Tangled Web Series Box Set

by Jade C. Jamison

  Man, that was fucked up. But it was what it was. And that’s not all Riley came to realize. He knew he loved his parents, but he’d always resented the fact that his dad seemed to ride his ass constantly, even as an adult. Well, he thought he could understand too why his father was concerned about his reputation. Reputation was everything to them and Riley had tarnished his parents’. Maybe he could apologize for being a shithead, but he wasn’t going to apologize for who he was. He was going to continue making music because that was what he loved doing. If they wanted to disown him for it, so be it.

  He bought a bouquet of flowers as a peace offering of sorts and kept reminding himself to be respectful. When he got to his parents’ house, he rang the doorbell and then let himself in. “It’s me, Riley,” he shouted as he closed the door behind him.

  He could smell the remnants of sausage and maple syrup in the air as he approached the kitchen. Oh, coffee too. He could go another cup but he wanted to feel out the room first. His dad was already looking up from the newspaper. When Riley walked into the room, he said, “Well, well, well…look what the cat dragged in.”

  Riley bit his tongue. Let his dad get in a dig or two. Riley knew he probably had it coming. Fine. And he also knew that he probably should tuck his tail between his legs and apologize. He took a deep breath and asked, “Can the three of us talk?”

  His father cleared his throat. “I believe we were trying to do that the other night when you stormed out of here.”

  Jesus…the guy just couldn’t stop, could he? Riley had to do this, though…he had to stick with it. “I needed to clear my head.”

  “For days?”

  “Yes, for days.” He pulled out a chair and his mother walked over from the stove where she’d been standing, silent and trying not to call attention to herself. “Anyway, I guess the first thing I should do is apologize.” But not, likely, for something his father wanted him to. “I had marijuana in your house without your permission, and I’m sorry. No matter what my own personal feelings are about it, I need to respect your rules and your house, and I apologize for that. I won’t do it again.” Riley wouldn’t mention that he’d probably never spend the night there again either, but that was beside the point.

  His father’s eyes rarely gave away anything, but Riley actually thought he saw a bit of a twinkle in them. Was he accepting Riley’s apology or instead loading both barrels, preparing to let Riley have it on an epic level?

  His dad looked over at his mother and nodded. “We accept your apology, son. Thank you. But our bigger issue, as you’ll recall, was that you were dating that English teacher.”

  “Erin Lancaster,” his mother offered.

  “You don’t plan to continue seeing her, do you, son?”

  “I don’t really know what my plans for the future are, dad, but I know I care about Erin very much.” Riley already knew after his conversation with his mother earlier in the week that she wouldn’t understand why or how his feelings had become so intense. But he didn’t care. They needed to know he wasn’t going to back down from this one.

  But what he’d said was all it took for his mother to join the conversation. “You hardly know her, Riley. How can you care about her ‘very much’? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “We have a lot in common.”

  His dad jumped back in. “Really? Were you able to talk about schools you both attended? Discuss what you both enjoy about Shakespearean sonnets? I’d guess the only thing you two have in common is that her students are your biggest fans.”

  Riley felt himself slipping into defensive mode and he felt like he was fifteen again, but he also felt powerless to stop it. “That’s not true. Erin’s a fan too.”

  His father looked across the table at Marjorie. “That girl’s not much older than the kids she’s teaching, is she?”

  Riley said, “She’s twenty-five.”

  His father’s voice was low when he said, “Not even tenured.”

  Riley felt his brow furrow but he said nothing. Something wasn’t right here, and now he felt almost like he’d walked into a trap. He knew that whatever his parents said next was not going to be pretty…in fact, it was bound to be the ugliest thing he’d heard since coming back to Winchester.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  ERIN SMILED AS her second-period students left her classroom. Her third period was her planning time, but the principal had called her earlier that morning and asked if she could meet him for part of that time. She spent a couple of minutes organizing the stacks of papers she wanted to grade at her earliest convenience while she waited for the crowds of kids in the halls to thin as they made their way to their next classes.

  So she walked down the hall to the front office. She had to pass through three different sections of the school to get there, but she made it just as the bell rang for the next period to begin. She smiled at the receptionist as she walked through the area to the principal’s office.

  She tapped on his door just to give him a heads up that she was there. His door was open but he was reading a file on his desk, and he seemed to be pretty absorbed in it.

  Mr. Becker looked up. Erin had a hard time calling him by his first name John because, until she’d worked at a school, she’d perceived all authority figures as deserving of her respect (and the moniker Mister often projected that respect). As an adult, she realized that wasn’t always true, but Becker was one of the good guys. He was firm in his policies but at the same time nurturing of those who needed his help. Still…the only other times she’d had to come to his office when it had nothing to do with her evaluations were because of unpleasant situations, and she assumed today was no different.

  That explained the acidic feeling in her gut.

  “Come on in, Erin,” Becker said. “Please close the door behind you.”

