by Aria Blue
Presley took a seat in one of the cushioned chairs. He wasn’t going to leave until he got what he needed to off his chest. “Listen, it’s not surprising that you have feelings for my father. I’ve known that for a long time. And even though you give me a hard-ass time, I’m sorry about what happened. I mean that. I know how hard it is to watch the person who want be with someone else. I know what it feels like to keep hoping that something will finally happen between the two of you.”
Ms. Jones looked down at her papers, but Presley knew she was listening.
“All I’m saying is that this thing between Sara and my father isn’t going to last. Frankly, I think they're just doing it to piss me off.”
Ms. Jones scoffed. “You just think everything is about you, don’t you?”
Presley let that one slide. “All I’m saying is, don’t lose hope. What’s meant to be will be.” Presley wasn’t sure why he was saying that because Ms. Jones wasn’t his father’s type at all, but maybe if she fixed herself up . . .
“Is that how you feel about Ms. Snow? That you guys will eventually be together?”
“Yes,” Presley replied although he didn’t want to admit it. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then what the hell are you doing banging Ms. Fox? I swear, you mean are such pigs.”
Presley wasn’t sure what he was doing with Marcia but he was enjoying it. If Sara was having fun why shouldn’t he? He certainly wasn’t going to sit around waiting for her to see the light.
Ms. Jones looked up at him, twirling her pen in her fingers. “So basically what you’re telling me is, I shouldn’t lose hope about your father because Sara will eventually leave him and come back to you.”
Presley nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Ms. Jones gave him a small smile. She had never done that before. She had smirked at him a lot, but never smiled. “Anyway,” he said, “I’ll let you get back to your work. See you.”
“Yeah, see you,” Jones replied.
As Presley left her office, he couldn’t help but feel that this was the first time she didn’t loathe him.
Chapter 9
After he left school, Presley stopped by Ava’s yoga studio. Her class let out at 4:30, so he sat in the lobby waiting with her favorite kind of smoothie—strawberry banana.
A stream of women tumbled out of the door and Presley could help but admire their curves and flat tummies in their tight yoga apparel. Maybe he should start taking yoga classes.
Ava grinned when she spotted him. He handed her the smoothie. “Yum,” she said taking a huge sip. He was glad she was enjoying it. A smoothie was the least he could do for all the good advice she gave him. Harrison gave a lot of advice too, but considering the issues he had with women, his advice was the kind that would lead to Presley getting pepper sprayed.
“What are you doing here?” Ava asked. “Looking for your next conquest?”
“No,” Presley said. “I actually came here for some advice. Love advice. Not how-to-be-a-dog-and-juggle-multiple-women-at-the-same-time advice.”
Ava gave him a small smile. “Want to take a walk around the block?”
Presley still had on his leather loafers, not the best for walking, but he could use a walk right then to clear his head.
They stepped into the sunshine and Ava looped her arm around his. “What’s going on, Romeo?”
Presley told her everything—from his weekend with Marcia (minus the steamy details), how he felt about Sara and his father, and his conversation with Jones.
Ava chuckled. “I always knew that shrew had a thing for your father. She practically drools when she looks at him. Poor thing. Now she has to watch him and Sara. That has to suck.”
“Poor her? What about poor me? Ava, my father is dating my ex. Right in my face. That is wrong on so many levels.”
Ava nodded. “You’re absolutely right. That is really messed up. Hopefully it’s just a phase. I love Sara and Dean McGuire, but they’ve both crossed the line by doing this to you.”
“Do you think I’m wrong about Marcia?” Presley asked.
Ava shook her head. “No. Sara was very clear that she wasn’t ready to commit to you fully even though you were ready to go there. No commitment means no commitment. Frankly, I don’t get it. I say if you love someone and you want to be with them, then you should be and you shouldn’t let anything stop you. You can’t sit around forever waiting for her to make up her mind. Maybe seeing you with another woman will give her the kick in the ass she needs.”
Presley let her words soak in.
Ava grabbed his hands and squeezed it. “You may not be perfect, Presley McGuire, but you are a great guy and any girl would be lucky to have you. You’re going to find the right one.”
Presley said nothing to that, but deep down he hoped she was right.
Chapter 10
Sara texted Presley asking him to meet her at the coffee shop a few blocks from the school. She said they needed to have a serious conversation. Presley knew not to expect anything good because of the words “serious conversation” and because they were meeting at the coffee shop. Coffee shops were for quick conversations when you wanted to be in and out. They weren’t a place to express your undying love to your significant other or where you finally throw down the gauntlet and admit that you’re ready to commit.
