I looked at Silas. “What is going on?” He gave me nothing, hands in his pockets, lips sealed. So I glanced at Holden, dressed in joggers and a tight T-shirt that, any other morning, would’ve made me want to run my hands all over his chiseled torso. “You’re moving somewhere tropical?” He may as well know I heard.
Still they said nothing. And that’s when I noticed them.
Dozens of crinkled flyers in a messy stack on Silas’s desk. I walked over and picked one up. I dropped my eyes to the paper.
And then I gasped.
It was a picture of me and Holden, in my office, kissing, him sans shirt. With the words“What happens in the principal’s office, stays in the principal’s office”framing it.
My hand went to my heart.
I dared to glance at Silas, sure he was so disappointed in me. Us. In us. But he was stone-faced. Then he gave me a pity smile. Holden was still bent over, eyes on the ground.
I took off for my office, I don’t know why. I knew there were cameras in there but no one ever looked at the night feed. There was no reason to. Had I thought there was a minuscule chance someone could find out? Yes. But I’d quickly talked myself off that ledge. The chances were so remote it wasn’t worth giving a second worry.
My eyes checked each camera, a redblinking dot greeting me. My mind reeled a hundred miles an hour, playing through every scenario of how this could’ve happened. Nothing made sense. I hurried back to Silas’s office. Holden was up now, chewing his thumbnail, eyes trained on the door, as I came through.
“Who?” I asked them.
“We have theories,” Silas said.
Holden scoffed. “One theory. And it’s the only one we need.” But then he clamped back down like he’d said too much and I was met with silence once more.
“Okay?” My hands went to my hips. “Would you like to share with the class?”
Silas deferred to Holden with a glance. But Holden was on lockdown.
Alrighty then.
I turned to my assistant principal with zero patience left. “How?”
He held up his hands. “My guess is the password is old. It’s a small town. Probably too many people know it, who knows? I’ll call Eddie right at eight o’clock.” Eddie was the school district’s IT guy.
Holden was staring at me, tight-lipped. I was going to have to pull every bit of information out of them one piece at a time.
I held the flyer up. “These were posted around the school?” It wasn’t hard to deduce. There was a piece of tape on the top of each flyer. Where else would they have been?
“Don’t worry, we found all of them,” Holden said.
“You’re sure?” I had to ask. If they’d missed even one…
He nodded. “We ran the entire school three times. Anna helped.” Great. Anna had seen the flyers. I’d barely recovered my credibility from my freak-out at the beach. That girl was never going to respect me.
How early had Silas gotten here? Early enough to notice,give Holden time to drive down and search the school repeatedly. I’d never been more grateful that Silas was an early riser.
I’d had enough of the short answers, it was essay time. “Spill it. I want to know who, why, and why you’re threatening to leave the country.Now.”
Silas cocked a brow at his brother. “I think I’ll give you the room. Just keep your clothes on, please. The cameras are rolling.”
My face heated as he walked out and shut the door.
Holden looked up with hooded eyes. “I’m so sorry, Chris.”
“Why are you apologizing? Did you spend last night taping these all over the walls?”
“No. But it’s my fault. I never should’ve started this.” I didn’t understand what was going on, but it was clear from his words and the slump of his shoulders that he thought our being together was a mistake. Dread filled my chest.
Ever since the bus breakdown, Holden had been different, and in the back of my mind, I couldn’t stop worrying that my heart would get broken after all. An all too familiar desperation settled in. I was going to get dumped. Again. And this time, I would not recover. Not after Holden.
