STORM: A Standalone Romance (82 page)

He stood, so tall I had to lift my chin a little to meet his eyes. His shoulders were impossibly broad, his chest straining against the front of that well pressed, linen shirt. His sleeves were rolled up and I could see tattoos on his inner wrists and one halfway up one forearm. I’d never met a teacher with tattoos before, but I supposed it was a reality of the modern world.

He crossed his arms over his chest and studied me for a moment.

“Can I help you?”

That caught me off guard. I’d thought he was expecting me.

“I’m Penelope Monroe,” I said slowly. “JT’s sister.”

I thought I saw surprise dance in those dark eyes for a second. He stepped forward, holding out one hand with impossibly long fingers.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

Nice recovery
, I thought as I shook his hand, trying to ignore the little tingle that rushed up the length of my arm at his touch. When he released my hand, I crossed my own arms over my chest and studied him as he studied me.
If my high school teachers had looked like this…

“Have a seat, Miss Monroe,” he said gesturing toward one of the student desks. “This shouldn’t take but a few minutes.”

“Has JT been acting out in class?” I asked as I slid into the narrow seat.

“No. In fact, it would be preferable if he did. But he’s actually sleeping through most of my class.”

I bit my lip, thinking about an argument JT and I’d had just a few days ago.

You have to go to bed earlier. You’re never going to be able to concentrate in class if you’re not getting enough sleep.

I get plenty of sleep.

No, you don’t, JT. Going to bed at one o’clock and then getting up at seven—

You’re not mom. Stop acting like it.

That always stopped me cold in my tracks. And JT knew it.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Mr. James. “He tends to stay up too late at night. It’s an issue we’ve been working on.”

“Teenagers need at least ten hours of sleep every night, Miss Monroe.”

“I’m aware.”

He nodded even as the pinched look of irritation crossed his face. He leaned back against his desk, his arms crossed once again, and stared at me with that look that teachers often get when they think a student is purposely ignoring his instructions.

“JT is a brilliant student. I’ve discussed him with his other teachers, and they all feel that if he tried a little harder, he would likely be on the honor roll. But, for some reason, JT feels the need to goof off in class. He’s often either sleeping, or playing the class clown. He rarely turns in homework. But when he does, it’s often far above expectations. Just this week he turned in an essay that easily could have been written by a college student. I had to run it through plagiarism software twice to make sure he wrote it.”

“Our father was a literature professor. JT’s been reading since he was three.”

Mr. James’ eyebrows rose. “May I ask what’s going on at home that might be causing JT’s behavioral issues?”

I sat back a little, once again feeling like a teenager being dressed down by a superior. I reached up and tugged at my ponytail.

“My parents died in a car accident three years ago. I have custody of JT. We’re doing the best we can, but things are a little chaotic between his school schedule, his football responsibilities, and the bakery.”

“Bakery?”

“The family business. It’s our only source of income, so it’s pretty important that I keep it running.”

“It’s also important that JT be supervised properly.”

The implication in that statement made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I straightened again, my eyes narrowed as I regarded this outsider, this teacher who had no idea what it was to grow up and live in a small town.

“I do the best I can, Mr. James. I realize his behavior leaves a little to be desired, but he’s essentially a good kid who’s gone through a lot of crap these last few years. We’re both struggling to make things work, but we are making things work. I will talk to him about sleeping in your class.”

I stood up and brushed past him on my way to the door was all set to slam the door on my way out. But then he spoke, final words that I’d been afraid of hearing for three years, but never really thought I would.

“If things don’t improve, Miss Monroe, I’ll be forced to contact child protective services to make sure JT’s home life is not endangering his wellbeing.”

Chapter 2

Harrison

I watched her walk out the door without responding to my parting words. I wanted to grab her and force her to respond. I wanted to…she was not what I’d expected. I’d known the adoptive parents had died. My investigator was able to uncover impressive details on Dale and Robin Monroe with what little information Julia managed to get from the adoption agency, earning much more than the outrageous fee he charged. Within weeks of learning I had a son, I had pictures and addresses and credit scores and death certificates. Everything I needed to locate him. I’d been ready to march in and claim him as my own. I never signed adoption papers. I never gave up my parental rights. A good lawyer, and I could have been awarded custody in a matter of weeks.

But Libby wouldn’t allow it.

He’s fifteen, Harrison. He’s grown up with this identity, as Jonathon Monroe. You march in there and take him away, and you’ll destroy the one thing that we all hold dearest: his identity. You have to do this slowly, let him adjust to the idea of having you in his life before you steal him away from the only family, the only life, he’s ever known.

