by Olivia Harp
Going to a school counselor in this area means you’re weak.
Some kids didn't care, others did. He waited for them to approach him, wouldn't risk any of them being bullied.
Something felt wrong.
To his right, Jordan, a senior, shouldered his way against the stream of students, until he crashed against a younger student, dropping his books to the floor.
"You almost made me drop my soda, you fucking dumbass," he said.
Shit. He had to stop the fight before the kids got suspended.
As he walked over there, a small circle of students started gathering around them, but a yell from the next hallway made everyone turn.
She was there.
It had been only a few hours since they met, but she'd been in his mind all morning. Damn it.
As he cleaned out his office, he caught himself thinking about her. He beautiful eyes, they way she addressed herself to others, her cute, badass attitude... damn, her curves made his bear wild. Everything about her exuded confidence.
He couldn’t make out what she told them, but the whole affair was over in an instant, the kids shook hands and everyone dispersed.
What did she say? He might actually learn something from her, instead of being the go to problem solver.
She turned to him from afar and waved. His bear grumbled, you stay still, beast.
The animal was uncontrollable at times, a constant struggle he’d learned to live with. There was no trigger this time, no catalyst... nothing had happened to taunt it.
But just looking at her put him at risk of losing control. Her business casual dress outlined her curves, making him clench his fists hard.
Just accept it and move on.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was confident and sexy, and seemed much, much smarter than the previous principal, Mr. Jones, an old man who wanted nothing but to do the least possible, the staff and school be damned.
“Kids, right?” she said, now that he got closer to her.
The sweet ring of her voice sent wild pulses of electric lust inside him. The bear turned its grumble to a mild roar. What the hell is going on? She’s the principal for Christ sake, stay cool.
“That’s Jordan, our local trouble-maker,” he replied, reaching her, “he’s a good kid, just needs a bit more guidance. You should’ve seen him two years ago.”
“Worse than this?” she said with a sardonic smile.
“He’s smart. He listens, and...” he was only a step away from her but still, kids are vicious creatures, if one of them heard him, they could make things worse.
“And what?” Audrey said.
Enzo shrugged and leaned to whisper something in her ear.
“He can’t control his emotions yet.”
He did it out of respect to the student, not wanting anyone else to hear.
His muscles tightened. For a second there, the heat of her body grazed him, waking the animal inside. Shit. What happened? Why was he acting like this?
He put a hand in his pocket, trying to hide his rock hard erection.
He breathed out and quickly stepped back, the bear clawed inside, making the hair in his body bristle.
He coughed and continued.
“He’s found some outlets, mainly sports, but you know, football season is over.”
She fixed her dark brown eyes on him, a soft, warm idea, distant at first, began to sound louder and louder until he stopped it.
It had been years since he learned to block out other people’s private thoughts.
He couldn’t actually read people’s minds, but was able to feel their surface emotions, if they projected them hard enough.
And she was reaching out to him fiercely.
His bear let out a huge roar, wild and strong,
Then it dawned on him. It was a word. Something it had never said before. A single word.
Mate!
Enzo couldn’t stop a soft growl from escaping him, he was powerful, too, he still was in control.
Audrey didn’t realize what he was going through. On the outside, he kept his cool, just as he’d learned through the years.
She laughed nervously and patted him on the shoulder, “well, he did say he was sorry, maybe you could talk to him? You know how bullies are, I’m scared he’ll try to find the other kid when no other teacher is around.”
“No worries, I will.”
He couldn’t stop looking at her. Maybe it was because she genuinely worried about both, Jordan and the younger kid —he hadn’t met him yet.
Her attitude was refreshing.
Maybe it was the way she didn’t need to wear a lot of makeup, or how her wavy auburn hair just fell down to her shoulders naturally.
The bear roared again, and even though he tried to fight it, he didn’t find anything wrong with the beast calling her his mate. For some reason, it just seemed natural, even obvious.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, then looked behind him, “What are you up to?”
His heart beat fast. The animal inside wanted him to take her against the lockers and enter her. That’s how much she turned him on. But the wild instinct would not win. Not now, not ever.
He turned around and saw the pile of boxes he’d taken out of the small office.
“Moving.”
“What?” she yelled, then immediately covered her mouth with both hands, surprised at her reaction, “you’re leaving us?”
“Why, are you gonna to miss me?”
She snapped her head back, surprised.
“No, Miss Rodriguez,” he chuckled, “you sent a specific set of instructions before arriving here, one of them was to empty my office.”
“I did not!”
“Sure you did, I never received any info on where to go next so I gotta admit I took my time emptying the place.”
“What’s your office number? That one? 122-H?”
It wasn’t hard to guess. Piles of boxes gathered around the door.
He nodded, and realized they were alone in the hallway. Everyone was in class now.
A fire grew in his chest, the beast wanted out.
