Forever Came Calling

by B. C. Falls

  “Normal people respond with a question. Like, I’m good, how is your day?”

  “How’s your day, Royce?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Why just okay?” Do I tell him about Jeff? I haven’t really had a chance to yet, and it’s not like we’ve talked about past relationships much. I certainly don’t want to hear about his exes. Why would he want to hear about mine?

  “Just… I don’t know.”

  “Royce, I can hear the lie in your tone,” I roll my eyes. “Tell me, baby.”

  “I will. Later. When you pick us up for the party tonight we’ll talk about it.”

  “In front of Kady?”

  “Kady knows everything about me, but no we’ll find time.”

  “I guess I don’t.”

  “Dane,” I plead, “Just bear with me, okay?” The bell rings. “I have to go.”

  “Fine.” I laugh. “I’ll pick you up at five.”

  “Perfect. Thank you, Dane.” I hang up just as the class starts filling up.

  When I started college I had no idea that I would become a teacher, let alone a science teacher. It was so easy to grasp for me all of a sudden. I quickly started to love Biology. I had to be tutored through some classes and I failed about three before I finally got my degree. It was a lot of work, but I knew that I wanted it.

  “Pete, sit down,” I tell one of my students. He’s a rowdy kid who always sits on top of one of the girl’s tables. “Pete,” I say again, and he finally slides off the table and goes over to his station two rows back. “Thank you.”

  “No problem, Miss Puckett,” he says with a smirk.

  I eye him wondering what he’s up to for a good ten seconds before I face the board and get into my teaching plan.

  “Today we’re going to talk about chapter four. If you did the reading last night, you’ll get what I’m about to tell you and if you didn’t then you’ll see that—” I hear a commotion behind me. Pete is laughing at the phone of the kid next to him. I walk over to them and hold my hand out. “No phones in class.” I wait for him to hand it over and when he does I gasp at what’s on the screen. “Principal’s office. Both of you, now!” I yell at them. They pick up their things and I turn to the class “Read chapter four because I know none of you did it last night.” I follow Pete and the other kid out of class. “Wait,” I tell them as I knock on the door of the class across from mine.

  Mr. Black’s class is the same as mine, but Advanced Placement. All of his kids are good and wicked smart. “What’s up, Miss Puckett?” he asks.

  “I have to take these boys to the principal’s office. Can you keep an eye on my class till I get back?”

  “Sure thing,” he says with a big smile. My door’s propped open and he props his open too.

  “Thank you. Be back soon. Let’s go, boys.” I point down the hall and they start walking.

  Once we’re in the office, I tell the boys to sit and I go into the principal’s office, alone. “Miss Puckett,” Principal Kennedy says, “What can I do for you?”

  “I was starting my fifth period, when Brian,” I point over my shoulder, “Showed Pete this,” I hand over the phone. The picture on it is of one of the girls at this school. She’s not naked, but she might as well be. She also doesn’t know that the picture is being taken because she’s in the girl’s locker room changing out of her bathing suit.

  “Oh no,” he says, “This is not good.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “We’ll have to call their parents and get her parents in here too.”

  “It’s Lisa Green. She’s on the swim team with Kady.” I tell him. “They couldn’t have taken this. Unless one of them got into the girl’s locker room and hid there.”

  “No. It had to have been sent from someone else.” He picks up his phone. “Can you get ahold of the parents of the two boys in front of you and have them come in please?” he waits a couple of seconds. “And Lisa Green’s parents too,” he looks up at me, “Thank you.”

  “Do you think there are more pictures?” I ask finding myself suddenly worried about Kady.

  “I don’t know. I technically can’t scroll through this without getting into some type of trouble with Pete’s dad.”

  “Who’s his dad?”

  “The mayor.”

  “Fuck,” I whisper. “But it’s Brian’s phone.”

  “Is it?” he looks hopeful. “Brian’s dad will just be very mad about this, but he won’t care if I look through it. I’ve known him for a long time.” He looks back at the phone and starts scrolling through the pictures. “Kady isn’t in here,” he tells me, “But we need to make more phone calls. I had no idea this was going on in my school.”

