Page 58 of Hired Help

Brooke probably ended the evening in much the same state as me. Regretting every life choice that got her to this state while crying alone.

“Come on.” Everett reaches across to tap the back of my hand. “What other classes? You can get it sorted in the office. The secretary’s got nothing else going on.”

“Just that one,” I admit. It’s always been part of the reason I paid even less attention in English than I do in my other classes. A habit I need to break, otherwise I’ll be back on remedial and then the one parent of mine who actuallyparentswill never let me forget the shame.

Everett cajoles, threatens, blusters, and finally forcibly marches me to the student office. I find him hard to ignore when I have my wits about me; hungover and wanting to die me doesn’t have a chance.

When I walk away with my new schedule sorted, I am lighter.

A state that lasts until evening when I pace the confines of my room while most other students are sensibly sleeping. Finally, I break all the promises I concocted throughout the day and let myself into Brooke’s room again to lie on her bed, waiting.

She doesn’t come home on Saturday night, either.

It’s late Sunday when I see her sneak past the common room, wearing a loose t-shirt and cargo pants I’ve never seen on her before.

She stayed at a hotel. Probably had a concierge arrange the spare clothes.

Sure. And if my brain thinks that’s a convincing argument, it deserves to be expelled.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

BROOKE

On Monday morning,my body hums from Daegan’s attention, with another two days of pure pleasure to look forward to in the coming weekend.

The knowledge of our relationship upgrade is like a secret jewel I carry around with me. A treasured gemstone I can take out of my pocket when I’m low, its sparkle guaranteed to flash some brightness back into my day.

“That’s a wide smile for a girl with a target on her back,” Floss greets me cheerily as I file into the cafeteria line behind her to grab breakfast. “The last I heard, someone in this school wanted to kill you.”

“Only one?” I raise my eyebrow and shoot my hip out to the side in a pose. “I must be losing my touch.”

Floss’s gaze disconnects to check over my shoulder and I don’t need to look to know who’s standing there. Her stiffening posture works as well as any signpost.

“Don’t engage,” I tell her. “Just pretend he’s not there and one day he won’t be.”

Wise words but I don’t take them to heart, peeking around the room with a dozen furtive gazes by the time we’re served and seated.

Harrison appears normal. There’s no sign of the rage that cascaded through him on Friday night. Each time I glance in his direction, I half expect him to be looking back at me, but he isn’t. From the way he’s joking around with his mates, I can’t even be sure he’s noticed me.

“Bodyguard appearing for duty,” Kaden says with a wide grin as he dumps his overflowing tray next to mine and takes a seat, blocking my surreptitious view. “You don’t even need to pay me.”

“Oh, we pay,” Floss says, rolling her eyes at me.

For a surprise, I’m in a good enough mood to roll them back and she relaxes, happily turning her attention to her food. It makes me wonder how hard my breakup has been on her. For the few months prior, every meal had been her, me, Harrison, and a table full of his closest mates. Kaden too, once he got here.

Even taking Harrison out of the equation, I miss the comradery of his ever-expanding multitude of friends.

“Did you finish your essay for English?” Floss asks. It’s my first class of the day and the new teacher, Miss Murchison, is pleasant, encouraging, and a stickler for the rules. When my paper was deleted from the student portal, she was supportive and easy to talk to, but still dinged me for handing it in two days late.

“All done.”

She exchanges a glance with Kaden and I stiffen. “Was there something else you wanted to mention?”

“Just…” she fumbles for her words, face flushing. “Stay away from Harrison for a while, yeah? He might look like he’s cooled down but…”

“That was a low blow,” Kaden fills in for her. “I think we should have a new policy for getting back at exes. Everything gets run past me for a stamp of approval first.”

“Sure, good plan. I want to suck Harrison’s dad’s cock during English class. Is that okay with you?”

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