Page 47 of Wicked Games

“Harass? That’s how you’re going to talk to me after all the things we did together?”

“It was sex. Something we mutually agreed upon. Casual, with no strings. That’s over now. I’m no longer interested. So lose my number, and stay the hell away.”

“That’s not how this is going to go, Shane,” she snapped, her teacher’s voice coming in loud and clear. “I’m going to tell my husband about us.”

At my SUV, finally, I got in and closed the door for some privacy to deal with her. “You’ll lose your job.”

“I don’t care.” That whiny desperation pierced through the speaker. “I miss you. I want us to be together.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but I don’t. I meant it when I told you we were through last time.” I switched the call to the speaker and pried my fingers from my phone before I cracked it.

“You pursued me!” she shouted. “You started this. What’s your mom going to think when I tell her that?”

My head thumped against the headrest, and I closed my eyes.Fuck me.I’d known she was friends with my mom. Not good friends, more acquaintances, but still. The way Cindy had come on to me with her low-cut shirts and how frequently she’d touched my arm, shoulder, or stomach had made all that go out the window.

“I won’t give up.”

She’d gone from needy to desperate to angry and finally to an eerie calm that I did not like. “You’re psycho.”

She laughed. “This is because of that girl.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But something pricked my awareness about Cindy’s unstable, or desperate, state of mind and what that could mean for me. “It’s not because of anyone else. My decision to end our fling is because I’m no longer interested in you.”

“That girl you spent the night with is not good for you. She’s a killer.”

Red flags went off all over the place. “How do you know where I spent the night?”

“I know everything about you.”

I could picture her satisfied smirk as she leaned back in her office chair. “So, you’re a stalker.” I hung up. I couldn’t talk sense into her. She just needed to find someone else to obsess over, and I hoped that would be soon.

My phone pinged, and I was almost afraid to look. The text was from Joe asking if I’d gotten the money. I shut off my phone.

I couldn’t deal with people right then. Thane wasn’t the place to be to get away from everyone. I hit the Start button and put my SUV in gear, then backed up, and after exiting the parking lot, I headed toward Mom’s house. It was early enough that she might not have gone to sleep yet after her shift.

With the music cranked high, I drove home, my mind swirling with everything that had happened. Cindy didn’t matter. I couldn’t see her crazy amounting to anything. She would find another poor sucker to seduce. Not that I was a sucker, it had been a mutually gratifying situation. Until it wasn’t.

Joe…I didn’t want to unpack the stress around him texting me. The business he wanted to start, the second chance at being the dad he had never been, was for another day.

Winter was another issue. She’d gotten under my skin—again.

Last night had been incredible. Once would never be enough. But I couldn’t see a way past her reaction to learning my real name or that I’d lied to her. She’d lied too. I couldn’t forget about that. Then there was the plan I’d concocted to get back at her, but goddamn, one touch, and I craved more. I didn’t know how she’d found out about me. It wasn’t a stretch that someone had seen me with her and that was how she’d learned my name.

There wasn’t much traffic, and I got to Mom’s faster than I’d thought I would, which was good. After pulling into the driveway, I parked then rounded my car to unlock the front door. I didn’t call out in case she was already asleep.

The clink of silverware against glass led me to the kitchen, and I found her loading her plate into the dishwasher. She still wore her scrubs, and her dark shoulder-length hair was in a haphazard bun.

“Mom.”

She jumped then whirled, hand over her heart, bracing herself against the counter with her other one. “Shane. You scared me half out of my mind.”

“Sorry.” I hugged her.

Her eyes narrowed when I pulled back, and she scanned my face. “Why aren’t you in class? Did something happen?”

“Just a bad morning.” I forced a grin.

She didn’t need to know everything. Mom always shouldered more than she should with Phoenix and me.

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