  “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

  “Thanks for catching this. I’ll see if he texted it to anyone,” he starts pushing on the screen. “Doesn’t look like he did,” he tells me. “But,” His eyebrows scrunch together, “He got them from Hayley Jenson.”

  “That girl is bad news bears.” She’s a junior and has a couple classes with Kady. Kady told me she’s nothing but a bitch and I only let her slide cursing just that once, because when I met Hayley the first time she was a complete bitch.

  “She’s got a tough life, but this is unacceptable. I’ll have to call the police. Technically, these girls are kids.”

  “Child pornography?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure what they do to kids who do this. I’ve never dealt with anything remotely like this. I hope she hasn’t sent these to anyone else,” he says, disappointed as he puts the phone down and looks up at me. “Thanks for bringing this to me, Royce. I’ll let you know what happens.”

  “My boyfriend is a cop,” I tell him. I’m not sure why I do but his eye brows raise. “I could call him in and ask him to help with any questions you might have in case maybe the police don’t need to be involved.”

  He keeps scrolling through the phone before he drops it suddenly. “Please do that,” I nod picking my phone out of my pocket and texting Dane.

  Me: I need your help at the school. Some kids are in trouble and my boss has some questions.

  I look back up at Kennedy. “How are you settling in?” he asks. “I know being a sub isn’t what you wanted here, but we aren’t even sure if Mrs. Green will be back.”

  “I know. I’m a patient person.”

  “Unlike your family,” he laughs and I can’t help it either. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, I completely agree that none of them are patient. I’ll wait till you have something for me.”

  “Thank you, Royce.”

  My phone beeps and I look down at it.

  Dane: Be there soon.

  “He’s on his way. I’ll let him know to come straight here. I’ll get back to class and see you when the last bell rings.”

  “Thanks again, Royce,” he smiles at me.

  “No Problem.” I leave his office and ignore the boys as I walk past them into the hall. I text Dane back as I walk back to class.

  Me: I have class so go straight to Mr. Kennedy’s office.

  Dane: Will do XX

  I smile at the kisses at the end of his text. He’s slowly becoming extremely important in my life.

  Kady is sitting on my bed waiting for me to finish getting ready for tonight. She’s put on a very nice summer dress with a light cardigan and her sneakers. I’ve got my skimpy black dress on and I pulled out my long sweater so it’ll cover my ass, but the turquoise heels I’m pairing it with will give me the look to kill. “Did you pack a bag?” I ask Kady.

  “Yeah. It’s by the door.” Kady is going over to Danny’s house for the night. She’s hasn’t had a chance to go over there in a while, and while I’d love to have her here with me all the time, I know how much she likes spending time with Lucy. “You look pretty,” she tells me, and I smile up in the mirror as I apply my mascara. Usually, I don’t use a lot of makeup, but tonight I put a little extra on. I’ve got a natural look going w
ith a little eye shadow, eyeliner and this mascara to make my eyes pop.

  “Thank you.” I drop the mascara and add a little lipstick. “Done,” I say. Damn, I look good. My hair is lightly curled around my shoulders and even with my glasses on you can tell my eye color is standing out. “You all set?” I ask.

  “Yep. Is Dane picking us up?” Just as she says it, there is knock at the door.

  “He is,” I say. “Let’s not keep him waiting.” I grab my sweater pull it on and follow Kady downstairs.

  Kady looks through the peep hole then opens the door with a wide smile, “Hi Dane,” she says excitedly.

  “Hey Kady. Here, I got you these.” He hands her over flowers. I grab my purse as she takes them from him.

  “Thank you,” she sniffs them then turns around to me. “Can I put them in a vase before we go?”

  “Yes, you can.” She runs off to the kitchen and I walk up to Dane who’s now standing inside. “Thank you for getting her those.”

  “She deserves them.” He leans down and kisses me lightly, but it still sends chills all over my body. The man is seriously killing me by not sleeping with me.

  “Tonight?” I ask.

