Page 2

2 JASON

Jason wakes slowly, body heavy with sleep and his mind fuzzy. The promise of more sleep is tempting, but the sunlight streaming through the open window is bright enough to have Jason frowning and covering his eyes, well aware it's time for him to wake. All it takes is a little movement from him to alert his four-legged companion that he’s no longer sleeping before a warm, wet tongue drags across his jaw.

“Really, Freddie?” Jason groans. “I just woke up.”

The bed shakes under Freddie’s happy pitter patters and Jason can’t even be mad. He was such a scared little shithead when Jason first got him, eating his shoes, yelping for hours and pissing on everything when he got nervous, which was multiple times a day.

It’d taken hard work and a lot of patience to get Freddie to trust him after Alec found him at the pound. Somehow he accidentally turned Freddie into the world’s most spoiled dog, but considering his start in life, Jason thinks he deserves it. Freddie is the happiest dog alive now, even if he is still scared of most people and sometimes even his own shadow.

Freddie licks him again, a sure sign that if Jason doesn’t get out of bed, he’s going to be covered in dog drool soon. Removing his arm from over his eyes, he’s met with Freddie’s adorable, crooked smile. Jason returns the smile, and Freddie takes this as permission to lick his cheek.

“Buddy, no,” Jason says, making sure to keep his tone happy so Freddie doesn’t think he’s in trouble. If there’s one thing Freddie hates, it’s raised voices.

Freddie barks, his tail wagging happily before he licks Jason’s face again. Sprawled across the end of the bed, his other four-legged companion, Stella, copies him by barking for no other reason than because she can.

“Who needs an alarm clock with you two?” Jason grumbles, shaking his head before sitting up and throwing off his blankets.

He’s barely pushed his feet into his slippers when his alarm goes off, not that he needs it. Between his internal alarm clock and his dogs, he’s usually awake before it has a chance to sound. It’s always better to be safe than sorry, though. Jason was late to orientation his first year teaching after he overslept, and ever since his body is determined to ensure he never makes the same mistake.

“Up and at ‘em,” Jason says, but Stella and Freddie don’t move so he tries another tactic. “Time to eat.”

That does the trick, sending both dogs racing out of the bedroom and down the hallway, the sound of their claws on the tile floor all too familiar. Jason spares a few seconds to relieve himself in the bathroom and splash some cold water on his face before heading to the kitchen. Though it took him less than a minute, by the time he walks through the archway into his kitchen Stella is, for reasons unknown to Jason, somehow on the goddamn kitchen island. Jason has a lot of questions about whoever owned Stella before him, most of them surrounding why a seventy-five pound husky mix thinks she’s a cat.

Unlike Stella, who delights in climbing up to places she definitely doesn’t belong, Freddie is safely on the ground. Not surprising since he’s still too scared to even climb on the couch alone. While he might be waiting where he belongs, he isn’t doing it quietly, howling at his empty food bowl like he hasn’t been fed in a year.

“You know, I think Alec picked the noisiest, neediest strays he could find for me.” Despite his occasional complaints, he wouldn’t trade his loud babies for anything in the world. “Alright, alright, I’ll feed you.”

Ignoring the way his body is screaming at him for its morning coffee, he fills both of their bowls with kibble and fresh water first. Only once they’re happily eating does he shuffle towards his coffee machine. Bleary-eyed and definitely not entirely awake yet, he jabs the power button before popping in a coffee pod from the drawer. He’s not even sure which flavor he chose, nor does he care. All he wants is caffeine and food. While the coffee brews, he takes two breakfast sandwiches from the freezer, popping one of them in the microwave while he gets everything ready.

He all but inhales his first breakfast sandwich, too hungry to even care that the center is still a little frozen while gulping down his coffee. Come next week he’s gonna have to be up at four-thirty if he wants to have time to walk his dogs before work, so he supposes getting up at seven today isn’t so bad. He probably should’ve tried to adjust his morning routine sooner, but sleeping in over summer is so damn nice.

