Chapter 33
Zac pulled up in front of Deep River High School. Trucks took up most of the lot. Big, squared-off pickups parked crooked across faded lines. Some were caked with mud. But the ones that weren’t, were far from clean.
There wasn’t a kid in sight though. Not a surprise. It was Monday afternoon, and everyone was in class.
He climbed from his truck and headed across the lot.
Nora would likely be in a session with a student. The chances of her stepping out of her office at the exact moment he was stepping into Adam’s was low.
So why was he so fucking nervous?
Shit, he needed to snap out of this little infatuation. Nora didn’t want to date him, and for good fucking reason. She was right. Relationships often ended, and they often ended messy. That wasn’t fair on Ryan. Hell no. Nora’s brother was important to her. He was important to Zac.
It was safer for everyone if Zac kept his distance.
He was about to step inside when his phone rang.
A smile curved his lips when he saw who it was.
“No fucking way. I finally get to hear your voice?”
Tate’s deep chuckle sounded over the line. “Does that make it your lucky day?”
Tate was one of the three remaining guys on Zac’s former SEAL team who were still serving. But they’d all put in their retirement packets and would be out in a few months. “I do feel lucky. What’s going on?”
“I, um, actually have some news to share.”
“Everything okay?”
“My mom’s sick. They’re letting me out early on compassionate discharge.”
Shit. Zac scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Me too. I’m heading to Wallace in the next month but don’t think she’s got many days left.”
“What can I do?”
“You don’t need to do anything, man. Hearing your voice is good though. Might head to Deep River after.”
“You know we’d love to have you.” A fucking understatement. The team was family. Always would be. “Keep us updated.”
“You know I will.”
Zac waited a second once he hung up. Shitty news about his mother. Having Tate in Deep River sooner would be the only good thing to come out of it.
Another minute passed before he stepped into the school office.
A young woman with a messy bun, blonde streaks in her brown hair, and a name badge that read Miss Karly Fuller looked up. “Hi. Can I help you?”
“I’m Zac Pierce. I’m here for a meeting with Adam Sawyer, gym teacher.”
“One second.” She lifted the phone. As she spoke, Zac looked around the small office, taking in the beige carpet. The white walls. Schools also always had a smell to them. A mixture of chalk dust and books and dry-erase markers.
He hadn’t hated school, but he also hadn’t liked it.
“Thanks, Adam.” Karly set the phone down. “His office is right at the end of this hallway. He’s expecting you.”
“Thanks.” He offered the woman a smile before heading down the hall. A few teenagers walked in either direction. A guy and girl holding hands. A group of three girls who studied him before whispering to one another.
He dipped his chin, offering a small smile. One of the girls giggled before continuing forward.
Great. He could look forward to eight weeks of that.
He was running the sessions for eleventh and twelfth graders and would be here twice a week.
It would be fine. He’d fought some of the worst forms of humans in the world—he could handle a few teenagers.
Plus, this was important. In the small town of Deep River, kids needed to know how not to get lost in the forest. Or what to do if they did become lost, including basic first aid. All of it was important.
He passed a couple of boys at a locker. They were standing close to each other, talking in hushed voices. It was only when one of them looked up that Zac realized he recognized the boy.
The kid from the bar.
The boy’s jaw locked, and yeah, Zac felt some fucking rage too.
He shouldn’t have been in that bar, and he sure as hell shouldn’t have put his hands on Nora after hitting on her. He was old enough to know better.
Zac was just nearing the office door that read “Mr. Sawyer” when the one next door opened.
Before even seeing her face, before he’d gotten a chance, that familiar vanilla hit him.
Her lips curved into a wide smile, and she shuffled the box in her hand to her hip. “Well, hey there, Pierce.”
His lips twitched at Nora last-naming him. “Hey.”
“I wondered when I’d see you today.”
“When?”
“Well, it’s a small school. We’ll run into each other a lot.”
Great.
She leaned forward, the vanilla scent intensifying, her breath brushing over his face as she whispered, “Careful in that office. I was in there the other day and it smelled like gym socks and cheap male deodorant.”
Eyes up, Pierce. Eyes fucking up.
He forced himself to look at her eyes…and not her full lips, which were far too close to his own. “Thanks for the warning.”
Her attention shifted down the hall, and even though he didn’t follow her gaze, he knew she was looking at the boys.
She raised her voice as she called out, “Hey, you both need to get to class.”
At the sound of a scoff, Zac looked at them too.
“We will,” one of them yelled back with a smirk.
Little jerks.
“And this is why I’m a school counselor and not a teacher,” she whispered.
“Does the school know what happened at Trap?”
She looked back at him. “I told them when I got the job. Unfortunately, the principal here doesn’t quite have the same level of investment as I’ve seen elsewhere. He said it wasn’t on school grounds, so it was up to Dusty to handle.”
The fuck? “You tell him the kid shoved you?”
“Yep.”
Was that normal?
The kids finally started moving. The one who’d shoved her yelled out, “See you later, Doc.”
There was nothing sinister about the words. But it was the way he said it. Cocky and condescending.
“Kids like that usually have tough upbringings,” Nora said quietly, once the boys were gone.
“You had a tough upbringing. So did Ryan. Neither of you are little assholes.”
Her lips twitched. “You just called a seventeen-year-old boy a little asshole.”
“I wanted to use a stronger word but thought it wasn’t appropriate in front of the school counselor.”
She laughed, and switched the box to her other hip, but when she did, it slipped and everything fell out. “Crap.”
They both bent at the same time to put the stuff back in.
“Aren’t you supposed to be going into your new office with these things, not out?” he asked, trying to distract himself.
“Usually. But you’re talking about the organizational elite.
I’m more of a mediocre level, bordering on disorganized.
I shoved everything into boxes in a rush when I was let go at my old job.
There was no plan. No filing or getting rid of old stuff.
” She lifted a stapler. “This…broken.” Then a bag of chips. “These…six months expired.”
“So why bring it all here?”
“My plan was to unload what I needed in my new office, then get rid of the rest.” Her smile widened. “Ryan hates this side of me.”
“Your brother doesn’t hate anything about you.”
Her smile softened. “The feeling’s mutual.”
The last item Zac picked up was a blister pack of pills. “Also expired?”
The change in her was subtle. A small crease beside her eyes. A slight tightening of her lips.
“Probably.” She took the container from his fingers and shoved it to the bottom of the box.
She didn’t want him to see her medication. That was reasonable.
So why the hell did he suddenly want to know exactly what it was?
Because he wanted to know every little thing about her.
Fuck, what was wrong with him?
He lifted the box and stood as the door to Adam’s office opened, and a man in his mid to late thirties stepped out.
“I thought I heard voices out here.” The guy lifted a brow at him. “Zac Pierce?”
He dipped his chin. “That’s me. Adam?”
“The one and only. Well, the one and only around here. Thought you got lost.” He smiled at Nora. “But I see you just found our delightful new school counselor.”
Zac frowned. He didn’t like the way the guy looked at her. The way his eyes lingered, like he was interested.
Which was fucking ridiculous. He’d just met the guy.
Nora slipped the box from Zac’s hands. “I should go. Thanks for your help, Zac.” She smiled at both him and Adam before heading down the hall.
Zac watched her for a moment as she walked away, before looking back at Adam. But Adam hadn’t taken his gaze off her yet.
And shit, even that made him…what?
Angry? Territorial?
She wasn’t his, though. And he shouldn’t care who else looked at her.
But he did.
Order book five, Zac and Nora’s story, Silence Between the Storms, now!