Chapter 4
Haley took a deep breath and said, “I’m gay.”
“You’re gay?” the obnoxious guy standing behind her who’d been bugging the hell out of her for the past ten minutes repeated. “Are you sure?”
She bit back a laugh. The guy looked upset. She hated pulling out the gay card, mostly because she wasn’t gay, but sometimes she didn’t have a choice. If he’d been nice when he’d been hitting on her, she would have politely declined, but no, he had to be a complete asshole the entire time.
He actually used the old line, “That dress looks great on you, but it will look even better crumpled up on my bedroom floor in the morning.” Yeah, it was truly sad, especially since they were in a coffee shop and it was barely half-past seven in the morning.
Between dirty comments, overcrowding her, and openly staring down at her breasts, she was starting to get a little irritated.
Plus, his B.O. was really turning her stomach.
If she didn’t need a caffeine fix so badly, she’d leave, but she did and couldn’t or she was pretty sure she’d die.
Jason and some of the guys came over last night to watch the game.
Since it went into extra innings and she was a dedicated fan, she’d stayed up until two in the morning.
Of course, she had to stay up to watch the post-game wrap-up after the game ended.
With barely four hours of sleep, here she was practically getting mauled by the poster boy for deodorant.
After three weeks, it was still funny how she’d gone from being completely intimidated by Jason to thinking of him as an oversized teddy bear.
Jason could still be a pain in the ass, but a really nice pain in the ass.
He still “borrowed” things from her classroom, but now he left her amusing notes that had her laughing until she was crying and scaring the hell out of her students.
He was still a bit wild and a ridiculous flirt, but he was a big sweetheart as well. He treated her like his buddy. It was actually rather nice to be treated like one of the guys. That being said, sometimes first impressions were dead on, like with her current problem.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, do you think the two of you would want to-”
“No,” she said firmly.
“But what if I-”
“No.”
“Come on, you won’t let me finish. I have this camera-”
“No.”
“It would be fun-”
“No.”
“But what if-”
“She said no,” Jason said as he cut in line and threw his arm around her shoulders in that lazy way of his.
“Hey! I thought you said you were gay!” the man said accusingly.
Without missing a beat, Jason said, “She is. I’m just her bitch.”
The man sent a narrowed glare at Jason’s arm and then to her. He sent another glare at Jason and she could tell that he was deciding whether he wanted to push it any further. Based on his small size and Jason’s large muscular build, he wisely chose to drop it.
“So, what are you buying me this morning?” Haley asked Jason.
He scoffed. “Me? Why am I buying?”
“Because I helped you win fifty dollars off Brian last night.”
He rolled his eyes. “I would have won it without your help.”
“Uh-huh,” Haley said absently, stepping up to the counter to place her order. She added a chocolate chip muffin knowing that Jason was going to steal hers. He seemed to have a thing for stealing her food.
“I would have. I didn’t need your help,” Jason said more firmly.
She grabbed her order while he was waiting for his and headed for the door. “See ya.”
“I won that bet on my own!” Jason called after her, making her smile. Sometimes he was just so damn cute.
Jason bit back a smile as he watched Haley tell Headmaster Jenkins that she couldn’t chaperone the school dance tonight. A month ago, his shy little neighbor would have simply stared at her coffee and nodded. Now, she was telling the man no, firmly yet gently.
He couldn’t help but feel proud of her. It was because of him, after all.
It took some work, but she was coming along rather nicely.
Who knew there was a little tigress beneath all that cuteness?
He hadn’t, but it was nice to see her stick up for herself for once.
The staff might bitch at his methods and his easy-going relationship with the students, but at least he’d never ganged up on Haley and took advantage of her by making her do all the bullshit that no one else wanted to do.
“But, Haley, we really need you to chaperone. John has tickets to a play tonight.”
“I’m sorry, Tom, but I already have plans tonight. I really wish I could help you out, but I can’t break my plans at the last minute. You understand,” Haley said with a helpless shrug.
Her self-esteem was clearly on the rise and it made the whole package even better.
Jason wasn’t the only one to notice either.
Other teachers were showing her more respect and the men were definitely noticing her.
Oh, he took a hundred percent of the credit for his little protégé.
He was definitely the master. It was probably about time that he used his greatness for good.
