by M. S. Force
“You could never hurt me.”
“It would hurt if we had sex today, so we’re waiting, and that’s nonnegotiable.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” I say with a teasing smile.
“In this case, I am.”
As the plane taxis toward the runway for the trip back to New York, I reach for his hand and hold on tight for takeoff.
“Thanks for the best weekend of my life.”
He kisses my hand. “It was for me, too. Thanks for coming.”
We move to the sofa as soon as we can, and after a few heated kisses, we end up sleeping for most of the flight. It’s now safe to say I’m addicted to sleeping in his arms.
It’s snowing in New York, and the approach to Teterboro is bumpy. Flynn holds my hand the whole way, and I breathe a sigh of relief when we touch down. The cold and snow are harsh reminders we’re not in California anymore. I feel an overwhelming sense of letdown at realizing my big adventure has ended and it’s back to reality.
My third-grade classroom is an awfully long way from Gucci Couture.
“This must be what Cinderella felt like when her coach turned into a pumpkin,” I say to Flynn as we drive through sloppy wet snow and ice on our way into the city.
“Are you calling my Bugatti a pumpkin?”
“I would never insult the Bugatti. It was a metaphor for the weather and the end of a rather grand adventure.”
“The first of many grand adventures we’ll have together, sweetheart. You can count on that.”
We arrive at my place a short time later. We’re greeted by Fluff, who is so happy to see me, she barely registers that Flynn is with me. Leah isn’t home, so we settle in to wait for the security detail to get there. Four huge men arrive an hour later, and all of them seem to know Flynn.
He introduces me to each of them and lets me know that at least one of them will be with me at all times going forward.
“What about when I’m in school?”
“We’ll be outside the building to ensure that no one tries to gain access to you.”
“They’d try to get into my school?” I ask, incredulous.
“We’ve learned to be prepared for any and all possibilities.”
“They’ll also drive you to and from school when I can’t be here to do it,” Flynn adds.
“Well, that won’t suck in light of the current weather.”
“One of us will be close by at all times,” Dylan, the one in charge, says. He hands me a black object that has a big red button in the middle of it. “This is a panic button. If you need us, don’t hesitate to push the button. We’ll get to you within seconds.”
I swallow hard at the thought of needing them that badly. “I will, thanks.”
“We’ll leave you to get some rest, and we’ll see you in the morning for the ride to school. Your roommate is welcome to come, too. I understand she works at the same school.”
“Yes, she does. Thank you. She’ll appreciate that.”
“Good night, then.”
They nod respectfully on their way out.
“Are you okay with all this?” Flynn asks.
“I guess I have to be. It’s weird, but I suppose I’ll get used to it.”
“I’m sorry that it’s necessary, but I won’t take any chances with your safety or security.”
I go to him and put my arms around his waist.
He gathers me in close to him. “You want me to go so you can get ready for tomorrow?”
“No, I don’t want you to go.”
“Good answer.”
We take Fluff out to pee and then work together to make a simple dinner of pasta with vegetables. He insists we turn in early since I have to get up at what he calls the “butt crack of dawn.” Lovely. In bed, he holds me close but refuses to even kiss me so he won’t be tempted to make love to me.
Nothing I do, and I try just about everything, convinces him to change his mind.
“Stop trying to break me,” he mutters. “I can’t be broken.”
Fluff, who has worked her way in between us, growls at him.
“Good girl, Fluff.” I stroke her ears. “You tell him if he’s going to sleep in our bed, he has to follow our rules.”
“Tomorrow night, you’ll be in my bed following my rules, so you’d better watch your mouth.”
Fluff growls again, making us both laugh. We consider it a major victory that she’s allowed him into the bed in the first place.
The next thing I know, my alarm is going off, and Flynn is groaning in protest.
I lean over Fluff to kiss him. “Go back to sleep for a while. I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.”
“Wait, do you take Fluff out first thing?”
“Usually.”
“Not today you aren’t. I’ll do it.” He gets up slowly and reluctantly. “Five o’clock in the fucking morning? Seriously, Nat?”
“I have to ease my way into the day. It’s my routine.”
“Your routine is fucked up.”
“And you’re cranky in the morning.”
“This isn’t the morning! It’s the middle of the fucking night.”
I laugh at him as I gather up my clothes and head for the shower. “Fluff, be nice to Flynn. He’s taking you out to pee. And isn’t it cute that you both have names that start with FL? You’re a match made in heaven.”
“Do you have to be so fucking cheerful in the middle of the night?”
I’m still laughing when I step into the shower. I love that he’s cranky in the morning and that his hair stands straight up and he looks nothing at all like a movie star. Rather, he looks exactly like the man I love with all my heart.
He’s talking to Leah when I emerge from the bathroom, dressed and ready for work.
“Um, Nat, there’s a movie star in our apartment,” she says, smiling at me over a mug of coffee.
I wink at her. “Nah, that’s just Flynn, and he’s grumpy in the morning.”
