Hard to Fall
Sliding Home Book #3
Elizabeth Perry
Perry Publishing
Copyright © 2018 by Elizabeth Perry
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Elizabeth Perry
Chapter One
Isabelle
“That’s it!” I scream at the top of my lungs, before slamming my hands on my desk and standing, leveling my gaze with the two people sitting across from me.
“Both of you need to just shut up!”
I leave out the F bomb that nearly flies out of my mouth, making me incredibly proud of myself.
Though, if there were ever two people in the world who needed to be told to shut the fuck up, it’s Ryan and Audra James.
These two have been going at it for the last half hour, ever since they both entered my classroom.
I had simply called them in here today to discuss a drawing that their son Isaac had done. To be honest, it freaked me right out when he explained to me that in the drawing, he and his dad were driving a big dump truck over his mother and her new boyfriend.
Now I completely understand where he is coming from, because I also want to run his mother over with a dump truck.
I’m not so sure about his dad yet.
Isaac James is probably one of the sweetest boys in my class. He smiles wide at me, he’s kind to his classmates, and he is always eager to learn.
I had assumed that meant that he had a solid upbringing, which is why his picture through me for a loop.
Now, after listening to his parents, I’m pretty sure that his home life sucks.
Both sets of eyes snap up in my direction, and Audra James’ jaw drops wide open.
“I don’t know who in the fuck you think that you’re talking to here.” She wrinkles her obviously fake nose at me before shoving back her chair and standing, leaning forward so that her face is close to mine.
“But you cannot talk to me like that. I will not allow it.”
“You won’t allow it?” I can’t even contain my smirk. “Mrs. James, with all due respect, this is my classroom, and I do not allow parents to argue in this manner. So far, you have said the F word at least twelve times. You have called your husband countless derogatory names, and frankly, I think that you’ve missed the entire point of this meeting. I was simply concerned for your son. Now, I am incredibly concerned for him.”
Her nostrils flare as she narrows her eyes at me. I think that she’s trying to intimidate me, but it’s totally not working.
Women like her don’t even faze me.
She’s fit, sure. But I’m crazy, and I’m Mexican.
Top that, bitch.
“My son is not your concern. He is a five-year-old boy who drew a picture of a truck. I don’t even believe the rest of what you are saying, and even if he did run me over in his picture, I’m sure he was just angry at me that day. This has been a complete waste of my time. I am a very busy woman, Mrs. Mendez. I do not have time for this.”
Ryan James snorts, and her attention snaps to him.
“Sucking dick doesn’t make you too busy for your son, Audra. It just makes you a shitty mom.”
Shots fired.
Her head turns quickly, and her eyes widen as she takes a step towards him.
“Shut the fuck up, Ryan. If anyone is the shitty parent here, it’s totally you.”
“Right, Audra. Do you actually believe the shit that you talk? It’s almost scary, how far removed from reality you are. Isaac hates being with you. He cries whenever he has to leave my house and return to yours. He meant that picture, which is pretty fucked up in my book. So maybe if you could just shut your mouth for five seconds and listen to his teacher, we could figure out a way to help our son!”
His voice continues to rise, until he’s back to shouting. He’s now standing and glaring at her, but she is doing the exact same.
I almost worry that it’s going to escalate, when he finally exhales slowly and takes a step back.
“Fuck,” he mutters, before balling his fists at his side and loudly counting to ten.
I stare at him, watching as he counts to ten before exhaling slowly and turning his attention towards me.
“Mrs. Mendez, I am so very sorry for this. Thank you for this meeting. Rest assured, it will be handled.”
I’m not even remotely assured of anything regarding these two.
In fact, panic alarms are blaring in my head for little Isaac.
Audra is obviously a self-absorbed bitch, who spends the majority of her day making herself appear as perfect as she can.
Her body is fit, obvious to the eye in her workout clothes. Her skin is deeply tanned, but I’m guessing that it’s the spray on variety. Her hair is a bleach blond that probably cost her a pretty penny, and her boobs are so big and perky that they must also be fake.
I can’t stand her.
Ryan James though, damn.
I can’t even find the right words to describe him.
The man is gorgeous. Sinfully gorgeous, with just enough bad boy written across him to make any woman weak in the knees.
He has a take no shit personality, a few days worth of scruff on his chin, and a body that I am certain is absolutely irresistible underneath his clothing.
His grey eyes are fanned with dark lashes, and his dark hair looks like he runs his hands through it a million times a day.
