Bad Intentions (Bad Love #2)(2)

“How are we getting there?” Jess asks, arching a brow.

“Fuck.”

Jess huffs out a laugh before turning back for the door. “I’m going back to bed.” In The Bay, we could walk almost anywhere we needed to go, and for anywhere else, we had BART. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to work here.

“Wait, Jess,” I say, jerking my chin toward the old, shitty 4Runner with silver paint oxidized from the sun. It sits on the far side of the driveway, halfway in the yard. It’s a long shot. It might not have gas or even run. It’s old enough to be hotwired, though. Definitely an early nineties model.

“Worth a try, right?” I shrug, and Jess reluctantly makes his way over to the run-down SUV to check it out. I follow. He opens the door, and the sound of metal screeching against metal assaults my ears.

“The keys are in it,” he says, sounding about as baffled as I feel, but my face, along with any hope I had, falls because we both know what that means. There’s no way anyone would leave the keys in a working vehicle. He tries them anyway, and to both our surprise, the engine roars to life. “No fucking way.”

“Eeek!” I squeal, hopping in as he slides over into the passenger seat.

“Good old Henry was right. This place is nothing like The Bay.”

“And look,” I say, pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket. “We still have time to get you to school.”

“You know, on second thought, this is stealing…” Jess says.

“And you suddenly have a problem with that on the day you start school?” I ask with an arched brow.

“I’m just sayin’. We might not want to steal from the person letting us live with him. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you and all that.”

“Fuck him.” I laugh. “He has years of making up to do. And this piece of shit doesn’t even begin to cover it.” I slide the seat forward as far as it will go and put the car in reverse. “This is the first day of our new life, little brother. Don’t screw it up.”




“You’re not his legal guardian?”

“No, ma’am. He’s my brother, though, and I’ve never had a problem enrolling him before.” God knows I’ve done it enough times between moving and Jess getting kicked out.

“That’s fine, as long as he does live with you and you both live within the district. You’ll need to fill out the Custodial Statement and Agreement forms, then come back with your proof of residence, and, if at all possible, a parent’s signature. He will be able to start as soon as we have that information,” the lady in front of me explains. She looks young. Maybe thirty, with blonde, stringy hair and a pair of black-framed glasses perched on her petite nose.

“Listen…” I start, leaning my forearm on the desk in front of me, my eyes locking onto the name on her desk plate, “Lacey. I will get you everything you need. But Jesse has already been out of school for two weeks. It’s his senior year. He’s going to have trouble catching up as it is.” It’s a damn lie. Jess is brilliant. The only way he won’t catch up is if he doesn’t try. The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can look for a job. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that every day he misses is another day he’ll fall behind.”

Lacey worries her bottom lip, looking over at Jess who gives her his best innocent, underprivileged boy face.

Lacey sighs, and I know we’ve won. “Fine. He can start. Fill out these forms now, then bring me your proof of address and a parent’s signature tomorrow at the latest.”

“Thank you!” I say, slapping my palms down on her desk a little too enthusiastically, causing her to jump in her seat. “Really, thank you. We need more people like you working in the public school system.”

Lacey beams with pride, and Jess snorts out a laugh at my bullshitting before disguising it as a cough.

“I’ll let your guidance counselor know you’re here so you can set up your schedule.”

“Thank you,” Jess says in a low voice with a dip of his chin, and I swear she blushes.

“Don’t even think about it,” I warn once she rounds the corner and is out of sight. “Don’t fuck this up. We’re going straight. No hacking. No backtalk. And absolutely no seducing the faculty. Not even flirting,” I stress. “This is our last shot, okay?” This is a small town with one high school. We can’t just enroll him into another school if he gets caught having an inappropriate relationship with a teacher’s aide or smoking weed in the bathroom. Like I said, Jess is brilliant, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t also kind of an idiot.

“What?” Jess asks, feigning innocence. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Mhm,” I say, thumping him on the forehead with the palm of my hand. “Behave.”

I sit down and scribble in the blanks, agreeing that I’m the responsible party for the “child” and that I’ll be taking over parental duties and giving the school permission to contact me for any reason, blah blah blah. It takes all of two minutes. Lacey returns, looking over the forms.

“Everything here looks good. You can see Mr. Hansen now,” she says to Jess. “Just get me the rest of those forms tomorrow,” she adds, looking in my direction.