Page 82 of Past Tents

He looked at his watch. “Four-hour shift. Ten seconds a kiss plus twenty seconds or so in between them, though I’d be happy to keep right on going without a break.” He winked and his smile turned to a full-on smirk. “Equals four hundred eighty kisses. And I bought five hundred tickets. Every last one of ’em.”

“But why?”

“Because I’m not going to let another fucking man kiss you. Not today, not ever.”

My breath caught in my throat. My vision went fuzzy. My heart kicked up to a frantic pace. And none of that mattered because Clay’s lips were on mine and the world disappeared.

Except for the cheering. Loud, raucous cheering. And when we came up for air, I saw that half the student body and their parents were watching us and cheering us on.

“Let’s go.” He grabbed my hand and guided me away from the booth. I didn’t have time to ask where he wanted to go or why. Maybe it didn’t matter. As he intertwined our fingers, I felt the stress and tension of the past few weeks fall away. All the wondering about what Clay would decide for himself finally had an endpoint.

The fact that he’d come here to talk was progress. I knew it cost him a piece of the security he clung to. We were alike in that way. It gave me faith.

“Oh, hi, you two. I see you’re exhibiting some PDA in front of our impressionable youth?” Pindich appeared in a fresh, dry tank top that showed a bit too much of his spray tan for my liking. As usual, his smile when his eyes roamed over my cutoff denim shorts was a bit too close to a leer.

I expected Clay to drop my hand. A rule-follower, he would heed the reminder that we shouldn’t be holding hands at a school-wide event. But his grip tightened possessively. Looking down, I saw a vein in his forearm bulge. His skin was tanned from afternoons on the track, unlike Pindich’s orangey hue.

“Don’t fucking look at her like that,” Clay said, pinning Pindich with a glare.

Our principal, unaccustomed to being spoken to like that—by Clay of all people—did a double take. His eyes got a little buggyand he tilted his head as though deciding whether he’d heard correctly.

“Did you just...threaten the head of school?” Pindich asked, his lips curling.

“I did not,” Clay replied calmly. “A threat would imply some form of retribution levied against you if you don’t do what I want. I’m just telling you straight. Quit looking at Alexandra like she’s some sort of snack. In fact, don’t look at her at all.”

Pindich turned to me as if to ascertain whether I was on board with Clay’s request. “Works for me,” I replied.

I barely registered the conversation, still so focused on the feel of Clay’s hand wrapped around mine. I hadn’t fully allowed myself to accept how much I’d missed him until now. And now, I just wanted to be alone with him.

“I hope you won’t mind the lost income when we’re forced to downsize the English department next year. I’ve been thinking that these senior seminars are pulling too much from the budget.” Pindich feigned sadness, pulling his lips into an upside-down smile.

Clay took a step closer to Pindich, which highlighted how much taller and more fit he was. He pointed a finger at the principal. “See, now that sounds like a threat.”

Pindich remained calm. “Not at all. Just a fact.”

“A fact. Yeah, okay, I can handle facts.” Clay angled himself so that Pindich was in the shade produced by his towering form. “I’ve collected a few myself from the Hart Law Firm in Knoxville, where the court just unsealed some documents. Seems there were some inappropriate documents with forged signaturespassed off as real. In fact, I believe you knew my grandmother, and her estate plan was rewritten several times—I didn’t know you were so tight with her that she almost left you money...”

Pindich paled slightly, but it was barely visible beneath the spray tan. When he swallowed like he was choking down a rock, however, that was abundantly visible. “I don’t know anything about that.”

“You may not, but other people may find it suspicious if they’re pointed to the documents.”

Pindich pressed his lips together and swayed on his feet. “Again, I have no?—”

“Give up the fight. Or I will find every woman you made feel the least bit uncomfortable in the entire county and file a class action lawsuit against you so large it will make your head spin. Starting with the teachers at this school.”

I’d never heard Clay talk to anyone that way, and hearing him level Pindich with those words brought me halfway to orgasm.

“You think you could maybe talk to some folks, find some money in the budget so I can keep my classes going?”

When Pindich found his voice, it was small and raspy. “I know it’s a student favorite.” He turned and made his way back to the dunk tank where I saw the baseball team lining up and ready to bean him.

When I looked back at Clay, he didn’t look smug. He didn’t look broken. He looked calm. “I heard everything you said to me that day on the track. Loud and clear. And now I have something to say to you. You’re mine. You have been from the day we met. Ijust waited a long fucking time to do something about it. Tell me I didn’t wait too long, Alexandra.”

And that melted my heart.

“You didn’t.”

His eyes went soft, that deeper color that was full of passion and heat, but he said nothing.

---