Right Where We Belong (Silver Springs #4)(71)

She pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. Would Gordon tell her anything even if they were sitting face-to-face? Probably not. Visits were probably monitored, too. “He doesn’t trust me. He won’t give anything away.”

“You could convince him to trust you. You know him well, know what he’d most want to hear.”

He’d want to hear that she’d take him back and that she’d give him the money she had for his defense. Desperate as he was, that would make him amenable to almost anything. It would be her best shot, at any rate. But telling him those lies, trying to trap him, was dangerous. If the DA wasn’t able to get a conviction in the end, Gordon would go free. And if he could kill a poor, innocent stranger, a girl of only sixteen, what might he do to her?

Gordon’s going to kill you when he gets out... Maybe Dorothy’s text would prove more prophetic than she’d actually intended.

Savanna opened her mouth to refuse again, but her conscience stepped in. If every person who could help the police thought only of the danger involved, how many more evil people would be running around in society, continuing to harm innocent victims?

She had to be brave, had to do all she could. Didn’t she?

Shit, she silently cursed. “I’ll think about it,” she said, and disconnected.





20

The next week seemed to last forever. Heather stayed over for most of that time, while she was healing, which was probably why every day proved a new challenge for Gavin. She claimed she was afraid to go home for fear Scott would confront her, but as angry as Gavin had been a week ago Wednesday, when he’d picked Heather up from the hospital, he didn’t think Scott would continue to be a threat. Scott was already out on bail, so it wasn’t as if he couldn’t come by, but he had a court date in a few weeks, seemed to know and care that he was in a lot of trouble and wasn’t acting like he would do anything to make matters worse. He’d texted her to say she could relax, that he wouldn’t so much as approach her, and so far he’d kept that promise. Although she was at Gavin’s from dinnertime on, which meant she had protection, Scott knew where she worked. He could easily have gone by her classroom after the final bell. She sat there alone for two hours, usually didn’t leave until five. If she was truly afraid of him, she would’ve changed that pattern and asked someone to be with her then, too. That was what Gavin secretly thought, but he hadn’t said anything. He didn’t want to be wrong again and have her get hurt.

The last thing he’d expected was for Scott to approach him, so he was surprised when his mother called, interrupting his lunch on Friday to say that Scott was at the administration building. Although Gavin normally ate in the cafeteria with the students—it gave them another chance to socialize with an adult who cared about them, something they desperately needed—the past few days he hadn’t been interested in talking to anyone, even the boys. He’d been eating in his small office, which was where he was today.

“Hello? You still there?” Aiyana asked when he didn’t respond.

His first inclination was to ask what Scott wanted, but if his mother had to relay that question, it would only drag her back into his business. He preferred she not get involved, since she didn’t seem entirely supportive of his current course of action. She refused to accept that he had to get back with Heather. “I’m in my office. Tell him how to find me, will you?”

It was her turn to hesitate. “Don’t you think you should take this off campus?”

“I’m not going to start anything. And I doubt he’d choose this setting for a fight. He’s already facing a court date.”

She covered the phone. Gavin got the impression that Scott had overheard her and was trying to convince her that he wasn’t looking for trouble, because she came back on the line and said, “I’m sending him over.”

Ten minutes later, a knock sounded on his door.

Curious, as well as a little apprehensive, just in case, Gavin turned the knob and shoved the metal panel open with one shoulder. “Wow. It’s bright out today,” he said, squinting against the sudden intrusion of sunlight. “Come on in.” He motioned to the only other chair he had, a cheap fold-up he kept on hand for the occasional visitor.

Scott stepped inside but didn’t take the chair. He didn’t even approach the desk. He kept his distance, probably to prove he hadn’t come to fight. “I told myself I wasn’t going to do this,” he said. “You’ll think it’s just sour grapes, that you got the woman I want and now I’m jealous and vengeful—”

“You have been jealous and vengeful,” Gavin broke in. “And what you did last week—”

He lifted a hand in the classic stop motion. “I know. I shouldn’t have let her get to me. I can’t explain what happened. I snapped, have never been so angry. But hitting her was stupid. She isn’t worth the trouble she’s bringing me.”

“That’s what you came to say?”

“No, I came to tell you the truth.”

Gavin straightened the calendar on his desk. “And that is?”

“Heather got pregnant on purpose, Gavin.”

Feeling his shoulders tense, he studied Scott closely. Was Scott still out to hurt Heather, just in a different way? Was that why he’d come? “How do you know?”