He had controlled it for years with no problems, liked to think of himself as a Zen master regarding him and the bear... but now, in just a few seconds, everything went out the window.
Audrey kept on tapping on her phone, tapping and sliding her fingers on the screen.
He took deep breaths, in a meditative way. Her skin, her hair, her lips, waist, legs, eyes... everything called at him.
“Here it is,” Audrey said turning to him, “the map they gave me shows 122-H as unused. Look, it says storage area.”
“Shit.”
“I thought we could make better use of it, that’s why I wanted it cleaned up, but I hear you’ve done a great job, you should stay there.”
He laughed.
“What?” she asked.
“Well, I needed to do a clean-up, I guess.”
She turned to see all of the boxes, bags of trash, plants and furniture he’d taken out of the room.
“Whoops,” she said, shrugging.
“No worries,” he was happy at the news, it was a typical bureaucracy mistake. He should have known something like this would happen, “I understand.”
“Sorry, I didn’t want to stir things up so much on my first day, much less with someone like you.”
Someone like me?
She blushed, realizing what she blurted out, “I mean... you know, you’re appreciated around here. Good at your job.”
“Oh,” he said with a mischievous grin, “so you’ve been asking around about me?”
“Oh, I—”
“Don’t worry, I know I’m popular,” he said with a laugh.
“Oh you wish! I asked Darcy about your work, that’s it.”
“What did she tell them?”
“Don’t worry. Good things only.”
He smirked, Darcy always gave him a bit of trouble but she always put the school first.
“Anyway, I’m setting up interviews with all my staff. You’ll tell me more later.”
Shit. Being alone with her was going to be difficult. He’d have to make sure he didn’t fuck things up. Change the subject, stop thinking about that.
“You did a great job stopping Jordan back there, what did you say to him?”
“Told him if I saw him bullying anyone again, he’d be forced to do some extra community work for his Ethics class.”
“And he listened?”
“He seemed to. Who wants extra work?”
“Oh, you’re good. Very good. The kid responds very well to authority figures; he doesn’t have one at home.”
“And you’re an authority figure?”
“Why, you want me to show you?”
He held up a gasp. God damn it Enzo, what are you doing? Just what the hell is up with you?
He moved to grab the hand truck again, the bear screamed bloody murder inside of him. Enzo turned away from her, trying to hide his rock hard erection.
Work was gonna be harder than ever now that she was there. Put that feeling down, you’re here to help, not to start with this shit.
He made a choice a while ago. He had to live with it.
CHAPTER 4
“No, I don’t want you to show me anything,” she replied in her sternest voice.
Audrey’s heart thundered in her chest. She liked Enzo from the moment she saw him. In a professional way. I like him in a professional way...
And now he was flirting with her.
Is he?
She had to look away every time he spoke because she was blushing so hard she couldn’t hide it.
“Take the job in upstate New York!” people told her before coming here. She got tired of all that bull. She wanted to make a difference in the world.
She found meaning in her work, and that’s what mattered.
She wasn’t a high schooler anymore. She didn’t need to crush on an out-of-her-league guy like a dumb teenager.
She came here to work and nothing was going to stop her from doing that, not even this guy.
She was so incredibly tense.
I’ll need to stay away from this guy as much as possible. No friends, no nothing. The job comes first.
He nodded, his smile gone, he went too far. Maybe. Did he go too far? Chill out, Audrey, you’re a mess.
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a—” she looked around, then mouthed “b-i-t-c-h.”
Enzo nodded, he took the hint.
“You’re not, don’t worry.”
He had his foot on the hand truck, an awkward pose for sure, but—
Holy shit, does he have an erection? Her smile faded, she was worried now.
Worried about herself. Her reaction must have been of repulsion. She should have turned away. But she didn’t. Not immediately.
Enzo tried to hide it but he was big. Too big. The thing pressed against his pants on his right leg.
She was getting aroused. If only slightly.
Don’t be such a skank! You’re better than this.
She cleared her throat.
“I’ll have Larry help you,” she said, trying her best to sound normal.
“What? No, it’s fine.”
“Why not? It’s the least I can do...”
“Listen, Larry has a lot of work to do, let’s let him do it, I’m still half embarrassed I met you with a bag of trash in my hands.”
She laughed, “don’t worry, I like guys who are not afraid of getting their hands dirty.”
“Great, I’ve always been a bit dirty.”
Awkward silence.
This conversation was going to a strange place. She had to stop this now or she would have a heart attack.
“Sorry,” he said, breaking the silence, “dumb comment, didn’t mean anything bad.”
“I know,” she replied, almost sorry to hear him say that.
This guy’s such a player. I’m not going to fall for that.
“Well,” she said, walking away in a deliberately fast pace, “nice to see you again, sorry for the misunderstanding.
“No worries, I owe you one.”