Probably pulling at it.
I would too, if I had to deal with this woman.
“Thank you for your time.” He nods at me again, before pointing towards the door.
“Audra, you first. I will wait a few minutes and then leave myself.”
“I don’t take fucking orders from you anymore, Ryan.” She’s nearly spitting her words at him, as she grabs her bag, a bag that probably costs more than I make in an entire year mind you, before slinging it over her shoulder.
“I’m only leaving because I have had enough of this stupid meeting, and enough of her.” Her finger points at me as she glares.
“You have made a terrible mistake, Mrs. Mendez. I own this fucking school. Teachers like you are a dime a dozen, so don’t think for a second that I will allow this type of behavior. You have messed with the wrong person.”
Her words should make me nervous, but I’m so pissed off right now that I literally do not even care. I just return her glare as she turns and stomps towards the door, slamming it shut behind her.
Two pictures that were hanging on the wall next to the door come crashing down, smashing into a million pieces on the floor
.
“Great.” I sigh, before moving towards them.
“Mrs. Mendez, wait. Let me get those.” Ryan holds out an arm before taking a few steps towards the mess.
“I can get them. You should just go.” I snatch my broom out of the corner and move towards the mess.
What a freaking disaster this meeting was. Never in a million years did I expect a simple conference to turn into World War III; yet here we are.
Cleaning up the warzone, in the form of pictures of colors.
“Seriously, I insist. My ex-wife broke them. Let me clean them up.” Ryan grabs the broom out of my hand and busies himself cleaning up the glass. He then leans over and grabs the pictures.
“I will get these reframed, and they will be as good as new.”
“Thank you, Mr. James.” I nod at him before stepping past him and opening the door.
“You should go too.”
He tucks the pictures underneath his arm and nods in my direction.
“Ok. I really am sorry for the way that we acted. Obviously, we struggle to get along.”
That’s an understatement.
“You have my word that I will talk to Isaac tomorrow when he is at my house. We will get this sorted out, and I promise that I will get to the bottom of the drawing.”
“Thank you.”
What a fucking day.
I stare at the closed door for a long time after he leaves, silently cursing myself for choosing this profession.
I should have stayed a Starbucks barista.
No one was ever angry at Starbucks.
Yet another poor life decision by Isabelle Mendez.
Story of my fucking life.
“No one threw a punch. It couldn’t have been all that bad.” Shelia, the other kindergarten teacher giggles, as I just shake my head.
“Girl. You have no idea. No one threw a punch, but I have never heard people talk to each other like that, and I used to teach in the Heights! Every other word was fuck. I think that if I wouldn’t have been there, punches would have been thrown. That woman was pretty feisty.”
“Yeah, she’s something else. I don’t know her personally, but I’ve seen her around the school enough to know that she’s a bitch. A lot of the moms in this district are like that, though. They all think that they are better than everyone else. Way too uppity.”
No kidding.
When I took the job at St. Luke’s Elementary school, I knew that it would be a drastic change from the last school that I taught at.
Martin Luther King Elementary is so different than my current school, that you would think that it was on another planet, instead of just a few miles away.
When I first graduated from college and got my teaching degree, the inner-city schools were offering huge loan payoffs for teachers.
The environment was a struggle, because the kids that I was teaching were far below the poverty lines. We had few resources and large classrooms. It was a struggle to try to make a difference.
Once I hit my five-year mark, I was planning on looking for a new position.
The school board ended up making that decision for me, when they lost some of their state funding and had to start cutting teaching positions.
I was fairly low on the seniority list, so I was one of the first cuts.
The timing couldn’t have been any worse, and even though I was planning on looking for a new job soon, it was enough to knock me on my ass.
It was only a few months after my husband left me, and my world was already in a tailspin. Losing my job, my only saving grace at the time, had been a tough blow.
It spiraled me into a depression that I’m not even certain that I’m out of yet. I’m definitely better off than I was, but still.
My heart is a bit raw.
But after watching the shit show today that is Isaac James’ parents, for the first time in a long time, I’m glad that my ex-husband and I didn’t have any kids.
That could have totally been me.
I shudder at the thought.
“Yeah. She threatened my job today, so that’s awesome. I can hardly wait for Monday.”
Sheila’s smile drops from her face.
“Really? She threatened your job?” She frowns. “That’s not good. These parents pretty much run the school. The more money that they donate, the more leverage that they have. Hopefully, it will just blow over. Maybe she was just talking shit.”
