by M. N. Forgy
Glass shattering behind me has me jump from my seat in panic. A waiter drops to his knees picking up the glass and I realize I’m the only one standing. Swallowing the dryness suddenly coating my throat, I sit back down.
I can’t go anywhere without looking over my shoulder anymore. I wonder if Bobby found out any more about that club threatening Zane.
* * *
“Hey, bitch!” Piper smiles, pulling a metal chair out. Her red hair shines from the sun, making her dusting of freckles on her nose pop out more, and she looks cute in her small yellow dress and blue jean jacket.
“You look cute.” I nod my approval.
“This?” She tugs on the jacket. “It’s all I had cleaned today.” She laughs.
That makes more sense. Piper is more of a show-er than I, and what she’s wearing today is something I would wear.
“Sorry I’m late!” Delilah huffs, nearly knocking a waiter over trying to get to our table.
Delilah is… well just like I remember. Hair in two messy braids over her shoulders, a band T-shirt and ripped blue jeans. A mess, but she makes it look cute. If I tried to wear that, I’d just look homeless.
She pulls a chair out and sinks into it like she ran here instead of drove.
“Today has been nonstop.” She breathes heavily, gesturing her hand above her. Her eyes land on my face and I know she can see the bruise Baby gave me. No makeup in the world could cover it up. I’ve tried.
“Why, what’s going on?” I ask and lower my head.
“Just, my mom is up my ass because my brother is being weird.”
“Right?” Piper’s eyes widen, and my chest constricts. I can’t help but worry about him now.
“What’s going on with him?” Reaching for my glass of water, I take a sip trying to not act too concerned.
“He broke up with Baby,” Piper whispers, and I nearly spit water all over the menus.
“Well, not break up. They weren’t together,” Delilah defends with a roll of her eyes.
Coughing, I grab a napkin and start dabbing my mess up. Holy shit, he got rid of Baby.
“He did huh?” He really left her. Was it for me?
“He was not very subtle about it either.” Piper puckers her lips, looking the menu over. I wonder what she means by that.
“Well, she hit Addie, what do you expect?” Delilah scoffs.
“I took care of it,” Piper smiles smugly.
“What did you do?” I tilt my head to the side, my eyes narrowing in on Piper. I’ve seen her scrap, she can be brutal. Not that I care if she messed Baby up. I hope she did.
“She nearly tore Baby’s hair extensions out.” Delilah laughs, looking at Piper.
“You what?” I can’t help but chuckle along with them. I wish I could have seen that.
“Fuck yeah I did. Nobody messes with my club sister. Why didn’t you come get us?” Piper looks at me angrily. I open my mouth to explain but shut it. Having Piper and Delilah fight my battles wouldn’t help anything where Baby is concerned.
“Anyway, since then he’s just been volunteering for runs with the club, dangerous ones, and been chaotic. It’s not like him.” Delilah sighs, her forehead wrinkling with worry. She always has protected her older brother.
My brows furrow hearing this. I like that my family has my back that Baby attacked me, but Zane is being more aggressive than usual and is usually the silent kind. He sits in the back and observes. He doesn’t need to do anything, his stare alone can do damage. It sounds like he’s gone off the rails. But why? Because of me? Has he snapped? I wonder if I should put our petty bullshit to the side and check on him.
“So enough about Zane, what’s it like being a teacher?” Piper changes the subject. Trying to catch up with the switch in conversation, I blink rapidly trying to think.
“Uh, it’s good.” Is all I can muster. I’m still reeling about everything going on with Zane.
Piper and Delilah both look at me, and I glance down.
“You okay?”
Delilah’s face wrinkles with worry.
“Yeah, I’m just…” I wave my hand out trying to think of a cover-up. “Tired.” I nervously laugh.
“Okay, what’s up?” Piper sets her menu down and rests her chin on her hands.
Delilah stars at me expectantly waiting for me to answer. Tearing my gaze from hers, I bite my lip and look off into the distance. I don’t know what to say that they would believe.
