Chapter Fifteen

PAIGE

“Alright, we have to let the shirts dry,” I said, helping the kids put their newly tie dyed shirts on a drying rack. “Make sure your name is on the collar, and once they're dry, I'll give them to your teachers to give to you.”

It was the last class of the day, and my room was a mess. It was more of a disaster than usual, which was really saying something. Why I'd thought tie dying shirts would make for an easy, fun activity was beyond me.

I looked down at myself and saw that I was covered in dye from head to toe, which was impressive given that I hadn't even dyed myself a shirt. But I had a million little hands grabbing at me and touching everything in sight – which meant there was dye everywhere. There were brightly colored stains all over the room and I knew it was going to be hell to clean up. The janitor was going to absolutely hate me.

I walked the kids out to the hallway to wait for their teacher, who was running a little late. As the kids got themselves all lined up, chatting excitedly amongst themselves, I noticed someone lurking at the end of the hall. A man. A man I'd never seen before. I had no idea who it was, but I suddenly got a very strange, very ominous feeling about him. I suddenly didn't feel very safe – which terrified me given the herd of children I was responsible for.

“Come on, kids,” I said, ushering them back into the classroom. “Let's go back inside and clean up while we wait for Mrs. Wells, okay?”

The kids grumbled and groaned, but they filed back into the room and started to pick things up. With all the threats of school shootings and other acts of violence flashing through my mind, my heart was racing. As soon as we were inside the classroom, I locked the door and called the office.

Whispering into the phone so the kids didn't hear me, I told them “There's a strange man pacing the halls. I think you need to send somebody to check it out. Quickly, please.”

Given of all the threats and violence in the news lately, I knew the administration would take things seriously. I assured the woman I spoke to that my door was locked, and they said they'd send someone down to check the man out right away.

The doors to our building were usually locked during school hours and required anybody coming to the school to be buzzed in by the office. Usually, visitors had to be logged and ID's checked before they were allowed access to the classroom areas.

But I knew that some parents knew how to get around it. Oftentimes, back doors and side doors were left cracked open or unlocked, giving anybody and everybody access to all of the classroom and all of the children. I'd raised the point with administration more times than I could count, but they'd never done anything about it. So, just to ease my own mind, I usually checked all the doors I could and made sure they were latched when I walked by. But the fact that some people continued to leave them cracked open or unlocked posed a serious safety problem.

A knock at the door startled me, nearly causing me to jump straight out of my skin. I stifled a cry of surprise and fear and hesitated before answering, just in case. The kids heard the knocking and figured it was probably Mrs. Wells. They looked at me, wondering why I was still standing there and not opening the door.

Clearing my throat, I walked over to the door, but didn't unlock it. Instead, I tried to speak to whoever was on the other side first.

“Who's there?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Mrs. Wells, of course,” she said. “Who else would it be?”

The voice was familiar and I felt a wave of relief wash over me, but still, I didn't want the kids walking the halls with a stranger running loose. I wanted to get the all clear from security before I let them go. I opened the door and quietly explained what was going on to Mrs. Wells. She looked up and down the hallway ebfore looking back at me like I'd lost my mind.

“I haven't seen anybody out here,” she said. “Maybe it was a janitor or security?”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, maybe,” I said. “I just figured, better to be safe than sorry.”

“Absolutely. You did the right thing,” Mrs. Wells said and smiled. “I'll be sure to keep an eye out.”

I really, really didn't want to let them leave the relative safety of my classroom. Not until I'd heard from the administration. I leaned out and stared down one side of the hallway and then the other. I saw security guard walking my way and felt a little more relieved. At least there was somebody waling the halls.

We waited until he got to where we were standing at my classroom door and I asked, “Is it clear?”

He shrugged. “I can't find anyone,” he said. “I saw someone leave out this way. Looked like it could have been the father of Harley Jones.”

Maybe I was overreacting and whoever had been in the hallway had been there for any devious or nefarious reason. It could have been anybody. But Elias? He had no reason to be there, and I would have recognized him in the hallway. I'd have recognized him in a heartbeat. And who I'd seen wasn't Elias. I would have bet every last cent I had on it.

“I'm pretty sure it wasn't Elias Jones,” I said haughtily. “Just because he was wearing a leather jacket like he does – ”

The guard held up his hands. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Maybe it wasn't Mr. Jones. But there's nobody in the halls now. It's safe to let the kids out.”

With the security guard's word, I let the children follow Mrs. Wells back to her classroom. Still, watching them walk away with the image of the mysterious man in the hallway made me a nervous wreck. I continued watching them until they reached the end of the hall and turned away, out of my sight.

I'd seen someone, and it wasn't Elias. I knew that much with absolute certainty. As I closed the door, I found myself alone in my classroom. The silence was profound and carried an almost oppressive weight to it. I felt like there was something bad coming our way. It was out on the horizon like a storm, but that storm was rushing in quickly. And I worried that it would be upon us sooner rather than later, and when it arrived, it was going to pack one nasty punch.