My stomach drops.
Could I seriously be in jeopardy of losing my job over someone like Audra James? I was not at fault here. She was screaming and cussing at both me and her ex-husband. I had simply encouraged her to stop.
I mean, sure. I could have been a little bit nicer about it, but she was being ridiculous.
Losing my job at this point would be catastrophic. As it is, I’m living with my parents, which is not the best option for a recently divorced twenty-eight-year-old.
When Rich left me, he took everything from me.
Within a month, I was evicted from our beautiful home. My expensive car was gone, my bank account was drained, and I was left on my own.
In the process of our five-year relationship, I had slowly lost contact with all of my own friends, since Rich insisted on us spending time with only his friends.
And I allowed that shit to happen.
Once he was gone, I had nowhere to turn but to my family. The plan had only been to stay for a month while I got back on my feet, but then I lost my job.
I was without a job for long enough to rack up enough credit card debt to make it impossible for me to afford to be on my own.
My life is so fucking sad right now.
I’m working hard and saving, but if I lose my job again I will be back to square one.
And there’s no way that I will be able to move out on my own.
I really shouldn’t complain.
I should be grateful that I have a family to fall back on when I need them.
My parents are literally the greatest human beings to ever walk the face of the planet.
They loved each other so much that they decided to bring twelve kids into the world.
They have always been my biggest supporters and have done everything in their power to pick me up when I am down.
The only problem with them, is that they are still madly in love.
I have to hear that love at least three times a day, in the form of their headboard smacking into the paper-thin walls of their bedroom.
I don’t care how old I get. It will never be ok to hear my mother begging my father to “Do it harder.”
I shudder.
“Isaac’s mom may be a royal bitch, but you have to admit it; his dad, Ryan James, is hot. Smoking fucking hot.”
I snort.
“I wasn’t even looking at him like that, but, whatever you say.”
“Girl, please.” Sheila rolls her eyes. “You’d have to be dead not to notice, so don’t even try to play like that. The man is sex on a stick. Every piece of him rock hard, and you know. Big.” She winks at me, and I spit my drink out.
“What? You’re not talking about his…” I motion underneath the table and she just grins at me even wider.
“Oh, yeah. At least, that’s the word on the street. You know Sarah, the preschool teacher?”
I nod.
“Well, she had Isaac in class last year. She said that she and his dad hooked up, and that it was a night that she will never forget. She also said that sleeping with him totally wrecked her for other guys. If you know what I mean.”
“She did not say that.” My mouth drops open. “Seriously, why would she say that? That’s basically telling everyone that she has the vagina of a…”
“Windsock.” Sheila giggles. “That was her exact term. She said she had to do Kegels all day every day for a full year to get her vagina back up to par.”
“I can’t even think about that,” I mutter, even though, let’s be honest. Now I’m totally thinking about his package, which I r
eally should not be.
He is a big guy. His hands are big, and his body is ripped.
I guess it does make sense that he would be, uh, packing.
“Add into all of that the fact that he’s famous?” She shrugs. “Damn fine package deal. Maybe you could be the next windsock.”
“Windsock?” A man’s voice interrupts us, and I instantly jump. My hand flies into my margarita glass, sending the damn thing flying across the table, before dumping onto its side, spilling margarita everywhere.
“Oh, shit,” he grumbles, and as my head turns to connect with the voice, my stomach drops.
Lord, kill me now.
Ryan James is standing next to me, inquiring about windsocks. How freaking much of our conversation has he heard?
He’s motioning to the waitress, who scurries over with a paper towel, cleaning up my mess. I know that my face is beet red, and it has nothing to do with spilling my drink.
Sheila’s eyes are wide as she stares at him, likely wondering the same thing that I am.
Did he hear us talking about him? And his, um…penis?
“Mrs. Mendez, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He’s reaching out his hand, and cupping my elbow, causing a very unwelcome sensation to erupt inside of me.
I blink as I face him, my heart thundering in my chest as I let my eyes take him in.
He’s dressed far more casually than he was earlier today, in a tight dark grey V-neck t-shirt and black shorts.
The gray of the shirt brings out the grey in his eyes, making them even more stunning.
The stubble that had been on his chin earlier today has been shaved off, and, damn.
I think it makes him even hotter.
He flashes me a huge smile, and the second that I see his dimples, I know exactly why Isaac’s preschool teacher spread her legs for this guy.
Hard To Fall (Sliding Home Book 3) Page 1
