CHAPTER 7

“Over there, Cameron!” Enzo called, the student nodded from afar and affixed a flyer on the wall.

The school was covered with posters that read: “FIELD TRIP FUNDRAISER! THIS SATURDAY!”

“Thanks!” Enzo said, as Cameron carried on hanging up posters around the school.

“Not a bad idea,” a male voice said from behind, he turned to see Mr. Dunley, the gym teacher. He took off his cap and cleaned some sweat off his bald head before putting it back on, “kids are actually looking forward to it.”

“Are they?”

“Yes, some of them are singing, I think?”

Enzo nodded. Audrey held a meeting with the teachers, asking for volunteers to raise money for the field trip. Some of them were happy to do so, others had “something to do,” which was expected.

All of them agreed to promote the fundraiser and not assign homework for the weekend. Better than nothing, I guess.

Mr. Dunley offered himself to sit in the dunk tank, “I’m sure you’ll get the five hundred just with that,” he said with a laugh.

“Are you ready?” Enzo asked him.

“Yes, I’m ready to taunt them into buying a helluva lot of tickets.”

“Enzo!” Audrey called, coming out of her office, a few yards away, she was rushed, “you won’t believe what happened!”

Both he and Mr. Dunley turned to see her. He held his breath, she looked magnificent in her light blue floral dress.

He avoided her as much as he could, setting up their appointments between counseling sessions so his bear remained calm.

Not that he had any success with that.

In the last couple of days, the pair had gotten comfortable with each other, throwing ideas for the fund raiser and acting on them.

“I’ve got a meeting tomorrow with the MG Capital representative, he wants to know more about the fundraiser... he says he’ll double the money we make!”

Seeing her like this filled him with joy.

“The representative what?” Mr. Dunley said.

“Good evening, Peter,” she said as she got to them, “the school has a donor from a financial investments firm. Apparently the owner is a Jefferson’s High graduate.”

“Are you kidding me?”

She shook her head, “why?”

Mr. Dunley shrugged, “I don’t know, I guess... I guess—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Peter,” Enzo interrupted, “these kids have more potential than we give them credit for.”

Mr. Dunley laughed, taking his cap off again, “you’re right! I’m an ass. We should ask him to come!”

“Well, I don’t think that’s possible, the man wants to remain anonymous. I had a hard time tracing the money back to the source.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know. His assistant says he’s a very private person.”

“Maybe we should keep it that way,” Enzo said, “respect his privacy.”

“I agree,” she replied, “I’m just going to explain our situation, wish me luck.”

The bell rang loudly above them.

“And that’s my cue to go,” said Mr. Dunley, “nice seeing you Enzo.”

“You too.”

Students poured out of the classrooms. Enzo sighed, trying to keep his composure. He hadn’t seen Audrey all day. That was supposed to be a good thing. Ever since he met her, his bear paced around, growling and snarling. Even worse, every time they were together it roared and tried to come out.

“Are you ready?” Audrey asked him.

He took a brief glimpse at her, her dress had a v-neck that just barely showed her cleavage. He casually put a hand in his pocket, trying to hide his bulge and finally spoke again.

“Sure, I’ll arrive at five in the morning to set everything up—”

“Do you need help?”

He smiled, “Nah, thank you, a friend of mine will come, Larry said he’d be here too, so it’s cool. Just make sure you bring the best cupcakes in town.”

“Oh I can’t promise you that,” she replied, “Darcy told me Becca and Lynn take a lot of pride in their pastries, I wouldn’t want to beat them so soon, wouldn’t be fair.”

He laughed.

“I understand, you do it for them.”

“Yes, being awesome at everything is very difficult.”

“I can only imagine.”

She smiled and bit her lower lip, looking at him sideways. His bear roared inside, every muscle in his body hardened. He used all of his willpower to keep control.

Her who body called at him. He had been with women in the past, of course, but this was different. This was a primal need, an instinctive necessity to take her, to make her his.

And it wasn’t just her body, it was everything about her. Avoiding her was a mistake. I should have known. But it was too late now. He liked her too much. Life used to be good. Great even. But she was extraordinary. She cared about everyone around. She was a boss.

He knew right then that there was only one thing to do. I’ll make her mine.

The hallway was empty now.

“All right,” she said, “nice seeing you.”

He sighed, but did not look away. A soft growl escaped his throat, I’ll make you mine.