Page 93

“Hey.” I take my phone back. “You’re over-reacting. Besides, billy goats pee on their own heads to smell more attractive to females. Just tell them the ladies like it.”

He looks confused. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. “Do they really pee on their heads?”

I nod. “Yep.”

Grady has an obsession with elephants, and I know the moment I tell him about the billy goats, he’s about to rattle off another fact about elephants to further creep me out and prove his knowledge about animals. “An elephant produces about a hundred pounds of poop every day.”

I stare at him. “Stop reading theNational Geographicat night. It’s freaking me out, and it doesn’t count as your daily reading.”

“Why doesn’t it?”

“Because you’re supposed to be reading the approved lists of books, or they’re going to start getting mad at me that none of you have been taking those AR tests.”

Grady rolls his eyes. “I’m still going to read it.”

I smile. “I hope you do.” And then I know I need to break the news to him that I’m not going to be his teacher for much longer. “You know, while we’re on the subject of teaching. . . Mr. Burke comes back in a few weeks.”

His mood is lighter, and he’s swinging his legs back and forth on the chair next to me, but as soon as he hears those words, he stops.

Damn it. I shouldn’t have said anything.

“Why?”

“I was only filling in for him,” I explain, watching his reaction. “He’s your teacher this year.”

“I don’t like him. I want you to teach me.”

“I know, bud.” I ruffle his hair lightly. I hate the look in his eyes, the one that screams I’m letting him down. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to still be around.”

I want to punch myself the second those words leave my lips because I remember hearing them from my dad the day he told me he and Madalyn were getting a divorce. And I imagine Grady heard them from dickbag.

I notice Aly standing in the office with a bag of clothes, her eyes darting around the room. I pat Grady’s shoulder. “Whatta you say we get you out of these pee pants?”

“Finally.” He stands awkwardly and then notices his mom. He looks panicked, his shoulders stiff, eyes brimmed with anger. “You calledmy mom?”

I hold up my palms in defense. “Just so she could bring you some jeans. You’re not in trouble.” I hang out the office door and motion for Aly. I glance back over my shoulder. “I didn’t tell her.”

Aly comes in and do you notice the look she gives me first?

It’s been four days since we had sex. Four long fucking days of me imagining every single detail of that night and all the things I’m dying to do to her now.

Doesn’t she look hot? She’s wearing tight jeans and a simple black shirt that makes her tits look amazing. She doesn’t look like the women in Santa Barbara striving to keep up on the latest beauty trends. She doesn’t even look like the women who pass through this town enjoying our mineral spas and wineries.

No, Aly looks like a mother. One who puts her kids first. It doesn’t make her less beautiful, and if you ask me, it makes her sexy as fuck. I’d much rather fuck her than any of those pretentious bitches with their hands in their sugar daddy’s bank account.

“Is he okay?” Aly asks, nodding down to Grady, her tone breathless and fueling my fantasy I can’t seem to control around her.

I turn away from Grady, for obvious reasons, and lean into the door frame. “He’s fine. Just needed a change of clothes. Spilled his lunch on his pants.”

She looks to Grady, then me. “Oh, okay.”

I wink at Grady, who gives me that expression of “thank God you lied to my mom.” I remember being eight, kind of. The last person you want knowing you peed your pants is your mother.

“How’s Cash feeling?”

Aly smiles. “Much better today. He’s in the car playing his DS.” Her voice lowers, breathy, and my thoughts of her laid out before me on the floor of my trailer surface. Damn it. I need to sit down. “Thanks again for taking care of him. . . and Grady.” Her stare moves to him, disappearing into the bathroom behind us. “Austin never did things like that.”

The mention of his name hits me like a rock to the head. I hate it. Nodding, I dip my head and wait for her to look at me. “I’m not like Austin.”

Aly’s eyes cloud with emotion and her nose wrinkles in an innocent way. “I know. You couldn’t be more different.”