“Christy,” he said against my lips, but I wasn’t close to done. I ran my fingers down his muscled back, pressing kisses all over his jaw. “Hey.” He laughed. “Woman.”
That jolted me out of the delirious fog I was in. I lifted a brow, love-drunk. “What?”
He grinned but shook his head. “Not the place.”
I exhaled embarrassingly loud and looked around, remembering where we were. In my office. Holy crap. I was the principal of this school and here I was going at it, in my office, on my desk. I’d discipline a student for this kind of behavior.
My word. Holden might be the death of me.
My hands pressed against my cheeks. “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. That was…intense.”
But he was beaming, desire in his eyes. “Yeah. With you, it always is.” He pulled me to him and rested his head against mine. “I just…I want to be the guy you deserve. It’s been a long time since I was in a serious relationship and I want to treat it carefully, you know?” He pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “You’re really important to me. And it would kill me if we messed this up by being reckless.”
“Yeah. Okay.” I tipped my head back and laughed.
I don’t know how, and I hadn’t even meant to, but by some miracle, I think I’d slayedtheHolden Dupree. The thought made me giddy. But also in complete awe. Because he was important to me too. If I were honest, the most important person in my life. And the fact that he was here now, in my arms, was mind-blowing. Like heart wide open, full to bursting.
He dropped his forehead to my shoulder, taking a beat. It took all my willpower to hold onto his waist and not run my fingertips over his muscled back. But I restrained myself. When he was ready, he walked over and picked up his shirt. As he was shrugging it back on, a small black tattoo on the inside of his left bicep caught my eye. A fully inked-in semicolon. Nothing else. Just that.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recalled that it was the suicide prevention symbol. Had Holden, my strong, confident, name-calling hottie, been low enough to consider suicide? I couldn’t fathom it.
He turned to me wearing that victoriously smug smile,and the thought left as quickly as it had come. Because there was no way.
He reached for my hand. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take my girlfriend out for dessert.”
I nodded, so full of love for this man that I thought I might explode.
He pressed a kiss to my palm, and we headed out the door.
thirteen
HOLDEN
Over the years, Amber periodically tried to friend me on Facebook, under a new account each time. I always deleted the request and kept my account as locked down as possible. Maybe I got too comfortable being home with her, only watching from afar. I thought maybe with some life behind her, she might’ve finally felt some remorse and changed her ways. But that’s the thing about a sociopath. They don’t change.
As I walked into the high school the next afternoon, there was a little bounce to my step, not gonna lie. I pulled the gym door open, expecting to be assaulted by the sound of volleyballs pounding off the floors. But it was quiet. Yes, the girls were there, and the net was up, but they were standing around, looking at each other like they didn’t know quite what to do.
Silas, who was never in the gym at that time, walked up to me, lips pursed. “All the balls are gone. Every single one. Christy ran to the store to see if she can grab a couple.”
“What? No. I put them away myself, right after the game.”
He waved toward the open storage closet. “See for yourself.”
I stepped inside the dank room. Sure enough, all the usual junk Alvarez had lying around—footballs, basketballs, tennis balls—every kind of ball was there, except our volleyballs. And the weirdest part was that the two ball carts were tucked carefully against the wall, empty, making it obvious someone had taken them.
I swore. “Who would do that?”
“Dude. I don’t know. Super messed up. But now that you’re here, I can go check the security cameras to see if I can figure it out.” He stalked off.
Just then Alvarez came running in. Christy or Silas must’ve called him. “They gone? Seriously?”
I folded my arms across my chest, dumbfounded. Volleyball wasn’t a hot enough sport in the Riverbend Athletic District for this to have been the workings of a rival school. If it had been football or boys’ basketball, it would’ve been more understandable. But I’d never heard of anything like this happening at Seddledowne, regardless of the sport.
“All of them,” I said.
He stood there dumbly, hands on his hips, swearing under his breath.
Anna jogged up, dark hair bouncing in a ponytail. “What should we do, Uncle Holden? It’s going to take Christy?—”
