"What can I do for you, Miss Grayson?"
"I stopped by the school a little while ago to pick up some stuff my substitute left in my box for me," she explains in a rush. "When I stopped by the office, I heard Principal Johnson in his office with a woman. He was…well, not to be disrespectful, but he was being a jerk, sir."
"What happened?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.
She huffs out a breath and then I hear Colton mutter something in the background. Half a second later, he comes on the line. Cadence calls him a bully, but she doesn't sound mad at him about it. There's a softness in her tone. It's the same one Rowan uses with me when I boss her around. She secretly loves it.
"Thorne?" Colton growls
"Yeah. What's going on?"
"That dick you have working at Commodore had your girl in his office, giving her hell about sleeping with you," he says, not beating around the bush. "He was trying to bully her into breaking up with you. He made her feel like shit for being with you, told her being with her would ruin your career. Cadence said it got real ugly. Apparently, he has some compromising pictures of the two of you."
"What the fuck?" I growl, jumping to my feet as pure rage fires through me. Johnson took pictures of us together? He tried to blackmail my little owl into leaving me? Fuck asking him to retire. I'm going to kill him. "Is she okay? Where is she?"
"Cadence got her out of there," Colton says, sounding pissed himself. "By the time she told me exactly what happened, Rowan was already gone. I wouldn't have let her leave had I known. She didn't look good."
"Son of a bitch," I growl, genuine worry shooting through me. Rowan's upset, hurting, and I'm not there. That motherfucker better hope like hell she's okay or I really will kill him.
Why didn't she call me?
I already know the answer to that though, don't I? I feel it twisting like a knife in my stomach. She's so softhearted, always worrying about everyone else. Of course she didn't call me. He made her think she was ruining me.
No, baby. No.
God, being with her could never ruin me. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I've never felt as peaceful as I do with her. I've never been as happy as I am with her. Loving her could never be a bad thing. But losing her might destroy me.
I need to get to her. Now.
"What's going on?" Leslie asks.
"Johnson cornered Rowan and tried to coerce her into breaking up with me," I growl. "He has pictures of us. He's been spying on us."
Leslie's eyes widen, shock written across her face.
My temples throb as a new wave of rage hits me. That sorry son of a bitch. Was he the presence I felt in the parking lot today at lunch? What am I thinking? Of course it was him. How the fuck else did he know about us or get pictures of us? We've been careful, keeping our distance when he's around. He must have seen something though. Enough to make him follow us.
"No disrespect, but if you don't deal with the situation, I will. He won't be speaking to my girl or Rowan again like he did today. He's lucky I didn't hear it," Colton says. "I don't give a shit how old he is. I'll rip his fucking throat out if I ever hear of him speaking to Cadence or Rowan like that again."
"You'll have to beat me to it," I mutter. "I can promise you, this shit won't ever happen again. He won't get near Cadence or Rowan again."
"Good," he grunts, mollified.
"Thanks for letting me know."
"Yep. Let me know if you need anything from Cadence."
"Will do." I end the call and immediately dial Rowan's number, pacing like a caged lion. The phone doesn't even ring before her voicemail picks up. I disconnect and fire off a text, demanding that she call me back.
She won't though. I already know. Jesus. I have to fix this. If I lose her because of him…
The thought sends another knife stabbing into me. This one hits me right in the heart. The pain is savage, brutal. Enough to have me swaying on my feet, fighting the urge to fall to my knees.
No. I'm not going to lose her.
I refuse to let that happen.
"She's not answering?" Leslie guesses.
"No, she's not," I say, trying not to completely lose my goddamn mind with worry. "I don't give a shit if we're through here or not, I'm going to her."
"Go," Leslie says, already on her feet. "I'll go fill in the board."
"He's not getting until the end of the year," I warn her. "I don't give a fuck what the board says. He's done. I want him out of my fucking school. He won't spend another goddamn minute terrorizing Rowan or anyone else."
I'll burn the place to the fucking ground myself before I let that happen. Like I told Rowan the day I met her, I make the rules now. And rule number one is that you don't fuck with what's mine.