Chapter 20: Chapter 20

“You sure are getting in late. Or early,” her mother called out from the kitchen as Gabby walked through the front door.

Immediately, her cheeks flamed, and Gabby ducked her head in her rush toward the basement stairs and the privacy of her bedroom. Too bad she had to cut through the kitchen to get there. “Sorry I didn’t call. We watched a movie and it was late, so I decided to just stay the night.”

Turning from the stove where, from the smell of it, she was preparing her famous cinnamon apple baked oatmeal, her mother gave her a once-over as Gabby breezed by. “I wish you would have called. I was up half the night worried.”

Giving up the mad dash to safety, Gabby slowed her pace and turned back, propping a butt cheek on the edge of the dining table. “No, you weren’t,” she said, calling her bluff.

Her mother winked. “You’re right, but only because I know your new beau is so fond of you. Still doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have appreciated a phone call.”

“I promise to call next time.” Lord, did all parents have a knack of making their adult children feel like…well, children? Or was that just her own mother’s special talent?

Clicking off the flame on the stove, her mother set to work pulling down a couple of bowls from one of the upper cabinets and filling them with oatmeal. “So there’s going to be a next time? I take it you and Blake are getting along nicely then.”

Instantly, Gabby felt the burn of Blake’s hot hands on her thighs, the weight of his body on her imprinted on her memory, and she shivered. Remembering where she was and who she was with, she cleared her throat and her mind. “It’s still early, but we’re doing okay,” she hedged. “He’s nice.”

Tossing her a look over her shoulder, her mother told her without the need for words what she thought about that. “Nice. So that’s what the kids are calling it nowadays. Nice,” she repeated to herself, causing a furious blush to climb up Gabby’s neck. Gathering the bowls, her mother crossed the floor and set each of them in front of a chair. “He is nice, and he really seems to like you. He has my vote of approval. Harold!” she shouted, making Gabby’s ears ring. “Breakfast’s ready! Gabby sit, eat. Fill me in on your date at Mr. Nice’s house.”

With pursed lips, Gabby looked at the steaming bowls and pushed to her feet, already regretting the decision. “Sorry, Mom, but I’m running late. I need to run if I’m going to make it into work on time.”

“Oh, well, okay. Maybe tomorrow then.” She tried on a smile that left Gabby feeling like a jerk, but she wasn’t lying. She really did need to jet.

“Tomorrow,” she assured her, then grabbed a banana on her way toward the basement. “Tell Dad I said hi.”

She hurried through a shower and threw on her favorite high-waisted navy pencil skirt with a sleeveless white blouse tucked in. Dusting on a bit of makeup, Gabby was halfway up the stairs on her way out the door when she turned back around and grabbed her overnight bag from under the bed. She stuffed her toiletries and a change of clothes inside, before hastily making her way back up the stairs and to her car. As she pulled away from the curb, she noticed a black SUV pull out onto the road behind her. A sudden bout of nervousness took root in her gut, and she kept a close watch on the vehicle. Her fear began to grow as it took each turn with her, but a few blocks from the school, it turned off and she laughed shakily, reminding herself that it was a small town and she needed to relax if she was going to start putting her life back together.

Thankfully, traffic was good the rest of the way, and she pulled into the school parking lot with time to spare. She had just locked her overnight bag in the trunk and armed the alarm when she heard someone shouting.

“So you’re the little bitch who’s moving in on my family!”

It took a moment for Gabby to realize that the shrill female voice was directed at her. Turning, she saw a skeletal woman plodding her way. Thin, matted, platinum-streaked hair blew back from her face from the force of her stride, and her clothes—cut-off jean shorts and a dirty white tank top—bagged on her.

This, Gabby thought with a mixture of shock and trepidation, must be Jodi.

“You filthy little skank! Think you can take my man and my kid?” She stabbed a boney finger in her face.

Gabby reared back, though not from the finger. The woman’s breath could knock a dog off the back of a gut wagon, and from her vantage it was clear that her mouthful of rotting teeth was the culprit. Holding her hands up in front of her, Gabby said, “I’m not trying to take anything.”

“Bullllllshit! Everyone ‘round here done seen you two together. Gettin’ all cozy and shit with my husband.”

Gabby’s brows arched into her hairline. As far as she knew, Blake was never married. She opened her mouth, intending to defend herself, but Jodi plowed right over her.

“You think you’re something special just ‘cause you wear fancy clothes and have yourself a fancy job? You ain’t shit,” Jodi seethed. Her eyes—a pale, pukey shade of green—narrowed as she leaned in. “But I’ll tell you somethin’. You want Blake’s backward ass? Take him. But over my dead body will I stand around while you try and play momma to my boy!”

Gabby hardly had time to register the movement as Jodi’s hands pulled back and she shoved Gabby square in the chest, knocking her back into the side of her car. Her tailbone took the brunt of it, and she registered the twinge of pain at the same moment Jodi hauled off and smacked her across the face.