“It’s not morning. It’s the middle of the fucking night.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Leah says.
We all leave together, Flynn to head to his place while the security guys take Leah and me to work. She loves that we now have our own driver. Flynn kisses me good-bye on the sidewalk and waits until we drive off to head to his car.
After four days with him, I miss him already.
Chapter 23
Watching Natalie drive off in the big SUV with her security detail, I experience a sense of unease. I hate that she needs security simply because she’s dating me, but like I told her, I’m not taking any chances where she’s concerned.
The seven hours until she gets out of school stretch out before me like an endless ordeal I have to endure so I can be with her again. Tonight, I’ll take her to my place, and we’ll pick up where we left off the other morning. I honestly can’t wait to be inside her again. That’s the closest to heaven I’ve ever been. But I can’t think about that now or I’ll be walking around with a hard-on all day.
I go home to shower and change before heading to the Quantum office to do some work. I’ve let everything slide over the last ten days, and it’s time to get caught up. I’ve got a meeting at two thirty with Hayden to go over the plans for post-production on our new film, which has defied naming. That’s one of many decisions that must be made soon. I keep the meeting short and sweet, because it’s almost time to see Natalie. She has to tutor her student Myles right after school, but at four o’clock, she’s all mine.
Hayden calls me right on time. “How’s it going?” he asks.
“Great, you?”
“I’m still high from Sunday night. I can only imagine how you must feel.”
I can’t tell him that winning the Globe is the least of what happened Sunday night. “It was a good night.”
“Natalie seemed to enjoy it.”
“She did.”
“Addie says the press is going wild over her, trying to get the skinny.”
“Liza is
dealing with them.”
“You can’t stonewall them forever, you know.”
“I’ll stonewall them for as long as I can.”
“So it’s serious with you two? What you said in your acceptance speech…”
“It’s serious. I’m in love with her.”
“Flynn… Jesus, you just met her. Don’t you think you ought to take some time before you start talking about love?”
“You ought to know about taking some time.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“When are you going to admit that you’re in love with Addie?”
He’s silent for so long that I wonder if he’s still there. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I have eyes, Hayden. Perfectly good working eyes, and I’ve known for some time that you’re in love with her.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind! You fall in love and suddenly you see love everywhere?”
“It’s not sudden. You’ve been into her for years now, but you’re too damned afraid to do anything about it. So don’t sit in judgment of me just because I choose to act on my feelings for Natalie.”
“I don’t even know what to say to you right now. We’ve got a ton of shit to deal with, and you’re throwing this at me?”
“I’m just pointing out that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
“Poetic, Flynn. Really.”
My phone chimes with a text from Addie. 911. Our code for call me right now no matter what you’re doing. My stomach drops, and my first thought is of Natalie. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back.”
“Flynn, wait—”
I drop the desk phone into the cradle and call Addie on my cell.
“We’ve got a huge problem,” she says.
“What? You’re freaking me out.”
“I don’t even know how to tell you this, but Hollywood Starz is reporting that Natalie is actually a woman named April Genovese who accused the Nebraska governor of rape when she was fifteen. It went all the way to trial, where he was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison.”
I’m going to be sick. “I’ll call you back.” I run for the bathroom that adjoins my office, where I’m violently ill. Oh my God, I’ve brought down the wrath of hell on my sweet Natalie. All I can think about is getting to her. Right now.
I wash my face, brush my teeth quickly and grab my coat and phone on the way out of the office. In the elevator to the parking garage, I feel like my skin is too tight to contain the rage and fear that I feel. She’ll never forgive me for this. I’m certain that any chance I had of a life with her is gone now, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do everything within my power to try to make this right.
Driving the Range Rover, I emerge into a swarm of reporters staked outside the Quantum office who are screaming at me for a comment about Natalie. I press the accelerator, not caring in the least if I run them down. All that matters is getting to her.
Liza calls, and I take it even though she’s about the last person I want to talk to. “Flynn, oh my goodness! Is it true?”
“There’s no comment from us on this, you got me?”
“You have to say something.”
“No, I don’t. This is her personal business, and it has nothing to do with me or my career. It’s off-limits.”
“But—”
“Liza, if you wish to continue working for me, I want the full resources of your company on this. I want you to threaten lawsuits and anything else you can think of to make it stop.”
“It’s too late to stop it. It’s already all over the Internet.”
“I can’t do this right now. I need to get to her. Do what you can to contain it.”
“Is it true?”
“I don’t even know, but that doesn’t matter. This is going to hurt her, and I promised I’d never hurt her.”
“You didn’t do this. You had nothing to do with it.”
“You know goddamned well I had everything to do with it.” After a quick call to Dylan to put Natalie’s security on alert, I throw the phone into the passenger seat and hit the gas. Getting to her is the only thing that matters.
Stone-faced Mrs. Heffernan is waiting for me when I return to my classroom after seeing my students off at the end of another long day. “We have a problem, Ms. Bryant.”
