Never
Keelie
Standing here in Brett White’s office, I watch him rub his face, looking more frustrated than I’ve ever seen him. I know this is only his second year, but it’s been a challenging one. I don’t blame him for wanting it all to be over with.
He leans back and looks out his window. When he glances back to me, he says, “I’m trying to decide how to proceed. I don’t want to be an alarmist—you know how parents can be. Then again, we can’t overlook something as serious as this. Tell me again how you came about this information.”
It’s not an actual rule that a school employee can’t date a parent, but I’m sure it wouldn’t look great. Even though it’s not exactly a secret I’m dating Asa Hollingsworth, the principal isn’t really in the grapevine circles. I have no idea if he knows and I’m not about to tell him. The fact that Asa and his children have moved into my home is something I really have no desire to explain. “Emmerson Hollingsworth is my student—you’re aware of all that’s happened with her this year. Well, her father works in law enforcement. He got a tip and felt it important we know.”
The law enforcement part is a stretch, but oh well.
“I see. I’ll contact Beth’s parents right away, they deserve to know their daughter might have been a target of trafficking. Those poor people—they’re devastated. I’ll draft an email and send it to the parent distribution list.” He stands and shrugs. “But we don’t have concrete evidence. I can’t just throw around speculations. I can remind parents of school policies—especially with graduation coming up next week—and encourage families to be more aware.”
I hide my disapproval. “Thanks for your time. I just wanted you to know.”
I stand and make my way to leave his office when he calls for me. “Keelie?”
I look back.
“We all know how rumors can become fake news. Until we get more evidence, let’s keep this under wraps. I don’t need a line of parents knocking my door down demanding answers I don’t have.”
I try to remain passive and not frown. “I came to you with this for a reason. I know it’s only our second year working together, but I don’t gossip. I hope I’ve proven I’m nothing but professional.”
My mind goes back to Asa kissing me in my office, but whatever. Besides that—and the fact two of my students are now living in my home and their father is in my bed—I’m nothing but professional.
“Sorry, Keelie. Of course, you’ve proven to be nothing but.” He shoots me a genuine expression. “Just had to cover my bases.”
I give him my winning fake-smile in return. “Good.”
I scurry back to my office, not at all interested in talking about my so-called professionalism. When it gets right down to it, I don’t give a shit.
I’ve never felt the way I do with Asa. If I have to find another job, it’ll suck, but I’ll do it.
*****
“I’m sorry, Maggie. We’re at the end of the year. If you don’t pass your biology final, you’ll either have to take it this summer or again next year. If you choose to wait until next year, you won’t be on track to graduate.”
“Can’t you do something?”
It’s not hard to hear since they’re in the next office with his door open. I’m not sure what Maggie is begging for. Tom can’t do anything to change her grades.
“You’ve got a few days. Talk to Mrs. Browning, ask her to sit down and go through the review material with you. But this is on you. All you have to do is pass the final to squeak by with a D. It’s your only hope at this point.”
“Please, Mr. Logan,” Maggie begs.
“I’ve tried to talk to you about your choices this semester. There’s nothing more I can do,” Tom explains and I hear him sigh. “Would you like me to set up a time with Mrs. Browning after school tomorrow? I can fit it into my schedule if you’d like.”
Maggie sniffles and agrees, “I guess. Science is so stupid. I’m never going to use it for anything.”
“Unfortunately, the rest of the academic world disagrees with that notion. Meet me back here tomorrow and bring all your material. We’ll review until Mrs. Browning can get here.”
I hear Maggie groan and look up from my desk to see her scurry out of the counseling center. It seems Maggie Stockton has made poor choices all around. There are always students who do, but she’s working hard at screwing things up for herself this year.
When Tom passes by a few minutes later, I call out for him. “Tom?”
He reappears, standing in my doorway. He’s either angry or frustrated—probably a little of both. “Yeah?”
“You’ve had a hard first year. I promise, it’s not normally this bad. Seems like the end of the alphabet is a glutton for punishment, huh?”
He shakes his head and shrugs. “Trial by fire, I guess. It’s fine. The year’s almost over.”
I nod my head to where Maggie just left. “I know she’s been a hard one—the drugs, suspension, and now her grades. I really thought seeing Beth Thorton OD and make such a slow recovery would’ve knocked some sense into her.”
Tom sighs. “You’d think.”
“It’s taxing, I know. But we always have next year, right?” I smile and he gives me a look that says it can’t get worse than this.
“I’m going to get some fresh air and grab a sandwich. You want anything?” he asks.
“No, thanks. I’m good.”
I can’t help but feel sorry for him as he leaves. Not a fun first year, that’s for sure.
