Plagiarized (10 page)

“That would never happen.”

“Good”—I kissed him and managed a smile—“because I just might have to kill you if you do.”

He laughed at my joke and kissed me back.

On Wednesday morning, I had asked Tom to meet me that evening for a special treat. I wanted more of what he had given me the night before, but I should have known better. As I had predicted, Tom had pretty much gone back into the cocoon of his usual routine. He had initially looked surprised by my offer of continuing our night, he had even looked like he wanted to say yes, but something was holding him back. I had no idea what. He had proclaimed that he had a
business
meeting that evening and would be out late.

I knew Missy had her date that evening, so that left me all by myself. I could definitely use the much-needed time on my book, but for some reason, I didn’t want to be alone.

That day at school, Craig had kept his distance from me and acted indifferent toward me. I was surprised, since I would have bet my life that he would want to get laid again, but he had surprisingly been aloof.

I spent the evening working on my book. The details Missy had provided, combined with my own spin, had turned out amazing. I spent some much-needed time with my Facebook fans. I apologized for neglecting them and posted a few pictures to make them happy and feel a part of things. I made a few obligatory comments to my designated favorite fans. I needed to keep their egos inflated and act like I cared. I would need them very soon. It was important to keep them happy.

The first week after Ben moved away was hard, but he made sure we kept in contact often. We talked every day on the phone and sent pictures often. By the end of the week, I couldn’t wait to have him in my arms again.

I had learned that the saying, absence makes the heart grow fonder, was so true! I craved him with every part of my being. I needed to feel his warmth, his breath, his everything. I craved him like a drug.

He still had his apartment for two more weeks until his lease was up, so we stayed there when he visited. We didn’t have much money between us, but I honestly loved our time there alone and without furniture. It was our own romantic camping trip on the floor of his bare living room. He lit candles since the electricity had been turned off, and we snuggled with blankets.

It was just the two of us all weekend. And it made me believe we wouldn’t let the distance get between us. When it was just the two of us, nothing else existed. We talked of our future and dreamed of what being together would bring. So many exciting things were ahead of us in the not so distant future.

The next weekend was my turn to see him—it would have been my first trip up to his new place, but my mom put an end to our best-laid plans. She thought that since I was gone the entire weekend before, I needed to stay home for some much-needed bonding with the family. I was sure that idea had come from my grandmother, but she denied it. I hated them both!

Ben said he understood, but I could tell that he wasn’t happy about it. He ended up coming to town that weekend and I was able to see him for a short block of time on Saturday. It wasn’t as much time as I would have liked, but it was better than nothing and I was so deliriously happy that he had made the effort.

A month after he moved away, we got into our first long-distance fight, actually our first real fight ever. The weekends were proving harder and harder to work around. He told me that if I came clean to my family, we wouldn’t have that problem. I knew he made sense and deep down, I knew that he was right, but it wasn’t like I could just call a family meeting and spill the beans. Hey guys, by the way, I’m engaged and moving to another State. Yeah, that would go over well. I knew I had waited too long for that. And the longer I waited, the harder it would be.

I started giving the idea of eloping serious thought. It started to be the only thing that made any sense to me. If we got married and then announced it to my family, they couldn’t stop it or have a choice in the matter. It’d also be the thing to sever my ties with my family. If I were to marry outside of a church, I would be disowned. Could I really deal with the probability of never seeing my family again? What about my niece? Could I disown her and never see her again? I had practically raised her and loved her incredibly. It was a terrible position to be placed into.

Decisions… Decisions…

Our argument lasted almost a week. A week of no speaking, no calling, no texting, it just about drove me to the point of insanity to suddenly have him cut out of my life so permanently. I didn’t like this all or nothing predicament I had been faced with. I decided to go and see him. We needed to deal with this face to face. It was time to end this fight. Spending the weekend with him would erase the tension and turmoil we were feeling all week.

I chalked our fight up to just missing each other too much and the distance was obviously proving to be too hard.

One thing I knew for sure, I loved him with my whole heart. And nothing or no one would get between us.

I would make sure of that.

Before I knew it, Thursday had arrived and it was my designated evening with Keegen. I still hadn’t heard from him and didn’t know if he would meet me. I didn’t know if I should even bother to try to arrange to see him. I knew I would end up seeing him, because I wanted him to fuck my brains out, but I felt better saying I wouldn’t.

Tom hadn’t returned until after midnight. I had feigned sleep so I didn’t have to talk to him. I was inwardly pissed and my feelings were hurt. I had really thought he would cut his meeting short and make time for me, especially after I had conveyed the importance of continuing the sensual side of our relationship we had explored.

I kept finding love notes all week in weird places, my book bag, my desk, even my mailbox in the main office. I had no idea who was doing it, but it was starting to grate on my nerves. To say I was afraid would be stretching the truth, but it had definitely shaken me a bit.

I felt the vibrations of my phone and fought the urge to pluck it from my pocket. I needed to wait until I was done giving out instructions for the paper that was due next week. I needed to touch base with Craig again. I wasn’t going to grade all those fucking papers by myself. Hell, who was I kidding, I wasn’t going to grade any of them. That’s what I hired Craig to do.

