“I haven’t moved,” I said, turning a cold glare in their direction.
Hunter gave a hard nod. “That can change fast.”
“I’m in control,” I said, voice low and filled with steel. “Keep him away from me, and it’ll stay that way.”
“Stop yelling at her,” Cayson demanded from where he was now only being held back by a firm grip to his bicep.
I slanted my head. “I’m not promising that. Not after what she did.”
“I don’t know what I did other than try to help,” Emberly cried out from where she stood a dozen feet away.
“Seriously, Beau, she did that for you,” Cayson ground out. “For Savannah and you.”
I waited.
Counted backward.
Let myself feel all that racing anger and aggression before I asked him, “You knew, and you didn’t think to warn me?”
“There was nothing to warn you about,” he said with an irritated huff.
I gestured to where Emberly stood but didn’t take my eyes off him. “Stephanie Webb was waiting in my office almost completely naked this afternoon. Tell me how that wasn’t something to warn me about.”
Cayson’s eyes widened and his stare shifted to Emberly just as she said, “Oh no.”
“Yeah,” I coughed out a bitter laugh. “I’m trying to fix my life, and you’re doing whatever the fuck you can to make sure I fail in that.”
Her head shook quickly. “No. No, I’m not.”
“She was in my office without her clothes on, Emberly. One of my assistant coaches was with me when I opened my office door. Please tell me how this helps me with my wife right now.”
I watched as her face fell before she could cover it with her hands. Her head continuing to move in faint shakes as if she didn’t realize it was still moving.
But I just stood there, waiting for her to explain when it felt like the life I was already losing at a rapid pace had truly slipped through my grasp a couple hours before.
When I’d walked in on the vice principal waiting for me in my office . . . stunned wasn’t a sufficient enough word. But it’d taken a second before I could move. Before I realized she was actually sitting on the edge of my desk in nothing but her underwear.
Hands resting behind her and chest pushed out to emphasize that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
I’d staggered back and shut the door, but my assistant coach, Kevin, was already backing down the hall, head shaking and disappointment dripping from him as he’d said, “Not gettin’ into this with you right now, Dixon,” no matter how many times I’d tried to explain I didn’t know what the hell we’d walked in on.
When I’d attempted to go into my office a few minutes later, she hadn’t moved.
I’d stood in my doorway and yelled for her to get dressed and get out.
An hour later, I’d been called into a meeting with her, the principal, and a member of the school board for having inappropriate relations on school property during school hours.
“And considering one of you is married,” the principal had said, looking at me with deep disappointment.
“Oh, you haven’t heard he and Savannah are getting a divorce?” Stephanie had asked, eager to spill gossip.
“We are not,” I’d said softly, voice promising wrath and showing hints of my pain and fear because this bullshit would be town news before I ever got to Savannah, and she already hated me.
The principal made a disapproving humming noise as she’d looked to the board member, letting him take over.
“Stephanie said you told her I’m in the middle of a divorce,” I began when Emberly didn’t offer anything.
Emberly’s head shook wildly. “I didn’t.”
I put up a hand to stop her. “And because she’s eagerly telling people that we’ve been having an affair, and I’ve been staying at her place, the school board wouldn’t even hear my side. They just took her story as truth, and now we’ve been written up for having sex in my office even though I was never within ten feet of her when she had her clothes off. And if there is another ‘occurrence,’ we lose our jobs.”
Emberly bent, her hands falling to her chest as my brothers hissed curses beside me.
“Which, I don’t give a fuck about her. But me?” A weighted breath dragged from my chest. “A kid heard me yell at her to get dressed, and that’s how it got back around to the principal. I work in a school, Emberly. We didn’t just get written up for lewd acts in the workplace—it’s also in a school with kids present. Do you know what that alone is gonna do to me?”
“Fuck, Beau,” Hunter murmured.
“And all because you have to go and tell your goddamn customers that I’m getting a fucking divorce?” I yelled, never losing Emberly’s glassy-eyed stare. “But, why not?” A sound that was full of my bitterness and pain left me as I stumbled back a step. “I’m already losing everything else, might as well finish destroying my life, yeah?”
“I didn’t,” she cried out. “I’m not. She came in to grab lunch—she did. I’d just gotten there, like, just walked in. I was still walking to the bar when she caught up to me. She said she’d been hoping to see me because she wanted to ask about my condo, but I told her it wasn’t available right now. And she said, ‘Oh, I know, I was just wondering if you could tell me why Beau Dixon’s been staying there. Seems kinda weird when his wife and kids are in that big house.’”
She lifted her hands before letting them fall to her stomach. “I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say. But Stephanie said, ‘I know that’s his truck that’s been parked out front late nights and early mornings. I saw him getting into it when I was headed into work the other day.’ So, I just kinda shrugged and said my condo was always available to family before walking away. That’s it. That was the entire conversation. I never said anything about what’s been happening or even hinted at a divorce.”
“Nothing,” I said, voice hard. “Someone asks you about me? You say nothing.”
“Okay.” Her head bounced in a shaky nod. “Beau, I’m sorry. What can I do? I’ll go to someone and tell them she’s lying.”
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
“That isn’t fair,” Cayson said from beside me, but I was already turning.
Already heading back to my truck.
Every step felt harder than the last. My body heavier. As if I could feel the gossip and judgment from the town weighing me down because I knew what this would do to my marriage.
And I hadn’t even had a part in this shit.
“Beau,” Hunter called out when I was nearing my truck, voice close behind.
“Need you to leave me alone.”
“Maybe you should just stay,” he said. “You don’t need to be out there making any decisions with all this shit going on in your head.”
A sneering laugh bled from me. “Think you told me to leave about five times.”
“Beau.” He grabbed my door once I had it opened, positioning himself so I wouldn’t be able to shut it. “This is messed up, I don’t even know what to say about all this. But we can figure it out. We can figure out what to do.”