Written Together

by Wendi Zwaduk

  “Hi Melissa.” Dorothy Kuhl, the main secretary grinned at her. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to see Dennis. Now.” Melissa surged past the L-shaped desks to Dennis’ office. She hated to be rude to the kind secretary, but sometimes manners didn’t matter. Dennis glanced up at her, but before he could say a word she closed the door and dropped her bag. Time to lay everything on the line. Adam deserved nothing less. “We need to talk.”

  “We do.” He groaned. “What happened with Kevin?”

  Melissa stood firm and folded her arms. “Normally I’d say that’s a personal matter, but screw it. He and I dated for three years. For two years of that time, I didn’t see the slimeball side of him. We got engaged and I thought I was kind of happy. I wasn’t banking much on the relationship because my family has a history of short marriages.”

  “Corey?”

  “My father’s been married at least four times that we know of.” She took a deep breath and let it flow out slowly. “Once Kevin and I were engaged, I told him about things I wanted in the bedroom. One of those things I liked was role-play.” She held up both hands. “Yes, the business man and his slutty assistant or teacher and the overly eager student. What you got there on those pictures is the one and only time Kevin and I tried to do what I wanted. I have no idea how he got the pictures, but I can assure you, that’s me in those images.”

  Dennis opened the folder. He glanced at her, then at the picture. “Melissa, all I can see is your back—if that’s you.”

  “Dennis, Adam doesn’t have a beer sign on his wall. Kevin does. Limited edition, bar stock Fire Rush Beer. I know. I was there when he bought it.” She tapped her finger on the desk top. “Adam’s face isn’t that broad and he doesn’t have a double chin.”

  “Could be the way he’s sitting?” Dennis offered.

  “Really?” She moved her bag from the chair. The night played on a loop in her brain. She wore a cheerleader sweater. Kevin tried to sound dominating but ended up coming across as lewd. The act lasted long enough for them to have sex. She sat down and tipped her head. A thought occurred to her. “Dennis, can you bring up Sadie Harper’s records? I don’t need to see them, but I have a question.”

  “Sure.” He tapped the keys on his laptop. “What do you want to know? I can deny or confirm.”

  “Kevin said something about an ex. They were still friendly, but he had no sexual interest in her. I paid no mind because at the time we were happy together.”

  “That’s the leap?” Dennis frowned. “Even I can’t jump that chasm.”

  “No.” She fluttered her fingers. “I’m trying to figure out what Miranda Harper has to do with this. Back in September, she got in Adam’s face about Sadie’s placement in his class. I know. I was there when she confronted him. Then there was the allegations of a student seeing us having sex.” Melissa rubbed her temple. Something wasn’t making sense. She’d heard the line about having sex in the locker room before. Before Adam… She snapped her fingers. “Kevin.”

  “Okay, look. I have no idea where you’re going with this, but the records for Sadie show her mother is Miranda Harper.” Dennis clicked his tongue and rubbed his chin. “This is strange. Wonder why I didn’t catch this earlier. You say you dated Kevin McCombs?”

  “You know I did. Sadie’s his daughter with Harper. So?” Her heart hammered and she wiped her clammy palms on her jean-clad legs. “What about him?”

  “Think he’d want to screw up your life?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I’m sure Kevin would fuck with my life. I dumped him.” Melissa snorted. He’d embarrassed her when they split. He shot off his mouth at the family reunion about what they’d done. So she’d moved on. He had nothing to gain.

  “Mel, I’ve got a meeting at four with Harper and McCombs. Superintendent Horton will be sitting in. Would you be willing to call Adam and get him to come back here? I want this all sorted out before Christmas. Call me crazy, but someone’s trying to pull a fast one and I don’t like it.”

  “Sure.” She picked up her bag. “Where are you meeting?”

  “The library. Come in when he gets here.” Dennis nodded once. “I don’t like my teachers being blamed for stuff that hasn’t taken place. Although, I’ve learned a whole lot more about you and Adam than I ever expected to.” He closed the lid of his laptop. “Mel, it goes no farther than me. Promise. But maybe don’t be the student. Just a thought.”

