She shook her head. “No, I’m good. But I’ll let you know.”
I nodded and snagged my clipboard before walking back into the crowd.
I pushed Britain from my mind as I helped people break down booths, solve disputes, and check that everything for the evening entertainment was still good.
That was the only reason I had to have missed her standing so close to me at the coffee bike.
I noticed her while I was dumping sugar and creamer into my drink, and I watched her from the corner of my eye as she ordered her own coffee and moved to the side to wait for it.
By the time I’d thrown my trash away and snapped the lid to my cup on, she was next to me, her mouth open, as she realized I was the one standing there.
“Britain,” I said, raking my gaze over her.
“August.” Her voice was rough, and it immediately made my mind jump to the last time I heard it that rough. My dick jumped, and I shifted on my feet.
Now wasn’t the time to suddenly feel like a randy teenager. And now definitely wasn’t the time to fantasize about her and how we used to be.
“When’d you get to town?” I asked, trying to think of something for us to talk about.
She brushed past me and started doctoring her coffee the way I remembered she liked it: heavy on the cream and sugar. She didn’t answer at first, and I doubted that she was going to.
“Last week,” she said, turning to face me as she popped a lid on her cup. “You?” she asked with an arched brow.
“Eleven years ago.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “What?”
I nodded and slowly sipped my coffee. It was still too hot to drink, but I needed something to do with my hands. “Yeah. Got a job offer and came.”
She said nothing at first. She stared at me for a few moments, almost like she was trying to see through me before asking, “You’ve been here that long?”
I nodded again. “Yep.”
“No one said anything,” she breathed. I was certain she hadn’t meant for me to hear it, so I didn’t remark on what she’d said.
“How long are you here for?” I asked, trying to keep the censure from my voice at the thought of her only being here on leave. Even though I had my opinions about her military service, I knew they didn’t matter here.
She shrugged. “Not sure. It really depends on a lot of things.”
It was my turn to be surprised. “You’re not sure?”
She nodded and sipped her coffee while looking past me. “Yeah. I’m waiting to hear about a few things.”
“Didn’t you have to submit leave, though?” I asked, even though I didn’t want to. My desire to know more about her trumped that, though.
She arched a brow as she looked back at me and sipped her coffee again before saying. “I’m not in the military anymore.”
I was shocked into silence. “You’re not in the military anymore?” I croaked.
I ignored how my heart skipped a beat at that admission.
She nodded and looked away again. “Yeah. I separated when my commission was up a few weeks ago.”
I licked my lips and sipped my coffee, trying to wet my suddenly dry mouth. “Why’d you decide that?”
She shrugged and her eyes darted around. “Needed a change of scenery.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. That seemed unlikely given how gung-ho she was about joining in the first place. I wanted to push it, but considering I didn’t know her anymore, I didn’t think it wise. I’d probably have plenty of time to figure it out with her living across the street.
“So, you’re working at the clinic?” I asked instead.
She nodded and looked at me again. “Yep. You’re doing what? Teaching?” She asked.
It was my turn to nod. “Yep. High school History.”
She made a low noise in her throat and looked at me thoughtfully. “And you just ended up here because of a job offer?”
I nodded again. There was more to it than that, but that was more than I wanted to share.
She said nothing at first, and I found myself at a loss for words as well. What did you say to the one girl that you could see a future with, but let go because you didn’t agree on her decision to join the military?
“How does it feel to be a civilian?” I finally asked after an extended pause where I wondered why we were both lingering by the coffee bike.
She glared at me. “Like you care,” she said flippantly.
“I do care,” I said carefully. And I did. I cared immensely about her even though I hadn’t seen her in years. I probably always would.
She snorted and narrowed her eyes. “Please. We both know your opinion on the military and my joining.”
It was like she was reading my mind with what she was saying. I glanced around and noticed that we were drawing a lot of looks. Well, she was drawing a lot of looks. I was being lumped in because I was standing with her.
And I was sure people didn’t realize we knew each other, either.
“I’m allowed to ask and ca—“ I started to say, but she held up her hand to stop me, shaking her head.
“I don’t even want to hear it. You’re going to say you’re allowed to ask and care. You were. When we dated. But we’re not anymore. I can tell by the slight curl of your lip and the tone of your voice that you still don’t agree with my decision to join the military. You know what? That’s fine. But I don’t have to stand here and listen to whatever you’re going to try to spout because I’m proud of my decision and the service I gave my country.”
Before I could say anything else, she turned and stalked through the crowd back to the mobile clinic. The crowd parted for her like Moses parting the Red Sea, and I only glanced at her ass once. Okay, twice, as she walked away.
Once the door to the clinic slammed behind her, making everyone around me wince, I looked around and noticed that people were looking at me with a lot more interest in their eyes.
I hadn’t seen interest like that since I first got to town a decade before.
