Veiled Innocence

Chapter Nineteen

Past…

“Addy! Hey! Wait up, would you?”

Brandon.

He’d been calling out and running after me in the parking lot, and I’d been pretending not to hear. With my earbuds in and my iPod off, I was safe. When we reached the west corridor, however, he grabbed my arm, and I was out of options.

“Hello!” he shouted, waving his hand in my face.

I pulled the white cord of my earbuds so they popped out and flashed my failsafe sweet smile.

“Brandon? I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

“Obviously,” he sneered and pulled his bag strap up over his shoulder. “Where the hell have you been?”

How to answer that? Hmm...with Grayson, you know, Mr. McKendrick?

“I’ve been slammed with homework and then training for state. Plus Mom—”

“Shut up.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise, and I put my hands on my hips. “Excuse me?”

“Stop lying.”

He’s right. But he didn’t know that, and he had no proof. I didn’t like his mood, so when he took a step forward, I backed up.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he accused. “Ever since the weekend.”

I raised my chin and fired back. “That’s not true. I text you last night.”

“We need to talk? That doesn’t count!”

“Well I’m sorry you don’t think so. I’ve been busy.”

“Too busy for me?”

“Too busy for anyone!” I yelled back, drawing the attention of the other students. One who just happened to be a smirking Jessica.

Scoffing, Brandon replied, “Yeah, right.”

“What did you say?” I demanded, and then he slammed a fist into the locker by my head, causing me to jump.

He leaned in close, his tone menacing as he whispered, “I said yeah, right. Are you fucking someone else?”

I swallowed and made sure to keep my eyes on the pissed off guy in front of me. Never one to back down, I lied. “No. But I won’t be fucking you anymore.”

Brandon rammed his other hand beside my head and hissed out, “You’re a liar. Do you think I’m fucking stupid?”

“I’m not lying.”

Brandon laughed, and the sound was mean. “I followed you.”

Oh shit. Immediately, I thought of Grayson.

“What do you mean you followed me? Do you know how creepy that sounds?”

Act calm, I told myself. Don’t say anything incriminating.

“Creepy? I’d rather be creepy than a fucking idiot because my girlfriend is screwing around. So who is he?”

Shaking my head, I tried to imagine what he might have seen yesterday, but I couldn’t ask without sounding guilty. So instead, I feigned ignorance. Maybe if he was annoyed enough, he’d tell me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yesterday, Addy!”

Again, he slammed his hands by my head. A few people stopped, but when they saw us together, they mustn’t have wanted to get involved because no one bothered approaching.

That was nice to know if I was in danger.

“I didn’t do anything yesterday. I went home.”

“No, you didn’t. I told you, I followed you all the way to the highway.”

Fuck, this was not good.

One, two three. One, two three.

This was not good at all.

“But I had to turn around and go to practice. I sent you ten messages, and all I fucking got was, we need to talk!” He punctuated his angry words with another punch to the locker door.

“Brandon!”

The voice that boomed down the hall was so familiar to me that I would have known it anywhere.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Back up! Now!”

Brandon looked me up and down with contempt. “We’re done. This is over, slut.”

That was when Mr. McKendrick stepped between us. He didn’t even bother acknowledging me as he pointed to the opposite wall and ordered, “Shut your mouth and back off. Move it!”

Brandon’s eyes never left mine as he walked backward to the other side of the hall, where his ass hit the lockers.

“You stay there and be quiet, we’re going to have a little talk in a minute. Everyone else, get to class! This is not your morning entertainment program.”

Seeing his broad shoulders in front of me made me feel at ease. As always, with Mr. McKendrick I felt safe, as if nothing could hurt me.

“Are you okay?”

I focused on his face when he turned and walked closer to me. I touched the strap of my bag, needing something tangible to anchor me as I bit my lip.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I managed.

“Okay.” His eyes silently inspected me, and I could tell he wanted to say more but couldn’t. “Do you want to tell me what happened here?”

“She’s a liar. That’s what happened.”

I saw my teacher’s jaw flex as he gritted his teeth. Looking over his shoulder, he said in a voice that was hushed, yet still one hundred percent effective, “I thought I told you to be quiet. I will get to you in a minute.”

My eyes locked with Brandon’s as he crossed his arms, clearly pissed off that I was getting to talk first.

He thought I’d been sneaking around with one of his buddies, which would make him a fool, or worse, bad in bed. I wondered how he’d feel to know it was this man who’d come between us.

“What happened here?” Mr. McKendrick asked as he looked down at me.

I wanted to tell him that Brandon was now gone, but I didn’t want to risk the boy in question overhearing and speculating, so I shrugged nonchalantly.

“We broke up, he got angry.”

