin’s phone to ring on his end, she slipped into her closet and closed the door. Ouida Mae eased into the back of her closet, sliding the hanging clothes in front of her.

He answered on the second ring, “Ouida Mae, are you OK?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I heard footsteps on my porch.”

“Have all your friends left?” Valentin asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Twenty minutes ago.”

“Any chance someone forgot something?”

“I didn’t find anything when I was cleaning up.”

“Where are you now?” he asked.

“I’m hiding in the closet in my bedroom.”

“Good,” he said. “Did you call 911?”

“No. I called you first. Where are you?” she asked.

“Driving,” he answered. “I can be at your place in two minutes if you want me there.”

“Yes, please,” she answered, speaking so softly she hoped he could hear.

“I’m on my way,” he assured her. “Stay on the phone with me.”

“I will.” There was no way she’d hang up on him. He was like a lifeline to her.

“Are your doors locked?” The warm timbre of his voice helped keep her from freaking out.

“Yes,” she said. “I locked them after everyone left. Shelby wouldn’t drive away until I did. She personally checked all the window locks while she was here.”

“Do you have a weapon?” he asked.

“I don’t have a gun,” she said, “but I have a signed baseball bat one of my students gave me.”

“Is it where you can reach it?”

Ouida Mae felt around in the darkness until she located the bat leaning in a corner of the closet. “Yes, I have it.”

“I’m near your driveway now,” he said. “Stay where you are until I tell you to come out.”

“I’ll stay.”

“If I don’t give you the all-clear in three minutes or less, dial 911.”

Ouida Mae shivered. “Okay.”

“I have to turn off my phone now, but only long enough to check out the area around your house.”

“Be careful,” she said.

“Will do.” The call ended, leaving Ouida Mae in a dark closet, listening to the soft strains of a love song. She stared at the time on her cell phone and watched as a minute ticked by.

Then another minute passed.

Halfway through the next minute, she poised her fingers over the numbers, prepared to dial 911.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, scaring her so much she fumbled and dropped it onto the floor of her closet. It had vibrated four times by the time she found it recognized Valentin’s number displayed. Before she could answer, the vibrations ceased.

A loud knock sounded on her front door.

“Ouida Mae!” Valentin’s Voice shouted. “Ouida Mae! Open up. It’s me.”

Ouida Mae scrambled to her feet, flung the closet doors open and ran for the bedroom door. When she tried to open it, she couldn’t. But then she remembered that she’d locked it and twisted the button in the handle. As she ran down the hallway, Valentin called out her name again.

“I’m coming,” she cried. When she reached the front door, she disengaged the lock in the handle, twisted the deadbolt and flung the door open.

“Thank God,” Valentin said. “I was about to break down your door. I didn’t find anything outside your house. I was about to think your intruder had made it inside. Are you OK?”

Ouida Mae nodded and then shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.

“Oh, sweetheart, come here.” Valentin opened his arms.

Ouida Mae fell into them.

She stood for a long moment in his embrace, her cheek pressed against his chest, the rapid beat of her heart matching his. When she finally stopped shaking, she looked up into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Valentin shook his head. “For what?”

“For overreacting,” she said, swiping up the moisture on her face. “You didn’t find anything or anyone lurking about?”

“No,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean someone wasn’t here. What else would’ve sounded like footsteps on your porch besides a person walking on it?”

“I could’ve been mistaken,” she said, not yet willing to step out of his embrace.

“Do you want me to look through your house, just to make sure?”

She nodded. “I would like that very much.”

Still, she didn’t want to move out of his arms.

He shifted her to one side. Keeping his left arm around her, he stepped through her front door with her at his side. After he closed and locked the door behind them, he turned her to face him and cupped her cheeks in his palms. “Stay here for a moment while I look around.”

She nodded.

Valentin pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be right back.”

True to his word, Valentin was back in a minute. “All clear,” he said and held out a hand. Ouida Mae placed her hand in his and let him draw her into his arms again.

She sighed. “Maybe I imagined it.”

“I don’t care if you imagined it or if you really heard it. In the future, don’t hesitate to call me.” His arms tightened around her briefly, and then he set her away at arm’s length. “Do you want me to stick around?”

She stared up into his eyes and wanted to tell him, Oh, hell yes . He’d beat the hell out of B.O.B. The sex toy wasn’t flesh and fabulous muscles like Valentin. It could only do so much.