He sat in the coffee shop tapping his fingers on the table. He’d ordered himself a black coffee and ordered Sara her favorite—a frappuccino. She was five minutes late and Sara was never late.
Finally, he spotted her walking past the window, glistening in the sun. No matter what happened between them, he knew he’d never be able to keep his eyes of her. She was just too beautiful.
Inside, she smiled when she noticed him. She sat across from Presley and nodded at the cup in front of her. “You remembered.”
He grinned at her. “Of course I did.” He would always remember everything about her.
Sara took the cup in her hands, but she didn’t drink it. “Pres, we need to talk.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and this hasn’t been an easy decision for me at all, but I don’t think things are going to work out between us.”
Presley tensed and sat forward in this seat. “Really, why’s that?”
Sara stared at him for a moment as if she couldn’t believe he was asking that question. “Well, I think I’m already taking a huge step by seeing you again after what you did to me.”
Presley was tired of being accused of cheating when he hadn’t. “I didn’t do anything—”
Sara held her hands up. “Please, just let me finish.”
It was hard, but Presley bit his lip and let her go on. “It was hard for me to let my guard down to trust you again, and then when I do, not even five minutes later, you’re hooking up with another woman. A woman we work with who I have to see every day.”
Presley’s face warmed because Sara was straight up pissing him off. She had a lot of nerve. “Really? You want to blame me for spending time with Marcia? You are the one who didn’t want to commit. You were the one who wanted to take a romantic weekend get away with my father, who by the way also works with us and I have to see him for the rest of my life because he’s my fucking father. Don’t you realize how fucked up that is?”
She squirmed a little and Presley knew he had made some good points. “Presley, when I agreed to go on a date with your father—it was going to be just that, a date. I wasn’t going to sleep with him. I called you on Sunday morning because I couldn’t stop thinking about you and I wanted to hear your voice and she answered from your bed. If you were really serious about the two of us getting back together, you wouldn’t be smashing another chick period.”
Presley felt as if they were talking in circles so he made his point once again. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have even been with Marcia this past weekend. I’d had my heart set on spending it with you. If I’m not your man, you have no right to be
concerned about who I sleep with. You clearly don’t want me. What am I supposed to do? Sit around crying about you waiting for you to make up your mind? I’m not going to do that, Sara.”
Sara was quiet for a long time, twisting her cup in her hands. “This was a mistake. Maybe we should have just left well enough alone.”
“Yeah,” was all Presley would say even though he knew where she was going and he didn’t want to go there.
“Maybe another time but not right now.” Sara stood and slung her purse over her shoulder. “I’m sorry this didn’t work. I really tried. I guess I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
Presley said nothing. He felt too numb to talk. He watched her leave making note that she had broken his heart a second time. Once more, she had given up on him.
Two weeks passed since Sara had decided that she and Presley should call it quits. He continued to see Marcia and much to his dismay, Sara continued to date his father.
One day after school when the office was empty, Presley sat with Ms. Jones going over their schedule for teacher evaluations. All the teachers wanted to be observed by Presley because he was fair and objective, but he couldn’t do them all. He felt sorry for the ones who fell on Jones’ list. She was brutal.
Jones entered the last teacher’s name onto the spreadsheet and hit save. She watched Presley over her glasses.
“What?” he asked wondering what he had done wrong.
“You and Sara are done for good . . . again.”
Presley nodded. What was it to her?
Jones cocked her head to the side. “She broke your heart, didn’t she? I can see it in your eyes. So then you won’t mind?”
“I won’t mind what?”
“Sara Snow needs to get the fuck out of here. She’s not all that as a guidance counselor and she has the dean wrapped around her perfect little pinkie.”
Presley knew this was mostly about his father. “So what are you gonna do?”
“What I always do when I want to get rid of a teacher who has tenure. I’m going to make her life at McGuire Prep completely miserable until she gets to the point where she wants to transfer or flat out quit.”
Presley sank into his seat. He should say something. He should stop this, but he didn’t. Sara had hurt him more than once. This time, he wanted to see her hurt.
He smirked at Ms. Jones. “Do what you have to do?”
What does Jones have in store for Sara Snow? What will happen between Presley and Ms. Fox? Is Sara making a huge mistake being involved with the dean? Find the answers in History and Hedonism: The Principal of Pleasure Book Three.
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