“It’s Zane, isn’t it.” Piper hits the nail on the head and my head whips in her direction. My eyes widen, and my lips part.
“It’s no secret you two have been pining over each other for years.” Piper rolls her eyes, and my entire body tingles with panic.
“That’s why you’ve been putting us off, right?” Delilah cocks a brow in my direction.
“No, I?” I stumble on my response.
“Wait, did something happen between you and Zane, is that why he is acting like this?” Piper raises an eyebrow.
I open my mouth to speak but shut it as quick as a mouse trap.
“No, they didn’t do anything.” Delilah waves Zane and me off. Apparently, they’ve been watching us closer than I thought.
“It’s just complicated,” I finally croak. They wouldn’t understand.
“Something definitely happened!” Delilah observes. Rubbing my forehead frantically it’s obvious they know about Zane and I, for a while it seems. I wish I knew they knew sooner, it would give me someone to talk to about all these… feelings.
“Can you love someone without having much of a relationship at all?” The question falls from my mouth before I can grab it back.
Both of the girls stare at me, and I know I’ve crossed a line. Zane is family. I just admitted I love Zane.
“I see the way you and Zane stare at each other, and the way you both tense up when talking to each other. I can practically feel the sexual energy when you two are in the same room,” Piper adds. “You two have been playing this game for so long, I’d say yeah. It could be love.” She shrugs.
“Yeah, but what about club code. We aren’t supposed to be together,” Delilah reminds us.
“Fuck that.” Piper rolls her eyes. The rule breaker as ever.
“No, you can get my brother into a lot of trouble, Addie!” Delilah’s face begins to redden, and I know she’s about to go all D on me. This is exactly why I never wanted to tell anyone about it. Zane and I can’t be together because of the club. Zane could lose his patch, and I could lose Piper and D.
“I know that very well, Delilah, why do you think Zane and I have never taken things passed friends?” Or why I haven’t said anything to them about it. Our parents thought it would be a cute idea that we would all end up together when we were just kids, but then we all hit puberty and it was too weird for our parents. Us kids are too close, we grew up together and know too much about each other. So the parents made it a rule we would only be family or friends.
My soulmate has been within arms-reach my whole life, but we have to sit silently and wonder what if.
What if we break the rules?
“So really, how is it being a teacher?” Delilah asks, changing the subject. One that is just as equally stressful right now.
“I’ve always wondered what those teachers did in the teacher lounge, anything good in there?” Piper laughs.
“Teacher lounge sucks,” I inform them with a smile. There is not a magic ice cream machine in there or anything. “Other than that, I don’t know. The principal is up to some shady stuff,” I begin to ramble.
“What do you mean?” Piper asks around a mouth full of food.
“I think he’s messing around with the students or something. The way he looks at them, it just creepy.”
“I wouldn’t go for that. I’d shut that shit down!” Delilah answers immediately.
“Like go to the school board?”
“Ha, they will just cover it up to be no big deal, maybe transfer the prick. No, you need to get yo
ur hands dirty!” Piper points at me. Devil’s Dust style.
“Make sure there are lots of witnesses when you do it though!” Delilah nods.
My mind begins to reel thinking of scenarios I could possibly do to get Mr. Thad to stop.
“You were raised by the club, girl. Surely you can come up with something.” Piper laughs, making the rest of us giggle right along.
The way they make it seem like no big deal, maybe it isn’t.
Maybe I can do this on my own.
Pulling into the school parking lot, I turn my Jeep off and start to gather up my things to finish the school day. Lunch with the girls was a little more tense than I had hoped, but it does feel good to get things off my chest. Yawning, I climb out of my car and slam the door shut. I’m tired, the nightmares becoming more and more frequent.
My rose gold sandals flip and flop against the ground as I make my way across the parking lot. All the kids are in class by now, so there’s nobody to be seen out here. Crossing my arms, I look around Inside the building. I head to my classroom when I spot Mr. Thad stepping out of the girl’s locker room acting suspicious. My eyes widen, and I dart behind an entryway to another class so I’m not seen.