But she was already feeling guilty for having sucked him into her imaginary world of intruders. As much as she would love to have him stay, Ouida Mae shook her head. “No. I’m sure you’re tired after working all day. It’s getting late.” She squared her shoulders and smiled up at him. “I’ll be okay.”

A frown dented Valentin’s forehead. “Are you sure?”

No, she wasn’t.

“Yes, I am. Now, go home,” she said— before I change my mind.

He tipped her chin up and stared down into her eyes. “You can call me anytime, and I mean that.” Then he bent and brushed his lips across hers.

Ouida Mae leaned up on her toes and deepened the kiss, opening to him.

Valentin’s arms came up around her and crushed her to him as his tongue swept past her teeth and caressed hers. Not in a soft, sentimental way. It was as fierce and needy as Ouida Mae felt.

When breathing became necessary, Valentin lifted his head and took in several ragged breaths.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you?” she challenged, her voice breathy.

He hesitated for only a moment before he shook his head. “No, I’m not sorry. But I’m supposed to be—" He stopped as if he thought better about what he was about to say.

“Supposed to be what?” she asked.

“Your coworker,” he finally said. “We have to work together. I’m sure they have rules at the school about teachers fraternizing.”

“This isn’t the military,” Ouida Mae said.

“No, but I respect you,” he said. “I don’t want to sabotage your career.”

“Kissing me won’t sabotage my career.” Ouida Mae shook her head. “Are you afraid it will sabotage yours?”

“No,” he said, “but I should go before I do something we’ll both regret.” He backed away, allowing his arms to fall to his sides. “But seriously, call me day or night if you need anything.” He turned and strode to the door.

Ouida Mae opened her mouth to tell him she wanted him to stay. She closed it again, recognizing that the man was running away. Had kissing her scared him for some reason? Had she been too forward in deepening the kiss? Was it too soon?

He paused on the threshold without looking back. “Lock the door behind me.”

Then he was gone, and the door closed behind him.

Ouida Mae hurried toward the door, wanting to call him back. When her hand reached the knob, she twisted the lock in the handle and then twisted the deadbolt. She leaned her forehead against the cool wooden panel, drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing her heartbeat to slow.

That was the problem; everything was moving too fast. She’d only met the guy less than twenty-four hours ago. What did she expect, a declaration of undying love?

She laughed and walked back to her bedroom, then turned the music to the white noise of a rain shower. The glass of wine held no appeal now. She carried it into her kitchen and was pouring it into her sink when a knock sounded on her back door.

A face appeared in the glass window.

Ouida Mae screamed. The glass bumped into the faucet and shattered into the sink, cutting Ouida Mae’s hand.

“Miz Mo,” the image said. “It’s me, Sophie.”

Her heart racing, Ouida Mae stared at the ghostly face in the window.

“It’s me, Sophie,” the face said, “Please,” her voice cracked on a sob. “It’s me.”

Ouida Mae's body trembled as she walked across the kitchen floor to the back door, remembering to breathe. “Sophie?”

“Yes, Miz Mo,” the girl said. “Please let me in.”

Ouida Mae twisted the lock in the door handle and then the deadbolt and flung open the door. “Sophie, what are you doing here? It’s the middle of the night.”

The teenager fell through the door into Ouida Mae’s arms. “I didn’t know where else to go.” Her entire body shook with silent sobs.

Ouida Mae stroked a hand down the girl’s back while reaching out to close and lock the door with the other hand.

She held the girl in her arms until her sobs subsided. “What happened, Sophie?”

The teenager stepped back and looked up into Ouida Mae’s eyes, hers filling with tears again. “I can’t go home.” Her gaze fell on Ouida Mae’s hand. “Oh my God, you’re bleeding.”

She looked down at her hand and, for the first time, realized she’d been bleeding all along and had left a trail from the sink to the door with blood on the door handle.

Sophie grabbed her wrist and walked her over to the kitchen sink. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.” She grabbed several paper towels from the roll beside the stove and pressed them against the cut on Ouida Mae’s hand. “Hold that while I clean the glass out of the sink.”

“Sophie, I can do this,” Ouida Mae said. “You need to tell me what’s going on. Why can’t you go home? Is someone hurting you there?”

“Not since I left a few weeks ago,” she said as she carefully picked shards of glass out of the sink and carried them to the trashcan at the end of the counter.

“What do you mean you left a few weeks ago?” Ouida Mae asked. “Where have you been staying?”

“In a shack on the bayou.” The girl had finished cleaning the glass out of the sink and once again took Ouida Mae’s hand in hers and removed the paper towels. “Hold your hand under the water for a moment. Do you have any gauze and medical tape?”

