Separation Anxiety (22 page)

I sat and stared at her for a moment, sure I hadn’t heard her right.

“What?” I finally asked, my voice coming out angrier than I’d intended. I paused and took a deep breath. This was my best friend. Surely she hadn’t done something so horrible as to physically rip Jesse away from me. “How did you give Richard the idea?”

“I was out with Caleb, and we were sitting at a bar. Richard was there, and he came over and chatted. You know that I’ve known Richard longer than I’ve known you, even though you’re my best friend now.”

I nodded.

“So we were just talking about scandals, and I mentioned to him that when I first started working at Central, there was a scandal between an assistant principal and the school secretary. People got pictures of them in the act
at school and leaked them to the press, and both of them were fired.”

I stared at Quinn, completely dumbfounded.
I didn’t respond; I couldn’t. Between the alcohol and the confession she had just made, I was feeling a mass of contradicting emotions. For one, I was pissed. Why would she even think that it was okay to talk to Richard, let alone discuss scandals with him at a bar over drinks? But I knew that reacting with anger wouldn’t help anything.

“Say something,” she finally blurted nervously.

I sighed, working hard to remain calm. “Quinn, Richard could’ve read about that scandal in the newspaper and used it to his advantage. I don’t blame you for this.”

“Thank God. I just have never seen you like this, and if it was my fault in any way, I had to tell you. I’ve felt guilty about this for
weeks.”

“I’m more pissed that you kept it from me for
weeks than I am that it happened, but it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done and it’s all a fucking waiting game at this point anyway.”

She leaned in and hugged me. “I’m so sorry for what you’re going through,” she said softly.

CHAPTER 16

It was the third week of May when I w
as called into Human Resources, just two days before graduation.

Jesse was already seated in the office
, a desk separating him from our district superintendent of Human Resources, Dr. Wooden. There was an empty chair next to Jesse that Dr. Wooden pointed to when I entered the room. I barely saw him motion to the chair because my eyes locked on Jesse’s for the first time in over two months. His eyes still looked haunted, but I saw his lips curl at the corners when he saw me, and I felt my own face break out into a smile as well. I didn’t know what this meeting was about, but I did know that we had done nothing wrong. I immediately felt the pressure and anxiety that had been pushing down on my shoulders for two months lift off of me. The only thing I feared now was leaving this place without getting a moment alone with Jesse.

I knew immediately when his eyes met mine that nothing had changed. It didn’t matter tha
t we hadn’t had any contact with each other since that last morning we had together in his kitchen. The love we shared still burned brightly, maybe even brighter than before. As the cliché goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder; I didn’t think it was possible to love Jesse more than I already did, but I felt a wave of love course through my veins just from being in the same room as him as my heart picked up its rate.

I sat, and Dr. Wooden began the meeting.

“Mr. Drake, Mrs. Thomas,” Dr. Wooden said. The random thought flashed through my mind that he should be calling Jesse “Dr. Drake.”

Dr. Wooden continued,
“Thank you both for meeting with me today. We have reviewed the video tapes from the timeframe of the accusations and have found nothing to substantiate the claims. You’re both cleared of all charges of any wrongdoing. Please accept our apologies on behalf of the entire district. We recommend that you steer clear of one another for the next few days until graduation is over.”

My heart soared. We were cleared!

“Dr. Wooden, while I appreciate the apology, you must realize what this has done to both of our reputations,” Jesse said. I hadn’t really considered that when I’d already started my celebration in my head.

“We’re well aware of the consequences of these unfounded accusations, but Mr. Drake, surely you can’t deny that something was going on between the two of you,” Dr. Wooden responded.

“What we do outside of the school day is none of this district’s business.”

“That’s not entirely true. When pictures of our employees surface that are as sexual in nature as the one that was splashed across the local news, it becomes our business to ensure a safe atmosphere for our students.”

“Their safety was never once in question. Veronica and I fell in love on our own time. We did nothing wrong.”

“I don’t mean to sound condescending by saying this, Mr. Drake, but Mrs. Thomas is, in fact, married. Some may argue that
a relationship with a married woman would not be considered doing ‘nothing wrong.’”

