23. River
RIVER
How is it that every time with her is even better than the last? I think as we exit the stall.
She immediately goes to stand at the mirror, but I grab her hand, pulling her back toward me. “You’re so gorgeous,” I say before I press my lips to hers. “Promise you’ll save me a dance, later?” I ask, referring to later when she comes over.
“Of course, baby. All the dances.” She giggles before standing in front of the mirror to fuss with her hair and reapply her lipstick. She also takes a small perfume out of her purse and sprays it on her, and yep, now I’m hard just from her scent.
“I’ll go out first?” I nod at her, but not before pressing another kiss to her lips, and then she’s gone.
I scrub a hand over my jaw before sending it through my hair, and I can’t believe it was really only a month ago that I stood in a bathroom in North Carolina, wondering if I’d ever get more out of a relationship.
I know Sloane is young and she’s not looking to settle down now, but when she is, if I’m still around, she’s exactly the kind of woman I could see myself with for the rest of my life.
I pull the bathroom door open, and my heart fucking stops when I see that Sloane has not made it far, and Mack is standing right in front of her.
FUCK.
His eyes immediately find mine, and I think he goes through about five different emotions in one look—shock, anger, disappointment, fury, rage, and probably more.
“Well, I never would have guessed this,” Mack says, pointing at me before turning back to Sloane, who still looks like she’s a deer in headlights.
“When I saw you walking up the stairs, I never would have guessed you’d be in here messing around with my fucking football coach.
I knew something didn’t seem right because why the fuck would you be going upstairs instead of using the bathroom by the gym?
Are you fucking kidding me, Sloane?” he snaps.
“Watch how you talk to her, Mack,” I tell him because I wasn’t going to stand for anyone disrespecting a woman, and definitely not my woman.
“And YOU,” he says, his voice is even, but I can hear the fury in it, and I’m just glad he’s not screaming to draw more attention to this situation.
“You’re messing around with my girl? No, fuck that, you’re messing around with a student?
Are you crazy?” He shakes his head. “This shit can’t be real. ”
“She’s not your girl, Mack.”
He scoffs before pointing at me. “Oh, let me guess, she’s yours?”
“Yes,” Sloane answers, and Mack’s eyes snap back to hers. “We met before I knew he was my teacher. I lied about my age and what I was doing in Maryland. He didn’t know I lied until the first day of school.”
He takes a step back and slides his hands into his pockets before shaking his head. “This is so fucked.”
“Mack…” I start even though I don’t even know what to say.
“No.” He puts his hands up in defeat before taking another step back. “I hope this was worth your whole career, Coach, because this is the end of it.”
“I’m sorry we had to cut your night short.” I have Sloane’s hand wrapped in mine as I pepper kisses along her skin.
“Please do not apologize. I understand and… I’m so sorry for all of this.” Tears have been welling in her eyes since we left the school, and one is finally preparing to cascade down her cheek.
I wipe under her eyes to try to stop the tears from falling.
“Don’t be. I told you to come upstairs. This is all my fault for being reckless.
We were doing fine, sticking to our rules.
I made us break them,” I say before getting out of the car.
I make my way around to her side and open the door for her before we start moving fast up my brother’s driveway.
“Are you sure you're ready for this? He’s going to yell—a lot. Only at me, though,” I tell her.
“I deserve it too,” she whispers as we make it to the front door, and I’m pushing through it without knocking.
Rowan meets me in the foyer, wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt because I texted him 911 and that I was coming over, only I’d left out that I was bringing Sloane with me.
I’m going to assume he probably wasn’t sleeping, but maybe preparing to or preparing to start the night with Ellie, so I know he’s irritated that I interrupted whatever the plans were.
His face is full of worry as he shakes his head at me before turning his attention to the young woman standing next to me. “Aaaaand you must be Sloane,” Rowan says, holding his hand out for her.
“Yes, sir.”
He looks at me with a look of absolute fury. “What. Happened.”
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?” Rowan yells as he paces back and forth in his office, while we’re sitting on his couch, like we are kids getting in trouble with our father.
“Rowan, can you bring it down?” I groan, rubbing my forehead because I’ve felt a headache forming since we left the school and him yelling was only going to exacerbate that.
“Bring it down!? Can you keep it in your pants for five minutes? I was very clear. Stay away from her. No texting, no talking, no meeting up. I said no interactions that weren’t in public and mixed company!
