Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) (6 page)

Upon entering the local Judo and Krav Maga programs shortly after the incident with Taylor, the concept was certainly brought home that in society the responsibility for a woman’s physical welfare fell to the woman.  However, as Emily got older, she became dissatisfied with the philosophy that women always had to be ‘reactive’ in situations where she felt men should take more responsibility.  She felt strongly that the male population needed to take an active role in nipping their unhealthy behaviors in the bud, and what better way to do that than to start that training when they were young.

She had spent the last year setting into motion a mentoring program for boys ranging from 7
th
to 12
th
grades.  Fortuitously, her background in education law and her close friendship with Taylor, who was now a counselor in the Boston school system, enabled her to write the curriculum for
BoysToMENtoring
, a program designed to be offered to boys in their middle/high school PE and health classes. 

Similar to other male mentoring programs in the country, the curriculum called upon men in the community to teach and mentor boys once a week in conflict/resolution, treatment of women, sexual abuse, and a myriad of other topics to combat abuse against women and turn boys into healthy well-adjusted men.  The mentors would first go through stringent background checks and would be trained in three intensive sessions ahead of time.

Right before moving, the curriculum had finally been written and approved and was now being piloted this fall in Taylor’s middle school where she was a counselor.  When Emily knew she would be moving to New York, she began talks with various people involved in the New York school system to try out a version of the mentoring program for the fall in one of the Manhattan schools.  Because her cousin Jonathan was a teacher of Business and Finance at West Side Academy, she had decided to start there.  If it was a success, she hoped she would be able to convince others in the public school arena to try it out as well.  Jonathan had already agreed to be one of her mentors when the time came, and Mark, her other cousin and Jonathan’s brother, was also going to be a mentor in the pilot program in Taylor’s school.   

Since most schools in New York started right after the Labor Day weekend, the school resource officer and the head guidance counselor at West Side Academy had graciously agreed to meet for an hour with her
before the holiday weekend got under way.  They wanted to discuss the final stages of implementation for the pilot program to begin in the latter part of the fall semester. Knowing it was the start of a holiday weekend, Emily was grateful they’d agreed to meet.  They’d both said they were in town and thought it necessary to finalize the last minute questions in person.

Other than Jonathan, she hadn’t told any of her friends in the City about it yet, wanting to see if the program would actually go through.  Now, after months of emails and phone calls, Emily was certain of the program’s launch and could start asking the men she’d become friends with over the last couple of months to consider volunteering their time. 

Which is where Detective Michael Callahan came into the picture. 

She heard the distinct rumble of a motorcycle and watched as a bike wound through traffic and pulled up next to her at the curb.  When the figure took off his helmet, she looked into the dark velvety eyes of the playboy himself.

A Harley.  Why was she not surprised? Damn, he looked good on it.  She wanted a ride.  She would be happy with the bike or him.  She wasn’t picky. 

Wearing a pair of khaki colored Dockers that hugged him like a second skin along with a beat up t-shirt quo
ting one of Shakespeare’s plays, he was still in his combat boots, and unwrapped himself from around the bike while Emily took a calming breath.

She herself wore a pair of gray wide leg slacks with black high heeled sandals and a dressy black tank top with a matching sweater.  She began to take off her sweater, immediately feeling warm.

“Hey.”  He looked up at the school building.  “When you said the address I knew the school was nearby, but – Did you want me to carry your books in between classes or something?”  He chuckled and looked back at her.  “You know my little brother came here, right?”

“Of course.”

“Are we meeting Jonathan or something?”  Mike knew her cousin taught there.

“Or something,” she responded.

He leaned in to her and she tried to step back but he stopped her with his hand around her elbow.  “What’s next on our little scavenger hunt, GC?” he whispered. 

“You’re about to find out, Detective Callahan.”

……

Emily led Mike into the building where they were met by the school’s resource officer as soon as they walked in.

“Holy shit, Cag!  How the hell are ya?”  The officer reached out his hand to shake the detective’s.

“Hey, Mo!  Good to see ya again, man.”  They smiled at each other and gave one another the half hug men always gave while slapping each other’s backs.

Emily raised an eyebrow then stepped forward and put out her hand. 

“Hi.  Can I assume you’re Maurice Tatum?”

“In the flesh.  Emily?”

She nodded.  “It’s nice to finally meet you after so many months of emails,” she smiled.

“I agree.  Great to meet you,” he said warmly, his mocha colored skin making his bright white smile stand out even more.  “I wasn’t expecting to see Cag today.  What a pleasant surprise.”

Emily turned to the detective for an explanation. 

“We trained in the academy together.  Plus since Robbie came here, we obviously saw each other a bit,” he said referring to his younger brother who’d attended there.  He then turned back to Maurice.  “Emily thought she’d bring me along today.”

“Good.  I hope you’re gonna be involved.  She’s done a phenomenal job with this program.  Rene and I can’t wait to get it started up.”

The detective nodded and smiled, though it was obvious to Emily that he had no idea what was going on. 

“Anything I can do to help,” he said then looked at Emily with a smirk.

“How do you two know each other?” Maurice asked.

Mike responded, “She kicked my ass,” just as Emily said, “Through mutual friends.”

Maurice barked out a laugh and Mike chuckled with him.  Emily just rolled her eyes in good humor.  She was continually amazed that the detective kept offering up the information that she could and did beat him at hand to hand combat.  He was a conundrum wrapped in an enigma.

“So then I guess you already know that this woman is a weapon; not just mentally but physically as well.”  Maurice’s eyes were twinkling. 

