Page 10 of Regaining Integrity


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“Of course.” Getting away from her is my number-one goal right now. Glancing down at my watch, I’m glad I need to do something before I can leave for the day and fake a grimace. “I need to get back to my classroom.”

I don’t wait for her to reply when I step away.

“I’ll see you around, Cera.” Moving around her, I get my ass back up to my room. I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but when someone purposely made years of your life a living hell for no reason other than to be a bitch, I draw the line.

I’m still rigid from my encounter with Chase, making it feel like it takes forever to get up to my room. The building is different after all the kids are gone. A strange silence fills the hallways, mixed with the occasional hushed conversation from other teachers.

Getting to my room, I close the door behind me. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be here, and I don’t know when the janitors start to make their rounds. My butt plops down in my chair. I once thought it was comfortable, but now I know better. It kills my back, makes my butt go numb if I try to sit for too long, and the little wheels don’t like to cooperate in going the same direction.

“Holy shit.” My arms are dead weights dangling at my sides. I stare at the rows of empty desks before me. I feel at a loss for what I should be doing right now.

Chase Thorne is back in town; the very same man who I dreamed about when he was still a boy. His smile still radiates in a way that makes me weak in the knees. The boyish plumpness he once had is gone, leaving hard edges with flicks of danger to his look.

Rein yourself in, Angie.

This is the same boy who once broke you for all others.

Shaking my head, I do my best to try to push all thoughts of Chase out of my mind. He may look handsome, sexy, and rugged, but I can already tell he hasn’t changed much. The way he looked at me when he got out of his truck is enough to prove my point. His assessing eyes roamed my fully clothed body as if he were starved for me in a way only a player can be.

A player is never satisfied when it comes to his hunger.

Nothing has changed with him, but everything has changed with me. I’m not the dorky girl thrilled with the bit of attention given to her, only to be ashamed of it afterward. I’m stronger than ever, and I willnotgive in to him a second time.

Pinching my eyes closed, I snarl to myself. His stupid smile won’t leave me. The smugness in his is far more than it was in high school.

“Ahh!” I refuse to let this new bit of news drag my whole life back down. Gathering up all the papers I need to grade, I put them in my messenger bag. I’ll take them home where every single thing is under my control and not tainted by Chase’s homecoming.

I will grade papers on my couch while I eat leftovers, but first, I need wine.

Chapter Five

Chase

“Ridge tells me you met Ms. Reece when you picked him up.” I roll my tongue in the space between my teeth and lips as I watch my brother finish processing a deer he got last night. Val is already inside with Mom cooking some of it up for dinner.

I still can’t get the image of Ridge’s teacher out of my mind. Well, the way she reacted to me. I feel like I burned my hand on a branding iron.

Flexing my hand open and closed, I swear I can still feel her hand against mine.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I haven’t gonethatlong without a woman under me to be acting like this. I’m losing my shit, and I haven’t even been home for forty-eight hours.

Something wet and sticky slaps me on the forehead and stays put, barely moving down from the spot of impact and effectively pulling me out of thoughts of this mystery woman.

“Are you listening to me, dipshit?” With a piece of bruised meat still dangling from my forehead, I turn to face my brother.

Yes, throwing raw meat at one another is normal around here. So is throwing actual shit at each other and anything else someone outside of the mountain west or in the city maynotdo.

“Was that necessary?” Picking the piece of gooey, slimy, bloody, and broken meat off my face, I chuck it back at my older brother.

“If you were listening, it wouldn’t have been.” He cuts the deer down and moves it out the back door of the barn into the ranch truck waiting with my dad’s deer carcass. We give all game scraps to the local trapper to use for bait.

“Iwaslistening.” Jumping off the giant wooden spool we use for a table, I grab two of the bowls full of meat to take inside.

“Then you heard me tell you Ridge found your secret high hell collection while you were gone.”

I don’t let his attempt at being funny throw me off. I’m too quick for that shit. “Doubtful, I have those beauties hidden so well no one will ever find them.”

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