Almost Midnight (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3.5)(122)

“Look who showed up early.” He leaned against the door frame. “Have you had a change of heart?”

She felt her pulse racing, praying this worked. She’d spent most of the night trying to think of exactly how to play this. Exactly what to say.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“Doing what?” He offered her his cocky grin.

“What is it going to take to stop you?” she countered.

He let his gaze move down her body, in a totally indecent way. Then he inhaled again, as if checking to make sure no one else was around and deciding whether this was a trick.

It was a trick. But she prayed he didn’t figure that out.

“You know what I want?” he said after testing the air.

“No, I don’t know. Because honestly, I don’t think you even like me that much. You’re going to Europe as soon as school’s out instead of staying here with me.”

“I told you I wasn’t going to be gone all summer. Not that … we have to wait until summer to get to know each other.” That look appeared in his eyes again.

“I thought you were worried about your job?” she said.

“That was before.”

“Before what?” she asked.

“Before I knew exactly the type of relationship we would have.”

“And what kind of relationship is that?” She felt the sting all the way to her toes.

He shook his head. “You are a daughter of a rogue, Fredericka. You know we can’t have a real relationship. But I can give you what you need so you don’t have to throw yourself at some human.”

It took everything she had not to go for his throat and tie his freaking vocal cords around his neck. “He’s my boss.”

“He was your boss. You’re going to tell him that you changed your mind.”

“I signed a contract,” she said, not sure how much she needed him to say.

“You will walk away from him!” He moved in and grabbed her elbow. His fingers dug into her forearm. “Or I’ll get your ass thrown out of this school. Do. You. Hear. Me?”

“I. Hear. You! Release her!” Burnett’s voice boomed into the room before he became visible. As long as he held Kylie’s hand, no one would see or hear him. Obviously, he’d released her. He became visible … and his presence held more intimidation than his voice. Within seconds, he had Cary against the wall, his hand around his throat.

“You will pack your things and be out of here before class begins. And don’t you think I won’t report this. Your teaching career, Mr. Cannon, is history!” Burnett seethed and dropped his hand.

As Cary gasped for air, Burnett looked at Fredericka. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” she said and didn’t realize until then that she was rubbing her arm where Cary had held her.

“Kylie, can you walk with Fredericka to the office?” Burnett asked. “I still have a few things to discuss with this piece of shit.”

*

“I’m sorry,” Fredericka said to Holiday a few minutes later. Kylie had left. Burnett was still escorting Cary off the Shadow Falls property.

“What are you sorry for?” Holiday asked.

“I brought on all this trouble.”

“He brought on all this trouble, young lady. You didn’t do a thing. Except not tell us what was going on.”

“I thought I could solve it myself.”

Holiday sat up in her chair. “No, you were afraid to trust anyone else. There’s a difference.”

Fredericka looked down at her lap. Holiday was right, but … “I went to Kylie.”

“Yeah. I suppose that was a step.”

Mr. James walked in. He looked down at Fredericka. “Don’t ever let a man treat you like that,” he growled.

She nodded and bit back the need to apologize.

He looked at his wife. “Did she take it?”

Fredericka got a feeling she knew what they were talking about.

Holiday shook her head. Burnett sat on the edge of the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out an envelope. “You know, most weres are more afraid of being afraid than they are actually afraid. You’re an exception.”

She looked at him, her mind racing to understand his meaning. “Is that a roundabout way of calling me a coward?”

“Are you?” he asked. “A coward?”

She wasn’t really angry, just annoyed. “You two,” she said, pointing to him and Holiday, “act as if by reading this, it will fix something. There’s not—”

“Oh, hell no, it won’t fix shit. You can’t fix the past, Fredericka. But you can learn from it.” He paused. “You can get answers. Some of us would love answers.”

“Look…” Holiday started to speak up, but her husband shook his head at her. “Let me finish,” he told his wife and faced Fredericka again.

She stared up at him, not really following him.

“I’ve never told anyone this other than my wife, but I was found at a garbage dump when I was six weeks old. And I’m not too proud to tell you that it hurts like hell knowing I meant so little to my parents. Especially now that I have Hannah and know how precious children are. But if I had an envelope that could tell me something, I’d read it so fast your head would spin. You know why? Because … I know that what I imagine has to be worse than the truth.”