“What’s that?”
“We have reporters at our door looking for you, and we’re hearing from them that you aren’t who you say you are.”
I feel the earth shift under my feet, and for a brief terrifying second, I fear I’m going to pass out from the absolute shock that hits my system like a high-voltage bolt of electricity.
“Nothing to say?” She seems smug and satisfied, as if she’s always known I’m no good.
“I… I’m exactly who I say I am.”
“And you were never known by the name April Genovese?”
That name coming from Mrs. Heffernan is another high-voltage shock that rips through me. I can’t seem to speak over the huge knot of fear that grips my chest. It’s similar to the way I felt when I had the wind knocked out of me the day I met Flynn.
“The contract you signed is very clear, Ms. Bryant, or Ms. Genovese or whomever you are. Fraud of any kind will not be tolerated. I’m afraid your position here has been terminated. You’re to clean out your personal effects and be out by five o’clock, or you’ll be escorted from the premises by the NYPD.”
I’m being fired, and there’s nothing I can do about it. As a contract employee with a charter school, I don’t benefit from the protection of a union. I’m completely on my own. And then I think about the children I’ve come to love in the months we’ve been together.
A sob erupts from my tightly clenched jaw. “You can’t fire me. My legal name is Natalie Bryant. I haven’t lied about anything.”
“None of this appeared in your background check, which leads us to wonder what else you’re hiding. We can’t take chances with the safety and security of our students. The decision has been made, and your contract has been voided. Please clean out your classroom immediately.”
She turns and walks out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
For the longest time after she leaves, I stand perfectly still, trying to process what she’s told me. And then I begin to cry again, the sobs coming from deep inside me as eight years of hard work disappear in a wisp of smoke. After everything I’ve done to hide—changing my appearance, changing my name, changing my entire life—none of it protected me. My job, my classroom, my children, my new home, my new city… Everything has been taken from me, and there’s not a damned thing I can do, because she’s right. I did lie during my background check, but only to protect myself. Nothing I lied about put children at risk. I would never do that.
But what does it matter now?
Feeling like I’m hiking through quicksand, I find a box in the coatroom and take it to my desk, filling it with personal items that I’d brought to make my classroom homier for the children. I can barely see through the tears that blind me. I find the thank-you card that Logan gave me this morning, and it hits me like a punch to the gut.
Thank you, Miss Bryant, for making my mommy smile. You’re the best teacher in the whole wide world and I love you. Logan.
I fall to my knees, racked with sobs. I can’t bear the thought of never seeing him or any of my other children again. My heart is breaking into a million pieces.
Leah comes into the room, closing the door behind her. “Oh my God, Natalie! Did Stone Face really just fire you?”
I nod because I’m not capable of speech.
“She can’t do that! None of this is your fault. She’s a fucking bitch.” Leah squats next to me and puts her arm around me. “Come on, let’s get you out of here. I’ll take care of getting your stuff tomorrow.”
I shake my head. I need a few minutes to myself before I can think of leaving, of facing the reporters who’ve descended upon my school, wanting a piece
of me. It reminds me too much of the hell I went through during the trial, when everyone wanted a piece of me until there was almost nothing left.
“It’s okay, Leah.” I wipe my face, but it’s futile because the tears keep coming. “Go on home. I’ll see you there.”
“I can’t leave you like this.”
“Please… I’ll be fine.”
“Where’s Flynn? Does he know about this?”
Flynn… I’m ashamed that I haven’t thought of him once since Mrs. Heffernan stormed out. He must be out of his mind if he knows what’s happened. The poor guy will blame himself, when it’s my fault, not his.
The door flies open, and there he is, breathing hard, his gorgeous face stony with rage and fear and love. The love is so apparent, it’s all I see.
“I’ll take it from here, Leah.”
Leah stands and walks toward the door, squeezing his arm as she goes past him.
“Natalie…” He comes to me, drops to the floor and gathers me into his strong arms. He holds me so tightly, I know there will be bruises, but I’m so numb I can barely feel a thing.
I cling to him because I don’t know what else to do.
“Let’s get you out of here.”
“There’re reporters.”
“Let me worry about that.” He stands and helps me up. “Let’s get your coat on.”
“She fired me, Flynn. Mrs. Heffernan fired me. My stuff…”
“Leah will get it.” He grabs my purse and phone from my desk and hands them to me. Then he takes me by the arm and leads me out like he does it every day, taking me through the janitor’s closet to an exit I didn’t even know existed. My security team is waiting for us with two black SUVs with tinted windows.
I get into the backseat of the one Flynn directs me to. He gets in with me. He never lets go of my hand as we speed away from the school, my home away from home for the last five months.
“I need to know who could’ve done this to you, Natalie.” I hear his rage in every word he says.
“There’s only one person who could’ve done it,” I say between sobs as it becomes clear to me that someone I trusted has betrayed me. “He’s the only person in the world who knows me by both my names.”