  Oh, shit. Well, that couldn’t be good. She inhaled a deep breath but tried not to make her nervousness obvious. She swallowed while closing the door, then walked across the room and sat in one of the chairs across from his desk. Mentally, she tried to prepare. Every time he’d called her into his office, there was some problem with a student. But it wasn’t just normal teenage problems. It was always something more. One student in particular that she felt like she’d failed was a young woman with some sort of psychological problems. At first, Erin had just thought the girl wanted attention, but it turned out she was genuinely suicidal. The girl survived but was still in a hospital under psychiatric observation. Erin had beaten herself up over that girl. Maybe if she’d recognized that the girl had been struggling on that kind of level, she could have done more. When Becker had called Erin into his office that time, it was to let Erin know what had happened with the girl. Apparently, the girl’s journal had mentioned Erin more than once and in an unhealthy way. So she not only knew what had happened with the girl, but she also had to be on the lookout once the girl was released.

  Over time, though, Erin worried less about it. If the girl got the help she really needed, Erin wouldn’t need to be afraid for herself. Now, though, she wondered what the hell was going on. There was only one more month left of the school year. Why couldn’t things just slowly, safely get there?

  So Erin couldn’t help the nervous impatience she felt as she sat in the chair across from Becker. She asked, “What’s going on?”

  Becker took a deep breath. Apparently, this wasn’t easy for him either. He said, “Erin, I really hate to even do this, but I’ve called you in at the behest of the board.”

  Erin was speechless. Her mouth went dry and she couldn’t grab onto any words so that she could ask a coherent question. So, instead, she just sat still in the chair, hoping like she didn’t appear as confused as she felt.

  “It’s been brought to their attention that you’ve been…seeing the rock star who paid for you at the auction.” Erin felt even more confused, but she nodded her head. Becker shook his head, and Erin could tell this really was difficult for him to talk about. “I’m sorry. I think this is a d
readful invasion of your privacy, Erin, but the board has forced me to talk to you about it. Apparently, they don’t have an issue if you’re dating this rock star, but your actions have been alleged to be…”—he shuffled the papers on his desk, looking for something—“lascivious and wanton.”

  Erin found her voice. “What?”

  He cleared his throat. Erin could tell he was embarrassed. He lifted the paper up off the desk at an angle and read off of it. “There’s something here about an incident at the Sedgwick Hotel and…some other things.”

  Erin felt her cheeks grow hot. Had someone been spying on her? She found her composure, though. No sense killing the messenger. “Mr. Becker…John, I fail to see what this has to do with my performance as a teacher. How dare someone invade my private life.”

  Becker managed to make eye contact with her again. “I agree with you, Erin, but you forget that we live in a small, tight community where neighbors watch neighbors. And the board isn’t entirely wrong. You stepped into the role of substitute cheer coach, and the girls you oversee will look up to you. If you promote a promiscuous lifestyle, they will believe it’s okay.”

  She felt herself growing angry, angrier than she’d been in a long time, and she was afraid of what was going to come out of her mouth. It didn’t matter, though, because anything she had to say would be truth. “Riley Schultz and I wouldn’t have even met each other if you hadn’t asked me to step into the coach’s role. Don’t you see how stupid this is?”

  “Erin, I don’t entirely disagree with you, but my hands are tied. Honestly, I’m sure a lot of this whole thing has to do with the fact that his mother is on the board, and Marjorie Schultz has always been concerned about appearances. I also realize, Erin, that your contract says nothing about your personal life and that there is nothing about this that’s fair or right, but I also want to remind you that Colorado is an at-will state.” Erin knew what that meant. That meant they could let her go for no good reason and she couldn’t say shit. “You do have a contract, but it expires at the end of this school year. The board could choose to not renew, and they wouldn’t have to give any kind of reason. There’s nothing you could do about it.”

  Erin felt the truth sink in. If she wanted to continue teaching here, she’d have to do what they wanted. The anger inside her grew, but she didn’t see what she could do. She felt helpless as well. She loved this job and she thought her students loved her, but they were going to throw all that away just because she’d been swept up in some kind of whirlwind romance? What made her most furious, though, was the fact that had she not been kind enough to help out, she never would have been at that auction, would never have met Riley in the first place. “So what are you saying, Mr. Becker?” She couldn’t bring herself to call him by his first name right now. She was feeling like a little kid who was being punished for something someone else had done.

  “The board has asked me to communicate to you that they’d like you to break off your relationship with Mr. Schultz. If you do that, they will turn a blind eye to what has already occurred and will gladly extend another three-year contract.”

  She took a deep breath. “And if I don’t?”

  Becker shook his head. “If you don’t, then your contract will expire.” His eyes looked pained as he straightened up the papers in front of him again. “They would like your answer by Monday.” Erin blinked but held her tongue. “Erin…I frankly think this is a crock too, but they won’t listen to me. Marjorie Schultz is a powerful woman and her fellow board members listen to her. It doesn’t hurt that she has friends in high places—lawyers and politicians here in town—and they can advise her on how to do these kind of things and get away with it. So, who knows? She might have the board cowed too. I don’t know. But I do just want to say this…make your decision carefully. Is teaching the most important thing to you? If it is, then maybe you need to tell your friend goodbye this weekend. But if he has become the love of your life? Well, there are plenty of teaching jobs out there, and a teacher as good as you are would get a stellar recommendation from her principal.” Becker’s mouth turned up in a slow smile. “I just want you to give that some thought over the weekend. I don’t want an answer from you until Monday.”