I didn’t like it.
I quickly turned and walked away from them, trying to ignore the whispering I could hear behind me and hoping that they didn’t figure out how well Britain and I knew each other.
The last thing either of us needed was to end up in the paper or talked about around town. It was going to be hard enough living across the street from her now. I didn’t want to add in the town’s craziness to make it worse.
CHAPTER SEVEN
AUGUST
“YOU’RE FAMOUS, MR. BLACK,” Joey said, laughing as he walked into my fourth period class.
I eyed him as I finished cueing up my presentation for the day. “What do you mean?” I asked.
Joey laughed, as did the other people in class as he slouched into his chair. “You mean you haven’t seen it?” he asked, pulling his phone out.
“You know my policy on phones,” I said, but Joey just shook his head.
“Trust me, man, you want to see this.”
He turned his screen toward me, and I saw that it was on the gossip column that came out every Tuesday in the Gazette. I didn’t normally pay attention to what they printed because it didn’t matter too much to me what the people of the town were gossiping about.
But I was about to become a lot more interested in it based on what I was seeing printed.
It was a picture of me and Britain from the fundraiser this past weekend. They cropped it to show only the two of us as we talked. Thankfully, it wasn’t when we were arguing toward the end. But still. My picture was in the paper.
My heart skipped a beat as I looked at the photo of us. It didn’t skip anymore when I looked at the column, though.
I skimmed the text and grimaced at what was there. It was almost word-for-word what we talked about. It was almost like someone recorded it. It also included a brief run-down of our relationship from college, including the bit about us breaking up because she entered the military.
Asshole, party of one, righ
t here, people. It was pretty crappy having your personal business aired in such a way that the entire town would know it.
Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone had recorded it knowing the reputation of this town. The more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed, actually.
“You didn’t know?” Joey asked, taking his phone back when I handed it to him.
I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair. I didn’t know what to think about this. I’d never been in the gossip column of anything ever, yet there I was in our small town one.
“It’ll blow over. Just have to wait for the next big thing to happen.”
Joey sounded so confident in what he said that I wished I could believe him. But I knew better. Things didn’t just blow over with that column. I remembered Grayson Malone and how he was in the column because of his relationship with Sidney Thornton.
That hadn’t blown over very quickly at all. If anything, it made it all worse. Things worked out in the end for them, but I didn’t know if they would for me when all was said and done.
I scrubbed my hand over my face and forced myself to push the column and what it had written from my mind. I had a class to teach and young minds to mold, even if they didn’t want me to.
“All right let’s get started,” I said, clapping my hands and stopping the chatter.
The hour and a half class passed quickly, something I loved and hated. I loved it because it meant that the school day was over and I could go home. But I hated it because that meant that I was likely going to get hounded by the teachers in the school about the gossip column.
Let me let you in on a little secret: teachers were the worst for gossiping. It made sense if you really thought about it. They were around teenagers all day, and those teens were big on secrets. That meant the teachers could sometimes get pulled into that as well.
They were the worst about fights and dating. If a fight happened, the teachers would immediately seek the kids with the recording and ask what happened. If a break-up or a new relationship started, they would find the right people to ask about it.
In short: teachers were busy-bodies.
So, I was likely to be bombarded by people if I wasn’t careful. I’d normally stick around after school getting ready for the next day by making copies and grading papers, but I wasn’t sure I was ready for the inquisition I’d face by doing so.
However, tucking tail and running didn’t seem like a good option either.
Luckily—or unluckily—the decision was taken from my hands when several of the women teachers on my hall stepped into my room, gleeful looks on their faces.
I froze in shutting down my computer as they sauntered inside my classroom, a gleam in their eyes.
“Hey, ladies,” I said, straightening a stack of papers on my desk so I could avoid looking at them.
“Afternoon, August,” Mindy, one of the other history teachers, said. “How was your day?”
I shrugged. “Same old, ya know?”
I heard whispers and knew they were hoping for more from me, but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of catching me off guard.
“Can I help you ladies with something?” I asked, looking at them with what I hoped was an open look on my face.
They glanced at each other and I could see the confusion written across their faces.
“We just wanted to come…” Mindy started, trailing off before shooting Claudia, one of the math teachers, a look.
“Come see if you needed anything today,” Claudia finished with a wide smile on her face.
I blinked and looked at each of them. They were shit liars, and I was sure they knew it based on the grimaces on their faces.
“Nah, I’m good. Thanks, though.”
I grabbed my bag and opened it, stuffing different things in there to make it look like I was getting ready to leave so they’d leave my classroom.
Someone coughed. “Right. Well… we’re right down the hall.”
“Alright, thanks.” I stopped myself from saying they were in the same rooms they’d been in for the ten years I’d been here. But that would only make them mad at me, and I didn’t want to deal with the cold shoulder from half the people on my hall. It wasn’t worth it.