He makes a second cup of coffee and scrolls through his email, making sure to keep an eye out on any pertinent work stuff. The only thing of importance is a staff memo about Mrs. Schumaker, the freshman English teacher, needing to leave already this year for personal reasons, meaning they’re going to be bringing on a new teacher. Slowly sipping his coffee, he scrolls down for more information but finds none.

Well, today is definitely going to call for donuts if he wants to get any information. Technically, Jason always brings donuts for everyone on the Friday before school starts. He feels like it starts the year off right. Who doesn’t like donuts? Still, today is extra important, and if Jason wants the 411 on this new teacher, he’s gonna need to drive across town to get Mabel’s favorite donut. The fact that her favorite is the same as his best friend’s but they’ve got a forty year age gap never fails to amuse Jason, who takes his coffee as he moves to the front door.

He hasn’t even reached the hook with the leashes near the front door before Freddie and Stella are following along. Jason grins. Today is going to be great.

* * *

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite lady. Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

“Starting early with the flattery this year, Mr. King?” Mabel grins, her too-dark rouge making it look like she’s blushing.

“Never too early for you, Mabel.” Jason shifts the stack of donut boxes under his left arm so he can grab the white paper bag off the top. “Got your favorite, didn’t want anyone else taking it.”

“Buttermilk knot?” she asks, peering inside the bag.

“You know it,” Jason grins. “You and Theo single-handedly drive the demand.”

“How is that boy? Such a nice man, that Theo. I remember when he used to come in here looking for you. He never got into trouble like you did.”

“Are you calling me a troublemaker, Mabel?” Jason pretends to be shocked. He isn’t really. He never did anything too horrible when he was a student, but he wasn’t above shenanigans.

“You know, between the two of you, it was always you getting Theo in trouble. I’ll never forget that senior prank with the goats and?—”

“Now, now,” Jason interrupts. “We don't need to relive senior year. I keep hoping maybe you’ll forget about that.”

“I might be seventy, but I’m sharp as a tack, young man.”

Jason can’t help but grin. Mabel’s been in the front office as long as Jason can remember, working the desk when he and each of his brothers attended Santa Leon High. When he’d first started working here, seeing her in a more professional capacity had been a little odd, but once he stopped feeling like he was going to get into trouble for being in the office, he developed a rather wonderful friendship with Mabel. She’s easily one of his favorite people on campus and he’s probably going to sob like a baby whenever she retires.

“I know you are, and since you’re so sharp, I bet you know all about the new teacher.” He widens his smile.

“Oh, are we getting a new teacher?” Mabel pretends to look at her long, shimmering nails. They’re hot pink and very glittery, matching her oversized glasses.

“Mabel, you can’t hold out on me.”

“I’m sure Mrs. Hernandez will send out a staff-wide email soon.”

“You and I both know she did that this morning,” Jason sighs. “It gave me nothing. I need details.”

“You know, I always thought that Alexander was the nosiest King, but now I’m not so sure.”

“I like to think of it as curious more than nosy. Besides, how can I welcome our new staff member if I don’t know who I’m looking for? Come on, give me something, Mabel. You know everything at this school.” She smiles and Jason knows he’s got it in the bag, but he continues anyway because she really is the best. “You know we’d all be lost without you. You’re the glue that holds us together. You’re our shining star. You’re?—”

“Alright, alright,” Mabel huffs. “Mr. Miller is here from?—”

“Morning, Mr. King.”

“Morning, Mrs. Hernandez.” Jason straightens, offering his principal a wide smile. She’s a little stern at times, and definitely doesn’t share Jason’s love of office gossip, but she’s fair, decent, and a good administrator on the whole. “I got your favorite—blueberry.”

Jason pops open the lid on the top box of donuts, withdrawing a napkin from his pocket and offering it to her.