Emily looked at him in surprise.  Maurice continued. 

“I’ve talked to Taylor a few times while we’ve been getting our ducks in a row.  She shared that you were a force to be reckoned with.  Krav Maga is not an easy practice.”

“Ah,” Emily nodded in understanding.

“And that’s no exaggeration.”  The detective turned to look at Emily then murmured, “Every time I’m with her she brings me to my knees.”

Uncomfortable, Emily looked back at Maurice.  “Thanks so much for agreeing to meet today.  I don’t want to take up too much of your time.  I know everyone is anxious to get the holiday weekend underway.  Is Rene here yet?” Emily asked, referring to the head guidance counselor at the school.

“Yeah, she’s in her office.  Come on back.”

He led them down the administrative hallway and just as they entered the guidance wing, a pretty Latina forty something woman came out, all smiles.

“Detective?  What are you doing here?!”  The attractive guidance counselor looked genuinely pleased to see Mike.  Emily sighed.  The guy was a chick magnet. 

“Hey Rene,” Mike said pulling her in for a quick hug.  “Now that Robbie has graduated, I don’t see all you guys anymore.”

“I know.  What are you doing here?” she asked again.  “We have to be in a meeting in a couple of minutes –”

Mike turned to Emily just as Rene saw her behind him.

“Oh, are you Emily?”

“Yes,” she said putting out her hand with a smile.  “Rene?”

“Yes!  So good to finally put a face to the voice and emails!”  Unexpectedly, Rene bypassed Emily’s hand and pulled her in for a brief hug.  “I’m sorry for being so forward but I feel like I know you already,” she laughed.

Emily was taken aback, but not in a bad way.  She had already liked Rene during their correspondence and meeting her only solidified the fact that they would indeed be great colleagues and friends.

“Not at all,” Emily chuckled, returning the hug.  When she stepped back, she continued.  “And actually, I’m hoping the detective will be a part of the program which is why he’s here.” She glanced up at his features.  “But I thought we could go over the highlights and logistics for him so we could bring him up to speed.”

“Great!  I didn’t know you guys knew each other!  What’s the connection?”

This time, Michael let her respond for both of them.

“We actually met through Jonathan, and Ryann Thornton,” Emily said.  Emily knew that Rene would understand who she was talking about.  Ryann had taught at the school for years before beginning her job at the Institute, and since Jonathan had been friends with Ryann when they taught together, that’s how she and Ryann had met.  Ayanna who was Ryann’s best friend then met Jonathan, and so it went.  That’s pretty much how she met the crew of friends she now hung out with. 

“And Ryann’s dating my cousin, so…” Michael added.

“Huh,” Rene smiled.  “Small world.  Well, let’s head back to the conference room.”

Rene led them to the spacious room holding the large table.

“Do any of you want some water?  Coffee?” Rene asked.

They accepted some water and the next fifteen minutes was given to Emily to explain the program and curriculum, the pilot one in Boston, and the format for how this one would begin at West Side Academy that fall. 

Mike sat listening intently and when Emily was done, he looked at her in a way Emily couldn’t quite figure out.  As an attorney she was good at reading people.  But she was confused by what she saw on his face.  He looked…proud.  She hadn’t been prepared for that.

“You came up with all of this?  Wrote the curriculum?”

Feeling self-conscious, but trying not to show it, she simply nodded then added, “Taylor helped with a chunk of it as well.”

“It’s incredible.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.  She looked over at Rene who was beaming. 

“It really is, Emily.  I can’t wait to get started.  I know you said Jonathan was already interested in mentoring, and now Michael.  It’s probably good to –”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but actually the detective and I still have some things to discuss before he signs on the dotted line.  Number one, we need to make sure it would fit into his schedule.”  Emily glanced over at him.

Mike began to speak, but then stopped when Emily kept talking. 

“Number two, we only need five men to start out.  I have several guys in mind and once I meet with them I’ll have a better idea of who can swing it this semester.  Eventually it will be best to create a big pool to choose from so they’re not all needed each semester.  I’ll start working on that immediately and we can hopefully have our first five men training in a week or two.  You wanted to start having them meet with the students in the classroom by the beginning of October, right?”

“Yes, that would work best in the schedule,” Rene said.  “What I was going to say before was it might be best not to have any more male teachers as the mentors.  Jonathan is extremely popular so I know he’ll work out, but it would be good to get others from the community so the students have a diverse group of men.”

“Absolutely,” Emily agreed.  “That’s the idea.”

They discussed the rest of the logistics, the cycling in with the mentors in the student classes and what that would all look like.  Then they ended by saying their goodbyes.

“Thanks again for fitting me in before the holiday, guys.  I’m really excited,” Emily smiled.

“We’ll make men out of these boys if it kills us,” Maurice laughed.  “Seriously, it’s a great program.  Piloting it this fall will help us iron out the kinks for the spring semester.”

Emily and Mike smiled at both Maurice and Rene, said goodbye then left the building.

As they made their way down the steps, Mike held her elbow.  “I want you to ride me.”

Emily practically fell down the stairs at his words.  She slowed her steps and looked at him while continuing her descent.  “Excuse me?”

“Sorry.  I misspoke,” he smirked. 

Yeah, right.
 

“Ride
with
me.  On the bike,” he clarified with a mischievous smile playing at his lips.

“I don’t think so, Detective.” 

They reached the bottom and he continued holding her elbow while walking toward the Harley.

“Come on.  Have lunch with me or something.  I have some more questions I want to ask about the program.”

“Why don’t we chat more at the barbeque on Monday,” she evaded.