Mr. Teacher_Single Dad & Virgin Romance

by Kelli Callahan

  “WHAT TIME IS IT?” I sat up on the couch and felt my eyes aching as they adjusted to the light.

  I leaned forward and stared at the bottle of vodka sitting on the table. I didn’t have that much, but it had been so long since I drank hard liquor that my head was hurting. It took me a couple of seconds to realize it wasn’t the vodka that had left my head hurting and my eyes aching. It was the side of my face that was to blame. The spot where Veronica slapped me was still tender to the touch. My eyes finally adjusted and I realized it was after eight o’clock.

  “Oh, shit. Veronica, you’re late for school!” I ran up the stairs and pushed open her door to find an empty bed. “Veronica?”

  I hurried back down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. There was an empty cereal bowl on the table with milk in it. The milk was actually still sitting on the counter with a layer of condensation on the jug. I put it away and sighed as I realized that Veronica had gotten up and went to school without even waking me. I walked back to the living room, put away my mom’s vodka, and then headed towards the stairs because I was in desperate need of a shower.

  Didn’t I leave my bag by the door last night?

  The bag that had carried my clothes to Gavin’s house and carried my cheerleader outfit back was gone. I was fairly certain I dropped it when I stepped inside the house. I didn’t see it anywhere downstairs, so I headed up to my room. I found it right inside my door and it was unzipped. Veronica had to be the one that moved it, since I was certain I didn’t. I shrugged my shoulders and tossed it into my closet. I would have to deal with it later, because my face hurt too much to think at the moment.

  I SHOWERED, GOT DRESSED for the day, and worked on a reading assignment I needed to finish before classes started, but my head hurt too much for me to really focus. I stretched out on the couch and watched television until lunch and after I ate, I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I heard was the front door slamming and I sat up to see Veronica walking into the living room.

  “Were you sleeping?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “At a time like this?”

  “What do you mean?” I tilted my head to the side.

  “I figured you would be sobbing in your room or something.” She looked a bit perplexed. “Or maybe you just haven’t heard the news since you don’t go to Glendale anymore.”

  “News?” I stood to my feet. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh my gosh, Charlotte! It’s a huge scandal! Mr. King has been fucking a student at the school!” Her eyes lit up as she rambled.

  “What the fuck?” My mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes!” She nodded enthusiastically. “Apparently he’s been fucking one of the cheerleaders! An email went out to all of the teachers this morning. I was able to get a copy of it if you want to see it!”

  “Yeah…” I answered but I was still in shock, trying to process what she was saying.

  “It’s disgusting, sis.” Veronica handed me the email and my heart sank into my stomach.

  The words I read were not new to me. They were mine. It was a dirty story I wrote when I was in high school, but it had never seen the light of day. It was my fantasy about Mr. King, but I never intended for anyone to read it. When I got to the bottom of the email, I realized there was something there that wasn’t part of my story. It was a picture of a cheerleader uniform—mine. My mouth fell open as I realized why my bag had been missing when I woke up that morning.

  “Veronica, you fucking bitch. You sent this to all the teachers?” My heart started skipping beats and it felt like my chest was crushing it.

  “I don’t know who sent it.” She shrugged. “I just know that the police came and took Mr. King away this morning. Apparently it’s frowned upon for a teacher to put their dick inside a student.”

  “I’m going to kill you, just as soon as I straighten this out.” I folded the paper up and shoved it into my pocket. “You might want to call Mom and tell her to come home, because if she isn’t here to stop me when I get back, they’ll be picking up pieces of you with the garbage next week.”

  I walked towards the door and hit her with my shoulder because she was in my path. It wasn’t enough to cause harm, but it did make her stumble. I grabbed my purse and when I got outside, I dug around in it and couldn’t find my keys. I immediately walked back towards the house, but the front door was locked. I slammed my hand into it several times and saw Veronica peering from the side window with a huge grin on her face.

  “Sorry.” She shrugged and pulled the curtains closed.

  My sister had definitely become a little bitch. She was worse than I could have ever been. I might have did a few terrible things, but I would never have destroyed someone’s career or had them hauled off to jail as some petty revenge ploy. I used my phone to call for an Uber since my sister had taken my keys, and instructed the driver to take me to Glendale High School. It was going to be humiliating to have to tell them that I wrote the story and it was nothing more than fantasy, but I didn’t have any other choice.

  “PRINCIPAL WILSON, YOUR secretary said you were still here. Can I speak with you?” I stepped into the Principal’s office and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t there because I deserved to be.

  “Charlotte? He tilted his head. “Charlotte Baker? Wow, what are you doing here?” He stood and blinked in surprise.

  “I’m here because of this.” I pulled the copy of the email my sister sent out of my pocket and sighed deeply. “I believe my sister took an old story I wrote and sent it to everyone in the school.”

  “I see.” He closed his eyes and I could see his face getting red with anger. “Mr. King said he was dating someone that used to be a student here. I’m guessing that would be you?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “And I swear on my life—even on my sister’s life, which may not last much longer—that Mr. King never even looked at me in this way when I was a student. This story was nothing but a fantasy written by a sixteen year old girl that had more hormones than brains.”