“Thank you.” She takes the donut in question, offering a polite nod to both him and Mabel before heading towards her office.

“Now, about Mr. Miller,” Jason starts, turning his attention back to Mabel and frowning when he realizes she’s on the phone. She holds up a hand, shaking her head, and Jason resigns himself to having to wait. Ten minutes later there’s no end in sight to her phone call with the district to handle some kind of IT problem, and Jason decides to get his day started, aware he needs to open up his own office and get things in order.

Before heading across campus, he takes a detour to the staff room where he leaves the donuts, sneaking one himself. He picks one of the larger donuts, something covered in chocolate with chocolate chips in the layers inside, letting the carbs and sugar fuel his morning as he heads off, intending to figure out exactly who Mr. Miller is.

Since today is a staff development day, it’s a prep day more than anything else. Some of the other teachers have classrooms to finish setting up or curriculum to finalize, but Jason’s work is a little less tedious. As the physical education teacher and football coach, he doesn’t have a classroom and his office is already set up, something he made sure to do when he stopped in last week to handle some paperwork from his preseason tryouts.

Technically speaking, Jason doesn’t even need to be on campus today, but there’s not a chance he’d miss it. The first week of school is always kind of chaotic and busy, so having a day to get himself back in the groove of things and catch up with his coworkers before the students arrive on campus is perfect. He also likes to make himself useful and a lot of the other teachers usually need help unloading boxes or moving furniture. That’s how Jason ends up spending his morning after he finds Mrs. Montalvo, one of the science teachers, struggling to get an armload of boxes and a wagon of necessities into her classroom.

The following few hours are spent helping her bring up some miscellaneous supplies from the storeroom, along with helping her rearrange her lab desks and change a light bulb. It’s nearly noon by the time he’s finished helping her and his breakfast sandwich and donut feel ages ago. Making his way across campus he heads to the vending machine near the cafeteria, kicking himself for not taking the time to pack a lunch today. He’s gonna need to get back into the habit unless he wants to starve to death or live on takeout. Neither of which he really wants to do since when football starts, he’ll be living on that for dinners. Maybe if he sweet talks Alec, he might cook for him at least once a week.

Pausing in front of the vending machine, he eyes the selection, wondering if he can talk to the vendor about getting a different flavor of Pop-Tarts stocked. He can’t figure out why it’s always strawberry when brown sugar cinnamon is clearly the superior flavor. Lost in thoughts of Pop-Tart fillings, it takes him by surprise to notice someone unfamiliar walking past him. They look decidedly lost, muttering to themselves.

“You need help?” Jason asks, abandoning his snack mission to turn and face the stranger.

With a closed campus there aren’t usually people Jason doesn’t know around, but on staff development days it’s not uncommon for some of the staff to have friends or family helping them set up. Though over the years, Jason’s gotten to know most of them as well and this guy is entirely unfamiliar. He also looks too old to be a student but definitely too young to be the new teacher.

“I’m looking for a classroom,” the guy answers, eyes never leaving the paper in his hands. His lips move as he silently reads whatever is on it.

“Luckily for you, you found an entire school.” Jason crosses his arms and grins.

That grin falls when the guy doesn’t laugh at his joke. He does however, look up from his paper, and piercing green eyes meet Jason’s. The eye contact lasts only a second before the guy averts his gaze, giving Jason a moment to really take him in. He’s shorter than Jason, though as the tallest person on campus at six-foot-five, that’s not an uncommon occurrence. The man is not much shy of six feet but his build is lithe and compact, making him seem smaller than he actually is. Or at least smaller than Jason, but then again, who isn’t?

Unlike Jason, who is dressed down in a pair of running shorts and a faded Santa Leon t-shirt, this guy has on a dark green, short-sleeved button-up without a single wrinkle and a pair of equally unwrinkled dark wash jeans. Even his sneakers are pristine, not a scuff in sight. Equally noticeable is the way the deep green of his shirt makes the light green of his eyes stand out. Then again, everything about him stands out, from his fair complexion to the vivid red of his hair. His eyelashes even match, letting Jason know it’s definitely his natural color, though in the bright sunlight they look almost translucent and far lighter than the hair on his head.

