Page 11 of Jersey

The session continues with Lark joining them for his own lesson.

As planned, I wait a few minutes before climbing out of the pool.

"Ms. Caitlyn?" Eli says when he notices me climbing the stairs.

"My legs are so tired," I explain. "I'm just going to sit on the lounger. Do you want to join me?"

Eli looks from me back to the guys before bravely shaking his head. "Lark is going to teach me to dive under the water."

I give him a look of shock. "That's so brave. I don't think I'm ready for that."

"I'll let him teach me, and then I can teach you," he says helpfully.

"I can't wait," I say before grabbing my towel. "I may head home for a rest."

"I'll see you again tomorrow?" he asks, eyeing the stairs to climb out of the pool.

"You will," I promise.

As Eli returns to Lark and diving lessons, I gather my things, feeling the man's eyes on me the entire time.

He has kept his distance the entire time, and Nolan hasn’t come up to me to grill me about what he was told.

As I head to the bathroom to change, I know there's a real chance I'll get a phone call asking me not to return, but getting out of this house is my first priority.

Much to my surprise, no one is waiting outside of the bathroom for me. Despite the man no longer being in the pool, when I chance a glance in that direction upon my exit, I don't encounter him on my way to my car either.

I only feel mild relief as I back out of the parking spot and head down the mountain. There's no way I won't be having a conversation with someone about this. I wonder what the licensing board would say if someone calls in a complaint.

Can something that I do in my personal life prevent me from working with children?

Surely not. Dr. Moore would never put me in that position.

At least, I don't think she would.

Worry eats at me all the way back to my house, but my call to my therapist goes to voicemail.

Chapter 4

Jersey

I had to bolt the second she went into the bathroom.

Watching her in the pool in that demure fucking one-piece bathing suit was hard enough.

Imagining her stripping out of the damn thing was just too much.

Seeing the woman in clothes, knowing damn well what she looked like without them on, was driving me wild. Having an erection around a seven-year-old kid wasn't something I was willing to do.

Jesus, I have no fucking clue why the woman gets to me the way she does.

There's only ever been one other woman who made me react that way, and that woman had the power to destroy me. I know better than to let someone else do it again. I'm a shell of the man I used to be because I got too wrapped up in the wrong person. There's been so much tragedy in my life, things I'll never recover from, because I let someone blind me. Because I ignored so many red flags.

Jericho glared at me so many times in the last hour that I'm prettysure the guy hates me now, as if I could've predicted the woman I saw three weeks ago at the sex club was the same woman helping Eli with his trauma.

A child therapist?

How in the world does that even line up with a woman who agreed to be tied up and touched by countless men and women?

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