“Great,” she said, turning back to him, “I need all the help I can get.”
She heard him go into his office and could finally breath. She hadn’t felt like this in like... ever?
Don’t be stupid. That’s the last time you talk to him without a clear work objective to discuss. It’s just the thrill of meeting someone new.
But she knew she was wrong. She moved schools a few times by now, and the way Enzo looked at her... stop. It doesn’t matter how he looks at you. No point in thinking about it.
Besides, relationships in the workplace are the worst.
They never work out.
Falling for someone was the one thing she absolutely, positively had to avoid.
CHAPTER 5
Jefferson’s high school was ghostly quiet. School day was over and the hulking shell of the building had a delicious calm to it that made Audrey happy.
She wandered around the halls, taking the last notes of what needed to be done before she entered her office.
There were a lot of things to work on. And the teachers seemed to like her, at least the ones she got to meet.
She entered the principal’s office, and to her surprise, Darcy was still there, typing away on her computer. The reception seemed clean, no doubt she cared about her work.
Darcy didn’t bother to look up at Audrey as she walked in.
“I thought you were gone for the day,” Darcy said.
“There’s still much to do.”
Darcy’s lips almost formed a smile. Almost. But she kept her composure and nodded.
“Good to know I’m not the only one working here.”
Audrey smiled, traversed the small secretary’s space and opened the door to her office.
“Miss Rodriguez,” Darcy called behind her.
“Yes?”
“Here’s the document you wanted me to print, I hope it’s all in there.”
“Oh, yes, thank you! Did you have any trouble finding it?”
“Just a little, the school finances weren’t really very organized, but I’m setting everything up so they’re easier to manage next time, I sent you an email with the details.”
Audrey nodded, flipping through the sheets. Darcy had color coded special expenses and wrote notes on what needed attention, she was a wonderful assistant.
“If you have any problem understanding my scribbles, just let me know, I’ll try to explain,” Darcy said.
“Thank you, this is great.”
Darcy nodded, “how did the meetings go?”
Audrey sighed, “well, the teachers are better than I expected, to be honest. Most of them seem eager to work with me, although I felt a kind of... frustration, you know?”
“Well, of course,” Darcy replied, “Most good principals leave as quickly and as far away as possible. This place’s not for everyone.”
“Oh, come on, so everyone thinks I won’t stay?”
“Let’s just say we had Mr. Jones for four years, doing practically nothing, and before him, six principals that lasted from three to twelve months.”
“Shit,” Audrey said, immediately covering her mouth, “sorry.”
“Don’t worry about cursing around me, Miss Rodriguez—”
“Call me Audrey.”
“Okay, Audrey, don’t you worry about that. We have work to do.”
Audrey nodded.
“You’re doing great, by the way,” Darcy finalized.
“What do you mean?”
“Students and teachers are already talking about you.”
“What?”
“Well, you stopped Brad, back there. The kid even apologized. You’re good.”
“I didn’t know rumors spread that fast.”
“Everyone saw it. Teachers were surprised. I even saw Enzo moving everything back into his office.”
&nb
sp; His name made her shiver.
“Poor guy, I messed up. It was an easy mistake to fix.”
“I’m glad, that man does damn good work around here.”
“He’s a good counselor.”
“He’s a good everything. He couches the basketball team, too, he likes to keep busy.”
Darcy looked back to her screen. Audrey held back, not replying, gossip was always bad, especially in this setting, where it could affect more people than usual.
“And that body of his?” Darcy blurted, “I swear if I was your age, I’d be all over—”
She stopped and looked at Audrey, who looked at her in shock. Darcy cleared her throat and carried on.
“I think I got a little carried away...”
Both of them burst into laughter.
“Don’t worry,” Audrey said, “I know what you mean.”
“Hey, I might be older but I’m still a woman!”
“Shut up! We shouldn’t be talking about that.”
“You’re absolutely right, I apologize.”
The laughter died down and the room was silent for a second.
“He seems kind of a player, though,” Audrey said. You just couldn’t keep quiet, right? You had to ask.
“A player? That man? I don’t know, he’s always been incredibly professional. Wait.”
Darcy turned to her, her eyes widening.
“Did he try to hit on you?”
Audrey blushed, “No! Not at all...”
The secretary’s eyes narrowed, then turned to her screen and began typing again.
“That would have been interesting. You should know... most female teachers have a crush on him.”
Audrey laughed, “Really?”
“You should see them at school dances. They actually fight over who gets to watch over the students with him.”
“You guys are a mess!”
“It’s all in good taste. Nothing to worry about, I believe.”
“You believe.”
Darcy put her hand up, she wasn’t done yet.
“The school isn’t as bad as it looks, teachers actually know their limits.”
Audrey sighed, don’t you dare be relieved to find that out, you’re not into him.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Darcy continued, “I’m sure you’ll do a great job.”
