Page 67 of Oh, Hell No

“So, Jude is getting our face-to-face with Voy without having to break down doors and making it messy,” Bane said.

“No, Jude is there to inform Ric Voy that he will out him with proof of his extracurriculars.”

“Which are?” Ransom was getting excited. It was in his voice.

“Ric Voy has an addiction to watching underage girls on illegal sex videos he buys on DVD from a supplier in Mexico.”

“And we know this how?” Bane asked.

“He came to confession twice. He’s a deacon in the Baptist church, but was raised Catholic. Guilt got to him, and he thought he could confess it and stop.”

“What’s our proof other than your word?” Bane asked, covering all the bases, as if I hadn’t already.

“I know where he keeps them. That came out when he was sobbing and rambling on about it.”

“What about the principal?” Another question from Bane.

“Board fires him on our orders. Once we have Rec Voy by the balls, he will become our puppet,” I said.

“Damn.” Bane drawled out the word. “When is the fucking wedding?”

“What wedding?” I asked. I hadn’t mentioned a wedding.

He turned and gave me a pointed look. “This is a lot of destruction you’re about to rain down on numerous people because they made Winslet cry. If this is your reaction to her being hurt, then your ass is owned. You don’t do shit like this for a woman you haven’t handed your soul to.”

I thought about it for a minute. Had I? I was protective of her. I fucking wanted her. I could look at her for hours on end. But there were issues. Obstacles. Really big-ass ones that I wasn’t sure would allow this thing with us to continue once she found out. She wasn’t clingy and needy like other females I’d been around. And I didn’t know how to do a relationship. But the idea of her being with anyone else stirred that demented shit inside me up.

Well, fuck. Maybe I had handed her my soul.

“This wasn’t my initial reaction to them hurting her,” I admitted. “This is tamer.”

“What the hell was your first reaction then?” Ransom asked.

“He was gonna kill ’em all,” Bane replied, not missing a beat.

“Yep,” I agreed.

Thirty

Winslet

My eyes opened at six a.m. on the dot, and I hadn’t even set the alarm. I stared at the phone, then shifted to look at the window while I lay in bed. It was weird, not jumping up to get ready for the day. Memories of last night began to filter in through the sadness, and it eased. Oz had shown up and made a night that would have been difficult…incredible. A smile slowly spread across my face, and I stopped it.

I couldn’t do that. Getting all giddy about him would lead to me feeling things, and that would hurt when this was over. Whatever this was. Rolling onto my back, I sighed. Just thinking about him made my stomach all fluttery and changed my mood. Who was I kidding? It was already going to hurt when he had his fill and moved on. How soon would that be? After we had sex? My mood started to plummet again.

The ringing of my phone snapped me out of my downwardspiral, and I reached over to grab it from my nightstand. The number on the phone wasn’t one I recognized, but it was local.

“Hello?” I said, thinking someone must have the wrong number. There was no one I could think of that would be calling me this early.

“Miss Gerard.” The man’s voice on the other line was familiar and not one I’d expected to ever call me.

I sat up in bed, clearing the sleepy rasp in my throat before replying, “Yes?”

I steeled myself for the news that I no longer had a job. That they weren’t going to wait on me to decide if I would show them my medical records as proof or not. I’d walked out of the office yesterday upset and not agreed to that ultimatum. The fact that the president of the board was calling me didn’t bode well.

“There has been a grave error, and for that, I, along with the rest of the board, am very sorry. If you would please forgive us for accusing you without evidence but on word alone and return to your classroom today, we would be grateful. I am holding a faculty and staff mandatory assembly at seven fifteen this morning to address the ugly rumor that has spread, as well as another issue. I hope you can be in attendance.”

I sat frozen with my mouth agape. This was a turn of events I hadn’t seen coming. What could have happened since I’d walked out of Principal Clairton’s office? And why hadn’t he called me instead?

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