  “I don’t know, Royce. Maybe.” He wraps his arms around me. “You look beautiful,” he looks down at my boobs, which are pushed up in this bra and dress. “Especially the twins,” I giggle.

  “You look good too,” I tug on his shirt collar. He’s got on a black button up dress shirt with a leather jacket and his cut. His jeans are extra dark and he’s wearing his usual brown boots. The man looks edible and never really differs from what he wears, I don’t mind he’s freaking sexy in anything. How we’ve lasted this long without having sex is seriously a mystery to me.

  “Ready!” Kady yells out from behind us. I pull back from Dane.

  “Well, let’s go then.” Dane leaves his arm out for Kady to take, then picks up her bag by the door. “You look beautiful tonight, Kady,” he says as he leads her out the door.

  “Thank you, Dane.”

  I smile at the sight of them. He’s really great to her. Every time he picks me up, he always acknowledges her or when he takes us both out he makes sure to keep all of his attention on both of us.

  “You can sit in the front tonight,” Dane tells Kady, holding the passenger door open for her.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I say holding up my hands. “And just where do you think I’m going to sit?” I ask with as much sarcasm as I can.

  “In the back, silly,” Kady tells me. I roll my eyes, but don’t mind one bit getting into the back. I sit in the middle of the back row. “Can I pick the radio station?” Kady asks me.

  “You are in the front,” I tell her. Once Dane has the truck on Kady picks a country station and immediately starts singing along to the music.

  Dane starts to pull out of my driveway so he turns back and looks right at me as he does it. “Thank you,” I mouth, just because he’s an amazing guy and needs to know how appreciated he is.

  He moves his arm from Kady’s head rest and puts it on my knee squeezing lightly, “Seat belt,” he says with a grin. I roll my eyes, but pull it on.

  Once he’s out of the driveway, he turns back around and drives towards the Death Patriots club house. I keep my hand on Dane’s the whole way there. My fingers playing with his ear or pulling at his hair, he doesn’t seem to mind at all, in fact he smiles at me a couple times over the twenty-minute drive. Kady and I are definitely being annoying with the way we are singing, but Dane takes it all like it’s not bothering him and maybe, just maybe, it isn’t bothering him at all. Maybe he loves it. Maybe this is what he’s been looking for his whole life. I honestly hope it is, because Dane is what I found when I wasn’t looking.

  Love is like that though; you find it when you aren’t looking. It sneaks up on you when you don’t want it to.

  “We’re here,” Dane says as he turns left into the club compound. I call it a compound because there is a huge gate that keeps unwanted people out. We drive through it and park next to one of the many vehicles here. “What did you guys get, Dallas?” Dane asks.

  I just shrug. “Royce forgot it was his birthday.”

  “Hey I moved us down here, isn’t that enough?” I ask both of them and they both look at me like I’m crazy. “I forgot.”

  “Here,” Dane says pulling a card out of the glove box. “I got you guys a card to give to him.”

  “You knew I forgot?” I ask, as he hands the card to Kady.

  “I thought you might. You’ve been busy lately. I asked you the other day while at lunch if you were getting him a present and you went rambling into something completely about science.”

  “I did?” I don’t remember that at all. I remember sitting there looking at his neck while I talked, trying to figure out if I bit him in a certain spot if he would get hard.

  “Yeah. It was kind of weird to be honest.”

  “You like my weird.” I take my seat belt off and lean forward to give him a smacking kiss. Kady puts the card in front of our mouths to stop us.

  “Here,” she smiles wide at me and I take the card from her with a huff. “What did you get him?” Kady asks.

  “A new wallet. His is old and worn out. I figured y’all could give him the card and this.” Dane reaches into the back seat and pulls up a bottle of Jack.

  “Or, Kady can give him the wallet and you can give him that.” I say because no kid should give a grown man a bottle of Jack.

  “Or that,” Dane grins. I sign the card quickly then hand it back to Kady and Dane hands her the bag with the wallet in it.

