by KB Winters
Continued in...Temporary Assignment Book 5!
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Temporary Assignment
Book 5
By
KB Winters and Evie Monroe
Copyright © 2016 BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
Published By: BookBoyfriends Publishing LLC
Chapter One
Everyone always said it was better to find love and lose it, but I always thought it was a ridiculous thing to tell someone who was suffering from a broken heart. Two months had gone by since the last time I’d seen Cole, and my heart and mind were still as much a wreck now as they had been when I walked out of that bathroom to see him gone. My bed smelled like his musky cologne for days after, and I often found myself imagining his scent even long after I had washed the sheets. Heather had noted the withdrawal of his sister from our school, but thankfully she took the route of not talking about it. I wouldn’t have been able to get back in the swing of things if she’d wanted to talk about how I felt. No, that talk had come after a night of one too many tequila shots and a horror movie marathon. When I thought back to her righteous indignation of Cole leaving, it made me smile a little.
“So let me get this straight,” Heather began. She threw her head back as she finished her shot of tequila and then slammed the glass down on my coffee table. The noise made me wince, or maybe it was just the pounding in my skull. She continued as if she hadn’t noticed my reaction. “He put in for a new job a few weeks before he met you?”
I nodded as I cradled my own shot glass in my hands. “Yep.”
“But he still courted you knowing he’d be leaving?”
I gripped the glass with one hand and brought it up to my lips. “Yep.” The acrid liquid burned my throat as it slid down, and I had to fight against coughing. I had never been a big fan of tequila, but right then I needed something to make the ache in my chest go away. I figured getting spectacularly drunk would do the trick. “He probably wasn’t sure whether he’d get it or not.”
Heather held her hand up. “Regardless—it’s still rude. Don’t you think that little tidbit was something he should have told you before, oh I don’t know, fucking you and trying to sweep you off your feet?” She reached out and grabbed the bottle of tequila and poured us both another shot. “How are you not totally livid with the jerk?”
I pushed my glass over to her with a sigh. “I’m too busy feeling sorry for myself to be angry. Plus,” I watched as the corn colored liquid filled up to the brim. “Plus, he did ask me to go with him, and I was the one who said no, so technically this pity party is my own fault.”
Heather paused. “Wait, what?”
“And who says ‘court’ anymore to describe dating? You sound like my grandmother.” I brought my glass up again and tried to school my face to not betray how much I truly hated the taste of tequila. Heather’s hand reached out to block me from drinking, it was not what I was expecting and I looked up. “What are you doing?”
“Rewind what you just said. Cole asked you to go with him?”
“That’s what I just said,” I replied my voice laced with annoyance at being denied my drink.
“Yeah, now, you just said that now, but you didn’t mention that when I asked you about things before getting here. What the hell, Savannah?” Heather sat back and gave me an incredulous look.
I didn’t understand where she was going with things. “What the hell, what?”
Heather blinked. “Why the hell didn’t you go with the man?”
Now I looked at her as if she were the crazy one. “What do you mean, why didn’t I go with him? I barely know the man for Christ’s sake. I couldn’t just give up my life and career here and follow him to Baltimore at a moment’s notice. The sex was…great, eye-opening even, but that’s not the only thing to consider for a relationship.”
“Of course not, but it’s a start, especially if you both like one another and want to actually try a real relationship like you two were doing. Jesus Savannah…” Heather’s voice trailed off as she stood up.
“Jesus, Savannah, what?” I asked watching Heather begin to pace back and forth. She stopped and looked at me.
“Did you ever stop to think that maybe getting out of here would be a good thing?”
“Of course not. Again let me reiterate, I barely know the man.”
Heather sighed. “There are other options, Savannah—long-distance relationships, living in two cities temporarily, transferring to a new school there. Did you even talk about any of those options with him?” My silence to her question stretched out. “Or did you just run and hide in the bathroom like a coward?”
I felt like a fool, which usually translated into me lashing out. “I am not a coward.” My voice was low and angry. “I am not the one hiding behind rumors in order to not have to deal with other people’s gossip because of my sexuality. I mean really, everyone at work knows you’re gay, Heather. It’s not like it’s a big secret.”
As soon as the words left my lips, I wanted to take them back and apologize for them. I knew I was only lashing out because of the honesty of her words. I hadn’t stopped to consider any other options for Cole and me. I did run away like a coward, hiding in my bathroom until he had no choice other than to leave.
“That’s real nice, Savannah.” Heather’s soft words brought my attention back to her, and I my heart skipped a beat at the disappointment I read in her gaze. She stepped over to the table and gently set her shot glass down.
“Heather, I—“
“I’m going to go,” she said cutting me off. She kept her head down not meeting my eyes. “When you figure your shit out, send me an email for whether or not I need to prepare any transfer papers.”
I stood up as well as she walked over to the front door. “Heather, wait! I’m sor—“
“I’m not hiding my sexuality, you know.” I stopped walking when she paused at the front door. “All the important people in my life know. Everyone else isn’t worth an explanation.” She glanced back at me. “I’ll see you at work.”
