Page 49 of Dangerous

He picked up one of the cushions on the couch and hit me with it. “Ass. Just being on my arm is a benefit.”

I winked. “If you say so. I just don’t see it.”

He jumped on me and started to tickle me until I cried uncle. As soon as he moved, I raced to the bathroom with his loud laughter following. Relief filled me in more ways than one. Not only was Ethan still my good friend, but he was also helping to hide my relationships as I helped him. The guys had been right,it would all work out. And for once, I wasn’t even scared to admit their win to them.

Now we just needed to get through the rest of the school year without any other problems popping up.

35

Peter

The classroom phone rang, stopping my lecture to the grade eleven class. I picked it up only to hear Susan’s voice.

“Peter, I’m glad I caught you. Liam’s running a bit of a fever and crying. Unfortunately, his fever’s high enough that we can’t keep him although he can stay in the school. Are you able to come get him?”

“Crap. I can’t. I have a meeting with the parents’ committee planning graduation at lunch. Jason’s on a job an hour away and Jarrod’s in Winnipeg for the day with meetings. I know Katy had a test this morning. Could you see if she’s done?”

“I can do that. We can keep him until she gets here. We do that all the time. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks Susan. And if she can’t, let me know. I’ll skip the meeting if I need to.”

Fifteen minutes later, the bell rung and the meeting I’d been dreading loomed before me. Over Christmas I’d finally managed to get Jason and Jarrod to talk about the secrets they werehiding. Turned out that they were hiding the same one. One that I was starting to experience. But since Jason had finished his job at the Blackwell’s house, he was no longer dealing with Misty. And Jarrod had managed to pass her off to Angela which severely diminished the number of times she showed up at his offices.

That left just me. Thankfully our interactions were always in the school and with others around, but still, she’d crossed the line many times. Between her and Ashley, I was constantly on guard.

One night I ran into our family lawyer, Brent Hiebert, at Strönd’s. Over a beer, I mentioned to him about our little problem. He told us to send him a copy of every interaction we’d managed to get on tape and if it became too bad, he’d remind her of the details of her prenup with her husband. I guess he liked his trophy wives to be faithful even if he wasn’t. We’d done that and then I put the whole thing out of my mind because we hadn’t had any committee meetings. But now with graduation coming up next month, and with her volunteering herself to head the committee, I was stuck. At least the school had a state-of-the-art security system. Something we didn’t fully advertise other than the normal signs, informing people that there was a system and that they were being recorded. Something that most people ignored.

During the meeting I sat as far away from Misty as I could, claiming I might be needed for an emergency. And as soon as it was finished, I bolted out the door and headed for my classroom. I knew that Katy would bring Liam by if he’d calmed down enough to let her go to class. Something that was highly likely because without knowing that she hadn’t given birth to Liam, you wouldn’t know. He was as attached to her as if she grew him for nine months inside of her. He was even calling her mama—he was still working on dada although it was almost there. Ithink he was just being stubborn, wanting to watch the crazy antics we’d get up to trying to be the first dad to get him to say it.

When she wasn’t in my classroom, I walked down the hall. I was halfway between my classroom and Greg’s when she stepped out of the bathroom. I walked up beside her, putting my arm around her shoulders so I could check out Liam who was snuggled up against her chest.

“How is he?”

She gave me a sad smile. “He’s really not feeling well. His fever is dropping since we gave him some infant Tylenol and he’s playing with his ear. I think he’s teething again because his gums are all red and swollen. But he’s also rubbing his ear, so I called old Dr. Bishop and asked for an appointment after school. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t. You’re great with him.”

“Well, isn’t this a pretty picture. The young male teacher with his arm around a student who doesn’t know how to keep her legs shuts. I’m not sure why they ever allowed that daycare to be built here, but I’m campaigning for it to be shut. If you’re not smart enough not to get pregnant than finishing high school isn’t for you.”

I stared at Misty surprised she wasn’t incinerated on the spot from the heat in my glare. I removed my arm from Katy and stepped in front of her to shield her from this woman’s filth. I opened my mouth to lambast her, but Greg beat me to it.

“How dare you come into this school and say such awful things. We have a strict no bullying policy here and it applies to parents and visitors as well. I’ll have you know that Katy is a straight A student and had taken four AP classes, reducing her post-secondary education by almost a full year. She’s a community activist, and a peer leader. Any child would be blessed to have her as a mother. As for Peter’s arm around her, we often do that to students, especially those with babies tohelp protect them as they move through the halls. Now if you’ll excuse me”—he wrapped his arm around Katy’s shoulders like I had—I need to speak to my star pupil.” As he walked her away, he let me know that he’d take care of Katy for me while I dealt with whatever Misty had tracked me down for.

“And since Greg didn’t say it, I will. That baby in her arms was my son. Not hers. She’s my neighbour and babysits him for us when we need it. He was sick today and since I was stuck in your meeting, I asked her to look after him for me since her afternoon classes consist of Greg’s AP math class and my AP English one.”

She pressed her finger to my chest, drawing it up toward my chin. “So, it’s true. You do have a son. That proves that you and your little possie sleep with women. If you don’t want me to drop a little concerned parent complaint about a teacher acting inappropriately with a student than you and your boy toys will be at my house tonight at eight for some fun. And what luck. You have a babysitter next door.”

She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her, stopping her. I won’t ever show up at your house. I’m in a committed relationship with Jason and Jarrod, just like they’ve told you. So go ahead. Do your worst. It won’t be me in trouble at the end.”

She yanked her arm out of my loose hold and speedwalked towards the office. I shrugged before walking to Greg’s classroom to check on Katy and my son.

Greg stopped me at the door. “You need to be careful with her. She will report your for how you act with Katy. I’m not questioning you because I know you and no one else has any issue because they’ve known you all for years, but she’s trouble.”

“I know she is, but we’ve got a lot of dirt on her and a lawyer who wants to be unleashed in her direction.”

“Good.”

Just as thefinal bell rang, my class phone rang, requesting my presence in a meeting with Principal Kostiuk. I asked Katy if she minded taking Liam to the doctors since this problem had to be dealt with.

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