  Shellshocked, Erin walked back to her classroom, and she knew she wouldn’t get any more grading done. There was far too much on her mind.

  * * *

  Erin hadn’t recovered much throughout the day. In fact, the rest of her classes for the day, she taught on autopilot. It was her fun day anyway, so the students pretty much knew what to do and good thing—she was able to only half-participate.

  Riley had texted her and she called him during her lunch break. He already knew what was up, thanks to his mom, and he wanted to talk to her about it. She didn’t know that that was such a good idea. How could she be impartial and really evaluate what was best for her if he was right there with her?

  But…it involved him so she thought it might not be a bad idea for the two of them to at least talk. She told him to come by sometime around four. She should be home by then. She didn’t plan on doing anything extra at the school tonight. She wasn’t feeling particularly loyal at the moment or motivated.

  So she headed home after putting everything in her classroom in order. She didn’t have kids hanging out wanting to ask questions, and she knew that was because it was Friday. The kids were always as excited about Friday as she was, even the ones who liked school.

  She was exhausted when she arrived outside her apartment building. She was looking forward to seeing Riley, though, no matter what the reasons behind it. Part of her was sad that he’d be leaving after the weekend, but she had to remind herself that “it was better to have loved and lost.” Sometimes that just felt like bullshit people told themselves so they’d act civilized when all they wanted to do was break down and cry.

  But she walked up the stairs to her apartment, ready to spend some time with the guy who’d turned her whole world upside down. She didn’t blame Riley for the bullshit regarding her job. No, that was his psychotic mother’s doing. Erin wondered if Marjorie would have been as rabid about the situation if Riley hadn’t been her son, and she suspected the answer was no. The only reason Erin’s behavior was even on her radar was because Riley was her son. Erin remembered the look of horror that had been on the woman’s face when she’d caught Erin and Riley behind his closed bedroom door. She’d have thought the woman had come straight from Puritanical New England.

  Well, she and Riley were maybe going to talk about it, but she had other plans first. She needed to relax and try to be happy. More than that, though, she knew she only had a few days left to enjoy Riley’s company. So she decided to create a love nest. He wouldn’t be there until four, so she might have time. The first thing she did was find every candle she owned. Then she placed them all over the house in various areas and closed the curtains. Just the candlelight alone made it romantic. She also took a bottle of her cologne and sprayed it here and there. She didn’t want it to be overwhelming, but a little would be nice.

  She looked at the clock. She had ten minutes unless he arrived early. Maybe she’d have time to change into something really sexy. She had just opened her lingerie drawer when the doorbell rang. Damn. If she’d had something picked out already, she might be able to make him wait a couple of minutes, but she hadn’t even picked anything. Maybe that could be fun too. She could show him different pieces and ask him to choose one he wanted to see her in. With that thought in mind, she left the drawer open and walked to the front door.

  But when she opened it, Riley wasn’t there. Instead, it was Ron Gill. What the hell was he doing there?

  She almost invited him in out of habit, but no. She didn’t want him asking what the hell was going on with the candles. She also didn’t want him thinking he could settle in for a nice long visit. It might have been rude, but she didn’t care. She joined him outside her door. “Hi, Ron. What’s going on?” He’d never been to her apartment before, so
his arrival was unusual.

  “Oh, uh…I heard about the ultimatum Becker gave you.”

  Erin refrained from rolling her eyes. “Good to know bad news still travels fast.”

  He nodded. “That might be, but I wanted to know if you needed anything.”

  Yes, she thought. But it wasn’t Ron. Still, she supposed, he was trying to be thoughtful. “No, I’m good, Ron. Thanks for checking.”

  He took a deep breath, his brows bearing down on his eyes in concern. “You’re going to keep your job, aren’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re not going to throw it away over some two-bit rock star, are you?”

  Erin took a deep breath. First of all, it was none of his goddamned business, but secondly, Riley was not a “two-bit rock star,” not that Ron would know anything about it. Erin realized he was probably just being overprotective of her, but he didn’t know where her heart was. She wanted to keep it simple and get him out of there fast. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, Ron. They gave me till Monday, so I’m going to spend that time making a decision.”

  Ron placed his hands on her cheeks, making her look in his eyes. “Erin, don’t be rash. Don’t you get it? This is just a fling, and I’m glad you’ve done it. Everyone should have a little fun. But think about it. Really think about it. What is the life you want? Do you want to continue shaping young minds, helping to lead them down a steady path, or would you rather follow a rock star all over the world, while other women make plays for him all the time?”

  Erin cooled. He was awfully presumptuous.

  “Is he here? Maybe he can talk some sense into you. He’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

  Ah…so Ron did suspect she was hiding something behind the door, but he thought it was a person. “No, he’s not here right now.” But if he showed up while Ron grilled her, they’d both find out the way Riley felt. She didn’t want Ron involved in it at all, though. She wanted him to leave.