That was the problem with Libby. Her arguments were always so logical that there was no arguing with her. So, I decided to come to this little town to meet him. But I needed a reason to be here, an excuse to make myself a part of his life. It was a happy coincidence that the school had just lost their freshman English teacher and I happen to have a master’s degree in literature. It was a simple thing to arrange to become a Texas certified teacher and simpler yet to get hired on at a school where few of the teachers had better than a bachelor’s degree.

The first time JT walked into my classroom…seeing photographs of him were nothing like seeing him in the flesh. I recognized myself more in him than I thought I would. He had Julia’s blue eyes, but the dark hair, the heavy jaw, that was all me. It surreal, really. I was a little afraid that he would take one look at me and know who I was. But he barely looked at me, more interested in the blond cheerleader who sat in front of him than anything else.

He got that from me, too.

It’d been more than a month now. A month of frustration as I tried to get him to pay attention, to stay awake, without seeming to single him out. I didn’t want any of the other students—or teachers—to think I was treating JT with any sort of preference. But it was driving me crazy, watching him destroy every opportunity that appeared before him without thought to his future. If he slept through all his classes like he did mine, he’d never make the grades required to get into a good college. And then where would he be.

And then it bugged the crap out of me that I was beginning to think like my own father.

It was frustrating having no control. So I thought, calling in his sister, suggesting a few ways to help out, perhaps it would make a difference.

But then she walked in here, all covered in flour, looking incredibly sexy…I wasn’t expecting the perfect curves hugged by low rider jeans and that simple cotton tee. Or the exhaustion in her eyes that made them seem bigger and greener than they looked in pictures. And the way her wavy mahogany-colored hair sat askew in its ponytail only made her look more vulnerable, more innocent, in a most alluring way. I couldn’t hardly put two thoughts together from the moment she walked through the door. And then she got mad—as if she had a reason to get pissed off—and that just set me off.

I hadn’t meant to make threats. But watching her storm out of here like that loosened my tongue.

I cursed under my breath after she’d gone, aware that I’d just opened a door that should have remained closed a little while longer. I gathered my things, shoving student essays into a leather case that was meant to carry million dollar business deals rather than badly written essays on Lee’s
To Kill a Mockingbird
, and stormed off to the tiny house I was renting six blocks from the house where JT lived.

Everything in my life right now seemed to be measured by how it related to JT. How far my house was from his, how long until he was scheduled to sit in my classroom, how many days until I could sit in the stands and watch him dominate on the football field. At least when he played football I could take pictures to send back to Libby without someone thinking I was some sort of pervert, or something.

I walked into the house, dropped my case on the floor, and wandered into the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of rather expensive bourbon. A swallow or two and the uneasiness that had settled in my chest began to dissipate. My first instinct was to call my lawyer. That woman was clearly in over her head. All it would take was a petition by my lawyer in the local courts, and I could get custody of JT. The paperwork was already in order. My lawyer put it all together weeks ago when my investigator presented him with a DNA test done with a blood sample stolen from JT’s doctor’s office—JT had to have a physical at the beginning of the school year to play football; it was a cinch to steal a blood sample and have it tested in an independent lab with a stellar reputation.

I knew he was my son before I came here. No doubts. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.

He was mine and I wanted him in my control. This teaching thing—yeah, it was kind of nice teaching after all those years of dreaming about it and all the time I’d spent doing the one job I’d never wanted—it was fun. But I was needed back in Oregon. And watching JT sleep through class and bully his way through the hallways was growing old quite quickly. And the lies. I was not a man who liked to lie. Keeping this secret was killing me.

Even my mother had no idea that I’d found JT. I was almost afraid to discuss it with her. A part of me really didn’t want to know if she was involved in whatever happened that caused some lawyer to think I’d given up my rights to my own child when I had no clue he even existed. If I’d known…

I think about it a lot. How would my life be different if I had known? Would I have dropped out of school? Would I have offered to marry Julia? Would she have accepted? Would we have tried to live a nice, quiet middle class existence, both of us college dropouts, both of working dead end jobs that would get us nowhere? Or would I have still caved when my father died, gone home and taken over the company anyway?

There was no way to know, really. Our lives might have gone differently. They might not have. But Julia seemed happy in her life with her Wall Street husband and two perfect little girls. So maybe her life took the path it was meant to take. But mine?