After a little more shuffling, they filed out of the room. I watched from the corner of my eye as they walked out, glancing over their shoulders at me.
I let my shoulders slump once they were out of my room and sighed.
That went better than I thought it would, though I’d have preferred they not come see me to begin with.
They were there for gossip, so at least I hadn’t given them that. But could I avoid it again?
I looked at my bag and shook my head as I noticed what I’d put in there: pencils, pens, post-it notes, and random papers. Nothing that actually needed to go home with me.
I cleared everything out and quickly placed the things I actually needed into my bag, flipping the flap closed and pulling the strap over my head.
I’d just come in early the next day to get anything done. I couldn’t see myself surviving another inquisition like that one that was just attempted.
I quickly flicked my lights off and peeked my head out of the door, looking both ways down the semi-dark hallway. I strained for any sound and when I heard nothing, I quickly slipped out and quietly closed my door, locking it as silently as possible.
If someone were to come upon me right then, they’d think I was crazy. But the hallways echoed terribly, and I didn’t want someone to hear me leaving and try to corner me to get more information about that column.
Door locked, I rushed down the hall, just barely keeping myself from breaking into a sprint when I heard a door slam behind me. I was definitely entering crazy territory at this point, but I didn’t care.
I didn’t breathe easily until I was outside and inside the warm interior of my car. Only then did I allow myself to relax, locking the doors before starting it and heading home.
I needed to prepare myself for tomorrow because not everyone would have seen the article at this point in the day. Most people didn’t see it until dinner time because of when the paper went out.
That meant I had a few hours of peace to figure out how I was going to approach this and to try to make it better.
I drove home quickly, not stopping anywhere for anything, even though I would have liked to hit the grocery store.
Going today would have only given more gossip for the mill.
Once I got home, I glanced at Britain’s parent’s house across the street, noting that she wasn’t home. I wondered if she’d seen the article yet.
I noted that Rich’s car was in the drive, which meant he was back, even though he said he’d be home several days before.
I sighed and made my way inside, not surprised to see Rich sitting in the living room watching ESPN.
“When’d you get in?” I asked, setting my bag on the floor by the recliner and sitting in it.
“A few hours ago.”
I looked him over quickly, noting that he looked much better than he had when he left. So that was a positive.
“Why’d you stay gone so long?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “No real reason. I was out there and it was peaceful, so I called work to see if I was good to take a few more days. They said I was fine. I thought I’d told you.”
I just barely suppressed a sigh at his words. He hadn’t told me, otherwise I wouldn’t have worried and tried calling him myself only for him not to answer because he’d turned the phone off.
“You’re here now. That’s what matters.”
Rich tore his gaze from the television and looked at me, furrowing his brows.
“Who pissed in your cornflakes today?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face, my mind flashing back to the gossip column article.
“I’m in the paper,” I muttered.
Rich smiled. “That’s right. Your fundraiser was this past weekend.”
I shook my
head. “It wasn’t for the fundraiser.”
“Then what was it for?” Rich asked as he turned back to the television.
I briefly toyed with the idea of not telling him about it, but he’d likely go look it up himself later.
“I’m in the gossip column.”
“What?” he sputtered, turning back to face me as he turned the television off.
“Yeah.”
He stared at me for a few moments before bursting into laughter. “The gossip column?”
I nodded, and he laughed harder. I was torn as I watched my brother lose his mind with laughter.
On the one hand, I didn’t like that he was laughing at me about this. I was pretty damn uncomfortable being in the gossip column to begin with.
But the other part of me couldn’t help but be happy at Rich's laughing. I hadn’t heard him laugh like this in a long time, so even though it was at my expense, I could handle it.
“This is online, right?” Rich asked between guffaws.
I nodded and watched as he pulled his phone out.
I shook my head and stood, grabbing my bag to take to my room while I changed. As I walked up the steps, I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face as I listened to Rich laugh as he read the article.
A few minutes later, I was back downstairs after changing into basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Rich’s laughs had quieted, but when he saw me, I saw his shoulders shake.
“It’s not that funny,” I muttered as I walked through to the kitchen.
I heard Rich moving behind me and glanced over my shoulder to see him following me.
“It kinda is, though. You’ve worked hard to not even date a local this entire time, but now you’re in the paper because you used to date one.”
I shook my head and filled a glass with water, turning to face my brother and leaning against the counter.
“Still not that funny.”
“Of course, it isn’t to you, Mr. Serious Pants. But for me, your brother? It’s great.” A chuckle slipped out before he said, “So, this girl? I think I vaguely remember her.”
I tilted my head to the side and tried to think back.
“You were in the military then,” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t remember meeting her, but I remember you talking about her.”
Vetted: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World) Page 4