Unable to stop staring, the only thought swirling through Jason’s brain is that this guy looks like someone off one of the book covers of those fantasy romance novels Andrew likes. He blames this thought on his curiosity at the barbecue with his brothers last week when he’d caught sight of Andrew’s Kindle on the patio and snuck a peek to see what his big brother was reading. Jason had only gotten through a few pages, just enough to realize whatever the book contained was something called bonds and a fated mate, before Andrew snatched it away, red-faced and embarrassed.

Looking at this guy now, Jason can’t deny there’s something ethereal about his appearance. It’s not just because of his vivid hair and fair complexion, but also the shape of his face with the delicate curve of his jawline and full lips. He’s pretty, Jason realizes. Incredibly so. Jason has no qualms about noticing or appreciating this. He has eyes after all, nothing wrong with using them, even if in the past he usually only paid attention to guys when Theo was around. He is the world’s best wingman and knows his best friend’s preferences, making it easy to spot someone Theo might like. Of course now that Theo’s marrying his brother, it’s been ages since Jason bothered paying attention to men. Then again, anyone with two eyes would look at this guy in front of him and notice how attractive he is.

“Do you know where it is?” the pretty guy asks.

“Huh?” Jason blinks, realizing he missed something with his wandering appreciation.

“I said—” he starts, breaking off with a heavy sigh. “Never mind, I’ll find it myself.”

“Sorry, I was…distracted,” Jason says, frowning when he realizes the guy is walking away. Unable to resist someone in need of help and still curious about who he is, Jason takes several long strides to catch up to him.

“You’re following me,” he says without turning to look at him.

“I’m helping you,” Jason counters.

“By walking next to me and distracting me?” He looks at Jason, eyes darting between the paper map in his hand and his feet.

“No, by showing you to, uh—” but Jason’s words get stuck in his throat when the guy stops and turns to face Jason with a defiant set of his jaw. He isn’t smiling, which is unusual because people always smile at Jason. “You know, uh, wherever you’re going.”

“What are you, the welcoming committee?”

“Not officially,” Jason grins, undeterred by lack of a smile on the other’s face. “Although I did bring donuts into the office today, and you’re welcome to have one. Usually they’re for staff, but I’d be happy to go into the front office and get you one if you wanted. Are you more of a maple glaze or sprinkle man?”

“I don’t like donuts,” he replies, walking away.

“Everyone likes donuts.”

“Obviously everyone does not, in fact, like donuts.” The guy continues walking but turns to look at Jason like he has two heads. “Statistically speaking, only an average of three percent of Americans dislike donuts. So while most everyone likes them, it’s not everyone .”

Jason’s smile returns, inordinately charmed by his prickliness. “Is this your way of telling me you’re special?”

The guy hums something noncommittal, turning to walk away again.

Undeterred by his refusal of donuts and propensity not to smile, Jason continues to follow him. “What do you like?”

“What?”

“If you don’t like donuts, what do you like?”

The question seems to take the man completely off guard and he tilts his head, studying Jason while his pace slows. He’s not running away, at least not completely. “Who are you?”

“Jason.” He holds out a hand. “And you are?”

“Late,” he answers, shaking his head.

“Late for what? There’s nothing going on today but?—”

“Setting up,” he finishes. “So much to set up.”

“Ah, you’re helping someone. Is it the new teacher?”

“I’m not helping the new teacher,” he replies, tone unexpectedly clipped given how innocuous the question seemed to Jason.

“Okay, maybe the?—”

“Do you know where the English building is?” he interrupts, the sharpness in his tone overshadowed by the way he takes a measured breath.