I thought I wanted to teach. I thought I wanted a quiet life. I thought being CEO of Ashland Furniture was the worst thing I could possibly do with my life. But in the last twelve years, I’d built it into something so much more than my father had ever dreamed of, let alone managed to achieve in his lifetime. Ashland-Philips Corporation was a billion dollar company where Ashland Furniture was barely staying out of the red year after year. I liked that I’d done that. I liked the reputation I’d built, the money I’d made, the success I’d achieved. What started out as a desperate attempt to keep my mother and sister housed and cared for had become a challenge that I welcomed every day without really realizing it. Without it these last few weeks, my days felt almost empty.

Except for JT.

I wanted my son. I wanted to take him back to Oregon with me, wanted to show him who I was and what I could provide for him in terms of his future. I wanted him to be more a part of my life than just what he was now: my student.

“I can’t keep doing this,” I said to my sister a little while later. “I can’t keep watching him throw his future away one exhausted day after another.”

“He’s a teenager, Harrison,” Libby said. “All teenagers behave that way.”

“But you should have seen the defiance in that woman’s eyes. She’s not going to do anything about his behavior. She’s more concerned about that bakery than she is JT.”

“She’s just trying to survive in the wake of tragedy. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?”

I stopped pacing my makeshift office in the spare bedroom of my rental, the ball of anger I’d been holding on to since Penelope walked out of my classroom suddenly dissipating in place of a sudden rush of incredulity.

“Are you seriously comparing her to me?”

“There are similarities. You had to give up your dreams when Daddy died to take care of me and mom. This Penelope did the same thing when her parents died.”

“Yeah, but—“

“Give her a break, Harry. It’s only been a little while. Maybe she needs more time to figure things out.”

“And maybe more time will just lead to JT going to jail. Or worse.”

“I know you’re frustrated. But marching in there and taking custody of that boy—her only surviving family—isn’t going to make things any easier on JT. And the last thing you want to do is traumatize your son before you even have a chance to tell him who you are.”

Why did she always have to be right?

“Fine,” I muttered. “But I’m telling you, if something happens to him, I won’t hesitate to call my lawyer and set things into motion.”

“It sounds to me like he’s just acting out. He’s like his father that way.”

There was laughter in her voice that I didn’t appreciate. But, then, I couldn’t deny the truth in her words. I wasn’t exactly the best behaved teenager, either. I was, after all, the guy who went to New York on a college summer trip and came home with two tattoos and a kid I didn’t know about. My father must have hit the roof when he realized what had happened. Worse than the time I came home drunk off my ass and threw up in the bushes in front of the house when I was sixteen.

But my behavior wasn’t the issue here.

We hung up a while later, after discussing business back at Ashland-Philips. Libby was a great CFO, but the big decisions still had to cross my desk. So, on top of grading high school essays, I spent most of my evenings making phone calls and reading over contracts. It made for a very long day, and morning often came much sooner than I would like. Exhaustion made my temper a little sharper than it needed to be. I was beginning to regret my words to Penelope Monroe when the principal of the school called and made me feel even worse.

“I understand that you’ve never worked in a small town like this. But things move a little slower around here. And we don’t usually make threats against the guardians of our students unless they give us no other choice.”

“I realize my words might have been a bit hasty.”

“More than a bit, Mr. James. You can’t threaten to call child protective services just because a child doesn’t turn in his homework as often as he should.”

I closed my eyes, picturing JT—hair unwashed, clothes wrinkled, creases in his cheeks from sleeping on his crossed arms in my class—and bit my lip to keep from saying that I believed there was more at stake here than just unfinished homework. I was learning my lesson, slowly, but I was learning it.

“I’ll apologize to Miss Monroe.”

And that’s exactly what I was attempting to do the next morning when I pulled up in front of the ranch style house where JT had lived since he was three years old. It looked quite innocent from the sidewalk, a neat brick exterior that looked just like the other houses on the block. But as I made my way to the front door, I could hear screaming coming from inside.

“I go to bed plenty early enough,” JT’s voice said.

“You go to bed at one o’clock in the morning and then don’t understand why you can’t stay awake in class. How many teachers are going to call me into the school to talk about you sleeping at your desk?”

“It’s bullshit!” JT yelled. “Mom and Dad never cared how late I stayed up as long as I kept my grades up. My grades are fine.”

“When you bother to turn in homework, yeah, they’re great. But you’re not even turning in homework anymore! What are you trying to do, JT? Do you really want to flunk out of high school before you’ve even started?”

“Why don’t you go to work and leave me alone?”

The door suddenly opened and JT rushed out without looking up, likely completely unaware that I was standing there on his front porch.

“JT…”

But he didn’t hear me, either.