Breakaway

Chapter Nine

They sat there, silence swelling around them, dense and tense.

“I missed you,” Jason finally said.

Remi bit her lip. She’d missed him too, so much, but she was vexed from all the stuff she’d found online about him and how this was supposed to be fun and how much fun it had not been, missing him like that.

“Remi.” Jason put his knuckles under her chin to lift it. “I think I’m falling in love with you.”

She stared at him. Her body went stone-still and stone-cold. Her heart suspended beating. He did not just say that.

The look on his face—the hopeful, nervous anticipation—gave her a splintery feeling in her chest. And it pissed her off.

She shoved at his chest with both hands and scrambled off his lap.

“You are not!” she yelled. “Are you insane?” She stood there, hands on hips, glaring at him. “That is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

His eyes shuttered and the cracking feeling inside her intensified to the point of hurting.

“I think you should go,” she snapped. “We hardly know each other. This was supposed to be fun. If you can’t keep it fun, then let’s just forget it.”

He set his big hands on the couch cushions beside him and stared at her. She kept her frown firmly in place although the corners of her eyes were stinging. She blinked rapidly.

“I think you’re kind of overreacting,” he finally said, the words long and stretched out. “What’s gotten into you?”

She breathed out through her nose, lips pressed together. “This isn’t working, Jason. You live in a different world. I had no idea who you were or what you did or that you make freakin’ millions of dollars.”

“What does that have to do with anything? And besides, I never knew you were a teacher, either, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting to know you.”

She took a step backward. What was he talking about? That made no sense at all. “You have something against teachers?” She gave her head a shake at that.

“Forget it.” He stood, towering over her. “You’re acting weird, Remi. You knew that stuff last week. Why is it such a big deal now?”

“Because you…you said…that!”

He ran a hand through his hair, making the short dark strands stand up in all different directions. He closed his eyes briefly. “I’m sorry. I just wanted you to know…ah hell. This is fucking nuts. What the hell am I doing?”

He walked to the door, still wearing his jacket.

He turned in the French doors, his mouth a straight, grim line, brows drawn down over his eyes. “Bye, Remi.”

When she heard the front door close, a sob tore from her throat and her knees wobbled. She stumbled to the couch and sat down, tears scalding her eyes and her cheeks. Then she lay down and sobbed. “It was supposed to be fun,” she sobbed. “It was supposed to be fun.”

Much as Jason looked forward to working with the kids at Abraham Lincoln Middle School, he dreaded going there Wednesday afternoon. He was dying to see Remi, but he was terrified too. He pulled in to the parking lot in his Jeep and sat there, hands on the wheel.

He wasn’t sure exactly what the hell had happened at her place Monday night. Women. He damn sure didn’t get them. And why, why had he made that lame confession about falling in love with her? Once again, he’d blurted something out without thinking about the consequences of it. He’d spent his whole life working on controlling his impulses and telling a woman he was in love with her was one of the craziest impulses he’d ever had, with huge fucking ramifications. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He’d never told any woman he loved her. Not even Brianne. Well, okay, his mother, but that didn’t count.

He jumped out of the vehicle and walked toward the school. As he neared the entrance, he saw Dominic pull into the parking lot. He worked with a different class…maybe he could offer to trade today?

Nah. Couldn’t do that. He had to see how Ryan was doing this week with Tom Sawyer. The kid reminded him of him at that age. Ryan was going to face the same struggles he had too. It made him ache for the little dude, but made him even more determined to try to help.

The kids and Remi were in her classroom. She was sitting at her desk and she looked up at him when he walked in and she kept her face from showing an expression, but she looked sad. There was no hiding that.

His heart squeezed. He tightened his mouth.

“Hey, Jase!” The kids all greeted him and crowded around him and he forced a smile.

They got busy with their reading activities and he signed all their forms listing all the books they’d read since last week. Some kids were crazy readers—a list a mile long—others like Ryan had only read one book.

“You finished it?” He looked at Ryan, who nodded, trying not to look pleased. “Good job, dude!” They bumped fists. “Let’s talk about it.”

Ryan was having a hard time today, Jason could tell. He was unfocused, fidgety; Jason knew the signs. He tried a few times to draw him back, but knew it wasn’t going to work today.

Then Remi came over, having noticed his struggles.

“Ryan,” she said. “What’s going on?”

No, no. Jason looked up at her and shook his head. He didn’t want the kid to get in trouble for something he couldn’t help.

“Nothing.” Ryan shifted in his seat one way, then the other.

“D’you need to go for a drink of water?” she asked him. “I’ll come with you.”

Jason watched them leave the class. He wanted to follow. He was worried for Ryan. What was she going to say to him? A memory flashed through his mind. “Stupid. You’re just stupid. Would you just sit still and pay attention.”

He remembered being taunted and teased by other kids, remembered defending himself with his fists instead of his brains and the shitloads of trouble he’d gotten into because of that, which hadn’t endeared him to his teachers at all.

He surged to his feet and strode across the classroom, leaving the kids on their own for a moment. He had to get to Ryan. He walked into the hall and stopped. Remi and Ryan stood there and she had her arm around his shoulders. “Did you take your medication today?” she asked softly.

Ryan said nothing, then shook his head.

“You have to take it,” she said. “Come on, Ryan. You know it’s important.”

“I hate taking it.”

“We talked about this before. Remember? About how smart you are and how the Ritalin helps you learn. If you miss out on stuff now, Ryan, it’ll be so hard to get caught up. That’s what it’s there for.”

Jason stared at them, his heart thudding, his breath choppy.

She’d told the kid he was smart.

His heart expanded ‘til he thought it might burst out of his chest. Jesus. He wasn’t falling in love with that woman. He was in love with her. Head over hockey skates in love with her.