Walking back over to the table, I noticed Abby was sitting on one side of the booth, while Philip sat on the other. Abby scooted over so I could sit next to her and as I folded myself into the seat, my knee brushing Philip’s. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and grabbed a plate for Abby, putting a slice of pizza on it, all while attempting to avoid Philip’s heated gaze. I didn’t need this right now. I was trying to be strong. Nothing had ever felt like it did with Philip, but that wasn’t important. We would both get over this thing between us and move on. Abby’s happiness was at stake and was more important than anything. I refused to put her at risk. The awkwardness between us sucked. Even working together was no longer fun. I’d forced him to send me emails of the jobs I needed to do for the case study, refusing to meet with him in his office, the library, anywhere. In class, I’d now moved to the rear of the lecture hall, trying to put as much physical distance as possible, since I’d already butchered our emotional connection.
Abby also felt the radiating tension. She looked at each of us as she took her first bite, melted cheese dripping out of the side of her mouth. “What’s wrong?” she asked with her mouth full.
“Try that again, I don’t speak foodinese.” Abby laughed.
“Foodinese?” Philip asked.
“Yeah, it’s the language of children everywhere… who talk with food in their mouths.” I raised a brow at Abby who grinned, sauce and cheese still coating her teeth.
She swallowed the hunk of pizza and tried again. “What’s wrong? You two are acting weird.”
“Grown-up stuff, Abby bean.” Philip smiled softly at her, but the pain in his eyes reflected my own.
“I know you like each other. Is that what this is about?”
I choked on the bite of pizza I’d just taken and looked at the perceptive kid.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I shifted my eyes away from her, really not wanting to get on this particular subject.
“Ugh,”—she rolled her eyes—“I’m not stupid, but you two sure are acting stupid,” and went back to stuffing pizza in her mouth.
“Jelly bean, I’ve explained this,” he lowered his voice so only Abby and I could hear. “Ryan is one of my students. If something like that got out, they might take you away.”
“I won’t tell anybody.” She was missing the point but I hadn’t really expected her to understand.
“We know you wouldn’t, princess, but if someone else found out and told someone at my school or where Daniel works, it’d be really bad for you and Philip if that happened.” My attempt at explaining it seemed to work a little better.
“Oh.” Her eyes were glassy, and she put the pizza down.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Putting her hand in mine, I tried to cushion it a little more. “You’re more important, and eventually Philip and I will get over the awkwardness, okay?” I tried to get her to look at me but her eyes were trained on her plate. “Abby? Please look at me, princess. Keeping you safe and happy is the most important thing to us.”
“Even if you both are sad? I don’t want you guys to be sad.”
It tore me up that we had been that obvious in front of her. I’d thought Philip and I had done a decent job of hiding our true feelings when we were together. I guess we weren’t as good at hiding our pain either, and she was more perceptive than I thought. Philip’s eyes were downcast. Why did everything have to be so fucked up? I was an adult bettering myself in college, I met a great guy, and the best little girl in the world, but we couldn’t be together. Was it more because of the taboo of a professor and a student, even though both were consenting adults, or because we were gay?
The mood at the table was somber as we finished our food in silence and then went back to the ticket game for one last round, but I could tell none of our hearts were really in it.
“I think I’m ready to go home.” Abby looked up at Philip. She collected the mass of tickets she just got from the game; the girl had mad skills, and we made our way to the ticket counter.
When all was said and done, she was able to get two prizes with her five thousand tickets. The doll and another smaller stuffed animal. Even the prospect of a new toy didn’t lift her spirits.
I picked her up and swung around in the parking lot. “I’ll see you tomorrow, princess,” I said into her hair before setting her on her feet.
“Okay, bye Ryan,” she said softly looking at the ground.
“Bye, Abby.” I waved at them as they drove out of the parking lot.
“Awww, what a cute little family.” I spun around to see Candy standing there with a smug smile on her horrible face.
“What the fuck do you want? Can you not take a hint and leave me the fuck alone.”
“I told you what I want.” She batted her fake as fuck eyelashes at me. I was starting to wonder if there was anything on her body that was real.
“And, I told you to fuck off, it’s not happening.”
“That was before I had proof.” Her smirk as well as her waving her phone around had my stomach dropping out.
“You’ve lost your fucking mind.”
“That poor little girl….” She feigned a pout, trailing off her words with malicious intent.
Never in my life had I wanted to hit a woman until that moment. Her eyes lit up when I took an angry step toward her. She really was sick if my anger turned her on. “You been following me?”
Her malicious laugh grated on my nerves. “This is what you’re going to do, Ryan. You’re going to meet me at this address or I’m going to the university and child services with the little confession you both made tonight. Besides, I don’t see what the big deal is. You and the professor aren’t together anymore and we all know what a slut you can be. Not sure why you’re getting all bent out of shape.”
