Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
S hae
Arriving early to first period Monday morning only happened because I’d tossed and turned all night, waking up before my alarm.
My brain couldn’t get past the vision of Boon’s hand on me, his broad chest coming closer as he pulled me in…
for a hug? To smack my forehead so it had a matching goose egg?
I couldn’t seem to decipher what was happening in that moment. And boy, was it a moment.
I’ve seen the movies, read the books, heard my friends describe that moment when the energy is palpable and there’s a blatant connection with a man. I’d just never experienced it before. Until now.
My tote bag slid off my shoulder and down to the ground behind my desk.
I sank into the chair and took a moment to take a steadying breath.
I couldn’t be having moments with Boon Wolfe.
He shouldn’t be making me say the word moment in my head with italics and quotes around it.
He and I had no moments. We had fighting.
And eye rolls. And years of hatred between us.
That settled, I pulled out the stack of tests I didn’t finish last night because I’d been too preoccupied with running through that…
time period (I refused to say the word again)…
when Boon was over. As I got my focus together and began to grade, I even managed a chuckle over the spray of water and him smacking his head.
I really shouldn’t laugh at someone getting hurt, but it was funny as hell to see the smooth man bobble so badly.
“Morning, Coach!”
I lifted my head to see Kinsley standing in my doorway. She had a shy smile on her pretty face, which was far better than the terror poorly disguised with chaotic courage I’d seen in her expression for those first two days at Blueball High.
“Hey, Kinsley. Come on in. How are you?”
She nodded. “I’m good.” Her body language told me that was a lie.
“What can I do for you?” I tried to give her a warm smile, the kind that told her she could talk to me about anything.
She shifted on her feet in front of my desk. “Um, well, I know this is probably not what I should ask, but I really need to know.” At my nod, she continued. “Do you think I’ll be able to play in tomorrow’s game?”
My head tilted to the side. Kinsley was good in her position, as she’d already shown in her first practice with us. I just wasn’t sure where this question was coming from. “Do you want to play tomorrow?”
“Yes, but I know I’m new, so you probably have, like, a probationary period where I need to earn a spot, you know?”
A dark thought occurred to me. It would be just like him to put pressure on her to excel in her sport. “Did your dad put you up to this?”
Kinsley’s shy face twisted into a look of disgust and horror. “Ugh, no! I don’t care if he sees me play or not.”
I’ve been around teenagers my entire career.
I’ve seen good liars and bad ones, and Kinsley was definitely in the latter category.
The girl cared so much about her father’s opinion, it was crippling her.
And that just made me dislike Boon even more.
How could he have this beautiful, smart, talented daughter right under his nose and be so incompetent?
“Can I be honest with you, Kinsley?” She swallowed hard but nodded.
I liked her even more for her courageousness.
“I think you’ll definitely play tomorrow because you put in the hard work and you have the talent.
I also think it’s okay to want your family to see you play.
But when you’re out there on the court tomorrow, I want you to make sure you’re playing for you .
Don’t think about anyone else except you and your teammates.
That and putting in hard work are all that matters.
If you can do that, you’ll leave the court with your head held high no matter the outcome. Okay?”
She paused a moment, probably wondering why this teacher went off on a tangent when she just wanted to know if she’d be riding the bench. But then she nodded and her smile was back. “Okay.”
She walked out of my classroom right as the bell rang and my first-period students pushed through the door to find their seats.
Boon’s relationship with Kinsley was none of my business, but building up my students, especially the female ones on my team, was.
Besides, as I thought of my own father watching me play volleyball all those years ago, the grief washed over me like he’d just passed away yesterday.
Every girl deserved to have a good relationship with her dad.
It certainly wasn’t always possible, but when the two people both tried, miracles could happen.
The morning flew by and my feet weren’t happy with me when I finally sank into the chair at our normal lunch table in the break room. Lydia was already there, her food out and her hands clasped together. I could feel her stare as I unpacked my lunch.
“What’s your deal?”
Lydia huffed in disgust, leaning over the table to whisper-yell at me. “You can’t text your bestie that a certain hottie was over last night and you have some moment and then go to bed without spilling the details, you evasive-knowledge hoarder.”