  “Yet you two are together now?” His eyes opened and I detected suspicion in his voice.

  “We are.” I nodded again. “I came by to pick up my sister from detention and I ran into him again. He’s divorced now, we’re both adults, and yeah—the girl that wrote that story still had a crush on him.”

  “You and everyone else.” Principal Wilson picked up the piece of paper. “You’re going to have to give a statement to the police and probably the school board. I don’t know how this will shake out, but at least we can make sure Mr. King doesn’t go to prison.”

  Chapter 10: Gavin

  I wanted to answer the questions that were being asked, but there was no way I was going to do it without a lawyer present. The school board tried to send their attorney to sit with me, but I decided to hire private counsel. The school board would only look out for themselves and the situation I was in would require someone that had my best interests in mind. It took several hours for my lawyer to arrive and for me to fill him in on the situation, but then we were seated in the interrogation room where I knew my life would quickly be dissected.

  “Have you tried to reach out to the girl you have been seeing?” My lawyer leaned over and whispered before the cops walked in.

  “No.” I shook my head back and forth. “We’ve only been on two dates and we made plans in person. I didn’t even get her number.”

  “That’s probably for the best.” My lawyer leaned back in his chair as the police walked in.

  It was a barrage of questions and I let my lawyer decide which ones I should answer. They took a few breaks along the way, but it was practically an entire day of questioning. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but the allegations were so serious that I didn’t feel comfortable handling it on my own. Internally, I was feeling so shocked by what transpired that I wasn’t sure I could have said the right thing anyway. I couldn’t help but question if Charlotte had set me up. She was the one that suggested I ask her out.
She was the one that showed up at the school and then later showed up at my house wearing the cheerleader uniform. All of that seemed a little convenient considering the fact that the email was sent the very next day.

  “So, let me get this straight.” The detective leaned back in his chair. “You’re sleeping with someone that used to be a student at Glendale High School, you think she might have sent this email, but you’re not going to tell us who it is?”

  “My client has already explained that to you.” My lawyer leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “This is a private matter between my client and his girlfriend.”

  “Or—her sister.” The other detective stared at his notes.

  “My client doesn’t have anything else to say. Are we free to go?” My lawyer glared at the two detectives.

  “Let’s take a break and reconvene in about an hour.” The larger detective stood. “We need to review our notes.”

  “You can’t hold him here!” My lawyer’s tone got louder.

  “We’re not holding him. We’re just talking.” The other detective stood up and followed his partner towards the door.

  The detectives excused themselves and we sat in the room for longer than an hour. My lawyer decided to go out and see if he could figure out what was going on. School was definitely out and the rumors were likely rampant with every parent of a cheerleader sitting them down to have a serious conversation the moment they walked in the door. I wasn’t sure if Principal Wilson or the school board had started questioning them or notifying the parents, but it wouldn’t matter either way. I might have gotten some frowns because I was dating a former student that once sat in my class, but even if they found out the email was a lie, my reputation would be completely ruined in the aftermath.

  “Mr. King, I’ve got good news.” My lawyer walked back into the room with a smile on his face.

  “I’m not sure anything you say will sound like good news.” I looked up at him and sighed. “It’ll rank somewhere between bad and worst.”

  “Well, then consider it the lowest version of bad. They figured out who sent the email. A Ms. Charlotte Baker approached Principal Wilson after school and confessed.” He shrugged. “That’s good news, right?”

  “She confessed?” My stomach did a flip as my lawyer spoke.

  “She confessed to writing it, but not to sending it.” The detective that first questioned me stepped into the room. “It was her sister that did that. We’re going to end our investigation and turn this over to the school board. It doesn’t look like there was a crime, so we’ll let them handle it.”

  “No crime…” I sighed and shook my head.

  Just the crime of my life falling apart.

  “AMY, NO. YOU CAN’T do that!” I was seething into the phone as I spoke. “I didn’t do anything wrong, it was some stupid kid at the school!”

  My ex-wife wasn’t listening to anything I said. She just repeated what she had already told me. She wasn’t going to allow Benjamin to come see me for the weekend and she was filing for full custody. Apparently the rumor had made it all the way to the elementary school and Benjamin’s teacher had heard it. She called my ex-wife immediately and my relationship with my son was severed in an instant.

  “Amy, come on. You know me better than that!” I tried to control my temper as I turned into my driveway. “Did you just hang up on me? Fuck!”

  If I put myself in her shoes, I understood. The father of her son had just been accused of sleeping with a student. Not only that, it was a million times worse because the world found out in a graphic email that featured the cheerleader outfit Charlotte had been wearing when we were together. I turned off the ignition and when I looked up, I saw Charlotte sitting on my front porch. It was a mixture of rage and frustration that took hold of me as I stepped out of my car. It appeared she had gotten a ride, because I didn’t see her car anywhere.