You broke every single one of those rules!
” He stops yelling and takes a deep breath.
“And okay,” he says, his tone much calmer now, thankfully, “let’s say, we could possibly sell that all of that was innocent, you guys had to go and have sex on school property!
? Two teachers will get fired for doing that! ”
“I know… I know!” I tell him because I don’t know what possessed me to do this today.
Jealousy and also, recklessness over the fact that you hadn’t been caught yet.
“Do you? Because I’m fairly certain I warned you about all of this! And now another student knows? And it sounds like he threatened your job?”
“He might just be mad, but I don’t know. He might go to the principal.” What if he already has?
Rowan drops to his desk and pulls out a legal pad and begins writing. “Did he think you were his girlfriend? Be honest. Were you dating? Have you been romantic with him? Physical in any way? Sexual?” He asks Sloane.
“Rowan…” I start because I didn’t want Sloane to feel like she was on trial.
His eyes lock with mine before he turns to her. “No, I need to hear this from her.”
“I already said, they weren’t together,” I snap.
“Well, my only experience so far with her has been that she lied to you about everything, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to get a little bit more information from her directly.” He points at me with his pen. “You are my client, not her. She is not facing legal trouble.”
Sloane bites her bottom lip. “I am so sorry for all of this. I know you probably are not my biggest fan…”
“You are correct,” Rowan agrees.
“ROWAN.” I stand and bang my fist down on his desk hard. “ENOUGH.”
Rowan’s eyes flare angrily, but I think he knows I am not playing around, so he backs down slightly. “If only you were this passionate about wanting to keep your job,” he snaps before turning back to Sloane. “Can I get an answer?”
“Mack… the guy who caught us, we were not together. He asked me to homecoming, but that was it… he did allude tonight to being more, but—”
“Wait, what?” I stop her because that’s the first I’m hearing of that.
“I was going to tell you later tonight, but obviously, things got a little fucked.” She lets out a sigh. “He asked if I’d go on a date with him.”
“I thought you told him you just wanted to be friends.”
“I did. I guess he thought he should ask again under the vibes of a high school dance. I don’t know. I said no, and then right after that, I met you in the bathroom. Do not overthink this,” she tells me.
“I’m not, but now it looks like he’s pissed because he thinks I took you from him.” I groan, before I let my head fall back against the leather sofa.
“Well, we explained that wasn’t the case,” Sloane says.
“He probably doesn’t see it that way,” Rowan interjects. “He is probably thinking, if you weren’t with River, you’d be with him. Regardless of when you met him for the first time.”
The door is closed, but I’m not surprised when it opens, and Ellie walks through without so much as a knock.
“What is with all the yelling?! You woke up Isla, by the way.” She looks at Sloane with a look of confusion before looking at me. “Well, hi there.” She looks at Rowan, presumably for answers, before turning back to Sloane. “I don’t think we’ve met? I’m Ellie.”
“Hi, I’m Sloane.” She gives Ellie a soft smile, probably because Ellie has this calming presence that makes people feel instantly comfortable, and Sloane probably already feels better having her here even though they’ve never met.
Her eyes widen immediately, as if she’s about to start jumping up and down, but she keeps it somewhat together, which leads me to believe that Rowan did not tell Ellie that the woman from the plane was also my student. I am shocked about that, to be honest.
“Baby”—he clears his throat—“this is not a social visit.” Ellie frowns before turning to us both.
“You didn’t tell her?” I ask Rowan, not even trying to hide the surprise in my voice because Rowan tells Ellie everything.
“You’re my client. Even as my brother, you get attorney-client privilege.”
“Client?” She narrows her eyes at me and then at Sloane. “What’s going on? Did you accidentally get married in Vegas? Are you pregnant? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“She’s my student,” I blurt out.
“I’M SORRY?! YOUR WHAT?!” She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at us with wide eyes. Her eyes are furious and trained on me and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this angry. Or angry at all for that matter, Ellie is so mild-tempered.
“I’m nineteen. I came home for senior year…”
“Yes, yes, I know your story. Research scientist parents. Traveling the world. You were supposed to be in college.” She points at Sloane.
“I know, ma’am.”
“Okay, please don’t ma’am me, I’m like six years older than you,” Ellie says as she rubs her temples.
“Seven,” I correct her.
“Do you really think you should be talking?” Ellie snaps.