I stood staring at the door as it closed behind her, feeling even more dead and empty than I had before.
Heather had been cordial, but closed at work since then and I didn’t have the nerve to call her outside of work and apologize. My job dragged on and I went through the motions while her words continued to play repeatedly in my head. I couldn’t deny her words and after two months of thinking about everything, I didn’t want to. It seemed that as take charge as I was in my professional life, I was apparently unable to do the same in my personal life. A knock at my office door drew my attention, and I looked up to see Heather standing in the doorway.
“You wanted to see me?”
I stood up from my chair. “Yes. Please, come sit down.” I gestured at one of the chairs in front of my desk. I was relieved when Heather took a step in and shut the door behind her. I waited for her to sit before slowly falling back into my own chair.
“Is there a problem?”
“No, I mean yes,” I said stumbling over my words. I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. “There is a problem, but it’s not you. I said something to you that was mean and entirely uncalled for.” When she remained silent I continued on. “It was petty and inappropriate and hitting entirely below the belt especially because I knew it wasn’t true.”
“Go on.”
I nodded at her prompting. “I was upset with Cole and with myself and I took it out on you when you didn’t deserve it. I am really and truly sorry, Heather.”
Her silence stretched out. My leg began to jiggle up and down in the tension, and I worried that I had completely ruined our friendship.
“It’s okay,” Heather said finally. She gave me a small smile that I tried to return. “I’m sorry too for calling you a coward.”
I shook my head. “No, you shouldn’t apologize for that. You were totally right.” I sighed before sitting back in my chair. “I a
m a coward.”
“Don’t say that, Savannah.” Heather leaned forward. “You were right to be wary. Cole may be a great guy, but it’s true you barely know him, and to uproot your life for a man you barely know is a bit insane.”
“It is,” I agreed. “But, I still want to.” Saying it made something in me lighten.
“Have you talked to him?”
“No, not at all. He called me once about a week after he left, but I didn’t answer,” I replied quietly. My heartbeat still spiked at the memory of seeing Cole’s name on my caller id. Even now, I wanted to call him back and apologize for shutting him out.
“Why not answer and tell him you’ve reconsidered?”
“Well, he hasn’t called since then,” I answered with a tight smile. Trying to joke about it didn’t make things any better. “Plus, I’m afraid he might not care. What if he’s moved on? I’m sure there are plenty of other women in Baltimore that are twice as gorgeous with a lot less baggage.”
Heather snorted. “Doubtful. Sweetie, everyone has some type of baggage these days.”
“Well then, maybe he’ll find someone who doesn’t need to always be in control.”
“Savannah, are you listening to yourself?” Heather stood up and walked around the desk until she stood beside me. “Did you talk like this when you were around Cole? Trying to talk him out of wanting to be with you?”
I frowned up at her. That was a weird question for her to ask me. “I never tried to talk him out of being with me. Why would you even ask that?”
“Because the way you’re talking, it’s almost as if you were looking for something wrong with you. You’re a high school principal, of course you like to be in control. If you didn’t maintain control, this place would fall apart in a second. That’s just the nature of the beast.”
“Well…yeah, bu—“
“And like I said before, who doesn’t have baggage these days?” Heather continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Sure, you have the baggage of a previous shitty relationship. In the grand scheme of things, that’s pretty minor considering the fact that Cole is caring for his chronically ill mother and practically raising his little sister as well. If anyone should be worried about bringing baggage to the relationship, it should be him, not you.”
I blinked slowly as I considered her words. It was true that on the surface it looked as if Cole had a lot of baggage to bring to a relationship, but I didn’t see his family like that. “I mean, I see what you’re saying, but Cole’s family really isn’t a burden or baggage in my opinion.”
Heather smiled at my words. “Exactly. In that same way, perhaps Cole doesn’t consider you’re jumping to conclusions or shutting things down before a relationship can even begin baggage either—or rather, he probably didn’t before you stopped responding to him.”
“Fuck,” I uttered quietly. “I am an idiot.”
“Yeah.” I looked up sharply at Heather’s agreement. She quickly put her hands up in surrender. “Don’t look at me like that, you said it, I’m just agreeing with you.”
“Thanks,” I huffed out in faux annoyance. The twitching of my lips betrayed me though, and Heather smiled as well in response. “So now what do I do?”
“Uhm…call him?”
The thought of calling Cole after weeks of trying to pretend he didn’t exist made my stomach turn and I put my hand over it to calm myself. “Do you really think that’s a good idea? I ignored his call and never called him back. What if he never wants to speak to me again?”
“Then you chalk it up to a lesson learned and try not to fuck things up again.”