“In the bottom drawer to the right of the sink,” Ouida Mae said.

Sophie dug through the bottom drawer until she found a box full of gauze pads and a roll of white medical tape. After folding a pad into quarters, she used it to apply pressure as she quickly dressed the wound with another piece of gauze and wrapped the tape around Ouida Mae’s hand, securing the dressing in place.

“You might need stitches,” Sophie said. “I’m so sorry I frightened you. I didn’t mean to, but I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Well, I’m glad you came to me.” Ouida Mae shook her head. “I can’t believe you’ve been staying out in the bayou all alone. And in a shack? What shack?”

Sophie grabbed more paper towels and went to work cleaning up the blood trail from the kitchen sink to the back door. “It’s just an old, abandoned shack nobody cares about. It looks so rundown, people ignore it.”

Sophie carried the bloody paper towels to the trash bin. “Do you have a mop?”

Ouida Mae stepped into the mudroom, grabbed the mop from where it hung on a hook and came back out.

Sophie took the mop from her. “You can’t do that with an injured hand. Let me.”

“So, you’ve been staying in the bayou?” Ouida Mae asked.

As Sophie rinsed the mop in the sink, she nodded. “Until yesterday.” The teen squeezed the water out of the mop and placed it on the floor. As she mopped, she talked. “After I left the school yesterday, I went out to the shack. Before I reached it, I saw two men in an airboat checking out the shack. I hid my pirogue beneath some overhanging branches so they wouldn’t see me and waited for them to leave.”

“And they didn’t?”

Sophie shook her head. “I waited and waited. When the airboat finally left, only one man went with it. The other man stayed in the shack. I had nowhere else to go. I rowed further away from the shack and tied off beneath a willow tree. I slept in my boat last night.”

“Sophie, why can’t you go home?” Ouida Mae asked.

Sophie finished mopping and carried the dirty mop to the sink, where she rinsed it and wrang the water out. She hung the mop back in the mudroom before answering Ouida Mae’s question. “I can’t go back as long as he’s there.” The girl lifted her chin.

“Who?” Ouida Mae asked, her stomach clenching.

“Him,” Sophie responded.

“I thought your mother was divorced,” Ouida Mae said.

“That’s what she tells everyone. She’s never been married. She’s had one boyfriend after another living with her ever since I can remember.”

“What about your father?” Ouida Mae asked.

Sophie looked away. “I don’t know who my father is. My mother never told me. I don’t think she knows who my father was. She’s always either drunk or strung out on some drugs. I only stayed with her as long as I have because I have no relatives that I know of and nowhere else to go.”

Ouida Mae sighed. “I take it she has a boyfriend now, and that’s why you don’t want to go home?”

Sophie nodded.

Ouida Mae didn’t know any easy way to ask, but she had to. “Has he made unwanted advances toward you?”

Sophie looked away. “I always sleep with a knife under my pillow,” she said. “The first time he sneaked into my room…well, I was asleep, and I cut him. My mother yelled at me for hurting him. The second time he tried something, he stole my knife from beneath the pillow, so I poked my thumbs in his eyes. While he was screaming obscenities, I left. I haven’t been back since, and my mother hasn’t come looking for me.”

“And how long ago was that?” Ouida Mae asked.

Sophie shrugged. “Five or six weeks, I’ve lost count.”

“Oh, Sophie, I wish I had known.” Ouida Mae shook her head. “How have you survived on your own? You’re not old enough to have a job. What do you do for food?”

“I was already on the free lunch plan at school, so I was making do with that. Since there’s no running water in the shack, I took showers in the gym after PE.”

“Sophie, one meal a day isn’t enough to sustain a growing teenage body.”

“There are a lot of people in this world who get less food than I do, and they survive,” she pointed out. “I had more than just the free lunch. My boyfriend swiped canned goods and boxes of cereal from his folks’ pantry so that I would have something to eat on the weekends.”

“And your boyfriend’s parents didn’t offer to take you in?”

Sophie’s eyes widened. “No way. They don’t even know that he’s seeing me. They think he’s too young to date. They would never understand.

“Who is your boyfriend?” Ouida Mae asked.

Sophie shook her head. “I’d rather not say. I don’t want to get him in trouble. He’s the only person who has given a damn about me in a long time.”

