Page 12 of Star Pupil

Chapter 6

Griffin

“Ineed to speak with my daughter privately, if you don’t mind,” Avery’s mother said in a snide tone of voice, that made it clear she didn’t give two shits if I gave a damn or not. Unfortunately, the pleading look my girl gave me made it clear that she did care.

“I’ll step outside.” I didn’t mention that the window over the sink was open.

I did as I said I’d do, but then I wandered around the trailer to listen in on their conversation. There was no way in hell I was going to give Avery’s mom enough privacy that she could hurt her without me being there to protect her.

“The studio wants you to do it,” her mom was saying. “I’ve already told them you will, so it won’t do you any good arguing. It’s done.”

What the fuck was she talking about?

“No way, Mom. I’m not going to pretend to date anyone. I don’t care what you or the studio says. It’s not going to happen.”

Oh, hell no!Avery sure as fuck wasn’t going to fake-date anyone, let alone that little shit who’d been eye-fucking her every chance he got while they’d been filming together. I stormed to the trailer’s door and slammed it open.

“So much for privacy,” Avery’s mom snapped, her arms crossed over her chest and her foot tapping the floor.

“I could hear yelling from outside,” I growled. “And thought I’d better come inside to check on Avery.”

“This isn’t any of your concern.”

“Except that it is.” I prowled towards Avery, my anger going up another notch when I spotted tears in her eyes.

“I’m her mother. You’re her teacher—“

“Actually, Mom,” Avery interrupted. “He’s more than my teacher. He’s my boyfriend.”

I reached her and pulled her into my side, my arm wrapping around her waist, relieved our relationship was out in the open. Hiding that she was mine when I wanted nothing more than to shout about it from the rooftops had been almost as hard as waiting for her to turn eighteen.

“Boyfriend?” her mother sputtered. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t date your teacher. Just imagine the field day the tabloids would have with it. Besides which, he’s much too old for you.”

“I’m eighteen, Mom. Old enough that you don’t really have a say in who I date anymore.”

“Well, what about the studio, hmm? They aren’t going to be happy about this news, especially not when they’re pushing for media coverage about your relationship with Jeremy.”

“What relationship?” Avery yelled. “I can barely stand the guy. He’s a jerk.”

I stroked my hand down her spine, trying to calm her down a bit. When she settled, I yanked my cell phone out of my pocket and turned my attention to her mom. “You’re lying about the whole thing.”

“How dare you?” she gasped, feigning outrage. “I’m going to have your job for this. Taking advantage of an impressionable young girl and trying to alienate her from me after I found out about this completely inappropriate relationship.”

I chuckled darkly and pulled up one of the contacts from my favorites list. “Good luck with that. What I failed to mention when we met was that my last name is Stone, as in Stone Studio Teachers. You want to try to talk me into firing myself? You’re more than welcome to try.”

“Fine,” she sniffed. “I might not be able to get you fired from your own company, but I bet I can get your contract pulled with this studio once they find out what you’ve been up to with my daughter.”

I hit the little phone icon next to the name I’d pulled up on my cell and handed it to Avery’s mom. “You might as well start at the top if you’re going to complain about me.”

“What?” she asked, staring down at the screen. “Who?”

“Just trying to make it easier for you,” I drawled. “If he’s not in a meeting, Hank Lockwood is going to answer that call and you can tell him all about whatever it is you think I’ve done that will get him to drop my company.”

“Hank Lockwood, the chief executive officer of this studio?” Her tone of voice lost some of its bitchiness, most likely out of fear that Hank would hear her.

“Yup.”

“I’m sure his assistant will answer.”

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