*****
Raymond Wallace
“You can’t fucking make me do it. You can’t make me do anything,” I sneer.
He laughs at me through the phone. He has the fuckin’ balls to laugh at me. “It was only a week ago, but you must have forgotten the evidence I have linking you to a girl who barely survived a fentanyl overdose. It needs to be done in the next two days and you’ll be the one to do it.”
I look around as I walk down the street. If I keep moving, no one will overhear me. “Look, all I agreed to in the beginning was to make a delivery or two for you. I didn’t sign up for kidnapping. You do what you want—I’m out.”
“Raymond,” he drawls. He sounds like he’s reclining back, watching a game or some shit. “Did you think I chose you randomly? Because I don’t do anything that’s not well thought-out and a part of the big picture. Now, you are going to make this last delivery for me, because if you don’t do as I asked with the Stockton girl, I know where I can find two younger replacements.”
I stop in my tracks, staring ahead but seeing nothing.
“That’s right,” he carries on without missing a beat. “You’re not hard to look into. I know your mother works hard to make sure your sisters don’t follow in your footsteps. Twelve and ten are younger than my client wanted—but your sisters are beautiful girls. I’m sure my client will be pleased, especially if I deliver two beauties instead of one. And I have to say, I think they’ll be easier to get to since your mom’s always at work. They tend to fend for themselves a lot, don’t they?”
I look around, checking my surroundings when I realize he’s been watching my mom and sisters. Fuck! My chest rises with my labored breaths when I growl, “You stay away from my family.”
“You,” he stresses, “deliver Maggie Stockton and I will. She knows you—it should be easy.”
“Motherfucker. You planned this all along, didn’t you?”
The fucker laughs again. “It needs to be done in the next forty-eight hours. I’ll text you the drop off location. You let me know when it’s done and I’ll take it from there.”
The line goes dead.
I want to throw my phone. I want to scream. I want to kill that cock-sucking motherfucker with my own bare hands.
Instead, I stuff my phone in my pocket and go to a place I haven’t been in years.
Home.
*****
Keelie
My hair’s a mess of curls, sliding across his chiseled chest and abs as I make my way down his body, kissing and tasting every muscle I come into contact with. A body I’ve come to love as much as the man inside. A man who’s proved to be everything I need and want.
He loves me—despite me being me. I think I’m coming around, I’m definitely trying. Thanks to Asa, I think I’m less fucked up every day.
“You love my cock.”
I look up his beautiful body where he’s shoulders to the headboard and a smirk plays on his lips.
Without breaking eye contact, I raise a brow and fist the base of his rock-hard shaft. When I stick my tongue out to take a quick lick, I whisper, “Maybe.”
He loses the smirk and narrows his eyes. Then threading his fingers through my messy hair, he grabs a handful and fists. I feel the pull on my scalp as he keeps my head where he wants it. “You gonna tease me?”
I look down at the cock he thinks I love so much. Long and veined. He’s right—I do. I lean in to give it a chaste kiss and not only hear, but feel, his groan of protest.
When I look up, his eyes are intense. “If we’re gonna play, swing your ass around here, baby. You tease me—I get to tease you.” My eyes go big and his hold on my hair becomes tighter. “Now.”
Licking my lips, I press to my knees to scoot around. This is new. I’m not quite sure what he wants until his firm hold on the inside of my thigh stops me when I’m kneeling next to his chest.
He gives me a squeeze before his hand comes up to my ass and leans up to kiss me. “Now you can go to town on me, but I’m gonna play with you the whole time.”
I exhale and lift my hands to his face. “Asa.”
His smirk returns. “Get busy, baby.”
He leans back against the headboard, giving my ass a squeeze. The look on his face can only be described as a dare.
I move over his hips, taking aim at my target once again. But I barely get my hand around him when he grips my thigh. “Spread.”
I shift my weight to spread my legs and instantly feel his fingers.
“More, baby. And tip your ass for me.”
I lick the crown of his cock and do as I’m told. My breath catches when he fills me with three fingers. I was wet before, but now I’m drenched being bent over and spread for him.
And fuck me, he left the lamp on.
I wonder if he planned this.
I fist his cock and slide as much of him in my mouth as I can.
“So beautiful,” he murmurs, his middle fingers pumping me as his other swipes my clit. “Feeling you suck my cock, having you spread for me while I play with this sweet pussy? Never want it to end.”
I slide him out of my mouth and arch my back farther, needing his touch. When I wrap my lips around his tip to circle him with my tongue, I lose his hand for a slight second until I not only feel it, but hear it—skin hitting skin.
A spank—right where my ass and upper thighs meet.
