Page 5 of Read With Your Heart

What was I ever thinking being with him?

My father was a decent man—kind and loving. My brothers are as well. I consider myself a smart woman. It isn’t like I don’t know how a man should treat a lady, so how could I pick such a bad man?

As a child, I was always a tomboy. It came with my love of sports, especially basketball. I wanted to hang with the boys but still be respected as a girl. It didn’t happen. Most boys were threatened by me, so I was either one of them or not. Not many saw me as feminine in my own right. In some ways, I ended up with Trent because I was trying to prove myself. I thought he accepted me as a woman while treating me like an equal among men.

I was wrong.

I was his buddy until I wanted a baby.

“A baby? Why the fuck do you want a baby?” He’d stared at me like I’d asked him to commit a crime. I didn’t know he didn’t want children. Trent had had a rough childhood. His mother left after his younger brother was born. His father was an awful drunk. None of this needed to affect us since I’d make a great mother. With guidance, I believed Trent would be a decent dad.

Wrong again.

“Let’s get you home,” Jess says to me, breaking into my thoughts while leading me in the opposite direction of my new place. I hadn’t planned to spend the night there yet as I hadn’t moved anything in, but even our mother’s house was behind us.

“Where’re we going?” I tease.

“Spend the night at my place.” My brother had moved out of our mother’s home recently as well. “Katie will love it.”

My niece is a source of joy for me, so he isn’t off in suggesting I seek refuge in his house. I just hope this night isn’t an omen of what’s to come for me while I live alone.

+ + +

After the long weekend of moving in and adapting to my new place, I wake early on Monday when the rumble of a motorcycle practically scares me out of my skin. With my bedroom overlooking the driveway, I’m able to hustle to the window and peer down into the shared drive to find my neighbor revving his engine at six a.m. It isn’t like I don’t need to get up, but I had a few more minutes before my alarm was set to wake me.

“Gah,” I grumble, throwing myself back on my bed.

My bed. The one I own and sleep in alone in my new place. I swish my arms like I’m making a snow angel and then reconsider the day. I hop out of bed and dress quickly because I have a full day ahead of me organizing my classroom at the high school. This year, I’ll be teaching freshman English.

Levi Walker, Trent’s younger brother, will be a freshman this year. My thoughts drift to him, wondering how he’s been doing since I left. Levi was raised by his elder brother for most of his life as their father, Robert Walker, was a drunk, and leaving Levi behind had been difficult. It wasn’t my place to take him with me, though, and I sensed he could fend for himself a bit more as a young teen. Levi stood up to Trent more often as he aged, and while this brought damning insults and definitive slaps, Levi wouldn’t take that abuse for long. He was already almost as tall as his brother. Thankfully, I’d be able to check on him each day at school.

By three in the afternoon, I need a nap. Standing near the window of my classroom on the second floor, I stare down at the basketball court across the parking lot, sipping a diet drink to give myself a break.

“Who is that?” Jenna Davis asks me. I’m fortunate that another woman in the English department started at the same time as I did, and we’ve become close friends as well as colleagues. She’s one of the few who knows about Trent. Someone is bound to find out when you end up crying in the female teacher’s restroom.

“I have no idea,” I reply, though something is vaguely familiar about the man clad in loose basketball shorts without a T-shirt, sweat gleaming down his muscular back. The shorts might be baggy around his muscular thighs, but they hug the two fine globes of perfection that are his backside. His attention remains focused on the task at hand—shot after shot after shot.

“Damn, he’s good,” Jenna purrs. “And good-looking.”

“Mm-hmm,” I reply, holding the straw sticking out of my can between my lips but not sucking up the cola. My eyes are the only part of my body that move as I watch him dribble to half court and take a shot. Swish! My fingers twitch. I’d love to play ball with him—shirts against skin. He can be skin . . . all skin.

Jenna’s gaze moves from him to me and back again. “You should go out there. Introduce yourself.”

This breaks my gawking. “What?”

“Go meet him,” Jenna says, tipping her brunette head toward the window.

“Oh, I’m not interested in dating.”

My gaze falls back to the man. Something marks his back, but it’s difficult to make out the details. It could be a tattoo. I’m not opposed to them, but the last man I knew who had them was dangerous, and I’m not looking for a dangerous man.

“Who says anything about dating? When was the last time you got laid?” Jenna’s voice teases, but she’s also serious. I hadn’t been with Trent in over eight months. My heart aches with the reason for our abstinence.

“I’m . . . I’m not like that.” I’d been with Trent for ten years, and before him, there’d only been two others of no real consequence. I hadn’t ever had random hook-ups like my friend beside me.

“Well, you’re turning over a new leaf. Perhaps it’s time to shake the whole tree a bit.” Jenna laughs, but I’m not as cavalier as she is, and I’m definitely not going after a man with tats on his back and a fine ass in basketball shorts.

My sight drifts to the edge of the parking lot where I see a familiar-looking truck. I narrow my eyes, and my breath hitches.