I carry out a chocolate chip muffin for Patriot, and he follows me to school. I really need to talk to Ice about that. I hate wasting Patriot’s time.
I no sooner get my things put away in my classroom than I head outside to work my shift in the car line. I’m waving at parents and opening doors for the younger kids when I hear a motorcycle way before I see it. My stomach tightens into knots, wondering if it can be Ice. Surely not. When I left, he was sound asleep, and he said he had a big project today.
But the next thing I know it’s him, pulling through the line and stopping in the very front row of a parking spot. He turns off the bike but doesn’t attempt to get off. He just sits there and stares at me.
Another teacher, Janice, who is working the line with me, walks up to me. “See him? I wonder if I should let the principal know. I’ve never seen him here before.”
Already, I’m shaking my head. “Uh, no, he’s with me.”
I can feel his gaze burning a hole in me, but I keep opening car doors and saying hello to the kids like I don’t even see him.
Janice nudges me in the side. She’s talking to me in a hushed excited voice. “Sis, you better go see what he wants. Looks to me if you don’t go over there soon he’s going to come for you, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to be just satisfied with just talking.”
I lift my head and look at Ice, and she’s right. He looks hot… and a little bothered. He’s probably mad that I walked out on him. I bet he’s never had a woman get willingly out of his bed in his life. And even though I did it, I did it only for self preservation.
“Can you cover for me?” I ask Janice.
She’s already nodding her head and pushing me toward Ice. Janice has been married for twenty years and she seems a little excited that I have a man that’s showing some interest in me.
I walk across the lot and don’t stop until I’m next to him.
I put my hands in the front pockets of my dress pants. “What are you doing here, Ice?”
“You should call me James.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I thought people are supposed to call you Ice.”
He swings his leg over and crosses his ankles in front of him as he sits on the edge of the seat. “I got that name because I’ve always been cool and calm under pressure. Nothing ever fazes me. But when I found you out of my bed and gone this morning, I discovered that I’m anything but calm and cool when it comes to you. So yeah, you should call me James.”
I shake my head. “James…”
I barely get his name out before he’s grabbing on to my hips and pulling me toward him. I’m sure Janice and everyone else is watching us. I’m sure I’ll be the main topic of gossip around the water cooler and in the teachers’ lounge, but I can’t seem to make myself care. “Why’d you leave?”
I shrug my shoulders and look over his shoulder because I’m not strong enough to look in his eyes and hold it together. “I thought we were done.”
He grunts, a sound that I’m starting to love. Any time he does it, I swear it’s like I can feel it vibrate between my legs. “We’re nowhere close to being done. If anything we’re just getting started.”
I shake my head, trying to force myself to be reasonable and not fall for him any more than I already have. “James, the day I met you, another woman was grinding in your lap. I met you in a place called the Pussy Parlor. I have the worst taste in men. I’ve been hurt before, but you, well, you could annihilate me.”
He puts his hands on each side of my face. He forces me to look at him, and I get lost in his eyes. It’s just him and me right now. That’s all that matters. “I won’t hurt you. It’s been so hard for me to trust anyone, and I never get close. I was engaged once.”
He stops at my stunned look.
“Yeah, I was engaged. She left me when I was on my third tour in Afghanistan. I found out in an email that she’d met someone else. So yeah, I don’t trust people. Ever! I’m forty-five and set in my ways. But you changed all that, baby. Now all I can think about is you.”
“I’m so sorry...”
But he’s already shaking his head. “She doesn’t mean anything, Addi. I only told you because I wanted you to know. I don’t want there to be secrets between us. I told you because I want more of last night.”