My head jerks around and Asa is looking at his hand where he’s gone back to playing with me. When his eyes find my shocked ones, he lowers his voice. “Told you. You play, so do I.”
Too surprised to catch my breath, I gasp. It’s not like he hurt me, it barely stung.
The moment I return to his cock, he resumes teasing my clit. I start to rock against his hand and just when I’m getting close, my mouth goes slack from around him and I lose his fingers, earning myself another smack.
This one stung in a whole different way. A good way. A delicious way. If anything, my orgasm is looming, so close. My chest is heaving and all I can do is breathe against his silky skin, squeezing his base in my hand just to have something to hold onto.
Another spank, this one right across my pussy.
All I can think about is the heat he’s created. I moan, not able to focus anymore.
“Shh, baby. You’ll wake the dogs and they’ll wake the kids,” he cautions, and dammit, he sounds amused, but I can’t bring myself to care. My house is built like Fort Knox. At least his kids won’t be able to hear us from the third floor.
“Please,” I beg as I arch into his touch again.
“You like this, don’t you?”
I look up his body. “I love anything with you, Asa.”
His expression goes from amused to heated and I get one more spank, this one harder than all the others. It felt better, too. But the instant his hand makes contact with me, he leans up and flips me over to my back. No sooner do I adjust to my new position, he throws my legs over his shoulders and wraps his lips around my clit.
When he sucks, I come in an instant.
And I come hard.
I have no idea if I woke the dogs or if the dogs woke my kids. Not only do I lose all feeling in my extremities, but my mind blanks, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost time.
I’m still gasping when Asa’s lips take mine at the exact moment he slides inside me with such force, he has to wrap his arm around my back to keep me where I am.
“Never knew I could have it this good,” he breathes against my lips. “Wasn’t looking for anything. Found you on the side of the road, standing in a ditch—then you go and knock me on my ass and I fall in love.”
He pulls out and slams into me again. I wrap him up with my arms and legs, every muscle in his body tenses under my touch. I turn my head to put my lips on his neck.
“Pissed I’m forty-three and just found you. Gonna make every moment count, baby. Every single one.”
His cock fills me, thrusting, creating new sensations low in my stomach. I raise my hips to get more and he starts to fuck me harder.
“Yes,” I breathe. “Never leave me, Asa. Never.”
When I fall over the edge—my second orgasm gliding through my body from head to toe—he slams into me with such force, my fingers dig into his shoulders to hang on. His body tenses, crashing into me one last time before giving me his weight. I take it all, our bodies melding into one as our lungs find air and our hearts recover to a normal beat.
He doesn’t move. He stays planted deep and presses me into the mattress. His short beard pulls on my hair and he puts his lips to the side of my head where he murmurs, “Never leaving you. You can ask me every day for the rest of our lives, but the answer will always be the same. Still, every time you say it, it cuts me deep that you think you need to.”
I draw my leg up and wrap it around his ass. “I’m sorry.”
He pulls back and looks down at me. His gaze is penetrating and I feel it in every muscle of his body when he states, “I’m going to marry you.”
My fingers tense in his hair and I’m overcome by his words. As my eyes well, I whisper, “You are, are you.”
He presses his still hard cock into me. “As soon as I can. And even when you’re wearing my ring, you can ask me not to leave you and my answer will always be the same. Never. Never, baby.”
I swallow over the lump in my throat as my tears tumble down my temples. “Never is a pretty negative word.”
He leans down to kiss me. “I’ll have it engraved in your ring. It’ll be forever wrapped around your finger as a constant reminder.”
His thumb swipes the tears from the side of my face when I nod. “I’m sorry I’m the way I am.”
He shakes his head. “You’re perfect.”
At his words, I let out a single huff of air and pull him close where he’s practically suffocating me, but I love it, and mumble into his skin, “Never.”
“Never,” he repeats.
*****
Asa
“Dooley thinks something’s going down soon,” Jarvis informs the room.
I look across Crew’s office where Jarvis is leaning against the wall.
“He’s on fire about his cousin. I guess Raymond Wallace hasn’t been home in years, but for some reason made a surprise visit to his mom yesterday. Raymond has two little sisters, and with no explanation, demanded his mom not take her eyes off them and to call Dooley for help. Dooley is now providing protection for those girls, Raymond’s mom is a mess, and Raymond has once again disappeared. Dooley is pissed the fuck off and will probably kill his cousin with his own hands should he ever find him.” Jarvis shrugs like it’s no big deal when he adds, “He said the whole thing is bad for business.”
I shake my head, not giving a shit about Dooley’s business, but wonder what’s going down. The principal sent out a generic email to parents regarding the suspected increase of drug activity, but it had nothing to do with the shit that could actually go down.