For a minute, his eyes softened and Grayson slipped through, before he was quickly pushed aside and my history teacher resurfaced.

“Anything else?”

“Like?”

“Did he hurt you?”

I shook my head and shifted uncomfortably on my feet. No, Brandon hadn’t hurt me, but he’d scared the hell out of me. It wasn’t the rough handling but the thought that he may have caught us, and more importantly—would he continue following me?

“No. I’m fine.”

I could tell he didn’t believe that for a second, and just as he was about to say more, he was interrupted.

“Addison? What’s going on here?”

Turning my head to the sound of the voice, I saw Miss Shrieve hurrying down the hall in our direction. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt and a pastel blue blouse, not her usual sweatpants—and suddenly, I felt like the student I was.

I was saved from having to answer because Mr. McKendrick did instead.

“Could you walk her to her next class, please? I’m going to have a little chat with Brandon over here.”

I knew there was nothing to worry about with him talking to Brandon, but that didn’t stop my anxiety and automatically I raised my arm to look at my watch.

Without missing a beat, his voice cut through my nerves as he promised in a soothing voice, “You’re fine. You have plenty of time. Go with Miss Shrieve, okay?”

I did as I was told and dropped my arm before walking toward my coach. She reached out to touch my arm as Grayson turned and stepped in front of Brandon.

“Come on, Addison. Mr. McKendrick will get to the bottom of it.”

Yes, I thought, but the problem was he was the “it” in that particular statement.

It was wrong that I wanted to challenge a teenage boy, but I was honest enough to admit that I was in the mood to work this out with my fists.

That wouldn’t be happening though. Right now, I needed to reign in my baser instincts and act like the mature adult I was supposed to be.

“So,” I started out, crossing my arms over my chest and mimicking Brandon’s stance. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

“Not really.”

The answer was surly, and as Brandon looked at his feet, I tried to forget the image of him slamming his hands beside Addison’s head.

“It wasn’t really a question. Stand up straight, and start talking, now.”

Brandon pushed off the lockers and stood up to his full height, which was a couple of inches shorter than my 6’4 frame. It was obvious he wanted to tell me to fuck off, but he was out of luck.

“We had a fight, okay?”

“Clearly, but why would you ever think it’s okay to treat a girl like that?”

“Like what? She likes it rough, just ask whoever she’s been fucking around with.”

“That’s quite enough, Mr. Williams.”

Brandon’s pride was wounded. I could see it in the slump of his shoulders and the way he wouldn’t look at me, and that right there was as effective as any punch in the mouth.

“Look, I don’t care what happened between you two.” That’s a fucking lie. I was more than happy they were over. “What I do care about is the safety of my students. You will not treat anyone that way. Do you hear me? And you especially will not slam a young lady up against a wall and yell at her, ever. That’s not how a man acts. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Brandon rolled his eyes, and I had the urge to slam him against a locker.

“You’re going to be suspended. Was it worth it? Get your stuff. We’re going to pay Principal Thomas a visit.”

I waited as he bent down to pick up his bag and heard him mumble, “Whatever.”

“What was that?” I demanded.

“I said whatever. She’s hot but totally fucked up in the head.”

I’d never considered myself a violent man, but as Brandon’s words penetrated my brain, a red haze clouded my judgment.

I strode forward two steps until he was back against the lockers. In a voice I barely recognized, I grated out, “You need to shut your mouth, right now. I don’t want to hear another word until we are in the main office, and when your suspension is over, you are to stay away from Addison Lancaster.”

Brandon’s eyes widened as he swallowed and nodded. I was out of line but not so far that it seemed unusual as far as I was concerned.

“Do I make myself clear?” I asked in a cool, calculated, and in my own mind, deadly fucking serious tone.

“Yes. Sir.”

“Good.”

Stepping aside, I watched Brandon march away in front of me, and I hoped like hell he understood to keep quiet, because I didn’t think I could listen to anything more without physically reacting.

Luckily for Brandon, he seemed to get the message.

Unfortunately for me, it fueled the fire to his kindling suspicion.

Present…

“Can I watch the news tonight?” I ask, making my way past Doc and into the common area.

“You can, but you won’t find what you’re looking for.”

I stop just inside the room and see several other residents of the Pine Groves establishment milling around and sitting on the couches.

“And what is that?”

Doc studies me in quiet contemplation.

“You forget how well I know you, Addison. You’re after answers, but they still don’t know anything.”

I push a stray piece of hair behind my ear as he asks, “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Do you know anything?”

I walk farther into the room, but before I’m out of hearing distance, I look back at the man I spend most of my days circling. I give him the hollow smile I’ve perfected while being in here. It’s my new failsafe and it gives nothing away as I finally give him the truth.

“No, I know nothing.”

Except, I think as I take a seat, that he’s gone.