  We get out and Dane opens the door for Kady and me. He takes my hand as we start walking towards the BBQ. Everyone is here tonight. So basically everyone in my family is here and seeing Dane and I together for the first time, besides Luke and Kayden. I’m a little nervous.

  Kady looks at me once we spot Dallas. “Go ahead,” I tell her and she takes off to go give him his present.

  “Baby girl!” Dallas yells out, as he wraps her in a big hug.

  I stop Dane from walking and pull him back to me. “Just one second,” I say before I kiss him hard. I sneak my tongue into his mouth, tangle it with his. I kiss him with all the heat he’s been making me store up over the last two months. I want him to know how much I care for him and what he’s proven to be to Kady and I.

  “Wow,” he says breathlessly when I pull back.

  “You have no idea what you do to me,” he pulls me tightly against his body.

  “You have the same effect on me, baby.” I feel his hard on through his jeans and smile proudly up at him. “Give me all of you.”

  “You’ve already taken me, Dane,” I whisper.

  “I haven’t. You haven’t let me all the way in. Once you do, I’ll give you all of me.”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “I’m not talking about that. I want everything else though, Royce. I know you well, but I want to know you better than anyone, because once I take you,” he pushes his hips subtly against mine, causing me to moan from the sensation, “You will be mine forever.”

  “I’ll tell you everything tonight,” I tell him. “Let’s enjoy the party for a while first.”

  “Fine with me. I want to show you off to everyone here anyways. You are so hot,” he smiles against my lips.

  “You are too,” I slip my tongue back in between his lips, kissing him hard.

  “Come on, guys!” Kayden yells out, making us pull apart. “Get over here,” he holds up two beers.

  After saying hi to every single person here and eating, we finally start to relax a bit. I’m on my fifth beer, just enough to feel good, and Dane is on his second. He’s slowly drinking since he has to drive us home. We’re sitting around the fire pit with all of my brothers and a couple of the younger guys in the club. Dallas disappeared a while ago with Kris, and Kady left with Danny and his family about an hour after the sun went down.

  “I’ve always wondered how they m
ake these,” I say lifting my beer top up. I’m sitting in between Dane’s legs on a blanket in front of the fire. It’s cold tonight. Dane has his arms around me, and with the fire near I’m not freezing.

  “You’re the scientist, you should know,” Luke says. Barbie is sitting next to him.

  “I’m a biologist,” I say. “Besides, scientists don’t come up with shit like this.” Dane moves my hair out of his way before he kisses my shoulder, slightly distracting me. “People invent this stuff and then manufacture it.”

  “Same difference,” Kayden argues.

  I lean back against Dane more and he tightens his hold on me. “I love your necklace,” the girl, Cody, on Barbie’s right, says in a soft Australian accent. I haven’t heard all of her story yet just that she moved here with her family after a death or something.

  “Thank you. It was a gift from my dad,” she tugs on it, admires it for a couple seconds, then looks up at me. “What’s that necklace Kady is always wearing?”

  I stiffen “It’s umm—” I look around for someone to get me out of this, but no one does. They are all looking at me. “My umm—” I look over my shoulder at Dane, pleading with him to forgive me for not telling him sooner even though I haven’t said anything yet. I take a deep breath and a pull of my beer, it’s gotten really quiet. Everyone knows I’m about to drop a bomb here. “I had a fiancé back in Kentucky.” This time Dane stiffens, but he doesn’t let go of me. “He turned out to be a real piece of shit. I left him and moved down here. He gave Kady that ring before we left.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking what happened between you two?” Cody asks.

  “Lots of lies,” I lie. “He lied about everything, but I never told Kady because he was a good man to her. She just thinks that we weren’t in love anymore.”

  “That must have been devastating,” Barbie says. “I mean, I would’ve been devastated. Do you miss him?” she asks. “Oh shit, I’m sorry,” she says putting her hand to her mouth. “I’m just gonna get another beer.”

  Dane reaches his hand out to her stopping her before she passes him. “It’s fine. You didn’t say anything I wouldn’t have said. I know where my girl is.” I lean even more into Dane, hoping he’ll tighten his hold on me and let me know we’re okay.