Ever After Drake (24 page)

“
That didn’t take long,”
Lake says as he raises an eyebrow when he takes in our disheveled
state.

I glance back at Drake, who gives me a
perfectly happy smile. “McCain family, I’d like to re-introduce you
to Kaylee Ray, my girlfriend.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR

“
Can we go buy a Christmas
tree this afternoon?”

Both of us are breathing hard, panting
into each other’s throats as Drake holds me pinned up against the
shelves in the janitors closet. I’m pretty sure that’s a mop handle
that’s working its way between my butt cheeks. Awkward. But I
honestly don’t care when Drake’s lips are enlightening my neck like
that.

“
It’ll have to go to your
place,” I say as my fingers knot in his hair. “There is no room at
mine.”

“
I really don’t like this
not living together thing,” he says as his fingers work their way
up my skirt, slipping over my thigh.

“
We’re having a hard
enough time keeping the rule not living together.” My breath
catches and my blood surges in my ears as his fingers brush the hem
of my panties. I should slap his hand away, but
oh
how I don’t want to. “Bad things
will happen—”

“
I think I like bad
things,” he growls into my chest. I wore five inch heels today, so
he can actually reach certain places on my body.

“
But if you’re naughty
Santa won’t bring you any presents in two weeks.”

“
I’ve already got the best
present,” he chuckles. He bites the neckline of my
shirt.

My eyes squeeze shut in protest as
light suddenly floods the janitor’s closet and sears them. I can
only imagine the guilty expressions on our faces when Ben the
janitor opens the closet.

“
If you’re going to
continue using my storage closet as your make out hideaway, maybe
you should start hanging a tie on the door knob,” he says with a
bored expression. He reaches forward, grabs a roll of towels and a
bottle of spray cleaner. He then closes the closet, once again
leaving us in the dark.

I melt down in laughter the second he
closes the door. One of my arms wraps around my stomach and the
other hand covers my mouth.

“
We’re so going to get
fired,” Drake says, laughing with me as he wraps his arms around my
waist. He presses his lips to my cheek.

“
So
going to get fired,” I confirm as I press one quick kiss to
his lips. I take his hand in mine and open the closet just a
sliver. I peer out into the hall, checking for signs of
life.

“
I think we’re clear,” I
whisper.

Drake yanks me back, spinning me and
once again pressing into my body as his lips devour
mine.

“
Drake,” I laugh into his
lips. “We’re seriously going to get in trouble one of these
days.”

“
It’s been two weeks since
we got back together and only half the school knows,” he says,
kissing his way from the base of my ear to my collarbone. “If we
don’t do something extreme I fear the other half will never figure
it out.”

“
Well, I’d like to keep my
job,” I say, placing my hands on his chest and giving him a gentle
push. It’s too dark to see it, but I can feel the smile I know is
on his face.

Before he can tackle me in the dark
again, I open the door and walk out. I straighten my skirt and
re-button the top button of my shirt. I look over my shoulder at
Drake as he follows me out.

His hair is sticking straight out on
one side. He buttons up his top three buttons and pulls his vest
back on.

I give him a wink and head back for my
classroom.

The bell for lunch rings halfway back
to my classroom and the halls are flooded with students. With the
help of the heels, I’m not completely lost under the crowd. I make
it back to my classroom without being trampled.

“
Where have you
been?”

I’m halfway back to my desk when I
jump at the unexpected voice behind me.

I turn to see Hannah standing just
inside the door, her arms folded over her chest. She’s trying to
look all tough, but there’s a little smile pulling at one corner of
her mouth.

“
I, uh…” I struggle to
come up with something. Obviously I have to lie. I would never tell
a student what I’d just been doing during school hours.

“
I knew it,” she says, the
grin spreading on her face. She takes five steps into the room and
sits on top of one of the desks. “I mean, the rumors have been
spreading around school like wildfire, but I just knew it. You and
Mr. McCain are back together.”

“
How do you know it?” I
say, folding my arms over my own chest.

“
That hickey on your neck
is a pretty dead giveaway,” she says as she raises one eyebrow at
me.

My hand automatically jumps to my
neck. “Oh my gosh,” I gasp in horror. “Are you serious?” I turn and
dive for my purse, looking for a compact.

“
And from the bright red
state of it, I’d say it was given in the last few minutes,” she
says smugly. “You two have a secret make out spot in school, don’t
you? That’s equal parts disturbing and super romantic.”

“
Hannah,” I say, looking
up at her and giving her a stern look. I start dabbing the hickey
with cover-up. “This isn’t something to glorify. We…” I sigh. “We
shouldn’t be doing it at school. What kind of example am I
setting?”

“
You’re setting me up for
unrealistic expectations for when I start teaching down the road.”
She steps into the classroom, sinking down into a desk.

“
You want to teach
someday?” I ask, looking over at her from the tiny mirror. It’s
pretty obvious I’m trying to cover something up, but hopefully my
hair will hide it well enough.

Hannah nods with a grin on her face.
“Weirdly enough, I actually like school. And I like being in charge
and having people listen to me. Besides that, you’re pretty much
the coolest woman I know, so I figured why not?”

A smile breaks onto my face and an
appreciative chuckle bubbles out of my lips.

“
She’s also the
hottest.”

We both look back to the door to find
Drake leaning in the frame.

Hannah gives a little squeal. “I just
can’t even stand how adorable you two are.”

Drake and I both laugh.

