Page 65 of King

“Lea?” The officer calls her name and she turns to walk away, wiping her eyes.

“While this is fun, don’t you have a crime report to help with?” Nate asks.

The people around us snicker and whisper. “Shut the fuck up Quinfrey!” she barks. Looking back, she makes sure everyone on the lawn hears it. “You'll pay Rowland."

Of course, Lea walks away despite threatening me in front of the cops. When her back is to me I look up to see Damien walking inside with not so much as a look my way.

“You okay?” Allie asks.

I nod, but I’m not sure. I can’t tell if Damien did this to help me out or not because it didn’t. Did he do this because he was jealous of Mr. Trout? Am I still a pawn in some silly fucked up game?

The last couple of nights felt like they meant something but there's a chance I'm blinded by good sex.

Christian has a new bruise when I get to class but he’s still giving me the silent treatment. So is Damien. He’s doing my fucking head in and it’s no one’s fault but myself.

If he’s willing to do something like that to Lea, what’s he willing to do to me if something goes wrong?

Lea doesn’t come back to school for the rest of the day and for once, I’m not the talk of ERA. Word gets out that something was going on between Lea and Mr. Trout. As a result, Headmaster Beckett actually calls an emergency assembly to discuss the matter.

Damien is a few rows back from me and the entire time my phone lights up with his texts. I give him the same treatment he gave me this morning. The silent one.

While Lea is likely humiliated, I hope she’s not getting disciplined. Yeah her actions come off shortsighted but if you’re asking me, she was the one taken advantage of.

By the time I get to work, I assume Mrs. Huang has already found out about Lea and Mr. Trout. When I walk in, she calls me to her office, closing the door and sitting me down.

“Jo, I’m going to be blunt.” She takes her glasses off, tossing them on the counter like a used napkin. “I’m old. I’m tired. This isn’t going to work out.”

That wasn’t what I expected.

I sit up in my seat. “Wait, what? I thought this was about Lea.”

“I’m under a lot of stress from my daughter who’s desperate for attention.” She shakes her head, looking at her laptop. "I’m hoping her new therapist will help with that, but this is exactly why I don’t have time for more high school antics. You can leave your uniform at school." She looks up at me before returning to her laptop. “Or keep it. I don’t care. Good-bye, Jo.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Which part?” She lowers her brows. “That you can’t be having intercourse on my imported marble counter? Or that you’re fired for it?”

“Wait.” I freeze.

Cindy sighs, “What? Do I need to call Henry for you?”

The shock of it all takes me a minute to put together but when I do, it's clear. This was Lea’s retaliation. A simple, yet effective one. I've only started to make a dent in my savings. It was looking like I'd be able to get it together by my eighteenth birthday. Without a job, there’s no way that the courts will let me take custody of Willow. She’d be stuck wherever with whoever.

This is all my fault.

If I didn’t sleep with Damien at my fucking workplace I wouldn’t be in this mess. Wouldn't get humiliated in front of the entire school time and time again. I definitely wouldn't have lost my job before I even got through probation.

I'm fucking livid, but I thank Cindy when I leave anyway. I made my bed in hell, now I have to lay in it. But I’m still angry, so angry I push open the french doors of MOCHA with a little too much force.

“Jo,” his voice makes me want to punch him but I don’t. I keep giving him the cold shoulder. “Did she actually fire you?”

I’m supposed to be waiting for Henry but Damien sits on the roof of his superhero car in front of the entrance. So I keep walking. Where? I’m not sure but I’m not staying near him.

I pass his car when his hand comes to my arm. I tug it away but as usual, his grip is too tight.

“Hey, wait a minute,” he says.

I turn to face him. “For what? I already lost my job. You already humiliated me. What more could you want? Sex that you never want to talk about or acknowledge happened?”

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