He spotted the table where she’d left her coffee and muffins as well as the three men, all losers in his opinion, who were eying the seat next to hers.
Without hesitation, he sauntered past them and sat down at her table, earning killing glares from every one of them.
Too fucking bad. In his opinion, if a man didn’t have the balls to make a move, then he didn’t deserve the woman that he wanted.
Not that he wanted Haley. He didn’t. She was his buddy and turning out to be one of his best friends.
No, what he desired was that piping hot chocolate chip muffin with extra butter he saw her buy earlier.
He sighed happily as he fished the muffin out of her bag. “When will she ever learn?” he mumbled.
“Please, help yourself,” Haley said dryly as she sat down next to him and added a packet of sugar to her coffee.
“Thank you. I think I will,” Jason murmured as he slathered more butter on his muffin.
“What are these amazing plans you have for tonight?” Jason asked between bites.
“Date,” she said absently.
“I guess that means our love affair is over,” he said with a pout.
“I guess so.”
“I’m hurt.”
“You’ll survive…with therapy, of course,” Haley said with a wink and a grin.
“Is this another loser?”
She looked away and mumbled something.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t speak mumble,” Jason said while eying the piping hot apple muffin with streusel topping that she just took out of the bag. Hell, how had he missed that delicious little morsel?
His hand seemed to have a life of its own as it crept towards that tasty little treat. With a gasp, Haley’s hands came down to protect her muffin.
“Control yourself!” she hissed as she broke off a small chunk and ate it.
His eyes went back to the muffin. He knew that he was pouting when Haley rolled her eyes and continued eating, but didn’t care.
Damn it, where was the love? He was a hungry man.
With a sigh, Jason opened his bag and pulled out one of the three coffee rolls he’d ordered and began eating them all while keeping his eye on that muffin.
“You’re pathetic,” Haley muttered with a roll of her eyes as she pushed the last half of her muffin over to him. With a huge grin, he popped the muffin in his mouth and savored it with a groan.
“So, what is it that you don’t want me to know, my little grasshopper?
” Jason asked, stirring his coffee. The last date she had was a loser in his opinion and really, wasn’t that all that mattered?
He hadn’t been worthy of all his work. They’d work on that until she dated guys that he approved of.
Someone with a cabin in New Hampshire for fishing trips or a house down in Florida would make him very happy.
He really could go for some deep-sea fishing in the winter.
“Stop calling me that!” Haley hissed softly. “For the hundredth time, I am not the Daniel-san to your Mr. Miyagi.”
He simply shrugged. “If that’s what you want to believe…”
“It is, and I do.”
“If I could get everyone’s attention before you head off to homeroom?” Jenkins said, holding up his clipboard to get everyone’s attention. “We need one more volunteer for tonight’s dance,” he said, throwing a hopeful look Haley’s way.
“Wax on…wax off…” Jason whispered, earning a rather indelicate snort from Haley.
“Did you say something, Miss Blaine?” Jenkins asked, sounding really fucking hopeful as he drew everyone’s attention to Haley.
Jason leaned back in his seat and watched Haley as a blush crept up her adorable face while she nervously pushed her glasses back up her nose.
Ah, it seems his protégé still hated drawing attention to herself.
Well, she’d have to get used to that if they were going to be friends since he had the unfortunate habit of drawing attention to himself pretty much everywhere he went.
“Yes, Miss Blaine, did you have something to say?” Jason asked mockingly.
She shot him a narrowed glare before turning to look at Jenkins. In seconds, the glare was gone only to be replaced by a rather sweet smile. He was so focused on that smile that he almost missed what she said.
“No, Mr. Jenkins, that wasn’t me. Mr. Bradford was volunteering to chaperone tonight’s dance,” Haley said, nodding solemnly.
“What?” Jason said, too late, it seemed.
Jenkins grinned hugely. “Well, that’s excellent!
Very good. Make sure you’re here by seven o’clock.
The dance ends at eleven. Thank you, Mr. Bradford,” Jenkins said in a rush.
It didn’t escape Jason’s notice that the man hadn’t bothered double-checking with him and that he’d practically ran out of the room before Jason could refuse.
His attention immediately turned to the little traitor. “You betraying bitch,” he gasped.