“
Hey, I’ve actually come
looking for you,” Drake says to Hannah. “Could I talk to you for a
minute?”

Hannah looks back at me, giving me a
quizzical look. But she just smiles, gives me a wink, and bounds
over to him. Drake flashes me a smile before the two of them
leave.

What in the world is he up
to?

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

It’s been a month and six days since
my Mom died. We finally hold a memorial. It’s small. We actually
hold it at her work in their conference room. She wasn’t exactly
religious, so there’s no church to do it in. But they made a good
effort to make the room beautiful. I provided a big framed picture
of her. People brought flowers.

Everyone talks about her. Most don’t
have a ton to say. My mother wasn’t a saint. She wasn’t super
boisterous in the personality department. She hadn’t achieved
anything phenomenal. She was normal. Just a woman trying to figure
things out, just a woman going through life as best she
could.

I’m the first to speak. I tell about
my childhood with her. About living with my grandparents for a few
years. About cheap ice cream cones from the gas station. About
homework that was usually too hard for either of us. I tell about
our struggles and how she agreed to change her life. I tell
everyone how I loved and still love her.

When I’m done, I sit next to Drake. He
takes my hand in his and holds it tight as people continue to talk
about her.

A knot that I hadn’t realized was
still there starts to loosen and relax as the memorial goes on.
There’s peace where once there was just anxiety. I can forgive her
for everything I thought she screwed up. No one is perfect. We all
make mistakes. We just have to remember to love the people who are
only human.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Something weird is going on. Yes,
school will be out tomorrow for Christmas break. Yes, some students
have taken off early to go to various destinations.

But as I make my way to my classroom,
the halls seem too empty. I was running fantastically late this
morning since I’d overslept. The bell will ring in about two
minutes. And there are about half of the students there should
be.

And those that are milling
about are dressed up. Like,
nicely
dressed up. Like in prom dresses, and
suits.

Have I missed something? Is there some
kind of dance right after school? I can’t remember anything in the
school newsletter.

“
Taylor,” I say as I nudge
him with my elbow as he’s about to pass. He’s a senior in my second
period Ancient World class. “What’s going on?”

He just gives me this little
smirk-smile thing and keeps walking down the hall without answering
my question.

I give him a confused look over my
shoulder as I continue down the hall.

I get to my classroom, stashing my
stuff behind my desk and start writing out the lesson material we
will be going over in World History. The warning bell rings and
I’ve nearly finished writing everything out when the tardy bell
rings.

Not a single student of mine is in the
classroom.

I pick up my phone to call down to the
office when there’s a sudden scratching static sound coming from
one of my drawers.

“
A messenger and helper
has been sent to your classroom,” a voice cuts through the metal
drawer. Drake. I pull out the walkie-talkie he snuck under my desk
so long ago. “Please let her assist you and follow her with haste
as soon as you’re ready.”

“
What do you have planned,
Mr. McCain?” I say into it.

“
Something you’ll never
forget,” he says. “Over and out.”

The line goes dead.

And just when it does, Hannah appears
in my doorway.

“
Good morning, Miss Ray,”
she says with the most ridiculous smile.

She’s wearing the same dress she wore
to the drill team formal. Her hair is done in perfect ringlets and
she’s actually wearing sparkly heels. And draped over her arm is a
huge dress bag.

“
Hannah,” I say, looking
up at her from under my lashes as a smile forms in one corner of my
mouth. “What is going on?”

“
Just the most amazing,
romantic thing ever,” she says with a sigh as she walks into the
classroom and shuts the door behind her. “But I can’t say anything
more or it will be ruined.”

“
I don’t know if I like
this,” I say, watching as she lays the dress bag across two desks.
“Where is my class?”

“
You’ll find out soon,”
she says. With a dramatic sweep, she pulls the most fantastic dress
I’ve ever seen from the bag.

It really is like a gown
straight out of a princess movie. It has a fitted sweetheart
bodice, adorned in jewels and glitter. The skirt is pure tulle and
it is
huge
. The
entire thing is soft pink and looks like it was pulled right out of
a cloud at sunrise.

My hands cover my mouth and a swarm of
butterflies start a race in my stomach.

“
I’m here to help you get
ready, Miss Ray,” Hannah says with glee in her voice.

My eyes jump up to her and a
disbelieving chuckle erupts from my chest.

We spend a good thirty minutes getting
me ready—for what exactly, I don’t know. Hannah laces me up into
the dress and she’s well prepared. She whips out a curling iron and
with a speed I didn’t know was possible, has my hair curled. She
also braids some of it up into a complicated up-do, letting the
rest cascade down over my left shoulder.

“
Do you approve?” she
asks, holding up a mirror.

“
It’s amazing,” I say,
observing myself. I’m practically glowing. And I really do look
like a princess. “But seriously, what is going on?”

Hannah shakes her head. “Nope, not
spilling the secret.” She crosses to my desk and grabs the
walkie-talkie. “Little Blue to Prince Charming, the pumpkin is
leaving the cottage.”

“
What?” I laugh, unable to
hold back a smile.

Hannah just winks at me as Drake’s
voice comes back over the radio. “Copy that. Operation Ever After
is a go.”

The line goes quiet again.

“
Right this way,” Hannah
says. She props the door open and holds a hand out into the hall
dramatically.

I give her a hesitant look and take a
step toward the door in the glittery heels she provided
me.

The second I step out into the hall,
string music starts softly playing. I look up at the overhead
speakers and give a laugh.