Page 11 of Payback, Penelope

But then his still blood-shot eyes from the night before narrow first on Jacob, then on me. “I see.”

“And what exactly is it that you see, Mr. Andrews?” Sandra asks with a challenging tone as she stands and places her hands on her narrow hips.

Disgustingly, Mr. Andrews looks directly at me and says, “That wasfast”—he stresses the word, and we all know he means it in the old-fashioned way of calling me aslut. If we challenge him on it or bring it to Mr. Garnet, though, he’ll just feign ignorance.

I hop off the desk, momentarily wincing at the pain in my lady bits, and dart in front of Jacob, who has dropped his arms and advanced on Mr. Andrews. Afraid of Jacob doing something rash like punching Mr. Andrews in his smart mouth and losing his first teaching job in less than a week because of me, I force a small smile on my face and laugh it off, even going so far as to almost rest my hand on Mrs. Andrews’s liver-spotted forearm in his wrinkled, short-sleeve button down. He really needs to get a few of them checked out for skin cancer.

“I told you we’ve known each other for years, Mr. Andrews. His mom and I are friends, and he’s helping me out with my car as a favor to her while I show him around his new city.” Noneof this is true, of course, but with my hand hovering above Mr. Andrews’s arm, he studies me for any hint of a lie and slowly loses his glare.

“My apologies, Ms. Barlow. I hope you won’t hold my…ill choice of words against me. The heat—it gets to me sometimes.” He takes my hand and pats it. Perhaps he’s telling the truth because his hand is clammy, leaving a film on my skin that makes me want to gag.

Sandra sidles up with my tote bag and holds it out for me to take so that I have the polite excuse to pull my hand away from Mr. Andrews’s bile-churning presence. “Go on, bestie. You two kids have fun. We’ll see you tomorrow.” She ushers all of us out of my classroom, and I mouththank youto her behind Mr. Andrews’s back.

Jacob still looks ready to pounce on Mr. Andrews, so I put my back into it as I push him ahead of me down the hall and out of the school, waving to Mr. Garnet with a broad smile that saysnothing to see here. Definitely not a bear who wants to tear your oldest BFF apart.

“I don’t like that creep,” Jacob growls out. “And the way he spoke to you? I oughta—”

“I know. I know. I don’t like him either, but if you want to stay on Mr. Garnet’s good side, you’ll keep your hands and opinions to yourself and let me handle it.”

Once we make it across the parking lot to Jacob’s Audi, I open his driver’s side door and motion for him to get in. He spins us around and plops me onto his seat, dragging my hips to the edge and stepping between my knees to force my legs apart.

Since I chose to wear crisp, navy blue slacks today instead of a skirt, I can’t feel the bulge behind his zipper as well as I wish. Maybe that’s a good thing, though, since I spot Mr. Andrews and Mr. Garnet walking out of the sliding glass front doors together.

“I don’t want you to have to handle it, Mama. That’s not your job, now.”

As wonderful as it is hearing he wants tohandlethings for me, it still raises my hackles. “I’ve been handling myself for four years now, and I can continue doing so well enough on my own. I haven’t turned into a wilting flower just because we spent one night together.” I smack him in the middle of his chest and fight against his hold when Jacob grunts like a caveman and yanks my hips back and forth along the firm ridge of his trousers.

“Oh, baby,” I moan, but quickly snap out of it and smack his chest again. “Stop it. We’re going to get caught being inappropriate on school grounds.” Jacob grits his teeth, turning his head to watch the men as they get closer to us and their cars. I use his distraction to wrestle out of his hold and climb over the center console into the passenger seat.

Jacob sighs and readjusts his dick in his pants before he buckles himself in and pulls out of the parking lot. I wave to the men as we drive by, silently praying everyone will cool off over the weekend and we’ll have a fresh start when the students return to school on Monday.

I relax back in my seat the farther away we get but straighten and swing my gaze around when I realize the route Jacob is on leads to my house instead of the dealership. “I thought you said my car was ready to be picked up?”

“I lied. That hunk of junk is beyond help.”

“Oh.” A beat passes. “Well, that’s rude. Betsy was the best I could afford.”

“Yeah, and it’s not good enough.”

A memory of Daniel criticizing my diet and workout plan and telling me I wasn’t doing agood enoughjob following it springs to mind. Tears burn the back of my eyes, and I stare blankly out the passenger-side window, ignoring Jacob for the remainder of the drive.

Chapter 7

Jacob

Penelope hops out of the car before I’ve even put it in park. She hustles across the lawn ahead of me in her dressy white sneakers, and I catch the door an inch from slamming shut in my face.

“Hey.” I push through and close it behind me. “What’s going on?”

She leans against the entry wall, not making eye contact, and crosses her arms. “Please leave.”

I was too busy during the drive home thinking of all the ways I could dispose of Mr. Andrews’s body after he called herfastthat I didn’t notice Penelope’s puffy red eyes.Fuck me, I made her cry somehow. She tries to turn her head away when I cup her cheeks, and I force her to look at me.

“What’s wrong, Mama? Why are you crying?”

“Wouldn’t you be upset if someone told you that you weren’t good enough?”

“What are you talking about?”

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