Gabby acted on instinct. Lunging forward, she clutched at anything she could get her hands on—hair, clothes, skin. She scratched, slapped, shoved, and punched, determined to take a piece out of the woman who had the balls to come at her like that.

Gabby might have been all the things Jodi had accused her of, but she sure as hell wasn’t a pushover. If she had thought she would just stand there and take her abuse, she was going to teach her a lesson she’d never forget.

As it turned out, though, exchanging blows in the middle of an elementary school parking lot at peak operating hours was not the best decision she’d ever made.

Although, the choice had been taken out of her hands from the start. And that’s exactly what she would tell the cops too if they showed up.

She was tangled up in limbs, her hands fisting clumps of Jodi’s hair, both of them screaming like banshees, when Gabby felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist and begin hauling her away. When she didn’t readily let go of the pieces of Jodi she’d decided to take with her, she heard Blake’s hard-as-nails voice in her ear.

“Ease off, teach. You got your hits in, but people are watching and it’s time to end it.”

Her fingers complied faster than her brain. “I’m going to tear her apart,” she snarled, allowing him to take her away.

“I’m going to see to it that you pay, puta!”

Instantly, Gabby’s limbs went slack, the fight draining right out of her. Puta. The verbal assault was as effective as a punch to the gut, and it took her back to that night in the warehouse when she’d thought her very life had ended. She could still hear his voice…

Spinning her around, Blake’s manhandling snapped her out of her thoughts. He carried her to the opposite side of her car, away from the action, and turned her so her back was pressed against the passenger door of her car.

Panting heavily, Gabby looked up to find Blake’s twisted smile staring back at her. “What?” she snapped, edgy from both the fight and the memory. “What the hell is so damn funny?”

“You. You’re hot when you’re all riled up, teach,” he said with a giant smirk. Pushing her ratted-up hair out of her eyes, he dragged a single finger down the side of her face. “I don’t have to ask who started it, but I do want to know what it was about.”

Twisting, Gabby tried to turn and see where the bitch had gone, but Blake grasped her chin and forced her to stay with him. Huffing, she said, “She was making it clear who you and Ash belong to. One clue, it isn’t me.”

Blake’s silver eyes lost their humor. “The fuck she say to you? Exactly.”

“Oh you know, the usual ex-baby momma drama spiel. Back off her man, I’m not her kid’s mom, I’m nothing.” She shrugged. “Pretty standard stuff.”

“You know she’s nothing to me. We’re over.”

“I know that.” He’d told her as much. In fact, he made his hatred of his ex as clear as the morning sky overhead.

“Good.” He scraped his fingers through his hair. “That bitch is a thorn in my damn side,” he muttered. After he took a steeling breath, his gaze fixed on her again. “I’ll make her pay for this. I swear it, Gabby. That bitch crossed a line coming here and threatening you. Putting her hands on you just sealed her fate.”

Gabby’s heart thudded painfully. “Blake, God, no, don’t do anything stupid,” she pleaded with him. “She’s not worth getting into trouble for.”

Blake’s eyes danced with fire. “Who said I’d get caught.”

“Stop it,” she snapped. “I’m not going to stand here and listen to you talk about hurting someone. I don’t care who it is or what they’ve done. I don’t like it.”

“Do you forget who you’re talking to?”

She eyed his jacket, the lumps beneath that she suspected belonged to the shoulder holster she’d seen hanging on the back of his bedroom door when she’d climbed out of bed that morning. How could she forget who he was? Easy. Every time he looked at her, she got sucked into those magical eyes and that sexy voice and lost herself.

Blake must have sensed the direction of her thoughts. Pulling in a quick breath, he stepped into her personal space, cupped her head in both hands, and dropped a kiss on her forehead. With a touch of humor in his voice, he asked, “So who threw the first punch?”

For a moment, she struggled to hold onto her irritation, her doubts, but simply being in his arms disarmed her in a way nothing else ever could. Gabby’s lips twisted into a half-smile. “Technically? Me. But she started it. She pushed me. I was just making it clear which one of us was actually in charge.”

Blake stood there for a long moment, eying her with an intensity that made Gabby’s insides squirm. Then he shoved his hands into her hair and tilted her face up toward his. “Fuck, you are one hot piece, teach. If there wasn’t a whole damn school full of kids watching us right now, I’d push that skirt up and be inside you in a heartbeat.”

The little hairs on Gabby’s skin stood on end, and she felt a whole body tingle work its way from her scalp all the way down to her toes. The last vestiges of her anger fell away and she shivered, thinking of how much she wanted him to do just that. Her hands made their way under his leather jacket, past the bulky harness framing his chest and back, and around his narrow waist, gripping the cotton fabric of his shirt in her fingers.

