Protecting the Girl Next Door (The Protectors Book 3) Read online

  She looked up at me with that expression again, and I couldn’t believe that I was sitting here explaining myself to a kid. And what was worse, for some reason I still felt like she was winning here somehow.

  Levi was so getting his ass kicked.

  Standing up, I walked over to my desk and contemplated going through some of the work that Eileen had left for me. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw the newspaper. I hadn’t had a chance to read it this morning thanks to Kristin Andrews’s inspection.

  The kids were all sitting quietly, and for now there was peace in the land. There was a schedule taped to the wall, and I could see that in thirty minutes they had PE and then after that they had art. Awesome! With any luck, I could get through the sports section and then send the kids on their way and have an hour to myself to get my shit together.

  I didn’t know what I was expecting when I went over the assignment with the guys. I mean, I knew I’d be playing the part of a substitute teacher, but I didn’t think I was actually going to be expected to do anything—like teaching.

  Maybe I would go over the notes while the kids were gone from the classroom, and by the time they got back, I could actually do something that they’re expecting. Like math.

  I chuckled to myself.

  First grade math. How the hell hard could that be?

  ***

  Mrs. Hilt met fifteen friends. Nine of the friends were carrying pears. The rest were carrying oranges. How many friends were carrying oranges?

  My head was still spinning. I must have read that question out loud about a dozen times, and I had no idea how to explain it to the kids. Most of them looked at me blankly, and after finally telling them to use their fingers, I had given up.

  Then Lily had pointed out that they couldn’t use their fingers because they didn’t have fifteen fingers.

  The kid was going to be the death of me.

  Thank God, I wasn’t here to protect her because I might be tempted to turn the other way and let the chips fall where they may.

  I was not well. I had to get out of here and figure out how I was going to survive this assignment. School was out for the day—finally—and luckily I didn’t have another visit from an inquisitive parent. I scanned the classroom on my way out, and it was a disaster again, but I just couldn’t make myself care.

  Escape.

  I needed to escape and find a way out of this nightmare.

  Sprinting across the parking lot, I almost collapsed with relief when I got in my car and closed the door. I was done for the day. No more kids. No more questions. No more math problems.

  My phone rang almost immediately, and I was more than ready to give everyone an earful. But I decided to at least wait until Levi was done with his greeting. Barely.

  “How’s everybody…?”

  “I’m gonna kick your fucking ass, man,” I snapped, effectively cutting him off. “I can’t believe that you put me on this case!”

  “Okay, I believe Declan has the floor,” Levi said wearily. “Is everyone here?”

  Sebastian and Cole both chuckled their response, and I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle them. I couldn’t believe that they had the balls to laugh right now. “Do you have any idea what the hell I’m dealing with here?”

  “Not really,” Levi said. “But I’m sure you’re about to tell us. So why don’t you just get on with it.”

  Where did I even begin? “Are any of you aware of what the average first grader has to learn these days?” I didn’t wait for any answers. “It’s insane! The list of stuff that I’m expected to go through with them is fucking crazy! And on top of that, I just got handed some sort of sign-up sheet for a Christmas pageant! A Christmas pageant! I don’t even know what the hell that is, but apparently all the teachers are expected to contribute something that they prepare with their class!”

  “You mean like a picture?” Cole asked, barely containing his mirth.

  “No, douchebag, I’m talking like a song or something.” I was so fucking screwed that I couldn’t even stand it. “I don’t understand all the instructions that this teacher left for me. The kids don’t understand anything that I say. The classroom is a mess, and I’ve got parents starting to breathe down my neck.”

  I was practically out of breath by the time I’d spit all that out. “You’ve got to get someone else to do this, Levi. I’m serious. This is so not my thing.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Levi said. “Let’s put playing teacher aside for a minute and talk to me about our clients. Have you met with them?”

  I sighed. Loudly. “I met with them over the weekend. Jackson Vanderhall, age forty-five. He and his trophy wife are currently in a custody battle over their daughter. Their divorce isn’t final yet because of the custody issue.”

  “What’s holding it up?” Cole asked. “I mean, I know this is a custody case, but I don’t see how this involves us.”

  “Mrs. Vanderhall—also known as Mitzi—was a teenage beauty queen. Jackson married her when she was nineteen, and she was pregnant at twenty. Since their daughter’s birth, Mitzi has been obsessive about the kid following in her footsteps.”

  “I’m still not seeing…”

  “The kid doesn’t want to do it, Jackson doesn’t want her doing it, but the mom hasn’t listened. She puts the kid in pageants whenever and wherever she can without Jackson’s consent.”

  “Hey, maybe they can help you with the Christmas pageant,” Sebastian joked.

  “Fuck you,” I growled. “Anyway, there’s more.” I really hated this shit. “There have been allegations of abuse.”

  “By which spouse?” Cole asked.

  “Jackson is saying that his wife has become physically abusive to the kid when she complains about being in the pageants. Right now there was enough physical evidence to get a judge to rule on supervised visitations, but Jackson’s afraid that Mitzi’s going to try to steal the kid. That’s why I’m here at the school. I have to keep an eye on her and make sure that no one comes near her except her father.”

