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Chapter Seventeen
There was a knock on the doorjamb of his classroom, and Gunnar looked up, expecting to see Twyla leaning against it, holding her books to her chest. They’d been back to school for a few weeks now and while it hadn’t been completely smooth sailing, on the whole things were good. They were very good.
Every day he felt as though Twyla was getting stronger. Her bruises were almost completely gone and she’d put on some weight because she was eating regularly. She’d always looked pretty to him, but she was looking even better now. Luscious and ripe and plump and sweet. God, he couldn’t wait to get home to her.
When they’d first come back after spring break, there had been a lot of gossip about the way Twyla looked—both her bruises and her new wardrobe—and about why half a dozen senior boys were missing.
Principal York had expelled them, but there was still some back and forth between the parents and the school administration about whether the expulsion could be commuted to a suspension. It ate at him at night, thinking about those little bastards walking the same hallways as Twyla, of her having to see them every day after what they’d done to her. The longer the boys had been out of school, the less likely Gunnar thought it that they’d even have any interest in coming back, but it kept him up at night nonetheless.
It wasn’t Twyla at his door though, it was Aaliyah Williams. Aaliyah was one of his cohort on the faculty, they’d started teaching at Clover Hills at the same time and were the same age. Aaliyah taught physics and chemistry—including the AP classes—and she was a great teacher; popular with the students too.
When the older faculty members started getting grumpy in faculty meetings, he could always count on Aaliyah to be rolling her eyes or whispering some cutting and hilarious remark. She wasn’t rolling her eyes now. She didn’t look like anything was funny at all.
“Hey Gunnar, you got a sec?”
“Course. Come on in.”
Aaliyah accepted his invitation and closed the door behind her. Clearly they weren’t just going to shoot the shit.
She pulled a chair over to the side of his desk and sat down, crossed an ankle over her knee and folded her hands in her lap before huffing out a breath.
“I wanted to talk to you about Twyla Smith. She’s staying with you, right?”
Gunnar confirmed with a nod. The entire faculty knew and though most of them didn’t approve, Aaliyah hadn’t seemed to care much. Maybe she’d met Wade Smith and knew what Twyla would have been going home to.
“Is she okay?” he asked, his heart rate speeding up as he thought of anything happening to her.
“Yeah, she’s fine. I think being away from her parents has done that girl a world of good. She looks healthier, she’s better behaved in class, her grades are going up.”
He smiled internally. Yes, his little girl was working so hard and he’d had teachers approach him and say the difference was night and day.
She was doing so great, and while he wouldn’t give himself any of the credit because it was Twyla who was doing the work, he did like to think he had a little to do with the fact that shecoulddo it now. That he’d provided a stable home and accountability and healthy food and a strict schedule for her to stick to, and she was flourishing. Or so he’d thought.
His brow kicked up because there was clearly more than that going on here. “But?”
Aaliyah sighed and pursed her lips. “I caught Twyla cheating on her test today. And when I called her out on it, she got mouthy and disrespectful.”
He wanted to say that didn’t sound like Twyla at all, except that it did. The Twyla of a month ago, though, not now. And she’d never had a reputation of being a cheater. An instigator and disrespectful? Absolutely. But it had never seemed like she cared enough about school to cheat.
“Have you talked to Jim about this yet?”
Aaliyah shook her head, her long braids rippling. “No. I should’ve. If it was any other student, I would have. But I didn’t because it seemed like she’d turned a corner, you know? Was finally headed in the right direction. And everyone makes mistakes. I’m guessing Twyla hasn’t had a whole lot of second chances. I don’t want to derail her if at all possible. Can’t happen again though, or I’ll have to report it.”
“Of course, I understand, and I appreciate you giving her a chance. I’ll speak with her about it tonight. Is there some way she could make this up? Maybe an extra project or anything like that? I don’t want to make more work for you, but I know how badly she wants to graduate so if there’s anything I can do to help make that happen…”
He trailed off because Aaliyah’s dark brown gaze felt like it was penetrating into his soul, his heart. Could she see how much Twyla meant to him? Did she know that he loved Twyla? That she was his little girl and he would do anything for her? Did she suspect that they were also lovers? Of a sort, anyway.
It was his new favorite thing, to kiss and cuddle and spoon Twyla, brush her hair and braid it, spoon- and bottle-feed her. But they hadn’t done anything more sexual than that. He hadn’t touched her breasts or her sweet pussy or her tight little rosebud of an asshole, outside of bathing her or changing her diapers which he kept her in at home.
Aaliyah’s brow had kicked up and she was still staring at him.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on between the two of you, and don’t you dare repeat this to anyone, but I don’t really give a shit if you’re consenting adults. I’d feel differently if you were one of her teachers but this is…”
Aaliyah shook her head again. “Anyway, if she wants to make up the test, I pulled detention duty tomorrow. She can come take it there. It’ll be the same kind of questions but with different problems to solve so she won’t be at an advantage from having seen the test today. Otherwise, I have to fail her and she won’t pass my class. So get her to come tomorrow, okay?”
“I will,” he vowed. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it and I know Twyla will too.”
“I hope so. I’ve got a soft spot for that girl, reminds me of my little sister.”
Gunnar gave her a smile, and Aaliyah stood. “I’ve got a bunch of shit to grade, so I gotta go, but I’ll see you at the faculty meeting tomorrow?”
“You know it. Can’t wait to hear about how the change in lunch schedules is going to destroy civilization as we know it.”
“You know I’m bringing my popcorn for that,” Aaliyah said as she crossed the threshold and gave him a little wave.
Well, Gunnar knew what he’d be doing when he got home.