I burst into laughter. “Evasive-knowledge hoarder? Wow. Really pulling out the big guns these days, Lyd.”
“See? Evaded again.” She slapped her palm on the table suddenly and loudly, startling me. “Spill it. Now.”
I glanced around, making sure no one else was watching us, thanks to Lydia’s drama-mama behavior.
When I saw the coast was clear, I told her every detail in a hurried whisper.
Her eyes were round as saucers when I finished.
She flopped back in her chair and laid her hand on her chest like she was some kind of turn-of-the-century English lass having a swoon.
The eye roll was epic. “Quit being dramatic. It meant nothing. He was probably pulling me in to conduct harm on my person.”
Lydia wagged her thick eyebrows. “Just because your ex-husband was the type to harm a woman, doesn’t mean every man is. I think he wanted to lick?—”
“Hey, ladies. Mind if I join you?”
The deep baritone sent a shiver up my spine.
Lydia and I both froze. Then I lifted my head to the side to see Boon looking mighty fine in a heather-gray long-sleeve performance shirt over khaki shorts.
A baseball cap covered his head. It also concealed the bump on his forehead that I could just barely see below the brim of the hat.
How the heck had we missed his approach?
He nodded to the empty chair at our table.
Had he overheard our conversation? The humiliation of being caught talking about him or my ex-husband would be too great.
I simply refused to believe it. I broke out of my frozen state with a choked cough and waved toward the chair like he was free to take it.
He did, smiling at us jovially, like he hadn’t just interrupted our conversation.
“This is great. I wasn’t sure about taking this job, but it’s the perfect way to meet people and rekindle friendships, you know?” He spread a paper napkin across his lap.
Lydia snorted softly, covering it up by taking a drink of her sparkling water. “Rekindle, huh?”
I kicked her shin under the table and she gasped.
Boon frowned at her. Lydia’s eyes went wide and she pointed at my shoulder.
Assuming she was trying to prank me for kicking her, I didn’t take the bait.
But Boon did. Everything happened in slow motion.
He looked at my shoulder and knocked over his chair lunging for me.
His right hand, the one with the wolf tattoo, lifted in the air like he was going to strike me.
It came down, just as I shifted to the side and winced.
A waft of air whistled by my ear and my shoulder stung, taking the brunt of his smack.
Something large and dark flew from my person.
I followed the arc, belatedly realizing it was a bug.
A bug that had been on my shoulder and now was flying through the break room.
I shoved my chair back and ran after it, rescuing the dazed little thing from the floor before anyone could step on it and squish it.
“What are you doing?” Boon asked, voice loud and drawing the attention of every teacher in the room.
“Saving the bug you almost killed, you bludgeoning beef block!” I got the bug into my palm, seeing that it was still moving. I stood back up and noticed quite a few people shaking their heads at me.
“What?” Boon sounded as confused as this poor little winged insect.
“She’s an entomology major, dude,” the football coach bellowed.
Boon was suddenly by my side, studying the exquisite orange lines on the bug’s back. “It’s just a lovebug or something,” he grumbled. “I thought it was going to sting you.”
“We don’t have lovebugs here. This is a rubrolineata.”
“A rube-what?”
“A western boxelder bug.” I began walking, intent on getting this baby outside where it would be free to live out the rest of its dazed and confused life. Boon followed.
“Seriously, I had no idea. I thought you were about to be stung. Did I hurt you?”
I freed the bug in the first bush I saw outside the door leading to the quad area. When I was convinced it would live to see another day, I turned to Boon, hands going to my hips.
“I’m fine, no thanks to you. Hit women often?”
His handsome face went ashen behind the perennial five o’clock shadow.
I almost felt bad for a split second. But before I could let him off the hook, he took my elbow in his hand again, just as gently as last night, and led me back to the break room.
Thankfully everyone’s attention had moved on from the crazy bug lady’s dramatic rescue.
Except Lydia, however, and her gaze was firmly affixed to where Boon still touched me.
I shifted to get my arm away from him and sat back down at our lunch table. He followed, gaze still on my face.
