But I can’t be sure.
“Thank you for helping Molly,” Maren chimes, as she grabs a purse off the counter. “It really shows that you care as her professor. So many barely return her emails.”
“I can be a little intense though,” Molly shrugs, her gaze and body staying angled toward me rather than her mom and Mark. “It’s just in my nature. I totally blame my dad for that quality.”
“And that would be entirely correct,” Maren laughs, tipping her head back. She then pauses, turning back to me. “We are going out, and won’t be back until later tonight, but it was very nice to meet you.” She gives me a nice head nod, and then heads for what I’m going to assume is the garage.
Mark, however, pauses instead of following her, his gaze locking with mine. “You’re the interim?”
I swallow hard. “Yes, just while Dr. Shannon is away on maternity leave—for the rest of the semester.”
“Huh.” Mark purses his lips. “And you’re tutoring a student? Is that allowed in the school policy?”
“It is,” I answer, though I have no idea if it’s a lie.
“That’s really nice of you,” he drawls, adjusting the cowboy hat on his head. “Sorry, you just…” His voice trails off, but something in his tone makes it feel like it’s onpurpose.“You look so damn familiar. Where are you from,Dr. Williams?”
My mouth grows dry, but as my lips part, Molly cuts in, spinning around in her chair.
“Don’t interrogate my professor, please. Mom is waiting for you.” She glares at him, but his eyes only flicker to her for a split second, jumping back to mine.
“Well, you two have a nice night.” He grins, and it’s the kind that makes my stomach sick. But as he turns to go, Mark takes one last look back at me and winks. “You’re a long way from Texas.”
What. The. Fuck.
I can’t breathe, and as the garage door slams behind the man, I turn to Molly, barely able to hide the panic. “What did you say your mom’s boyfriend does?”
Molly’s brow furrows. “Um… He works in like cybersecurity or something… I don’t know, really. I just know he’s a total creep.”
“Yeah, I agree,” I blurt out, feeling my façade slipping, as the anxiety rises in my chest.How would this random guy know that I’m from Texas? Maybe he’s talked to someone?“Does he have any friends around here?”
“Absolutely not,” Molly hums, pulling out her phone and setting it down on the table. “And he’s totally obsessed with my dad and asks me the weirdest questions.”
“Like what?” I don’t even give a shit about the essay now.
“I don’t know. Everything.” She folds her arms around her chest, shaking her head. “And he’s always doesthisguy work for your dad? Have you seenhim?”
My palms start to sweat, and I casually wipe them on my pants. “What guy?”
Molly goes quiet for a minute. “Um… Cade… Something?” She shrugs. “I don’t know. He showed me a picture of him, and,” she leans forward, lowering her voice, “I think he did work for my dad, but I totally lied. I don’t want to get my dad in trouble.”
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “So you’ve seen the guy?”
She nods. “Yeah, I saw him a few weeks ago? He was with my dad and his other helper.” As soon as the words leave her lips, her phones blares, and I see a guy’s face light up the screen. Molly’s cheeks grow red, and she goes to silence it. “Sorry.”
I soften immediately. “You can answer it, if you need to. I don’t have a time limit tonight.”
She bites down on her lip, glancing at the screen. “Okay, then I’ll just take this real quick.”
I nod, as she sweeps up the phone and disappears from the room. I hear a door close somewhere in the distant, and her giggle.
Perfect distraction.
I’m up out of my seat immediately, and head straight for the office. I have no idea who the fuckMarkis, but he obviously knows who I am—and who Cade is. I stand in the threshold, taking in the desk, bookshelf, and computer. None of it is neat and organized like the rest of the house. In fact, it looks like a tornado blew through.
Chewing the inside of my cheek, I anxiously start to shuffle through what’s right in front of me on the desk. I flip through a couple of reports and notes, noticing they’re about the tree farm that Calvin Bradford runs.
And then I see it. The label in the corner.