  “Why only at school? Why aren’t we doing this full time?” Sebastian asked.

  “They have someone at home and have security in place. They needed someone here to blend in and not raise any suspicion.”

  “Right,” Cole said dryly. “Because you blend.”

  “Okay, enough,” Levi said. “So have you seen anything at school yet? Anything that looks amiss?”

  “No. Actually, the kid hasn’t been in the past two days. Jackson took her to Disney for a week, and she’ll be back tomorrow. I was supposed to use these days to get used to the whole classroom thing.”

  “Which you’re not having any luck with,” Cole said.

  “You think?” I said sarcastically and then tried to relax. “I am so out of my comfort zone here, guys. I… I really don’t think I can do this. There’s like twenty-four kids in the class, and I’m expected to remember their names. It took me a year to remember your names, and there’s only three of you!”

  “You’re panicking, that’s all,” Levi said calmly. “It will get easier. You need to just try to calm down. Have you remembered any of their names?”

  “Well… yeah. There’s… Kenny. He eats paste. And Monica. She wears the most obnoxious hair bows.”

  “When did hair bows get obnoxious?” Cole laughed.

  “You’re really starting to piss me off,” I snarled. “And then there’s the kid I’m here for.”

  Levi chuckled.

  “What? What’s so funny?” I asked through clenched teeth.

  “Say it. Say her name,” Levi said, and I knew that he was probably biting his own fist to keep from laughing. “Come on. Prove to us that you have her name memorized.”

  Shit. “Jessileigh,” I muttered.

  “I’m sorry,” Sebastian said, humor lacing his voice. “What was that?”

  “I said her name is… Jessileigh.”

  “What the hell kind of name is that?” Cole asked.

&n
bsp; “A beauty-queen-in-training name,” I said.

  “Okay, so you’ve got… three whole names memorized. Good for you.”

  “Don’t patronize me, Levi,” I said. “And then there’s Lily.”

  “Who’s she?” Sebastian asked.

  “She’s in my class, and her mom is a teacher here. The kid ratted me out, I think, because her mom came in and introduced herself this morning.”

  “So because a fellow teacher introduced herself, you think that the kid ratted you out? Paranoid much?” Cole asked.

  “Oh, she didn’t come in to introduce herself so much as she came in to… inspect and pass judgment.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Levi said. “There’s no time to deal with your insecurities, Dec. You’ve got a job to do, and you need to quit whining about it. This case is important—a child’s welfare is at stake. You need to suck it up and do what you’re there to do.”

  “It’s not so cut and dried, you know! I’m not just looking after the kid…”

  “Jessileigh,” he corrected.

  “Fine. Jessileigh. I’m expected to teach a room full of kids! What the hell do I know about teaching the first grade?”

  “You obviously passed the first grade,” Sebastian said. “How hard can it be?”

  “Maybe I need to go and talk to the principal and see what the bare minimum is that I can get away with.”

  “No,” Levi said, more firmly this time. “You are going to shut up and man up and follow the damn rules and do your job. Are we clear?”

  It wasn’t like Levi to be so… boss-like. Unfortunately, he had a point. I’d never had a challenge that I couldn’t handle. I’d never shied away from any task. I was the confident one, the cocky one, the one that made fun of other people’s insecurities.

  It was time to put on my big-boy pants and get to work.

  And brush up on my first grade math.

  ***

  I was feeling pretty confident the next morning. I spent the entire night going over the notes Eileen had left for me and basically learning the essentials of the first grade.

  Not a good feeling for a guy who had passed the first grade almost twenty-five years ago.

  So there I was, walking down the hall, a little spring in my step, when I looked up and saw… her. Kristin was heading my way, and part of me wanted to do a quick sidestep into the nearest open doorway. Avoidance wasn’t usually my thing, but if Lily complained to her mother again… Well, I didn’t need Kristin bringing me down. Not when I was feeling good about what I’d accomplished.

  “Mr. Curtis,” she said with a sincere smile as she approached.

  That instantly made me suspicious, but I forced myself to remain calm. “Ms. Andrews. How are you today?” I hated polite, social chitchat.

  “Fine. Thanks.” She eyed the stack of books and folders in my arms, and her smile seemed to grow. “It looks like you had a lot of homework last night.”

  “You could say that,” I said evenly. We stood there in amicable silence for a minute, and that was when it hit me. Kristin Andrews wasn’t “cute”—not like I had thought yesterday. Looking at her now—with a little more of a relaxed attitude—I noticed that she was really quite attractive. She had a girl-next-door thing going on that was kind of appealing.

  I had to force myself to look away because suddenly I found myself having some inappropriate thoughts swirling in my head about this particular girl next door.

  “I hope the kids aren’t giving you too hard of a time. They tend to take advantage when there’s a substitute in the room.”

  There was no condescension in her tone, and that made me relax even more. Maybe we had just gotten off on the wrong foot yesterday. She had a really great smile, and I felt myself being suddenly drawn to her. “I’ll admit that they’re a little tougher than I’d expected.” We both chuckled at that, and Kristin rested her hand on my arm.