What the fuck is he doing?
Poking my head out I find Miss Hadwig hustle out of the girl’s locker room, her fingers frantically buttoning up her blouse. Her colorful makeup is smeared across her face, and her blonde hair is disheveled. She’s always smiling, giving stupid riddles to social studies. I’ve never seen her sad.
Stepping out, I reach for her and she becomes almost frantic slapping me away.
“Hey, it’s okay. It’s me!” She jerks away from my touch, and I hold my hands up to imply I am of no threat.
Sniffling, she runs her ring clad fingers under her runny nose.
“What happened?” I whisper. She shakes her head, not wanting to tell me. “Tell me,” I press. She fake laughs, her gray eyes looking at me warily.
“You can’t save any of us,” she trembles. “It’s him or our jobs!”
“Us?”
“Why do you think Jodi left? Don’t be so naïve!” Jodi, the other science teacher. She up and quit without a reason why. Then it hits me like a stack of bricks. Was that Mr. Thad’s doing? Jesus, what did he do to her? How long has this been going on?
“That son of a bitch.” He’s not fucking around with students, he’s hurting the teachers.
* * *
“Excuse me.” Miss Hadwig pushes past me, and out of the school.
I suddenly don’t feel safe in this school anymore. How did a predator become the goddamn principal?
My nostrils flare. My heart telling me I need to do something about this before I’m next, and if growing up with a motorcycle club taught me anything, it’s you can’t rely on other people to take care of shit for you. You gotta do it yourself.
I quickly head to my classroom and toss my stuff onto the floor and sit at my desk. My teeth nibble on my bottom lip trying to think about how to handle this.
Should I talk to the kids? No, they won’t tell me anything.
Threaten him? Ha, Jodi is bigger than me and obviously lost that battle.
The bell rings, and my head begins to pound with it. I need some coffee or something.
Stepping out of my classroom I head to the teacher’s lounge, thinking of Piper and Delilah while I’m in here. The old coffee pot sits on the counter seeing better days, it makes me wish we had some magical expresso machine. The torn couches look like something out of strip clubs, and the tables and chairs have been here since I was a student.
I grab my coffee cup from the cabinet and pour me some, putting sugar and ice in. Reaching in the fridge, I grab the milk and pour it in. I give it stir and the milk dances with the black making it a yummy caramel color. I love iced coffee. If anything is my addiction, it’s this.
“Miss Addington, finally back I see.”
Turning around to the male voice, I find Mr. Thad standing right behind me. He’s in my personal space, the smell of his garlic breath overtaking the coffee in the air. Barely able to pull my hand up and push him away. His dark eyes dance with delight, as if he’s searching for some kind of fear from me.
“Yes, I am,” I nervously reply.
“You know, I’ve always taken an interest in my teachers’ social life.” He shakes a finger at me, his lips twisted to the side.
“Nothing special here, Mr. Thad.” I fake a smile, reaching to grab my coffee cup on the counter.
He grips my wrist and ice cold fear ripples up my arm.
“Oh, I doubt that. Being the bitch of a biker, I’m sure you have some stories.” His voice takes a low tone, his smile turning into something malicious.
I jerk my arm from his, my nostrils flaring. It becomes apparent more than ever that I do need to take this motherfucker down.
Glaring over my shoulder as I walk away, my heart continues to pound, not from fear but anger. He put his hands on me, he was testing me.
“And call me Thad,” he insists, enjoying the game he’s playing with my mind. It occurs to me this is what he does, he plays with the minds of women before jumping.
My trembling hand shakes my cup, the ice that hasn’t melted hitting the side of the ceramic glass.
“Hey, don’t forget about the drug search today!” Miss Louve reminds me in passing.
“Right!” I fake a smile behind my rage.
And it hits me. I know what I need to do.
Rushing to my room, I flip through the calendar on my desk.
* * *
It is today that the sheriff is bringing his K9 to check lockers for contraband.