Ouida Mae thought back to all the students in her classrooms, trying to remember one Sophie spent the most time with. As far as she had been able to tell, Sophie was a loner. She didn’t hang out in the hallways talking to friends. She sat alone at lunch. The fact that she had a boyfriend surprised Ouida Mae. They had done a good job of keeping that secret from everybody in the school.

And the teen wasn’t ready to share that secret with Ouida Mae.

Sophie had enough problems without her inner science teacher pushing for too many answers.

“You can stay here tonight until we can figure out a better alternative. I’m not sure it’s legal for me to harbor one of my students without permission from her legal guardian. I’d like to get some legal advice.”

Sophie pressed her lips together in a tight line. “If the shack wasn’t still occupied, I’d live there. The last thing I want is to be another statistic in the foster care system. But without a place to live, I need help, and I can’t do it all on my own anymore.”

“I promise to do what I can to help you,” Ouida Mae said. “You’re welcome to stay in my guest bedroom until we figure it out. The bed is made, the sheets are clean, and there are fresh towels in the bathroom if you’d like to get a shower first.”

Sophie turned and walked toward the back door. She stood staring through the glass into the darkness. “I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here. I don’t want to cause problems for you. My problems aren’t yours. I just didn’t know who else to turn to.”

“I’m glad you came to me. I’d hate to think of you, living out in that bayou by yourself with nobody to take care of you.”

“I haven’t had anybody take care of me in a long time. I learned to take care of myself. But there are other issues at stake, and you’re the smartest person I know.” She gave a crooked smile. “I figured if anyone could make sense of my life, you could. I just don’t want to end up like my mother. I don’t think she wanted to be the way she is, but I can’t let her poor choices determine my path.”

“Honey, you’re already smarter than most people your age and a lot of people much older than you.” Ouida Mae hooked the teenager’s arm. “Come, I’ll show you where the bathroom is. While you shower, I’ll heat up some of the leftovers from girls’ poker night.”

Ouida Mae showed her where the guest bedroom was and then stopped in front of the bathroom. “There’s shampoo, conditioner, body wash and towels. Help yourself to anything you need.”

Sophie’s eyes filled with tears. She flung her arms around Ouida Mae. “Thank you, Miz Mo. You’re the best teacher I ever had. I want to study science because of you. You make it interesting and fun. I’ll try not to get in your way.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Ouida Mae said. “It’ll be nice having a little company for a change.”

“Thank you.” Sophie gave her one more hug and then stepped past her into the bathroom and closed the door.

Sophie had arrived with only the clothes on her back. Though Sophie hadn’t said anything, Ouida Mae figured the girl had had to abandon whatever belongings she’d left in the shack.

Ouida Mae entered her own bedroom, gathered leggings, T-shirts, underclothes, plus a set of shorty pajamas that would fit Sophie and carried the stack into the hallway. She set the items on the floor outside the bathroom door and then moved into the kitchen.

She pulled containers out of the refrigerator, prepared a plate full of food and popped it in the microwave, ready to warm.

The bathroom door creaked open down the hallway.

Ouida Mae pressed the start button on the microwave. By the time the bell dinged on the microwave, Sophie appeared in the kitchen, wearing leggings and an oversized gray T-shirt with the words Science like Magic but Real written in bold letters across the front.

“I like the shirt,” Sophie said. “Thanks. I rinsed my clothes in the shower. Once they dry, I’ll get your clothes back to you.”

“You don’t have to,” Ouida Mae said. “I have a drawer full of T-shirts I rarely wear. You’re welcome to go through them and find ones you like. I also have a drawer full of leggings I don’t wear to school. I keep promising myself I’ll work out and rarely do. You’re welcome to go through that drawer as well and find whatever you need or like.”

“I’ll pay you for them,” Sophie said.

“That won’t be necessary.” Ouida Mae placed a plateful of food on the table. “I hope you’re hungry. I’ll never be able to eat all the leftovers by myself.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Sophie said. “But thank you.”

Ouida Mae poured a glass of milk and set it on the table in front of Sophie. She heated a mug of hot water in the microwave, dropped a teabag into it and sat across the table from Sophie so she wouldn’t have to eat alone.

The girl ate all the food on the plate and drank the entire glass of milk.

Ouida Mae didn’t try to start a conversation while the teenager filled her belly.

When she was done, Sophie carried her plate to the sink, rinsed it, and placed it in the dishwasher along with her glass. She returned to the table and asked, “Are you through with your tea?”

“I am,” Ouida Mae said. “But I’ll get this. You’re welcome to watch TV in the living room if you’d like. It’s been a busy day for me. I’m headed to bed.” She rose from the table and carried her teacup to the sink. “One thing I’d like to ask…” she said before Sophie left the kitchen.