My head swung back and forth between them as I sat quietly, taking it all in. I felt like I was watching a tennis match.

Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “Regardless, all I’m asking for is retribution for our suffering.”

“Unfortunately, my hands are tied monetarily. We paid you for the days you were placed on administrative leave, so I can’t offer any additional money.”

“I’m not looking for money,” he said. He wasn’t?

Dr. Wooden voiced the question in my head.
“Then what is it that you want?”

“A public apology. A statement that says that this district was wrong in its accusations against us
. I want it in the newspapers and filmed for the local news.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mr. Drake,” Dr. Wooden said.

“It’s the least you can do,” Jesse said, standing. “Are we done here?”

Dr. Wooden nodded, a perplexed look on his face. I don’t think he was quite sure how Jesse turned
the meeting completely around, but he managed to do it with sophisticated charm.

But, then, that was Jesse Drake’s way.

Jesse held his hand out to me, and I gladly placed my hand in his. I felt electrical tingles shoot up my spine as his skin touched mine. The realization that it was finally over hit me, and a mixture of relief and complete happiness and absolute love for the man next to me washed over me. The devastation that had filled my heart with dread for two months was over, and now I just had a few more weeks until my split with Richard would be finalized. And then… our night.

We walked out the front doors of the district office hand-in-hand
in a very liberating moment. Richard could go fuck himself. Jesse and I were going to be together, and no matter how hard Richard tried to split us up, he wouldn’t be able to. Our bond was stronger than titanium, and after what we’d just been through, after being completely separated for two entire months, things were still the same. That only told me that we’d be able stand as a united team against whatever life threw at us.

Jesse walked me to my car
, his fingers still linked through mine. I wanted his mouth on me. I wanted his hands all over my body. I had missed his touch, the way he held me, the way he soothed and kissed and whispered.

“I want to kiss you so fucking bad, but not here.
Not after all that’s happened. Come home with me.” His voice was a soft command, and I knew I’d do whatever he told me to do. He didn’t even have to ask.

I followed him home.

Home.

It wasn’t just his house anymore. I felt like it was my home, now, too, and I had missed the hell out of it.

I missed that kitchen. I missed his workbench. I missed our bed.

And most of all, I had missed everything about Jesse.

Jesse pulled into the garage and I pulled in beside him, to the space he had cleared for my car. I cut my engine and then I heard the garage door closing behind me. He jumped out of his truck and strode across the garage to my driver’s side door. I was still gathering my purse, and I didn’t see him appear beside me, but suddenly he opened my car door and was hauling me out of my car and into his waiting arms.

It was like he was an animal who had just been released from his cage. He couldn’t even wait to get me into the house before his
lips crashed to mine, one hand holding me around my waist and the other thrust into my hair. His tongue aggressively met mine as I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly to me as my fingers dove into his hair.

He kicked my door shut. I moaned into him and he shifted us so I was pressed between him and my car door as he groaned back into me. The throaty rasp
of his groan mixed with his hard body pinning me to my car soaked my panties and sent my desire into overdrive.

His hands slowly outlined the length of my torso and my hips and then moved down to my ass, a slow contrast to his fevered tongue battering violently against mine. He grabbed a handful of my ass and then moved his hands further down to my thighs. He pulled one of my thighs up and I wrapped it around his waist. He used the car to prop me up, and I brought up my other leg to wrap around him, locking my feet behind his back. He rammed his hips up hard into me, bucking against me wildly as I
willingly took whatever he would give me.

His lips moved down to my neck. He nipped my soft flesh and sent shivers through my whole body, causing me to convulse up into him. He pushed back into me, and it was like he was fucking me with clothes on.

“Sweet fuck, I missed you,” he murmured against my skin.

“I missed you, too,” I gasped through the pleasure he was driving into me.

“How long until your divorce is finalized?” he asked between open mouthed kisses across my chest.

“Three weeks,” I moaned, leaning my head back
against the top of my car, giving him better access to my cleavage. He buried his face in it and breathed in deeply, and then set me down on my feet again, still holding me in his arms.

