“I just got a call from Kit. She’s at the school but the door is frozen shut. They called building security and the janitor but they’re both still stuck up on the mountain. I figured you hadn’tmade it past there yet, and you’ve still got that heat gun in your box, right?”
A thrill of excitement rushes through me at the thought of seeing Kit again, but I know it shouldn’t be there. I know it can’t be there.
After last night’s indiscretion, the load of filthy dreams I had, and the subsequent jerking off I did half the night, I know seeing her adds to the problem more than it takes away from it.
Rationally, I know that.
“Yeah, still there.”
“You mind stopping by and helping out? I don’t think she’d have called if it weren’t an emergency. They’ve got kids stuck on busses until the door is open.”
“Yeah,” I lie, “no problem. Can you make sure the guys focus on phase two for me? We’ve got the Wilders in town soon for the updates and I don’t want to deal with their bullshit if it’s not done.”
“On it,” Wade says. “Thanks for helping out.”
He disconnects the line and I turn back on the radio, cranking it louder this time. So loud that it hurts. So loud that every thought about last night is drowned by a heavy drum solo, and the only thing I have to focus on is the road ahead.
Chapter Seven
Kit
I’d love to say this is the first time the doors have been frozen shut, but it’s surely not. In fact, this happens so often that I should probably buy my own heater or blow torch thingy.
Thankfully, my dad is close by.
Unthankfully, it’s not my dad that’s pulling in.
Thankfully or unthankfully, it’s Duke.I’m not sure yet.
All I know is I wasn’t ready to see him again so soon.
He pulls into the parking lot, parks behind a bus, and climbs down out of his truck, stretching his enormous body like some kind of hero before reaching into his big tool box in the bed of the truck.
“Dear Lord, who is that?” The sixth-grade teacher, Ms. Emily, has a lot to say this morning. She’s commented on nearly everything. The strange bird on the roof with the red and black wing, Tommy Yarrow with the jacket two sizes too small, the amount of exhaust blowing from the back of the buses, and now, Duke.
I’m not sure why it bothers me so much that she’s noticing him. He doesn’t belong to me and I’m well aware of how attractive he is. Maybe it’s that she’s more age appropriate for him. Maybe it’s because she’s a tall, gorgeous blonde with perfectly blue eyes and a heart of gold. Maybe it’s because she’snot my father’s daughter and she could have him if she wanted him.
Any of those reasons are probably fair game.
“That’s Duke,” I say, faking a cough for some reason. “He’s my dad’s best friend. They work together. I’m guessing he sent him because he was the closest.”
“Well,” the blonde straightens as he approaches, “hello Daddy’s best friend.”
My chest tightens.Okay, I’m going to dropkick Ms. Emily now.
“Hey.” Duke approaches slowly with the heat gun in hand, his gaze heavy on me as though we both know the weight of this meeting. As though we both remember everything that happened last night, everything we’re apparently not allowed to talk about.
“Hi,” I manage through a cracked voice. “You’re here.”
“I’m here. Your dad called.”
“Hi,” the annoying teacher says, reaching out her petite little hand like some kind of sexual offering, “I’m Emily.”
Duke nods and doesn’t shake her hand… which I love. “Nice to meet you, Emily. I’m, ugh, I’ve got a load of things to do here. You want to step back so I can do them.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure” She steps back, and for some reason, I feel a little bad for her. Then again, I was ready to dropkick her a second ago, so she better watch herself.
The kids scream from the bus windows as Duke plugs the heater in and blows it on the frozen lock and hinges.