  “I understand. I’ll be in the nurse’s office until you need me.” She strode out of the closet-like room and over to the larger office the nurse used. Melissa pressed the buttons on her phone.

  “Adam,” she whispered as the phone rang, “I got you into this. I’ll get you out.” On the fourth ring, he answered.

  “Hey.” Flat tone, no emotion. The man had been broken. Damn it.

  “You need to come back to the school,” she blurted. “Adam, the whole thing is blown wide open.”

  “I’m fired?” His voice cracked.

  “No,” she replied. “It’s a long story, but Harper and McCombs are here with Horton.”

  “Great. I am fired.”

  “Do you trust me?” She gripped the phone. “Do you?” He’d been dragged into crap he had nothing to do with and all because her ex was an ass. She’d spend the rest of her life gladly making things up to Adam. He meant too much to her. She sat down hard on the rock-hard nurse’s cot. For the first time in her life, she could admit the truth. She’d fallen in love with someone. She loved Adam.

  “Yeah,” Adam said after a long pause. “I do.”

  “Then believe me. This is going to get heavy, but it’s going to get resolved. Come up here. Please?”

  “I don’t have much more to lose. I’m on my way.”

  Melissa held her phone on her lap and flipped through her email. She needed to concentrate on anything besides what was about to happen. Guilt crept into her psyche. She’d brought this on Adam. But the moment of shame at the previous year’s graduation came to mind. Kevin calling her names in front of a knot of parents. Him letting slip she wasn’t what he considered to be a fine, upstanding citizen. Then the moment he said she’d fooled him into falling for her. He’d been hurt because she was cold as ice and couldn’t make love without a costume on. The man treated her like garbage because she’d gotten cold feet. He didn’t get what he wanted, so he made her look like a fool.

  Footsteps thumped in the hallway leading to the nurse’s station. “I got here as soon as I could.” Adam toyed with the zipper of his coat. “You said to come.”

  “I can’t be certain, but Kevin and Miranda are in this together.” She stared up at her lover. “Adam, this is my fault.”

  “Because you dumped his ass? Because you weren’t the woman he thought he wanted until you left him?” He thrust his fingers into his hair. “I just want this over.”

  A text from Dennis flashed on her phone. “We’re needed in the library.” She couldn’t push down the unease. “Adam, whatever happens, I love you.”

  He stopped short, but didn’t turn around. Adam bowed his head and strolled out of the office.

  Melissa swallowed beyond the lump of emotion in her throat and squared her shoulders. Use the confidence you’ve always had, and take whatever punishments are coming your way. You got yourself into this, you’ll get yourself out. Now she had to hope Adam would be there when the dust cleared. She followed him across the hallway to the library. Like Dennis said, Miranda Harper, Kevin McCombs and Farris Horton sat around the table. Tony Macklin, the school attorney sat next to the superintendent. Another man, probably another lawyer sat between Kevin and Miranda. Two men in suits with police badges stood behind the superintendent.

  Dennis stood. He shook hands with Adam and Melissa. “I think you know everyone here. Adam Pallas, this is Herb Gutman, lawyer for Miss Harper. This is Melissa Murphy and we have Detectives Montana and Levis. Let’s get started.” He sat at the head of the table. “The issue at hand is the accus
ation of lewd behavior and an alleged relationship between Mr. Pallas and your daughter.”

  “That’s correct.” Miranda sneered at Adam. “You know what you did.”

  “Enough, Ms. Harper,” Mr. Gutman interjected. “Miss Harper is so emotionally raw about the whole situation, she can’t speak of it.”

  “I’d like dates and times,” Tony Macklin said. “Exact, please.”

  “It’s been going on since the beginning of the school year. He refused Sadie entrance into his class because it was too much of a temptation.” Miranda folded her arms. “She’s not going to get into the school she wants because of you.”

  Adam shifted in his seat. The muscle in his jaw worked overtime. Melissa wanted to hold his hand, but not now. No need to add fuel to the fire.

  “Dates please?” Macklin scrawled on his legal tablet.