The overwhelming urge to call Elias and ask him about it – just in case it had been him for some strange reason – came over me. But I didn't want to come off sounding needy, or like I was making up an excuse to talk to him. Besides, he wanted to keep his distance and I needed to honor that request. Honestly, I knew I should probably do the same. There was no use chasing after a guy who wasn't interested in you, after all. Doing that would only lead to frustration and heartache in the long run. And I sure as hell didn't need that in my life in the least.

Still, I found it hard to stop thinking about him. Especially after everything we'd done and shared last night. When I closed my eyes, I could still feel his body against mine. Feel him inside of me. Smell his skin and hear his voice. The memory was enough to reignite the fire that burned between my thighs for him, but I had to stifle it. Squash it. I couldn't afford to let myself go there again. Not anymore. He'd made himself clear about that and as much as it sucked, I needed to respect it.

But damn, if it hadn't been an amazing night.

ooo000ooo

I was in the middle of cleaning up my classroom – my door still shut – when someone knocked. A chill passed through me as I remembered the creepy guy in the halls earlier and hesitated. But, it was also after school so the hallways were crowded – there were parents and their kids about as well.

“Yes?” I said.

“Paige – err – I mean, Miss Cleary?”

Damn. It was Elias. For someone who wanted to keep his distance, he sure stopped by a lot. Not that I was complaining all that much. I had to admit that I enjoyed seeing him. And if I had my way, I'd see a lot more of him.

“One sec,” I said.

I muttered under my breath as I wiped my hands off on some paper towels. I unlocked the door and opened it to find Harley and Elias standing there staring back at me. Harley had a huge smile spread across her adorable little face.

“Harley has something to ask you,” Elias said, very pointedly not meeting my gaze.

“Yes, Harley?” I asked.

“May I have my shirt, please?” she asked sweetly. “I know you said to wait until you gave them to our teachers, but I wanted to wear mine out tonight, and – ”

“Sure thing, Harley,” I said with a laugh. “Go grab yours. Just make sure it's dry first.”

Harley's class was at the beginning of the day, so chances were good that it was probably dry by now.

“So what are you doing tonight?” I asked her.

“I'm hanging out at daddy's work with Mitch while he goes out.”

Harley looked through the drying racks one-by-one, checking the tags as she searched for hers. I stared over at Elias. I tried to bite it back, but a sudden spike of jealousy lanced my heart. I couldn't help it.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, doing my best to keep the bitterness out of my voice. “Going out tonight, huh?”

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging as he stared at Harley. “No big deal though.”

His hands were in his pockets and he seemed awkward, uncomfortable. Honestly, it seemed like he wanted to just get the hell out of there. Not that I blamed him. I wanted to ask him if it was a date he was going on, but I knew it wasn't a question to ask in front of his daughter. And it probably wasn't an appropriate question for me to be asking anyway. But yeah, it was probably a date.

“Well, have fun,” I muttered.

Harley squealed when she found her shirt and was showing it off to Elias as I sat back down at my desk, pretending to work and fighting the tears that were suddenly stinging my eyes.

“Paige, I mean – Miss Cleary – ”

“Yes, Mr. Jones?” I replied without looking up at him – the last thing I needed was for him to see that I had tears in my eyes because of him.

“I'm uhhh – ” he started to say something, but stopped and scratched at the scruff on his face. He looked to be at a loss for words – or like he wanted to say something else entirely – but what came out was, “Thanks for letting Harley get her shirt. She couldn't wait to show it to Mitch – he wears a lot of tie dye himself and she thought it'd be cool if they matched.”

“No problem,” I said. “Always happy to help.”

Elias was almost out the door when I decided to ask him the other question that was nagging at me, “Hey listen, you weren't here at the school earlier today, were you?”

He shook his head. “No, why?”

“Oh nothing,” I said, shrugging. “There was just some guy in the hallway. I didn't get a good look at him, but security thought it might be you. He was wearing a leather jacket, but from what I saw, he didn't look anything like you in my opinion. I just thought I'd ask.”

“Did you get a good look at him?”

“Not really,” I said. “As soon as I looked down the hallway at him, he stepped around the corner and kind of vanished. I had my kids to look after, and honestly, he gave me a creepy vibe. But security didn't find him, so like I said, it's probably nothing. I was just curious.”

Elias stood there, staring at me, contemplating something. I could see a million different thoughts rolling through his head and he looked like he wanted to say something, but then the moment passed. The curtain fell down over his eyes and he just gave me an awkward smile.

“You be careful, okay?” he said. “And call me if you see anything weird or anything.”

I waved him off. “Yeah, thanks,” I muttered. “I'll be careful.”

Call him if I see something weird? Yeah, not likely. Not anymore. I see how things were now – I seemed to be just another sexual conquest for him. I'd thought maybe things could have been different. He was sweet. Gentle. Wanted me to stay and cuddle. I'd thought that maybe my impressions of him and what he wanted had been wrong.

But he sure proved me wrong and maybe even naïve in a heartbeat. I was infuriated and humiliated. The fact that he was going out on a date, after telling me to basically forget he even existed, was like a slap in the face. It was silly considering the fact that we weren't even together, but knowing I was so fucking disposable to him hurt like hell.

Maybe he was right. Maybe I'd be better off if I forgot he existed.