Once third period was dismissed, I quickly looked at my phone. The message was from Keegen.
Meet you at six thirty, at Fletcher’s Pond
. Fletcher’s Pond was about twenty minutes away. We would sit in his pickup truck and neck like teenagers. It made me feel giddy that I was actually going to meet with him. I had missed him, slightly.

I finished teaching fourth period and felt relieved at the sound of the dismissal bell. “Craig, can I see you for a moment?” I requested sternly.

Some of the other students shot sympathetic glances his way, but
he
knew he wasn’t in trouble. Or did he?

“What can I do for you?” He approached me stoically.

“Well, hello to you, too. What’s wrong with you?” I demanded.

“Nothing. Do you need something?” His voice was monotone and it frustrated me beyond belief. What was this guy’s issue?

“Are you still going to grade papers for me?”

“Sure, I’ll do that for you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Students started entering the room for my final class of the day.

“I’m great,” he mumbled and then stalked off.

I frowned as I watched him, not sure how to take his attitude. I thought he would be gloating and high-fiving the boys for nailing the hot Spanish teacher. Not acting like his best friend had been killed and tortured in front of him.

I shrugged my shoulders. I would have to worry about it later. I had one final class to teach and then I would need to rush home to get ready for my date with Keegen. I planned to scour and shave my entire body, then wear something sinfully sexy underneath my clothes. He would be speechless.

My last class had gone smoothly, even though it seemed to drag on forever.
Shit!
And now I was running late because Principal
Fucker
had called me in to her office to ask me what was going on with Craig. I guess he had gone to her office and asked to be transferred out of my class. I was seething! How dare he do that?
That little prick!
Didn’t he know how that looked? Principal
Fucker
already had it out for me, now she was going to be dissecting every move I made, trying to nail me for something because of that little bastard. Why? Why was he doing this? Everything had been fine; I was stumped as to what was causing his severe mood swing.

I decided that I would talk to him first thing in the morning.

Right now, I needed to rush home and get ready. I pulled in to the driveway and noticed Tom’s car parked in the still open garage. I groaned as I gathered my belongings and then trudged inside. He never came home early on Thursdays. Never! Something had to be up, but I had no idea what it was.

“Hi, honey,” he came up and greeted me.

“What are you doing home so early?” I tried to make my voice sound even, but knew it was anything but. I was fucking freaked. I was desperate to meet Keegen and just knew he was going to fuck it up somehow. Nothing in my life seemed to be going smoothly since I started that goddamn book.

“I wanted to surprise you,” he said softly and came over to where I was standing.

“Tom, you know this is my weekly book night,” I replied patiently and tried to think of a way to escape upstairs.

“But we have been discussing you taking a break. I thought, why not start now? Things are going great between us, better than ever.”

“Are you serious? You stated that you wanted me to quit going to my book club, I never agreed. And things were great for one fucking night. When we had sex—sex isn’t everything in a relationship.” Wait, did I just say that out loud? Sex
was
everything in a relationship. What the hell?
Delete that.
“You are the one that ditched me the night after that so-called life changing sex event. You left me and refused to change your plans. So screw you, buddy! I’m not changing mine.”

“Sage,” he sighed. “You have to cut me a break here. I had a very important meeting last night. I couldn’t cancel it the day of; it had been set for weeks.”

“Are you screwing around on me?” I blurted out. I immediately wanted to reel the words back in, but it was too late. It was hard to delete words that were already spoken. I had wondered if he was, since he hardly ever came after me for sex. He had to be getting it somewhere, right? What guy do you know that doesn’t think of sex constantly? They’re always thinking of a hole to stick their dick into.

“No.” He looked at me in horror. “I would never do that. Are you crazy?”

“Well, you certainly don’t want me very often in the sex department.”

“Sage, I have a lot of responsibilities. Owning and running my own company, for one. Do you even realize the pressures I face day in and day out? No, you don’t. Do you worry about our finances and how to deal with things when money doesn’t come through timely? You have no idea what I deal with. None!” He looked pissed. In fact, I couldn’t remember a time when I had seen him look so pissed. It was kind of a turn on and I was starting to wish I did have time to fuck him.

“What about the credit card?” I asked him quietly. “I went shopping with Missy and my credit card was declined. She even had to pay for lunch. Do you even know how mortifying that was? How dare you put me on a budget?” I screamed. My mood was elevating, our conversation now heated on both sides.

“I didn’t.”

“You didn’t what?” I asked him.

“I didn’t put you on a budget. I had to cancel the card and get a new one reissued because I lost mine. That’s all, Sage. It happened that day you went shopping and I should have told you, but I was in back to back meetings for twelve hours straight. I’m sure you can understand my position,” he said firmly.

I gulped. I had originally thought that our identity had been stolen, but then I had convinced myself that he had put me on a budget. Instead, he had cancelled the card simply because he had lost it. I felt like a dumbass for thinking the worst about him. Then something hit me, what if I was thinking the worst about a lot of things? What if I was making things into huge problems that weren’t really there? I knew I did that a lot. I had always had an overactive imagination. Plus, I had always thought of myself first and others second. I kind of loved that about me, though. I wasn’t going to sacrifice for anyone. Fuck that! I was the most important.