With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men #4)(24)

She couldn’t seem to stop glaring and sighing out her disgust, so I apologized again, but she just blew me off.

Once the bill was taken care of, I clutched my purse to my chest and glanced around, wondering how I was going to find anyone. I glanced down a hall that led to the bathrooms and didn’t spot anyone there, so I pushed my way out the back exit. When I saw Ten’s back as he rounded a corner, I hurried after him. No idea why I followed him. But he was the only person here I somewhat knew, and I was kind of stuck here until I found a ride home, plus I needed to find Caroline. So I darted after him, only to realize he’d just found her.

I was going to approach, but after the tender way he touched her back to get her attention…I don’t know…I held back.

“Hey.” His voice was soft. “You okay?”

Caroline spun around and looked up at him a good ten seconds before she nodded. The tears filling her eyes probably told him she really wasn’t okay, though.

“I just...” She wiped at her cheeks and sniffed. “I knew she was a teacher, and I knew she was looking for a job, but I...I had no idea she was his teacher, or that she’d gotten fired because...oh my God. She never let on that anything like that had happened. Neither did he. They just...they’ve been so supportive and strong, helping Colton, Brandt, and me settle in and adjust. I didn’t even...I had no idea. She doesn’t look old enough to be a university professor.” Her wet eyes looked extra blue and pleading as she stared up at him. “Why didn’t they tell me?”

Ten shook his head slowly. “I’m sure they didn’t want to worry you with it. You—”

When he reached for her cheek, she jerked back and gritted her teeth. “But I’m going to be going to that school on Monday. I’ll be attending the same college where they...” She gulped. “What if I heard some rumor, or...I don’t know. Why wouldn’t they want me to be prepared for that? What—”

“Hey. Shh.” Ten caught her arm and hauled her in for a hard hug. “Your brother wasn’t expecting you to hear any rumors. You might hear about an English teacher losing her job, maybe even speculation of why, but very, very few of us know it’s actually because of Noel.”

She sniffed and burrowed deeper into his chest. “You’d think he’d know he didn’t have to protect me like that anymore. I’m eighteen.”

Ten smiled. “Doesn’t matter how old you get. You’ll always be his little sister. He’ll always want to protect you.”

“And I’m sure I’ll always want to knock his head off for it, too.”

With a soft chuckle, Ten began to stroke her hair. “I bet.” When he closed his eyes and buried his nose in it as if he was smelling her, something tight wrapped around my chest. He liked her. I mean, he really, really liked her. I slunk an inch in reverse, feeling like a voyeur. But I didn’t know where else to go. So, I just...stayed and watched.

“Is there really a naked picture of Aspen going around?” Caroline asked, lifting her face.

Ten stopped moving his fingers through her hair as his gaze touched hers. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s what got her fired.”

Caroline shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. How could a naked picture of just her get her fired?”

“It had Noel’s arm in it.”

This time, I shook my head, confused, though no one saw me doing so from my hiding spot. Geesh, I was doing a lot of hiding and eavesdropping on couples today.

“I still don’t get it,” Caroline spoke my thoughts aloud. “If all they saw was his arm, then how did they know who she was with? It might not have been a student at all—”

Ten lifted his forearm to point out something I couldn’t see from where I was standing. “About a dozen of us football players got this very same tattoo last year. It did end up in the picture of her, so the university knew it had to be a current ESU football player she was with.”

Caroline studied the tattoo and slowly ran her finger over it. I don’t think she noticed how doing that made Ten close his eyes briefly and then slowly reopen them.

She finally looked up. “So, for all they know, it could’ve been you who’d been with Aspen.”

His lips spread with amusement. “It wasn’t me.”

Her fingers kept lingering on his tattoo while her gaze stayed fastened to his. “I can’t believe they’ve been going through all this, and I didn’t even have a clue.”

Ten shook his head. “You had plenty else to worry about.”

Caroline opened her mouth, but then she shut it before speaking. It took another moment for her eyes to widen with horror. “Oh God. You know. About me.”

She tried to pull away, but he caught her shoulder and tugged her back. “Wait. Where are you going?”

“I don’t know.” Keeping her back to his chest, she lifted a hand in a helpless gesture. “To crawl under a rock and die of humiliation.”

“You have nothing to be humiliated about.” Taking her elbow, he turned her back around to face him.

“How do you know?” she asked. “Did Noel tell you?”

“No. I was there when you told him, remember? It was kind of impossible not to hear every word through those thin walls.”

Her face drained of color. Shaking her head, she once again turned away, but he held her waist and pressed her back to his chest again as she bent slightly at the waist.