“Jesus
,” he said, his voice a throaty rasp. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’
t be,” I panted.

“I want you
, V,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine and closing his eyes. His voice was low and raspy and set my blood on fire. “I need you. I need to be inside of your perfect body. I need to fuck you fast and hard and then take you slowly. I need to taste every part of you. I need to bury my hard cock in you. It’s all I’ve thought about for two months. Fuck, it’s all I’ve thought about for five goddamn years.”

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

His words shocked me and lit an inferno in my veins as tingles shot through every part of my body. I was putty in his hands. I would do anything,
anything
, for this man.

“I need you too, Jesse,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I want everything you just said. I want you to fuck me. I want you to make love to me.”

“I want it every single way that’s ever been invented, and then I want to invent a few of our own. But I know we need to wait, so we’ll wait.”

“This is torture,” I said.

“I agree,” he muttered. “But it will be worth it.”

I knew it would be, too. But now we had pressure. We both wanted it so badly, and forcing ourselves to wait only added to that pressure.

It had been a long time since sex had made me nervous. But I never had the pleasure of being with someone like Jesse. While I’d been attracted to every man I had been with, not a single one of them held a candle to Jesse’s appearance, intelligence, sex appeal, or modesty.

We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. Through dinner, Jesse took the chair next to mine so our legs could touch. He took me to Quinn’s to get my
stuff, and we told her the story of what happened at Human Resources while his arm slung loosely around my shoulders and mine laced around his waist. When we got back home, we cuddled on the couch. He kissed me, held me close, and loved me.

I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I’d felt so
treasured by a man. I could literally feel how much he loved me just in the way he looked at me or in the way he gently tucked my hair behind my ear or in the way he pressed his lips to my forehead.

Richard had intended to tear us apart and ruin our lives, but he failed. Yes, we had been apart for those two months, and those were two months we would never get back; but now we were back together, and our time apart had only managed to draw us closer, to bond us in a way that neither of us had ever expected. My feelings for him grew stronger every single day we had been apart, and now that we were
back where we belonged, I felt deeper and more for him with every passing moment.

As we lay in bed holding one another
in the dark later that night, I sighed with pleasure. These quiet, intimate moments were the ones I had missed most during our time apart.

“How’s Carly doing?” I asked quietly.

I felt his fingers dig into my shoulder. He leaned over and kissed my forehead, but he didn’t answer my question. He just lay quietly beside me.

He sighed a long, shuddering breath,
and I knew without him saying a word that something bad had happened.

I squeezed him a little tighter in my arms. He’d been dealing with his own personal
hell all by himself because of Richard. I could’ve been there for him, held his hand, cried with him. But instead, he had to deal with whatever had happened alone. I hadn’t been there to help. He hadn’t been able to hold me in his arms through the night to ban the demons.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I whispered.

He was still quiet.

“You don’t have to, Jesse, but it might help for you to get it out.”

“I know,” he murmured, his soft voice full of emotion. “She died about a month ago.”

My heart broke for Jesse. He didn’t talk much about Carly, but I knew he had
done everything he could to save her.

“I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t respond. My words of apology weren’t going change what happened or make it any easier, anyway.

“You have no idea how much just seeing you has helped ease the pain, V,” he said softly.

I leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

“Can I ask what happened?” I asked, smoothing his brow under my fingertips. I wished we had the light on so I could see his eyes.

“She had issues with addiction. She’d been in and out of rehab for years. She was only nineteen, and I guess that’s why she reminded me of my sister. Her parents made her go to rehab, and she tried to kill herself. They brought her to the hospital so she’d have twenty-four hour supervision, and we all thought she was getting better. She even had me fooled. And then as soon as she was released, she was taken back to rehab, and this time when she tried to kill herself, she succeeded.”

“That’s so horrible,” I said. I couldn’t imagine being in such a dark and lonely place
. The saddest part to me was that Carly had people who cared about her, like her parents and Jesse, but she just couldn’t see it. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to hold your hand through it.”