“I should contact Maggie’s parents, give them a heads up. I’d put money on the fact Beth was the main target. Maggie could be next,” I say. “The school did nothing and we have no idea who else could be on their list.”
Crew stands from behind his desk and picks up his weapon, holsters it, and looks to Grady. “I’m going out with Jarvis to look for Raymond, you wanna come? He’ll flush out sooner or later—especially if shit’s gonna hit the fan soon.”
Grady gets up from his chair and starts to say something, but I interrupt, “I’d go, but at this point, I can’t let Emma out of my sight. I need to pick her up. Keelie’s staying late to work on stuff before graduation and Levi has practice.”
Grady grins. “You weren’t invited.”
“Yeah, and you promised Keelie,” Crew adds before looking to Grady with a smirk. “I did that once when I had to save your ass and it didn’t go over well with Addison.”
Grady shakes his head. “Fuck. That was three years ago. Are you ever going to let that go?”
I ignore them all. “Just keep me up to speed.”
They leave in quick order and I follow them out the door. I’ve got to call Maggie’s parents on my way to pick up Emma.
I’m not looking forward to that conversation.
*****
Keelie
It’s later than I wanted to stay, but we’re still finalizing details for next week. Somehow, I’ve been tasked with managing the memorial portion of the ceremony for Brandon and Kyler. I’ve been in touch with their parents about the details. Both sets of parents have decided it would be too painful for them to attend.
I’m ninety-nine percent resigned to the fact the humungo Infiniti isn’t a loaner—but mine. As I climb into what’s become my SUV, I toss my bags into the passenger seat and head out of the faculty parking lot. I can’t pretend knowing Asa is there to get Knox and Saylor off the bus doesn’t make my insides flip. It does. But knowing he wants to be there, to spend time with them, and hell, even loves them—I couldn’t be happier with the state of our lives.
I’m about to turn onto the road, but a car catches my eye. It’s parked cockeyed in the back corner of the student lot with a door standing open. No one is around and students aren’t allowed to meander after school hours. I make a quick right and head to the lonesome car.
I gasp at what unfolds as I pull around—first a set of legs come into view followed by a body sprawled on the pavement. I throw my loaner into park and grab my phone. Stumbling out of my seat, my heel catches in the running board, and I barely right myself before I fall on my face.
Oh, fuck. Blood. He’s lying in a pool of blood.
My fingers tremble and it takes me two tries to type the three numbers into my phone, but I finally dial nine-one-one as I fall to my knees and put my fingers to his throat.
“Tom, can you hear me? Wake up,” I beg, trying to find a pulse. His eyes are closed and his skin is pale. He’s been shot.
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?”
“Tom, say something.” I give him a shake and press harder into his neck, finding a weak pulse.
“Ma’am,” the dispatcher calls for me. “Please tell me your name.”
“He’s shot.” I exhale quickly and give them the address of the high school. “Tom Logan. He’s a counselor here. My name’s Keelie Lockhart. Hurry, he’s lying in the parking lot of the high school and it looks like he’s lost a lot of blood. Send an ambulance.”
Tom’s heavy eyes flutter and I grasp his hand.
“Someone took her,” he croaks, his voice gruff and weak.
“Is he conscious?” the operator asks.
“It’s okay,” I say to Tom, my eyes watering, but I try to swallow it back. “They’re sending help. Talk to me until they get here.”
“Maggie,” he wheezes and his bloodshot eyes strain as they sear into mine. He’s pale and his breaths are coming labored and shallow. He tries to give my hand a squeeze, but it’s weak. “He took her. Thought it was a drug deal. Tried to stop it, but he shot me and took her.”
“Oh shit,” I say and continue talking into the phone. “He said one of our students has been taken. Her name is Maggie Stockton.”
“Keelie?” I hear my name yelled from behind me. When I look, Brett White is jogging across the parking lot.
Oh, thank God.
When he approaches, his eyes are on Tom, shocked at the sight in front of him. “What happened?”
I bring my attention back to Tom and drop my phone when I feel his pulse weakening, but he’s still looking at me. “He said Maggie Stockton was taken by someone. When he tried to stop it, he was shot.” I glance to Brett, who’s standing over us stock-still, and exclaim, “We have to do something!”
I feel Tom’s hand move in mine and look back to him. His eyes become heavy and I demand, “Stay awake, Tom. Talk to me.”
His eyes widen a bit and it looks like he’s coming to, but he’s not focused on me. He’s staring over my shoulder and gives my hand a weak tug. When I move to see what he’s looking at—a crushing weight hits the side of my head.
The last thing I remember is seeing Brett White’s arm come around with a gun in his hand before I hit the pavement.