Jason’s seen enough frazzled students to recognize the signs of anxiety or stress and to be well versed in not taking that kind of thing personally.

“Sure, but you’re on the wrong side of campus,” Jason answers, softening his tone. He takes a step into the other’s personal space so he can pluck the map from his hands and turn it around. “This building here is the front office, but you’re going down here right now. See, this walking path here is where we are now. If you continue down this way, you’re going to pass the gym and then reach the sports fields. Soccer is here, baseball is down there, and right past us another hundred feet down that hill and behind the gym is the football field.”

“Ugh, that’s definitely not where I want to go.”

“Not a fan of football?” Jason asks, unsure why the guy’s expression has him wanting to laugh rather than be offended. He looks so completely horrified at the idea.

“God no. Football, or sports in general—just no.”

“No sports,” Jason laughs. “Got it.”

The guy sighs heavily, tracing his finger over the path Jason just drew, tapping the spot where they currently stand. “This campus is…spread out. I looked at this map online, too, but it’s different in person. I swear I thought schools like this only existed in movies with everything outside and full of all this sunshine and palm trees, but no.”

Jason can’t help but be charmed by his rambling. “I take it this isn’t what your own school looked like?”

“Not even close. My high school was all one building, and there definitely wasn’t so much grass and trees and well—this,” He opens his arms and gestures at the general scenery. “This place looks like a vacation destination, not a prison.”

As far as Southern California schools go, it’s not that atypical, but living this close to the beach combined with their more favorable tax bracket means Santa Leon is one of the nicer high schools in the area, especially for a public school. Between the landscaping and copious seating areas for lunch and breaks, it really is a beautiful campus.

“I mean, schools should never look like a prison,” Jason says.

“Mine did.”

“Well, that sounds depressing,” Jason says with a frown. “Where did you go to school? It can’t have been in SoCal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a high school like that around here.”

“It was—no, it wasn’t here.” His expression shifts and he reaches for his left hand, spinning the gold ring on his pointer finger. There’s some kind of engraving on it, but Jason can’t tell what. “So can you tell me where the English building is, please?”

“Of course,” Jason answers, feeling a prickle of guilt for being such a yapper when it’s clear this guy isn’t in the mood. “The English building is behind us, just to the left of that tall building there, which is our library and—” but he’s cut off by someone calling for him.

“Coach!”

Jason turns to see one of his senior players running across campus. As a teacher and coach, Jason isn’t supposed to have favorite students or players, but he definitely does, and Matty is one of them. Not that he gives any of them preferential treatment. Jason makes sure he’s impartial and fair, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t go above and beyond for some of the kids, the ones who need more than the school can give. Kids like Matty. Despite his academic struggles, he works his ass off, never complains, and he’s so damn polite. He’s also doing everything on his own, working a part-time job to help his mom in the summer and on weekends with his rigorous football schedule.

“I thought I told you I didn’t need to see you until classes start, huh?” Jason’s smile gives away that he’s teasing.

“I know, Coach, but I wanted to know if I could talk to you about something.”

“Everything okay, Matty?”

“Yeah, it’s just—” Matty fills his lungs with air, looking oddly small considering his bulking six foot two frame. He’s radiating anxiety, the same kind he saw coming off the guy beside him, and a familiar urge to soothe hits Jason. He hates when people are upset.

“Why don’t we head down to the field,” he suggests, knowing Matty is always most relaxed there. “We can toss the ball around and talk.”

Matty’s exhale is palpable. “That’d be great, Coach.”

“Just let me say bye to—” but Jason stops mid-sentence when he notices he and Matty are alone, his mystery companion now gone. He can’t help but frown, turning around towards the library, but there’s no sight of him.

Turning his attention back to Matty, he jerks his thumb over his shoulder towards the football field. “Come on, kid. Tell me about your summer.”

Matty’s chatter fills the silence, and Jason can only hope the stranger finds what he was looking for before he affords Matty his full attention.