“You’re a crazy fucking bitch. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I was going to play this as long as I could without admitting anything. For all I knew, she was lying her ass off; it was already obvious she was off her fucking rocker. She typed a few buttons on her phone and mine vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw a video from an unknown number. Guess it’s time to change my number. “How the fuck did you get my number?”
She shrugged as if unconcerned. The video was our conversation with Abby. Fuck me. “This doesn’t prove anything. Sure we admitted to an attraction to each other but that’s all. We also explained to her why we can’t act on it. Sorry, bitch, you haven’t got shit.” Another text message came through. This one was a picture taken from the hall of my dorm room, when I’d brazenly answered the door in nothing but my boxers. Shit. That one looked bad. It was the night that I found out Sylvia was threatening Abby. Another message came through with a second picture of me ushering Philip into my room. My eyes went wide as I cursed under my breath. The crazy bitch had been stalking me because I refused to fuck her. The girl was twisted in the worst way. “Still doesn’t prove a damn thing.” I stomped off to my car pissed about the whole situation.
I drove faster than I should have as I weaved through town. Going to the one place where I could get some clarity. Philip will know what to do.
PHILIP
When we got home from pizza, Abby was exhausted, so I sent her to go shower and then head to bed. The house I lived in had two master suites, so Abby’s bedroom had her own bathroom. I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible yet give her all the privacy she needed.
Walking in the kitchen, I pulled out a bottle of wine and glass and parked my ass at the bar. I was tense and frustrated about the conversation we’d had at the pizza place. It tore my heart out to see the sad look in Abby’s eyes when we explained things to her. I hoped she didn’t blame herself; it was just a horribly messed-up situation. The worst part was wishing that I could go back in time and not act on all the things I did with Ryan. Had I just stayed strong and gotten over the obsession with him, then maybe it wouldn’t feel like I was dying inside.
There was a frantic knock at the door. Opening it, Ryan was standing there looking like he was about to throw up. “I’m being extorted for sex.”
“You’re what?” If he was trying to get my attention, that certainly did it.
“Candy from class has been stalking me for a few weeks. She has pictures of us and said if I don’t sleep with her, she’s going to turn the images over to the university and child services.” I stumbled back as the weight of his words hit me like a fucking sledgehammer.
Ryan walked into the house and shut the door, then looked up the steps toward the bedrooms.
“She’s asleep. I checked on her before you came in.”
He nodded and walked through the house into the family room, most likely hoping our conversation would be as private as possible. “She could just be bluffing,” I said once we sat down on the couch, but Ryan still looked defeated as he opened his phone and showed me the messages. Had we not been having this awful discussion, I would have found it humorous that he’d saved her number as super skank, probably in the event she called, he’d know to ignore it. There were two pictures and a video. I cursed as I saw Ryan’s naked torso on the phone. Heat sparked to life in me and I felt my cock go hard as it reminded me of all the things I’d done to that body. Thankfully, we were sitting, it was easier to hide my reaction.
“What do I do? Do I sleep with her?” The question caught me off guard and my head snapped up to his. Fuck no I didn’t want him to sleep with her. What I wanted to do was bend him over the arm of the couch and remind him how good we were together.
“If you do that, you’ll never be free of her. The bitch will hold it over your head anytime she wants something from you,” I said, thinking it out logically. “How can we prove she’s blackmailing you?”
“I didn’t record her threats, unfortunately. She snuck up behind me when we were leaving the Fun House. I never even saw it coming.”
“Threats?” Had she threatened him before?
“Yeah, she was spouting her nonsense outside your office after class one day. She tried to threaten me, actually both of us—but she didn’t have any proof, so I blew her off,” he told me, tugging at the collar of his shirt like it was choking him.
“Wait, go back. What do you mean she threatened both of us?”
“Originally she said she wanted both of us.” My look must have made him realize I still had no idea what he was talking about. “You know… all three of us together.”
With that piece of information, I rocketed off the couch, barely able to contain myself from screaming.
That girl had put a noose around both our necks; however, proving that she blackmailed us wouldn’t stop the devastation that would head our way. Child services would have no choice but to take Abby, and the university would either fire me, or put me on probation until the shitstorm settled, then more than likely force me out. It was like we were living on borrowed time.
“I’m gonna do it. I have to. We can’t lose Abby and this whole thing is all my fault for pushing you into this when you kept telling me no,” Ryan declared, standing up.
I reached out and grabbed his arm before he was able to make his grand exit. “The fuck you are. Just give me some time to think up a solution.”
“Every scenario in my head ends up with you losing Abby. Every one… but this one.” His resigned sigh belied the determination in his eyes. Shit, he really would do anything to protect Abby.
“Just wait, Ryan, please. Give me a couple days to figure something out.”
He took a deep breath, stared up at me for what felt like forever. “Fine, but if you can’t figure something out, then I have no choice.” All I could do was nod. He was determined to do this if there was no other option, no matter how much it hurt us all in the process.
Filled with dread about what was happening, I watched him leave. Our whole lives could very well blow up in our faces no matter what we did.