  “The last meeting was three weeks ago. In my house,” Miranda insisted. “I caught them. You’ve seen the pictures.”

  “Yes. “ Macklin withdrew the images from the folder. “Now you’ve not gone to the police about this matter, have you?”

  Miranda shook her head. “I didn’t want to shame my daughter.”

  “We did involve the police.” Macklin nodded. “Levis, I’ll let you take over.”

  Officer Levis leaned on the table and nudged the printed images across the scarred oak surface. “Thanks. These pictures were sent digitally to the school. According to the data embedded in the image, the geotagging, suggests the images were captured on your personal phone, Miss Harper and uploaded to the internet. Is this correct?”

  Miranda’s eyes widened. She opened and closed her mouth without saying a word.

  “I want to see the information.” Gutman grabbed the paperwork. He shook his head, but didn’t say anything else.

  “While investigating the information contained in the tagging, we also looked into the location in the image. Mr. McCombs, this is your previous place of residence, is it not?” Levis opened his notebook. “Excuse me, I didn’t hear your answer.”

  “I didn’t give you one,” Kevin snapped.

  Ah, there was the cockiness. Melissa knotted her fingers together to hide the shaking.

  “I lived there, yes, but not now.” Kevin shifted in his seat. “I don’t see what the deal is. He fucked a student. Arrest his ass.”

  “I’ll lay this out for you.” Levis turned the image around. “We mentioned the geotagging. In that data is the date on which the image was captured. This image dates back to March of last year. Then we enhanced the images. This isn’t Mr. Pallas.” He pointed to the very clear image of Kevin. “So either you’re screwing around with your own child, or this isn’t Sadie. What’s the deal Mr. McCombs?”

  Kevin glanced at Gutman, then leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. “You’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.”

  “Then tell me the truth, Mr. McCombs. You’ve got the careers of these people on the line,” Levis snapped. “You’re willing to screw these two over for something that didn’t happen?”

  “Answer the question,” Gutman said. “Tell him the truth.”

  “You’re a shitty ass lawyer,” Kevin growled.

  Melissa watched Miranda. She fidgeted and stared at her hands. “Kevin, this has gone far enough. I took those pictures. Kevin said if I played along, he’d take me back. I believed him and I shouldn’t have because he lied. He said you were cheating on him and wanted different things than he wanted. He hates being told no and can’t stand when a woman won’t do things the way he sees fit. I thought if I did what he asked, he’d take me back. I let the pain get the better of me and went along with him on this. I hated seeing my ex-husband with you and wanted you to pay. It’s stupid and Sadie was never in danger. Mr. Pallas didn’t do anything wrong. He never touched her and hasn’t been alone with her. I made the wrong decisions.”

  “Shut up, Miranda.” Kevin pounded his fist on the table.

  “No.” She scooted away from the table. “Put me in jail for lying and slander or whatever. I don’t care.” She offered her wrists to the detective. “Arrest me. I’m tired of being your bitch.”

  “We’re not going to arrest you, but we’d like to talk to you more at the station.” Detective Montana wrapped his hand around her biceps. “But you, Mr. McCombs, you’re the one we’re very interested in. Care to explain yourself?”

  “You used me and our daughter,” Miranda screamed. “Just tell the truth.” Tears streamed down her face.

  For a moment, Melissa’s heart went out to her. She reached for Adam’s hand. No way she’d let him go now. They were so close to being exonerated.

  “Christ.” Kevin jumped up from his seat, only to be grabbed by Levis. “Yeah, I set you both up. You weren’t supposed to be into that kinky shit, Mel. You were supposed to be perfect and sweet and everything I wanted. No. You wanted freaky ass stuff done to you. What kind of teacher gets off on being spanked?”

  Melissa closed her eyes. She couldn’t deny what she liked any more than she could deny who she was.

  “Then you hooked up with this freak show. Adam Pallas, the biggest twat in the school district. He’s the laughingstock of the town—chasing a woman who hates his guts. I don’t know how you managed to bag Melissa, but you sure as hell don’t deserve her.” The veins bulged in Kevin’s neck. “You’re a lame teacher.”