She was surprised to realize that, even being so close to his guns, just knowing that he carried them on him didn’t frighten her. If anything, she felt even safer for them being there. It was a curious feeling, to be so close to danger, yet feel completely at peace with it.

“First, tell me you aren’t married.”

“Never in my life. Did she say that too?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe her. So how about later, at your place?”

“Consider it done,” he growled, then leaned down and touched his lips to hers. “Looks like the cops are waiting to talk to you. Want me to stick around?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Gabby saw two uniformed officers standing there. One was talking to Jodi, and the other had his eye on Gabby, clearly waiting to speak to her. “Yeah,” she said around the sudden thickness in her throat. “Maybe just until they go.”

Blake gave her a tight nod then, placing a proprietary hand on her lower back, escorted her over.

School had been in session for nearly an hour before Gabby finished making her report and was released to her class. True to his word, Blake stuck by her side until she’d finished telling her side of things, even smiling and waving as the police stuffed Jodi in the back of their cruiser and drove off.

At least the truth had prevailed. Gabby breathed a sigh of relief, thinking of how great it had felt to watch the woman hauled off for a night behind bars and have Blake there for her through it all. Before he left, he hinted that he might know someone who could pull some strings so the only sunlight Jodi would see for the foreseeable future would be from the blacktop of a prison yard. The thought made her smile, but nothing topped the high she felt when he planted that toe-curling kiss on her before whispering in her ear all the things he planned to do to her later that night after Ash was in bed. If she hadn’t already acknowledged it before, she would now. That man was growing on her something fierce.

It was with that thought forefront in her mind that she headed inside, only to find herself standing before a very stern-faced Principal Linden. “Miss Morgan, can I see you in my office please.”

It wasn’t a question. Gabby nodded and smiled. “Yes, of course,” she replied pensively.

Once they were closed in the ten-by-ten room, Gabby stared across the desk at her superior feeling just like a kid again. She felt her muscles tremble and seem to grab onto her bones as she awaited whatever he was about to say.

Folding his hands atop a pile of papers, Principal Linden regarded her with a stony expression. He sighed deeply. “I don’t have to tell you that what happened out there today cannot happen again.”

“Yes, sir,” she said quietly, shamed.

“I pride myself on creating a safe environment for these children, and two grown adults duking it out in the parking lot, in front of students, staff, and parents alike doesn’t exactly inspire trust.”

“I understand that, sir, but in my defense, I didn’t start the fight.”

“I never said you did. However, most concerning for me is that it happened at all. I don’t know what goes on in your personal life, and it’s none of my business, but I can’t have it spilling onto school property. It creates a certain level of distrust between the parents and the staff, as I’m sure you can understand.”

“Yes, sir.” God, she was going to lose her job, wasn’t she? Gabby’s stomach fell just thinking about all she’d worked for, lost, and all because some woman with a chip on her shoulder couldn’t let go of the past.

“Even more concerning is the students. Most of them saw the fight, and if they didn’t, they’re certain to talk about it with their friends. I’m now faced with figuring out the best method of damage control.”

“I’ll talk to my kids,” she offered. “I’ll talk to the whole school, if you want me to. I’ll tell them that this was a dispute among adults that never should have happened, and then discuss how to better handle problems. It would be a great opportunity to address the anti-bullying campaign the district has been striving for this year,” she ventured.

They had posters up all around the school, and they were always preaching respect and tolerance. She knew she was grasping at straws, but she would be damned if she lost her job because some haggard, delusional shrew of a woman decided to target her instead of working out her problems with the person who’d truly caused them: herself.

Principal Linden sat back in his chair, regarding her. “That could work, Gabby. Lord knows I’d hate to let you go. You’re a good teacher, and the kids respond to you. It’s one of the reason I haven’t issued walking papers yet. I’ve seen the way that Mahone kid has improved since you started working with him, and I think it’d be a shame to lose you. To be frank, there’s a shortage of good teachers, and I’d like to see what you can do.” Sucking in a whistling breath through his nose, he continued. “Let’s do the rally in the auditorium this afternoon while it’s still fresh. I’ll work on putting something together for the kids to take home and have my secretary print them up.”

Standing, he rounded the desk, and taking that as her cue, Gabby rose on shaky legs. Following him to the door, she paused when he did.

“You’re an asset, Gabby. We’ll figure this thing out, but word of advice. Clean house. Make sure nothing like this happens again. My power as principal only extends so far.”

Gabby passed him a grateful smile. “Thank you, sir. I truly appreciate it.”

He nodded once and opened the door. Gabby fled. As soon as she hit the empty hall, she gasped for air. The adrenalin surging through her veins had her breathless and edgy. It was a wonder she even made it back to her classroom without completely falling apart. Inside, she could hear the kids reciting their sight words to one of the teachers who’d stepped in for her while she was away.

Shaking out her hands, Gabby reached for the doorknob.