I walked over to the bar, downed the glass of wine and poured another before picking my phone up.
“Hello?” Daniel answered after the first ring.
“Daniel, I have a serious problem.” I scrubbed a hand over my eyes.
“What’s wrong? Did Harold find her again? The police haven’t been able to locate him or Sylvia.”
“No, I haven’t seen anyone lurking around Abby. It’s a different sort of problem.” I waited. The sigh on the other end of the phone held so much weight it was crushing me even more.
“This is a Ryan problem.” There was no recrimination in his voice; he simply stated a fact.
“Yeah, but it’s not just his problem.” Then I told him all about the Candy situation.
“Goddammit, Philip!” he hissed, not too surprising considering everything that had been going on. “I don’t need this shit right now. That girl is in a perfect situation after having been let down by more people than I can count, including my fucking self. Shit.”
I kept quiet and let him rant, knowing he’d bring himself back to center once he got the emotions out.
“Fine, okay. Let’s deal. One, we don’t want Abby going anywhere, correct?”
“Correct. You know my goal is to keep her with me. Since the moment she got here, I just can’t imagine losing her. Besides, it’d absolutely destroy Ryan.” I took another sip, all the while thinking I probably needed something more in the lines of straight bourbon.
“So, if all this girl wants is to get her rocks off, so she can say she’s done it with a bi guy, let her. It’s just one night. He does this, the bitch leaves after she gets what she wants, and Abby stays with you.”
“Fuck no,” I growled. “I thought you would be able to help me come up with a different plan, not give in to her demands.”
“You’re in love with him.” It was another statement not a question, and it took me completely off guard.
“What? No, I’m not in love with him,” I denied adamantly, even though the words did feel a little weird to me.
“You are,” he said in shock.
“He’s only nineteen and a student, Daniel. I can’t be in love with him. It’s not appropriate.”
“It wasn’t appropriate to fuck him either but that ship has sailed.” His snarky tone pissed me off.
“I haven’t—”
“Bullshit.”
“Nope, we never went that far. We got close a couple times but that never happened.”
“Your shitting me,” he said in what sounded like awe. How is this conversation helping the current problem? “You two have been fooling around for weeks.”
“Look, it just never happened, and then all the stuff with Abby happened and everything stopped. Everything. We barely speak anymore. The last thing either of us wants is for her to go to another bad foster home.”
“All applicants go through a thorough vetting process, but as you know people sometimes look good on paper and suck in real life. That’s the problem with the system. Too many people use the check they get for other things and either abuse the kids or don’t take care of them.”
“Yeah, so how do we stop that from happening to Abby again?”
RYAN
I had been dodging Candy for over a week. Sissy and everyone around me noticed a change in me; I was angry. I didn’t attend Philip’s class and stayed away from him even more than I’d been before. It just sucked not being able to be with whom I wanted. Even worse was having to live this way in order to protect a child, who should’ve never been put in this situation.
So, when I was woken up late one night to Court’s friend Tiffany screaming and crying, my blood ran cold.
“Tiffany? What happened?” I shot out of bed.
“R-Ryan, it’s… it’s C-Court.”
“Where are you?” I put my pants on and grabbed a T-shirt. I was rushing out the door within minutes.
“I’m at the hospital. They won’t tell me anything because I’m not family. You need to get here.” Her cries wer
e escalating.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? Don’t worry. Court is tough, she’ll get through this.”
“Hurry please.”
“I’m on my way.”
An hour and a half later, I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, lucky that I wasn’t stopped considering it was typically a two-hour drive.
I ran into an emergency room packed with people. Tiffany was in one corner slumped in her seat. Brice was staring out the window into the darkness, and there was a guy that looked just like him sitting next to him with his head in his hands. My legs felt like logs walking over to Tiffany. I scooped her up in a hug. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Landon was there. He stopped it and performed CPR until the ambulance got there.”
“Who the fuck is Landon?” I asked confused as to why Brice hadn’t been the one to rescue her. The guy with his head in his hands looked up at me with tears in his eyes.
“I’m Landon,” he said looking over at Brice. “I’m Brice’s brother. He asked me to watch over her and I fucking failed.” He stood up and started pacing, clearly angry with himself.
“Why? I’m so confused. Why weren’t you there yourself, Brice?” The last time I’d seen them they were happy. You could tell just by looking at them that they cared about each other. Brice didn’t answer; he just sat there staring out the window.
“Court broke up with him,” Tiffany whispered in my ear. Well hell, that was unexpected. She broke up with him and he still had his brother keep watch over her at night?
Their neighbor, Derek, walked in the door. “How’s she doing?”
“We don’t know. Ryan just got here.” Tiffany went over to hug him, still crying. My eyes dampened a bit thinking of all the people Court had rooting for her. She had to be okay. She was the only family I had left.
I walked over to the nurses’ station and gave them my name and told them I was Courtney’s only family. “Can you ask the doctors to update me as soon as they can?”
“Sure thing.” The nurse smiled reassuringly at me.
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