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I raise my brows at Mav, and he tries to hold in his laugh as we follow her into her office. Mav closes the door behind her, we each take a seat in front of her desk, and she sits up so straight it’s like she has a pole shoved up her ass. Her hands are poised on her desk, her nails painted perfectly in a French polish. It’s not until I look around I see how prim and proper this school actually is.
We are so out of our depths here.
“Mr. Cadell, Miss Cadell—”
“Call me Mav,” Maverick interrupts her.
Mrs. Bedford turns up her nose, so I follow in his footsteps. “And you can call me Haven.”
She lets out a long, exaggerated huff. “Okay, Mav, Haven. We’re here because your little sister, Clover, is starting her final year of schooling, and we see a lot of potential for her to be a great success.”
We widen our eyes, but Mav speaks first, “Well, that’s amazing. I am glad to hear that Clover has been applying herself—”
“I said weseepotential, not that she has been putting it into practice.”
My stomach falls through the floor as I turn to Mav. His face turns pale like he is shocked before I turn to Mrs. Bedford to push for more. “So, what does that mean?”
She sits back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest.
Shit.
“Clover is an excellent studentwhenshe applies herself. Myissue with her is that she seems to struggle with grasping the material the teachers are giving her. And when she doesn’t understand something, instead of asking for help, she tunes out.Thatis when her grades begin to slip. Not to mention, she also spends a ton of her time on social media throughout classroom lessons. We’ve had to confiscate her cell multiple times.”
“Yeah, the social media thing happens at the club with her too. But are her grades that bad?” I ask.
Mrs. Bedford tilts her head. “They’re not critical at the moment, but theywill beif she keeps going down this path. We’re just starting the new year, herfinalyear. She canreallymake a difference if she begins the year by truly applying herself.”
Maverick nods. “Okay, so we focus on her at home. We make her do her homework. Is that what you’re saying?”
Mrs. Bedford leans forward, pressing her intercom. A buzzer sounds, and she leans toward it. “Becca, please send her in.” The buzzer sounds again, and Maverick turns to me, a questioning look crossing his face. “It’s not just a matter of Clover doing her homework. I feel she needs a stabilizing influence in and out of school that will help guide her through the subjects she is struggling the most with.”
A gentle knock on the door sounds. Mav and I snap our heads around to see it open, and a young woman walks in with long, wavy blonde hair, a takeout coffee cup in one hand, and notebook and cell in the other. She looks young, maybe in her early twenties. Pretty in her innocent-looking white dress with floral blue accents as she shyly steps into the room. “Hi, Becca said you were ready for me?”
I narrow my eyes on her. Something about her looks familiar, but I can’t place it, not even a little bit, therefore I shrug it off.
Mrs. Bedford waves her in. “Yes, come on in, Sadie. I’d like you to meet Mav and Haven. They are Clover’s older siblings andher legal guardians.”
Sadie walks in, closing the door behind her. I hear Mav inhale sharply, and I turn to look at him. His eyes stare at her intensely, looking her up and down, a small smirk lifting in the corner of his lips.
He’s definitely checking her out.
I figure I better be the one to make the first move, so I stand to greet her. Mav stays seated as I gesture to shake her hand. Sadie places her hand out with the notebook in it, then laughs, sliding it under the arm that is holding her coffee. “Sorry, I should carry a handbag, but you know, everything is on these things these days, so I don’t really need one,” she says, placing her cell in her pocket, then finally shakes my hand.
I glance to Mav, who remains seated, his eyes still wandering up and down Sadie like he’s mentally undressing her, so I turn back to Sadie. “I get it. I just carry my cell phone most of the time too. It’s nice to meet you, Sadie,” I tell her, taking my seat again as she walks around to stand by Mrs. Bedford.
A united front.
I glance at Mav again. His arms are folded over his chest, in a more defensive pose now. I gently nudge his boot with mine to remind him we’re here for Clover. Whatever the fuck is going through his mind, he needs to calm it the fuck down and quickly.
“Okay, I can see you’re already trying to figure out where I am going with this. Sadie is a tutor. She comes highly recommended and has worked with a vast range of the students here at the school over the past couple of years—”
“No offense, Sadie, but you don’t even look like you’re out of high school yourself,” Mav grumbles.
She tries to hide her smile and places her coffee cup on the desk, standing taller. “Thank you for your compliment. I’m taking on extra tutoring to help get me through college. I’m in my second year of culinary school and doing a business degreeonline. So the tutoring helps me pay for my courses.”
Mav snorts like he’s unimpressed. “Sounds like you have a lot on your plate, Sadie, and you don’t have the time to put into Clover. Conversation over.” Mav grunts.
She dips her chin. “I only take on one tutoring student at a time, so I can put all my energy into them. Mrs. Bedford tasked me with Clover as she believes I am the right fit for her and her needs. After looking over her file and evaluating her, I believe I am the right fit as well.”