Her answer was simple, but I couldn’t stand the thought of hearing Cole say that he was done with me. Just imagining those words coming out of his mouth pushed me to standing as I felt a wave of nausea rush over me.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I moaned a moment before I felt a rush of bile push its way into my throat. I turned quickly grabbing the waste basket beside my desk and narrowly getting it in front of me in time to catch the first pulse of bile as it exited my mouth. My eyes watered at the acrid burn, and I tried not to breathe in to keep away the stench of my lunch making an abrupt reappearance.
“God, Savannah, are you okay?” Heather’s worried face swam into my vision. She took the waste basket out of my trembling hands and pushed me gently back into my seat. I went with the motion, stomach still rolling slightly, and I tried hard to will the rest of my nausea away. “Are you sick? Have you been throwing up like this a lot lately?” Heather put her hand to my forehead, and I leaned into the simple touch.
“I think I’m okay. I’ve just been really nauseous for the past few days.”
Heather’s hands moved down to cup my flushed cheeks. “The past few days? Have you gone to the doctor to see what’s going on?”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t feel sick. It’s just the throwing up every now and then. I’m sure it’s no big deal, probably just a stomach bug from the students or something.”
“That’s weird though. No one else has been sick, at least not throwing up— otherwise, I’d have heard something from the parents, or the nurse would have made an announcement.” Heather paused and considered me for a moment. I just concentrated on breathing steadily and waited for her to speak. “Don’t get pissed at me or anything for asking, but…do you think, is there a chance you might be pregnant?”
I frowned. “Pregnant? Of course not.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I know you haven’t had sex since Cole left, but it has been two months and most women find out around then.”
“Heather, there is no way I’m pregnant. Cole and I used protection and I had my period like three weeks ago.”
She nodded though her expression was still thoughtful. “Was it a full length period like you always have?”
I thought back. I was pretty sure that I had a full period, but my cycles had always been highly irregular and I was terrible about remembering to take my pill. “I think so. You know my periods are always ridiculously irregular and—” I belched loudly interrupting myself. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s going on with my body right now.”
“I think you should take a pregnancy test, hun. I know you said you guys used protection, but stranger things have happened.”
“Heather, I’m not pregnant.”
She smiled. “Then pissing on a stick will be no big deal.”
I rolled my eyes at her grin and let out another belch. As gross as it was, I felt somewhat vindicated when her expression turned to one of disgust. I resigned myself with a sigh. There was no way I was pregnant.
Chapter Two
“Holy fucking shit,” I whispered as I held the pregnancy test in my hand. I scrambled for the box in disbelief to look over the indicators again. Surely I’d done something wrong. “Plus…means pregnant. Plus…” My voice trailed off as I looked from the box back to the plastic stick in my hand.
“I’m pregnant.”
Those words were alien to my ears and I felt numb. How could this have happened? Did Cole have fucking super soldier sperm that could chew through condoms?
“Oh my God.”
I placed the plastic on my bathroom sink and stepped out of the bathroom as if the farther I got from it, the less real it would be. Hurrying over to my cell phone, the only thought in my mind was what the hell I was going to do now. There was no doubt that the baby was Cole’s. I hadn’t been with anyone else since months before I met him and definitely no one after. I clumsily dialed Kelly’s number and whispered a little prayer that she would answer while I waited.
“Hello?”
“Kels? Kelly?” I couldn’t help the frantic lilt of my voice as I stared down at the bit of plastic. “Are you free? Can I talk to you for a moment?” I could hear some faint talking on the other end and I wondered for a split second where she was.
“Well, I’m actually a little—”
“Please,” I cut her off pleading for just a moment of time. “I really really need
to talk to someone.”
Kelly sighed, but I could hear some of the chatter quiet. “Fine. What’s going on?”
“Just…it’s about Cole and—”
“Cole? Again?” She interrupted annoyance clear in her voice. “I thought you were done after deciding not to go with him.”
“I know I said I was done with him, but—”
“Then why are you beating yourself up about this and continuously harping on the fact that he’s gone? You had the choice to go with him, and you declined so maybe it’s time to move on?”
I was too shocked to reply at first. In all of our years of being friends, Kelly had never spoken to me like that before, and I didn’t like it in the least bit. “What the fuck Kelly? I was just asking to talk to my best friend about something. If you didn’t want to talk, you could have just said so.”
“I did try to say so until you guilted me into staying on the phone.”
“So why don’t you just fucking hang up then since I’m such a bother to you,” I exclaimed. Where the hell was all of this coming from?
“Oh stop it with the fucking pity party, Savannah. I get it—relationships are hard, especially after finding out someone you loved wasn’t the person they said they were, but it has been two years and it’s time to move on.”
Her words stung despite their truth. “I’m not throwing a pity party for myself. It’s not my fault that your life is perfect compared to mine. Not everyone lands their dream job, or finds their soul mate in college.”
“My life is perfect?” Kelly’s voice pierced my eardrum and I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “You think my life is perfect?”
I snorted at her question though it sounded less than amused. “Of course I do— everyone does. Everyone talks about how lucky you are to have the perfect job, and perfect husband, and that you’ll probably have the perfect children to carry on your perfe—”