  “I didn’t know where else to go.” Her eyes were red and I could tell she had been crying. “I called my mother and she’s on her way home to deal with Veronica, but I can’t go back there right now. If I see my little sister at this point, I might literally kill her.”

  I wanted to lash out. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to put every ounce of blame squarely on her shoulders and watch her collapse underneath the weight. I didn’t do that. The second I saw her face, I realized she was a victim just like I was. She really did care about me. I wrapped my arms around her and she cried into my shoulder for several minutes before I led her inside the house. We walked into the kitchen and I poured two glasses of whiskey. I definitely needed it and I was pretty sure she did as well.

  “What happened to your face?” I leaned over and lightly grazed a red mark with bruising in the center that appeared to be swollen.

  “Veronica. I guess it wasn’t enough for her to inflict physical damage, she had to go after you as well.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  Charlotte filled me in on what happened with her sister the previous night after she got home, and how the entire situation unfolded. She was able to fill in a lot of gaps that I didn’t understand. I sipped my whiskey as I listened, feeling the alcohol sour the instant it hit my stomach. The day had left so much turmoil inside me that it wasn’t doing the trick like it normally did. She finished her story and reached for her glass, downing half of it and almost coughing as it went down her throat.

  “I guess she found the story on your computer and saved it…” I exhaled sharply and shook my head. “Last night just gave her the perfect opportunity to make it a little more authentic when she saw your uniform.”

  “Yeah.” Charlotte nodded and took another drink of her whiskey. “I regret writing it. See, this is why I plagiarized my work for your class. The stuff I wrote wasn’t fit for anyone to read.”

  “I could have probably enjoyed it a bit more if it wasn’t ruining my life.” I chuckled, my first laugh since the whole thing began that morning.

  “What are you going to do now? Do you think the school will let you keep teaching?” She reached for the bottle and refilled both of our glasses.

  “I have no idea. Even if they do give me the green light, I’m not sure I can show my face there again. My ex-wife is threatening to move out of state with my son to make sure he doesn’t grow up where someone could tell him about it.” I squeezed my eyes together to avoid the emotional response I was feeling over losing my son.

  “Fuck, I’m so sorry.” Charlotte reached out and put her hand on mine. “If it is any consolation, the school board mentioned that Veronica would likely be expelled for this when I talked with their lawyer. I have to sign a written statement tomorrow verifying that everything I said was true. My mother assured me that Veronica would sign one as well.”

  “I’m sorry I compared her to you when I found out she was your sister. That girl is completely off the rails—she makes you look like a fucking saint.” I lifted my glass to my lips again.

  “Except she’s a product of what I did.” Charlotte started to tear up again. “She reminded me last night that she was an honor roll student before she got to high school and had her life ruined by my reputation.”

  “That’s nonsense.” I shook my head and practically spat my words. “Plenty of people have terrible role models and don’t decide to take it up a notch in response. My older brother went to jail for dealing meth when I was in high school. I didn’t suddenly decide to become a drug dealer because he was one.”

  “I know she’s responsible for what she does, but I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault. If I was a better person in high school, she wouldn’t have ruined your life.” Charlotte blinked away a tear and sipped her whiskey.

  “We’re in this together, whether you like it or not.” I squeezed her hand. “Like I said last night, you belong to me now. I don’t care if it is the two of us against the world. I owe you an apology as well, because when I saw the email, I actually thought you could have sent it.”

  “There was a time when I probably would have
done the same thing Veronica did without even thinking about the repercussions.” She lifted her head and her eyes met mine.

  “I don’t believe that for a second. You were all talk and no action.” I smiled and put my glass on the table. “That’s why you were still a virgin when you first climbed into my bed.”

  “All talk, huh?” She pushed her chair back from the table. “Why don’t we take this to the bedroom and you can see that I’m all about action now.”

  Chapter 11: Charlotte

  It was a mixture of whiskey and frustration that drove us as we embraced in the bedroom. I needed a distraction from the day and while the whiskey had done a lot, I needed something with a little more substance. I felt like Gavin needed that as well. My sister was a bitch, but I wasn’t going to let that destroy what we had started to build. We could figure out the rest of it together. Our lips came together and even with all the turmoil surrounding us, I still felt fireworks go off in my head. We crashed into the bed with our lips pressed together and continued kissing while our hands explored our naked bodies.

  “This is exactly what I need.” His lips moved from mine and his hand slid down my abdomen until he had a finger buried in my wetness.

  “Yeah.” I let out a sigh of pleasure. “Me too.”

  When I had left him the previous night, I had thought we were going to have a normal date this evening, possibly even one that didn’t start with dinner. I had no problem with the thought. I had figured I might even end up over his knee again, learning to love the palm of his hand. But it was clear after today that our spirits only needed the satisfaction of our bodies. Two lovers chasing the same release. It was a way for us to put aside the thoughts of everything my sister did and find solace in our embrace. I wrapped my hand around his cock and stroked it as he continued sliding his finger inside my pussy.