  “That’s not enough reason to get me fired.” Adam shook his head. “You can insult me and find fault with everything I’ve done, but I’m a damn good teacher.”

  “Mr. Pallas,” Levis said, “you’re free to go. Dalton, Horton, I’d suggest you reinstate him. We’ve found nothing to keep him from doing his job. Melissa Murphy is clean, too. I wouldn’t suggest telling everyone about what you do behind closed doors, but you’ve done nothing to keep you from teaching.”

  Melissa blinked back tears. They’d won.

  “Thank you Detectives Levis and Montana.” Dennis shook hands with the men, then nodded to Horton. “They can go? Yeah?”

  “Absolutely. I can’t guarantee the Board won’t look negatively on what happened here, but your contracts run for another year. By then hopefully this will have all blown over.” He offered his hand to Adam, then Melissa. “Have a better holiday.”

  “Thank you.” Adam nodded, then brushed past Melissa.

  “Yes, thank you both.” She stole a glance at Kevin, then stopped in her tracks. “Kevin, I don’t open up to many people. I don’t. Ask anyone. They think I’m cold and standoffish because I don’t let people in. I thought you were different. I thought I could trust you. The moment I trusted you with something very important to me, you turned on me. You brought your daughter and your ex-wife into this. Get help. For Sadie’s sake, for Miranda’s sake, get help.”

  Melissa picked up her bag and slung her coat over her arm. Her brain hurt. The man she once thought she cared about turned out to be messed up in the head. The man she loved wasn’t really talking to her. She wasn’t sure what the hell was up with her job or her future. She snorted. All this time, she worried about pushing people away. She should’ve been working hard to keep them in her life and filtering out the ones wanting to do the most damage.

  She strode into the parking lot toward her car. A lone figure stood next to her vehicle. She knew the body immediately. Adam. She twisted the engagement ring around her finger.

  “Hey you.” Melissa twisted the engagement ring around her finger. “I suppose you want this back.” She leaned on her fender and didn’t look him in the eye. “I don’t blame you. I’ve caused all sorts of issues for you. Between my bizarre needs and my crazy ex… This is why I hate love. Someone ends up hurting. Relationships and pain aren’t worth it.”

  Adam tipped his head. “Are you done?”

  Damn. She’d started babbling. “Maybe—no. Will it keep you from leaving me?” God, she hated to sound so freaking needy.

  He chuckled. “You need to let me get a word in edgewise.” He crossed the gap betwee
n them and slid his hands along her arms. “Missy, I don’t say what I don’t mean. I came here to settle this—all of this. I never said anything about leaving anyone.”

  “But…you brushed past me like I had a vile disease.” And broke my heart.

  “I acted curt because we didn’t need to add any fuel to Kevin’s fire. The man is a little unstable.” He cupped her jaw in both hands. “Sweetheart, I still love you and they’re right in there. We should probably not play naughty student and the harsh teacher or if we do, keep it on the super down-low. But I’m not going anywhere. I love you too much to give up on us.”

  “I love you too.” Melissa crushed herself against him. “I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to figure it out.” Everything she thought she’d lost fell into place. She had the man of her dreams, a love to last forever and someone who truly cared. What more could a girl ask for?

  “Well, we do have all of winter break to make it up to each other.” He kissed her hard on the lips. “Besides, I need to punish you for using the word just.” Adam grinned. “Ready to go home?”

  Her ass burned as she thought about what he could potentially do to her. Melissa shivered in his embrace. “You bet.”

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  Adam typed the last grade into the computer. Thank you God, the school year was done. He leaned back in his office chair and laced his fingers together behind his head. When he’d started the year, he never would’ve thought he’d go through so much. The conflict with the parents that wasn’t real. Getting close to Melissa…finding his heart. He snorted. Melissa was definitely the treat. He could still see her in his mind, riding his cock. Her hair spilling down her shoulders in an inky cascade. A fine sheen of sweat covered her chest and sparkling in the light. Hot damn. She fulfilled all of his naughty dreams and desires. He checked his watch. How many hours until the teaching staff was free for the summer break?