Page 24 of When the Storm Breaks
“Don’t keep me waiting,” I called after him as he backed out and swung the truck around.
“Or what will you do, Shi-loh?”
I moved to his open window. “If you keep me waiting, I’ll just have to hunt you down.”
He grinned. “Catch me if you can.”
“So you want me to chase you, is that it?”
“All depends. Do you think you’re up to the task? I’m more than a handful. Not sure you can handle me.”
“Challenge accepted. Tonight, we’ll see if you’re all talk or if you can handle theheatI’ll be bringing. Just as friends, of course,” I added.
He was laughing as he drove away, his tires kicking up a cloud of dust, his left hand tapping out the beat of the music on the window frame.
Now that I’d invited him to dinner, I’d have to brave the grocery store. Oh joy.
Chapter Seven
Brody
I should have showeredbefore my meeting with Ridge’s English teacher. But if I’d stopped to shower, I would have been late. So here I was in my sweat-stained T-shirt and dirty work boots. I rapped my knuckles against the door then strolled into the classroom to face Chloe Whitman. She was used to my sweat and grime. But it had been a while since I’d last seen her—six months, to be exact—and I’d never met her at the school before. She stood up from her desk where she was marking papers and tucked her blond hair behind her ear.
“Thanks for coming in today, Brody.”
“No problem.”
“Let’s sit at the table.” I nodded and followed her to a round table, her heels clicking across the floor. She was wearing one of those pencil skirts that hugged her curves and stopped at the knee and a short-sleeved blouse with puffy sleeves. Chloe was every high school boy’s wet dream. Twenty-six, single, and more adventurous in bed than her buttoned-up appearance would lead you to believe.
I pulled up a chair across from her. Had she applied fresh lipstick for me? Her nails were painted to match her rose-tinted lips and her cheeks were flushed against her creamy skin.
I leaned back in my chair and waited for her to speak. She stared at the folder she’d placed on the table in front of her. Was I supposed to make small talk now? Not my forte. “How’s the teaching gig going?”
She lifted her head, her doe eyes meeting mine, and licked her lips. “It’s been a challenge. I’ve almost survived my second year.” She fingered the silver heart medallion on her silver necklace. Next to the heart was a small silver key. “How’ve you been, Brody?”
“Yeah, it’s all good.”
She nodded and forced a smile. This was the reason I didn’t do relationships. I sucked at them. And now, as bad luck would have it, I was sitting across the table from someone I’d fucked. Not just once or twice either. Nope. I’d dated Chloe for seven months, a record for me. Last April, one week after Jude and Lila’s wedding Lila’s friend Sophie, the town matchmaker, had set us up on a blind date. I hadn’t even known it was a date or I wouldn’t have gone.
“I know you’re here to discuss Ridge but before we get into that, I was kind of hoping you could tell me where I went wrong. I really liked you, Brody.”
Oh shit, here we go. I rubbed the back of my neck. She told me she loved me. Not a crime. But I couldn’t say it back. I’dneverbeen able to say it to any woman. Not only that, but after seven months of ‘casual’ dating she was already talking about marriage and kids. Why she would ever think I was a good candidate for marriage was beyond me. I didn’t even believe in the institution of marriage. If you asked me, it wasn’t natural to make vows to love and honor only one person, until death do you part.
“It wasn’t anything you did. It was all on me.”
“I guess I should have known better. You never even introduced me to your son.” She laughed but she didn’t sound happy. “You warned me, but I didn’t listen. Shame on me.”
She looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak. To explain myself. This was awkward as fuck. But I had warned her from the start. Told her I didn’t want anything more than a casual relationship. Guess I’d stayed too long, and she’d taken it as a sign that I’d changed my mind.
I shifted in my seat, an orange plastic chair on thin metal legs, and crossed my ankle over my thigh. “Let’s talk about Ridge.”
Her face fell but she quickly rearranged her features and squared her shoulders. “Yes. Of course. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
And now I felt like shit. I looked over my shoulder at the door. Where the fuck was Ridge anyway?
“Ridge will be joining us soon. He’s in Chemistry. His last period.”
So she’d asked me to meet her early to discuss the reason I dumped her, not to talk about Ridge.
