“A million times better.”
“Great to hear. Now I can kick your arse.”
“Kick my arse? What’d I do?”
“Where’s your phone?”
“On the charger.”
“And is the charger turned on?”
“Oh.” Yeah, didn’t check that. I was lucky I even managed to plug it in.
“Yeah. Oh.”
“I didn’t mean it…” I started to defend.
“I know. But people worry about you. I worry about you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, sweetheart. You will be.”
With his chest puffed out like a peacock, Jax strutted past me, shaking his arse as he went. A moment later he returned, my phone in his hand. “This should be good.” He smirked, dropping it in my lap and making himself comfortable.
I looked down and saw the seventeen missed calls and thirty-four unread messages. Shit! This wasn’t going to be pretty. When I groaned, Jax chuckled. “I’m ordering dinner. Pizza?”
“Get garlic bread.” I was going to need it.
I called in sick again the next day. I was feeling better, but I didn’t think I’d have the energy to keep up with my kids. Besides, I was binge watching a TV series and had three episodes to go. One more day and I’d have that sucker finished. So I’d laid around, stuffed myself on popcorn and Oreo’s, and caught up on my show.
I was bored by lunch time.
I’d returned all the missed calls and messages and ended up feeling like the world’s biggest arsehole. Luca had really been worried about me from the sounds of things. I’d called him back, leaving an apologetic message. I assured him that I was okay and told him not to worry, but he hadn’t called me back yet.
The next morning, I’d woken before the alarm, dressed and was in my classroom before seven-thirty. Having a couple of days off, especially when they were unplanned, inevitably resulted in walking into a shit storm, and today was no exception. After tidying up and organising some paperwork, I grabbed my whistle and hat from my desk, left a note for today’s substitute, and headed down to the bus line where parents were already gathering with their kids. Today’s sports carnival was going to kick my arse, but it’s what I signed up for.
After ushering the kids onto the bus and collecting permission slips, I climbed the steps and dropped into the front seat, checking the list twice. Everyone was here. Everyone except Trish. Digging my phone out of my pocket, I text her to move her butt.
“Sorry I’m late…”
Looking up, I was surprised to see it wasn’t Trish clambering up the stairs. It was Corey.
“Corey? What…what are you doing here?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Where’s Trish?” I asked, trying to keep the panic from my voice.
The door hissed as it closed, and Corey dropped into the seat behind me, leaning forward so I could feel the warmth of his breath on the back of my neck causing goose pimples to break out, and not in a good way.
“I swapped with her,” he confirmed smugly.
“Great,” I gritted out.
Turns out, the shit storm had only just begun.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Luca