“Yes, ma’am?” Sophie waited for Ouida Mae’s question.

“Before you came to my back door, were you here a few minutes earlier, walking across my porch?”

Sophie’s brow wrinkled. “No, ma’am. I’d just rode my pirogue up to the dock next door. As I walked up to your house, I saw taillights headed away along your driveway. At first, I thought it was you leaving. But then I saw the light in the kitchen window. That’s why I came to that door.” She raised her eyebrows. “Why do you ask?

“I thought I heard footsteps on my porch a little earlier. I could be mistaken,” she said as she placed the teacup in the dishwasher and followed Sophie out of the kitchen and down the hallway. Sophie went into the guest bedroom while Ouida Mae entered her bedroom.

She stripped out of her jeans, shirt and bra and pulled on her favorite soft jersey pajama shorts and top before sliding between her sheets. She plugged her cell phone into the charger and debated calling Valentin to tell him about the latest development at her home.

When she realized it was well past midnight, she discarded that idea.

Though Valentin had said he would answer the phone day or night, Ouida Mae assumed that meant only if it was an emergency. She would have loved to talk with him, to ask his advice, but she’d wait until a more reasonable hour.

The incidents of the past two days took their toll on Ouida Mae. She laid her head on the pillow with a million thoughts roiling through her head, thinking sleep would be a long time coming. Within seconds, she was out.

Perhaps it was knowing there was another person in the house that made her feel less jumpy. Or she was just that tired. Either way, she slept through the night, waking the next morning to what sounded like someone retching.

Ouida Mae threw back her covers and hurried to locate the sound. It was coming from the bathroom. The door to Sophie’s room was open, and Sophie wasn’t in her bed.

More sounds of someone throwing up came from the bathroom.

Ouida Mae knocked softly on the door. “Sophie, are you OK?”

“Yes,” came her strangled response. “Go away, please.”

Unable to leave the teenager while she was in distress, Ouida Mae pushed the door open to find Sophie on her knees in front of the toilet.

“Please, I’m okay,” Sophie said and immediately threw up again. She appeared to have purged everything she’d eaten in the night before.

Ouida Mae grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet, soaked it beneath the faucet and wrung it out as best she could with one hand. “Here, take this.” She passed the washcloth to Sophie.

The girl pressed it to her face but remained kneeling on the floor.

Ouida Mae found an elastic ponytail holder and gathered Sophie’s long dark hair up in one hand. She secured it to the crown of the girl’s head in a ponytail and then wrapped the length around it in a loose bun. “Better?”

Sophie nodded. “Thank you.”

“Do you think it was something you ate?” Ouida Mae asked.

“I don’t think so.” Sophie pulled herself upright, closed the toilet and then sat, pressing the damp cloth to her cheeks. “I’ve been throwing up every morning for the past week, whether I have any food in my stomach or not.”

“Have you had a fever?”

Sophie shook her head.

“Any other symptoms? A rash, stomach discomfort, loose bowels?” Ouida Mae asked.

Again, Sophie shook her head. “No. Funny thing is that after I throw up in the morning, I feel fine for the rest of the day. It’s just in the morning.”

Nausea in the morning only.

Ouida Mae’s belly clenched.

“Sophie, when was your last period?” she asked softly.

Sophie lowered the washcloth and met Ouida Mae’s gaze. “About the time I left my mother’s house. I only remember because I haven’t needed any feminine products since living in the shack.” The girl’s eyes widened. “You don’t think?—”

Oh, Ouida Mae did think.

“Did your mother’s boyfriend force himself on you?” Ouida Mae asked, anger rising up her chest and spreading heat into her cheeks.

Sophie shook her head. “No, ma’am. I wouldn’t let him.” She buried her face in the damp cloth. “Miz Mo, we didn’t know... We didn’t think it could happen... I thought I ate something bad...” Her words ran together with her sobs.

Ouida Mae knelt on the floor in front of Sophie and gripped the teen’s shoulders. “Sophie.”

She waited for the girl to look up and meet her gaze. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Sophie, honey,” Ouida Mae said softly. “No judgment here. Do you understand?”

Sophie nodded.

Ouida Mae drew in a breath, let it out slowly and then asked. “Have you and your boyfriend been…intimate?”

The teenager sobbed, “Y-yes.”

Ouida Mae swallowed hard and kept calm when she wanted to say, Holy Shit .