Page 27 of Mister Teacher

“Where’s the fuckin’ money?” Nathan asked calmly.

“It’s… It’s in my baby girl’s locker at school. She’s sick and I’ve been keeping it there until I could find a better place.”

“What school?” Carlton asked.

Nathan made his way over to me, pulling me toward the door by my hand.

“You’re not going to stick around?”

“Nah. Carlton can take it from here. My job is done.”

I chuckled as we headed out. “You do this shit so casually. It’s truly who you are now, huh?”

“Unfortunately. Tyreek left, so I have no choice but to do this kind of shit now.”

Tyreek.

God.

I missed that man.

There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about how differently my life would have been if I would have chosen him over my father.

When Tyreek and I started dating, that was the first time I lived a somewhat normal life. We were together so often I didn’t have time to do jobs for my father. Tyreek made me promise not to do any more schemes while we were together, and I did. I told my father that part of my life was over. Since I was in a committed relationship, I couldn’t be dating men and having sex with them just to steal from them. My father agreed and was genuinely happy for me… then… he got word that a billionaire was coming into town and my retirement was over.

Hebeggedme to do the job. At first, I declined and tried to keep my promise to Tyreek. Then, my father insinuated I was choosing Tyreek over him. He made me feel so guilty I did the job, and as soon as Tyreek found out that I’d cheated on him just to steal for my father, he called off the wedding and broke up with me. For a while, I resented and hated my father for that so damn much. I’d lost the man my heart desired most… outside of my father. To make up for it, my father started being nicer and spending more time with me outside of making me work, but that didn’t last long. Eventually, the love and affection and nurturing stopped, and he went back to his old ways—only smiling and appearing happy with me when I was bringing him money.

“How’s Daddy handling Tyreek’s absence?”

“He’s not handling it well at all, to be honest. It’s his pride more than anything. He has that old school mentality that makes it difficult for him to let anyone walk away or not do as he says.”

I nodded, remaining silent. I’d been between the two of them once before and it ended with me losing Tyreek, I didn’t want to be in that position again—not even in conversation.

“Wassup with you, though?” Nathan asked as we headed outside, but before I could reply, several police cars were racing toward the entrance.

“The fuck!” I yelled, looking from one to the other as they all jumped from their cars and headed toward us.

“You got your piece?” he checked, lifting his hands.

“It’s in the car,” I replied, doing the same.

“Good. You know the code. Don’t say shit.”

I nodded as they yelled for us to get down on our knees. I didn’t have to think it through too much—this was about Thurston. All I could do was breathe deeply and try to stay calm as they damn near shoved my face against the concrete. My eyes locked with Nathan’s, and he gave me a soft smile before promising, “I got you. Don’t say a thing.”

CHAPTER19

Tyreek

Upon realizing I had a missed call from my mom, I decided to call her before my next parent came in. It wasn’t an official parent-teacher conference night, but I offered additional time slots for those that couldn’t come when they were offered. A lot of parents respected my style of teaching, especially when I stopped sending homework home altogether. I noticed how well my kids were doing during the days we utilized the computer room for them to get caught up on work. We talked, and a lot of them confessed to not having the time, energy, or help to get their work done.

Realistically, it made sense. Kids were in school several hours out of the day then expected to go home and do even more work. As adults, we tried to limit work after we clocked out, so why weren’t kids given the same grace? When I stopped sending homework home, eighty percent of my students saw an increase in their grades. I was trying to get more teachers to follow my lead so they could have more overall success, but that was easier said than done.

I called Mom back, and she answered with, “Hey, baby. Where are you?”

“Still at the school. Everything okay?”

“Yeah, your brother is coming over for dinner. I wanted to see if you could join us.”

---