AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She stared back at the pinched-face bitch that so hated her student Shane Mayes simply because he was the sheriff’s son, and the sheriff refused to kowtow to her or her brother.
It was rumored Sheriff Zeke Mayes kowtowed to no man, or woman.
“I really don’t give a fuck where you put them. ” It wouldn’t do her any good, Nadine would do as she wished anyway. “I’m not leaving Somerset. ”
“My dear Ms. Walker, your employment here . . . ” the principal began.
“Is obviously at an end. ” Caitlyn smiled tightly as she picked up the photos and shoved them in her case. “I’ll clear my desk this evening, Mr. Thompson. ”
“You’ll leave town,” Dayle Mackay stated, his voice like ice.
The man was a viper. His son, the town’s bad boy, had a heart of gold. But this man, he was black, evil. It was in his eyes, in his face. It was almost enough to send a shiver down her spine. But she didn’t shiver, her spine straightened and pure Walker arrogance and stubborn pride kicked in. Her father had once warned her that her pride would be the death of her.
“Go to hell, Mackay. ” She could barely speak. Fury was ripping through her, tearing at her.
“Your reputation will be less than nothing by the time we finish with you, Caitlyn. ”
Nadine’s tight-lipped, superior smile looked like a wolf’s curl of the lip. Anticipatory.
Ready to strike. “You don’t want to stay here. ”
“No, you don’t want me to stay because you’re terrified that if one person stands up to your viciousness, then others will,” she stated calmly. “I’m doing more than standing up to you, Nadine, I’m warning you now, you can’t hurt me. ”
Nadine’s smile was cold. “Your position within the school system has been terminated, Ms. Walker, and your standing in this county will be history. ” Her tone assured Rogue she felt she had done the damage she wanted to do.
Caitlyn forced herself to laugh. Her father had taught her how to be strong; her mother had taught her how to be a lady. But her grandmother, ah, her grandmother had taught her how to be a bitch and made Caitlyn enjoy every lesson.
Bess Evansworth was a force of nature and a law unto herself. And Caitlyn had been her favorite. She had always allowed Caitlyn to tag along with her and her cronies to their luncheons and teas. And Caitlyn had learned.
“Put them on the Internet. ” Caitlyn’s smile was all teeth. “I dare you. Better yet, mail a set to my grandparents. Their address is easy to find. Evansworth. Taite and Bessamine Evansworth, Boston. I’m sure my grandmother will get a tickle out of it. Though, Daddy might return to Somerset. ” She shrugged as though she didn’t care. “You could take your chances. ”
She shoved the few possessions from her desk into her bag. She didn’t have much. They hadn’t really given her time to settle in. She could fight the school board, but who really wanted to? She’d come here with dreams, and over the past months she had learned how ineffectual those dreams were in these mountains.
Somerset was beautiful, inspiring, and filled with dark, poisonous little creatures just waiting to strike. She had sensed that during the first few months here. She knew it the moment she had met these two, and now she felt their swift, sharp attack.
The pictures were in her purse, but she knew that meant so very little. Simply that she had her own copies. Damn them.
“Staying here will serve no purpose,” Dayle Mackay snorted. “You’re not wanted, you little bitch, any more than your ignorant father was wanted or any of the Walker clan.
The lot of you are nothing but white trash, whores, and drug-guzzling bastards. ”
Oh, one day, he’d pay for that one. They would both pay for that one.
“Oh well, far be it for me to prove you wrong,” she replied mockingly. “Do whatever the hell you want with the pictures. But. ” She paused as she picked up the oversized bag at her side. “Be watching for me. When you least expect it. ” She looked between the two. “When you very least expect it, I’ll be there. And it won’t be trumped-up photos that are used to break either one of you. It will be the truth. ”
She left the school, and she left her dreams behind her. She put her dreams behind her, and she refused to call her parents. This was her life, and the thought of dragging them into the mess she had allowed to develop made her cringe.
It was her fault. She should have done as her father warned her and let his friends, who managed the bar he still owned in town, know who she was when she went there, rather than hiding from them. It wouldn’t have happened then, because they would have watched out for her.
The problem was, she hadn’t wanted anyone to watch out for her. She had been too confident that she could watch out for herself. She was an adult. She was able to defend herself. In the arrogance of youth she had convinced herself that nothing or no one could touch her.
She had entered that bar as confident and arrogant as any young woman that had just turned twenty-one, watched the excitement and fun with a sense of anticipation. And she had let herself be betrayed and nearly used. She had made that mistake. It was no one’s fault but her own. She would live with it.
She wasn’t about to leave Pulaski County though. As she drove home, she stared out at the mountains, watched the sun blaze full and bright as it began its descent in the evening sky, and she knew she couldn’t leave.
She had been raised in the city, but these mountains, they were a part of her. From the moment she had entered them, she had known she had come home, and she’d known she never wanted to be anywhere else.
But now, she knew an adjustment would have to be made.
