Hawk (A Stepbrother Romance #3)(80)

Then he tells me I'll have to go to court and testify.

I'm okay with that.

When he finally leaves, Hawk picks me up and carries me upstairs. We've been sleeping together, that is, actually sleeping together, since I first woke up here. No one has said a word.





The bell rings, and I pronounce, "Class dismissed!"

I smile and nod to my students as they file out of the classroom. Twenty-six sullen, yawning fifteen year olds who just read over my syllabus and learned what would await them in Biology II. I didn't write much of the course myself, I'm following a plan from the department head. Everybody here has been amazingly supportive-I protested up and down that I didn't have any teaching experience and I certainly didn't have a certificate, but apparently for biology and math teachers it doesn't matter as long as I have a degree in the subject.

Even with Jennifer to guide me, every step of the process was nerve-wracking, even the interview, which she did not sit in on. Somehow I ended up with a job offer, and now, a year after Hawk came back to Paradise Falls, here I am, teaching. As soon as the last student leaves I fall back against my desk and let out a long breath, and realize I'm shaking.

"Never let them see you sweat," Jennifer says, and I jump.

She's always so damned quiet, even now.

Things have changed with her, too. She still dresses the same for work-modest somewhat boyish clothes, but now she can't hide the bump anymore. She's almost seven months along, due in November, and though she looks a little softer now, she's more radiant than I've ever seen her, and always grinning.

"So how was it?"

"Scary," I confess. "I'm nervous."

"Good, if you're super confident about your first day that means it's a disaster. They're tired and grumpy and running on old habits from last year's teachers. Soon they'll start testing you and…" She touches her stomach.

"What?"

"Nothing. My son just kicked me. Anyway, you'll do fine. Everybody’s scared the first day, except the really bad teachers. If I came in here and you said it was great, no trouble, I'd know something was up."

"Testing me?"

She rolls her eyes and pats my shoulder.

"You’ll make it, I promise. Just let me know if you need help."

"Okay."

"Do you have your lesson plans set up for tomorrow?"

I nod, eagerly. "Yeah, I did everything a month in advance."

She smiles. "Good. Keep that up, it'll help maintain your sanity. I've got to run."

I nod and smile. "Thanks, Jennifer."

Tom is still in the sentencing phase, but from what they've told me that means they're deciding how many books to throw at him. He had ties to all kinds of corruption, drug running. There was a raid on those Amish farms, although a lot of it had already been destroyed and the operation crippled, apparently.

Jacob reluctantly left his position as math teacher here at the school after the election. Since he was running unopposed, he had a pretty easy time of it, though there was still a solid turnout and a lot of support. It feels weird even thinking about it.

Oh well, time to go home.

We haven't gotten a car yet, so I'm carpooling with Jennifer. She's waiting outside in her little Toyota after I make it outside, carrying a bag full of stuff. My first ever papers to grade. I'm going to do them over the weekend, I think. We only have two days, then a four day weekend for the Labor Day holiday. Hawk isn't so lucky, he'll be working through the weekend, but I get so much time off now I don't much worry about things like that. Once he's been working for a while, his shifts will settle down.

It's hot but we keep the windows down, and I enjoy the breeze. Jennifer swings by Commerce Street first to drop me off. It turns out that the apartment above the shoe store came up for rent again, just at the right time. It feels strange walking inside. The living room is barely big enough for our couch and TV, and the rest of the place isn't much bigger. There's no dining room to speak of, and two little bedrooms. One doubles as my office and a guest room for May when she comes back from school on weekends. The other is mine and Hawk's. Tired as hell, my feet aching, I drop my bag in the office and flop out on the couch, spreading across it.

At some point I doze off. It's dark when Hawk gets home from work, still wearing his uniform.

After the Kane administration took over Paradise Falls, there were a lot of vacancies in the local police department. By a lot, I mean all of them. The chief now is a retired state cop named Brock Edwards who used to work at the old high school before the fire. Hawk was hired on as soon as he applied, and he keeps promising me that his shifts will settle out and he'll be on day hours all the time as soon as they hire more men.

He first goes into our room and locks up his sidearm, then comes back out in nothing but boxers and sits at the end of the couch. He immediately pulls my feet on his lap and begins rubbing my left food. I let out a small, happy groan and let my head fall back against the pillow at the end of the couch.

"Long day?"

"Yeah," I sigh. "Don't stop."

"I don't plan on it."

"You get your schedule yet?"

"Yeah. Chief gave me the weekend."

My head pops up. "Really?"