“I’m sorry. Seriously. I didn’t mean to hit you. I would never.”
I brushed away his apology with my hand. “I know. I’m just giving you crap, bat boy. Calm down.”
We all took a bite of our lunch, tense silence dominating the table. Finally Boon put down his sub sandwich and wiped the napkin across his lips.
“So. You’re an entomologist? What other incredible things have you done since high school graduation?”
“Yeah, Shae. We want to know all about you,” Lydia drawled, much drier than the pasta I was trying to eat. I considered kicking her under the table again.
I turned a fake smile on Boon, looking at his hat and not his expressive brown eyes. “Let’s see. Entomology degree from Arizona, came back here to teach, the end. How about you?”
Boon gave me a look that was all too familiar. He knew I was messing with him and he was about to return the favor. “Played with some balls, came back here to teach, the end.”
Lydia choked on her lunch. My cheeks flushed.
“Oh, sure. Like being a world-famous baseball player with a World Series title under your belt is no big thing.”
His grin made his dimples pop. “You been keeping tabs on me, lovebug?”
The switch in nicknames had my cheeks flaming hotter.
“Did you forget the part about having a daughter?” Lydia asked, a hardness to her tone that made me want to reach across the table and give her a bear hug for grilling this man when I was apparently incapable.
Boon’s dimples disappeared and he went back to eating his sandwich, buying time to answer Lydia’s question.
I’d studied this man for hours when we were kids, and not much had changed.
Not really. I didn’t miss the way his shoulders seemed a little too tense.
The shift in his gaze that wouldn’t land on anything and hold. He was nervous.
He finally put down the sandwich and addressed Lydia. The expression on his face was fierce. So much so that Lydia was the one now swallowing hard and struggling to hold his gaze. The man was potent.
“I have never forgotten I have a daughter. It’s my daughter who’d like to forget she has a dad, something I’m working on rectifying.”
Lydia’s painted-red mouth popped open, but no sound came out. My heart bled for Kinsley. Positively ached for this huge man with an easy smile and flirty nature. There was something dark and painful below the surface that he never alluded to. And now both Lydia and I had seen it.
“Mind if I sit?” a syrupy-sweet voice asked from my left.
I looked up to see the young school nurse that had been hired this year. Alyssa Rivera was short, dark-haired, and beautiful in a youthful way even the best makeup couldn’t do for me these days.
“Absolutely,” Boon responded, standing like he was some kind of gentleman.
Alyssa giggled and had a seat. She’d never asked to sit with us before and maybe that was an oversight of mine.
As a tenured employee, I should have reached out to her when she first started.
But I didn’t think today’s request had been because she was dying to get to know me and Lydia.
As she licked peanut butter that had dripped onto her finger, her dark eyes on Boon, I had a feeling she’d noticed the latest new hire.
“I’m Boon, by the way,” the man said magnanimously, flirty smile at the ready.
His darkening gaze took in the way her tongue darted out to lick the peanut butter again. Jeez, the girl was barely legal, and Boon hadn’t wasted any time zeroing in on her attempts to snag his attention. I rolled my eyes and looked away.
“Alyssa! I’m the school nurse!” Why did everything she say have to come with an exclamation mark at the end of it?
Lydia nudged my foot under the table and made a motion about wrapping up our lunch. I nodded in relief. We stuffed our food back in our bags and stood.
“Well, this has been…lovely.” I plastered on a fake smile for both Alyssa and Boon and scurried away. They probably wouldn’t even notice we were gone anyway. Maybe Boon could help her lick up the peanut butter she was dripping all over like a toddler with her first semi-solid food.
Every time I thought I got a glimpse of a good man under all that muscle and swagger, Boon reminded me of what a conceited a-hole he really was inside. Which was exactly the reminder I needed to put him firmly out of my brain.
“Wow,” was all Lydia had to say as we went back in the direction of our classrooms. I didn’t know if she meant the blatant flirting right in front of us like we didn’t exist or the magnetic appeal of the a-hole named Boon when he turned his laser focus on you. Either way, I didn’t care.
Not one bit.