I pondered my next move as I briskly headed back to the stadium. My first instinct was to report what I’d overheard to the school administration, because a teacher sleeping with a student was an abuse of power. Then again, I wasn’t entirely sure what I heard back in that classroom. I was pretty certain, but that wasn’t enough. Not when it came to the potential destruction of someone’s livelihood.
I’d seen it happen before.
At my old school, one of the cleaners overheard a conversation between a young female student and the chemistry teacher, and they assumed there was an affair happening based on that. They reported it, and the situation blew up.
Due to parent protestations, the teacher was forced to take leave while a full investigation was conducted. It turned out that the conversation the cleaner heard was completely misinterpreted, but by the time that information came out, it was too late. The teacher’s reputation was permanently tainted, and he couldn’t return to his job without facing a constant barrage of dirty looks and whispers from all the students and parents who refused to believe in his innocence. He ended up quitting due to the effects on his mental health. After that, he struggled to find another school that would take him on, and the last I heard, he had to leave the state to find employment in a different field.
If I called the CPA administration and told them about my suspicions, I could ruin Mr. Blythe’s life in the same way. The conversation I overheard strongly suggested that something was going on between him and Cerina, but I could be wrong. They could’ve been talking about something else. I didn’t think it was particularly likely, but it was definitely possible.
I lifted my chin and blew out a deep breath as I made my decision.
Everyone at school already hated me, so I didn’t need to throw even more fuel on that fire by making a potentially false accusation that could wreck an innocent teacher’s life. So, unless I found irrefutable evidence that Cerina and Mr. Blythe were sleeping together, I wasn’t going to say anything.
Their secret was safe with me… for now.
10
Jax
The waterin the locker room shower had gone cold, but I barely felt it. My body was running hot with anger and my mind was drifting far away, barely registering my surroundings.
I closed my eyes and tipped my head forward to drench my hair. Flashes of Kinsey’s face appeared in my mind, making my blood run even hotter. I grimaced and snapped my eyes open, trying to focus on the blue tiles in front of me, but Kinsey’s face was somehow still there in front of me, smiling smugly as she blew me a taunting kiss.
For fuck’s sake.
I clenched my jaw, pumped some soap onto my hands, and roughly scrubbed at my chest and underarms. Part of me was sure I’d already washed myself, but I couldn’t fully remember. I wasn’t even sure how long I’d been in the bathroom. It had to be a while, though, because the locker room had emptied out several minutes ago so the guys could head to the afterparty at Brent’s.
Things had been like this for me all week. I kept getting caught up in my thoughts, losing track of time, and forgetting what I was doing. I didn’t even know how we won the game earlier tonight, let alone who we played. My body was drifting through the world on autopilot while my brain focused on one thing and one thing only.
Kinsey.
That fucking bitch.
After Nate’s party a couple of weeks ago, I was certain I’d wind up regretting my decision to help Kinsey. I was right. I shouldn’t have dropped my guard around her, not even for a second. I should’ve left her to fall for Nate Ellingham’s fuckboy charms and hidden cameras; left her to the humiliation of knowing the whole school saw her getting used and ditched like a fuckdoll once he released that video. She’d be long-gone if that happened, too devastated to show her face in town again… but then I went and put a stop to it all with my big fucking mouth. As a result, she was still here in my world.
Now she was ramping up her sick game.
She’d succeeded in her seduction plan and started fucking my father a week and a half ago. I knew because my room was right next to hers and my headboard was pressed up against the adjoining wall, so if I was lying in bed, I could hear whatever was happening in her room.
Every night, somewhere around one or two in the morning, her door would slowly creak open and click shut. Then I’d hear whispers and murmurs, followed by masculine grunting from my dad interspersed with the occasional moan from Kinsey.
The thought of the two of them screwing each other made me feel sick to my stomach. It also boggled my mind. How fucking stupid could my dad possibly be? It was only a matter of time until Kinsey got sick of messing with him and moved onto the next stage of her plan.
Exposure.
Of course, she was legally an adult, but people wouldn’t think about that when they heard the story of her sleeping with my dad. All they’d think is:Wow, I guess James Holland was right all along. George Kingsley reallydoeslike schoolgirls!
Then Kinsey would have things exactly where she wanted them—her father vindicated, my father ruined. Her mother would be collateral damage, which she’d obviously decided she was okay with because she was a heartless little demon.
How could my dad fail to see where things were heading? Did he truly believe Kinsey wanted him? Was it some sort of midlife crisis thing? And how the hell could he do something so terrible to Anna? Especially after his ex—my mom—cheated on him with a much younger man, cruelly teaching him what that sort of betrayal felt like.
Fucking idiot.
I’d warned him about Kinsey so many times, but instead of listening to me, the stupid asshole fell into bed with her the second she batted her eyelashes and offered her pussy to him.
They weren’t just sneaking around at night, either. On several occasions, I’d seen them exchange meaningful glances and furtive little smiles at the dinner table when Anna’s attention was elsewhere. Dad had also splashed a lot of cash on Kinsey recently, providing her with a designer handbag, several pairs of designer shoes, and a necklace and earring set that was worth almost as much as my car. He got away with it by claiming he bought the stuff for Anna before realizing it wasn’t really her style, and then he’d suggest that Kinsey take it all because he was too lazy to return any of it.
The wide-eyed, faux-surprised expression on Kinsey’s face whenever she received the gifts made my blood boil. She obviously thought she was good at pretending to be sweet and innocent, but I saw right through it. I knew what she was deep down; knew what a nasty, twisted little snake she was.