  And that one innocent gesture felt more intimate than anything I’d felt in a long time.

  “Never underestimate a six-year-old. They can be bossy and opinionated and…” She sighed. “Great.”

  “You’ve got a great daughter,” I heard myself say.

  Kristin nodded. “Yes, I do.” Her eyes met mine, and it was all I could do to stop myself from leaning in and resting my forehead on hers right before I kissed her.

  Wait. Kiss her? What?

  This woman was a co-worker, a parent to one of my students, and that meant she was most likely married too. I had to get my head on straight and stop looking and thinking about her in any capacity that wasn’t strictly professional.

  Off in the distance, I could hear people starting to walk around the hallway. I cleared my throat and took a step back. What the hell was I thinking? I was here to do a job. I had a kid to protect and a group of kids who were expecting me to be teaching them… something. Anything.

  I looked at Kristin and saw the same dazed expression on her face I was sure was on mine.

  Glad to see I wasn’t alone.

  “I… I better go,” she said, suddenly seeming shy. “I hope you have a good day.”

  I cleared my throat again and took another small step away. “Um…yeah. You too. Thanks.”

  And without another word, she walked away.

  And damn if I didn’t stand there and watch the soft sway of her hips as she made her way down the hall.

  Three

  Kristin

  Rose Dwyer had been the school secretary for as long as I’d been teaching here. She was an attractive woman in her thirties who was single and perpetually looking for a man.

  I’d always liked her, and she was invariably my source if I needed news on anything going on at the school.

  A week later, when I’d stopped by the office to check my box, I paused by her desk to chat and find out a little more about Declan Curtis, whose teaching I was getting increasingly worried about.

  “So what’s the word on the guy who’s subbing in first grade?” I asked after I’d inquired about her weekend and heard about her date from hell.

  She gave an exaggerated sigh and raised her hand to her chest. “Isn’t he dreamy? Every unmarried woman in the school is asking me about him, so you’re going to have some competition. I just love a sexy guy in glasses.”

  I was so surprised by the comment that I gaped for a few seconds. “What? I’m not interested in him.”

  “Well, why not? He’s gorgeous and charming and obviously likes kids. What more could you want?”

  I shouldn’t have been shocked at the swooning look in Rose’s eyes since the man was obviously daydream material—if you only cared about superficial qualities. But I definitely didn’t want anyone thinking I was interested in him. I could just imagine how the gossip around the school would spin out of control if that idea got started. “I’m sure he’s great, but he’s not my type.”

  I thought about my reactions to our brief encounters and had to remind myself very strongly that he was absolutely not my type.

  “I guess not.” Rose’s smile shifted slightly. “I guess your type is tall, dark, and serious. Like Nick.”

  “Yeah. Nick was my type.” I felt a familiar pang at the thought of my dead husband, but the grief no longer crippled me the way it had during the first year after he’d died. “Anyway, I wanted to know what the word is on this guy in terms of his teaching. Where did he teach before? Why is he just subbing instead of getting a regular teaching job?”

  “I’m not sure,” Rose admitted. “I figured maybe he’s got some sort of personal issue going on. Or maybe he’s new to the area and a temp position is the only thing he could find right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s hoping this will turn into a full-time job though.”

  “How much experience did he have before?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Didn’t you look at his application?”

  “No. Chuck took care of all that himself.”

  Chuck was the principal of the school, and he usually let Rose ha
ndle the application process for new teachers—so this surprised me. Why didn’t anyone know about this guy’s background? “So you don’t know where he taught before?”

  “I don’t. But he must have a good background, or Chuck wouldn’t have given him the job over our regular subs. There haven’t been any complaints or anything from students or parents, and Chuck goes to stop by the class to observe a few times a day.”

  “He looks in on the class that often? If he doesn’t think the guy knows what he’s doing, then why give him the position at all?”

  Rose gave a little shrug. “I don’t know. But I’m not complaining. Nothing like a little eye candy to make the day a little brighter.”

  I managed not to sneer since I really did like Rose most of the time, and I didn’t want her to see how annoyed I was that she was swooning over Declan Curtis.

  After all, it wasn’t like he was so drop-dead gorgeous that a sensible woman would turn into an idiot. He was attractive enough, with those golden looks of his, but I hadn’t seen anything else to impress me.

  “Do you not like him for some reason?” Rose asked, evidently catching something in my expression.

  “I don’t know him. I’ve only seen him around. But Lily says that he’s not really teaching them anything.” I paused. “Let’s just say that so far I’m not overly impressed.”

  “It’s first grade.”

  “I know it’s first grade, but that doesn’t mean the day needs to be wasted on frivolous activities. There’s a lot kids need to learn during that year, and it’s not right if this guy isn’t taking it seriously.”

  “I’m sure he is. He’s just probably one of those teachers who can turn learning into such fun that kids hardly notice they’re learning.”

  “Lily knows if she’s learning or not.” I let out a breath, telling myself to be patient and not jump to unfair conclusions. Maybe he was easing into things and he’d start buckling down soon.

  He’d had more than a week now though, and nothing had changed in the classroom, according to Lily.