If Mr. Thad has drugs, they would have to arrest him. Everyone would see, and he would be taken down. Then maybe the teachers could come forward and throw their claim on top of the charges. They would be safe, and the school board wouldn’t be able to look away.
Grabbing my phone, I hover my thumb over Zane’s number.
Shit. I need him, only he can do this.
Can you bring me an ounce to the school?- A
It takes only a few seconds before he replies.
That bad of a day? -Z
Can you get it for me? -A
Of course. – Z
The bell rings and I know students will start pouring into my class any second. I can’t concentrate enough to teach a class right now. My palms are sweaty, my arms shaky.
As the students pile in, I decide they will watch a movie on photosynthesis.
“Quiet!” I demand the class, and everyone starts to hush when finding their seats. Turning the TV on, I sit back at my desk and stare out the window. My heart drumming in my chest.
This is the right thing to do. Those girls need someone right now, and I feel like it’s my duty to do it.
Two motorcycles roar up the stretch way and I jump from my seat, gaining eyes from all the students in my direction.
“Just- just continue watching the movie.” I smile and slip out of the class. Making haste, I hustle to the front of the school to get the drugs before Mr. Thad spots Zane.
Pushing the front door open a breeze wafts around me, and Zane is pulling off his helmet. He shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair. Ocean eyes peer up at me and the wind is knocked from my lungs.
Climbing off his bike, he holds his hand out to me, and I take the plastic bag.
“You okay?” He raises a brow.
“Just taking care of something,” I inform, but if anything, my statement seems to worry him more. “Thanks.” I give a smile, and turn on my heel to take care of business, but am turned back around just as quickly.
Gem-colored eyes stare back at me, knocking the sunlight out and replacing it with something darker.
“Cute, now tell me the truth,” he rasps.
Sighing, I look off at Saint straddling a bike behind us.
“I think the principal is raping and blackmailing the teachers,” I explain. Zane’s shoulders rise a ghost from
the grave, his face blossoming with anger.
“You don’t need to get involved.”
“I work here, how can I not?” I yell-whisper. Piper and Delilah would do this on their own, they wouldn’t ask for a man to do it. I can do this myself too.
“So you’re trying to frame him?” Zane’s brows rise, and I can tell he’s about two seconds from taking care of this himself.
“Yes! I mean,” I huff, feeling frustrated. “What if I’m next?” I shrug. Silence falls between us, and Zane slowly tucks a hair behind my ear.
“I don’t like this, Addie,” he states.
My eyes flash to his in knowing, and I become angry.
“Yeah, well I didn’t ask your permission!”
“Let the club handle this.” He tries to muscle his way in, but I’m not giving in that easy. I’m not some damsel in distress.
“I’ll be fine.”
Pulling from his reach, I turn to go inside. I’m not confident this will be fine. Not at all.
Once inside, I hear the motorcycles start back up, and bolt from the school.
“I thought I told you I didn’t want them around!” Mr. Thad’s voice booms from the office door, and I nearly scream. He’s always creeping up on me.
“Yes, that is why I told him to leave,” I lie.
Flipping his sandy hair from his face, he gives me a once-over that makes my skin crawl and heads to the gym.
Gym. He’s not in his office.
As if I’m a secret agent or something, I slip up against the wall and into his office. His desk is clean, only his name and a clock sitting on the edge.
It smells like him in here. Shaving cream is what it reminds me of.
I try and open the desk drawer, but it doesn’t budge. It’s locked. Shit.
Turning around I find his jacket hanging from a coat hanger.
Shoving my hand in one of the pockets, I leave the weed and tug my hand free. My heart feels heavy, and my mouth dry from panting with panic.
Looking both ways to make sure the coast is clear I quickly head toward my room.
“Hey, I saw Mr. Biker was here again.” Miss Louve waggles her shoulders in a seductive way. Startled, I scratch my forehead. Jealousy whispers in my ear things I should say or do to Miss Louve for her sudden interest in Zane, but he’s not mine. Why should I care so much that she thinks he is attractive?
