Crusher chuckles before lowering his voice. “Unless you want everyone to know you’ve got a hard-on for your buddy’s mom, it’s probably best not to get so territorial.”
All the blood drains from my face, and I whip my head around to Vander’s. He promised we would keep this a secret, and I will lose my shit if he hasn’t kept his word.
Vander flips him the bird. “It’s called respect, douche.”
“Okay. Enough.” Jimmy steps in between them. “Crusher, go warm up in the ring, and let Kendall and Vander get started.” Vander frowns when he spots my glare. Jimmy smiles softly while shaking his head. “I’m the only one who knows, Kendall, and I will never tell. Crusher is just being Crusher.” Jimmy turns his attention to Vander. “Keep it strictly professional, son.”
“I fully intend to.” A muscle clenches in Vander’s jaw as he watches Jimmy walk away. “I swear I didn’t say anything to Crusher,” he says, stretching his arms up over his head. “He’s just making assumptions.”
“We can’t ever let our guard drop.” I chew on the inside of my mouth as I feel eyeballs on my back. “Maybe we should do this upstairs from now on.”
Vander smothers a grin. “Then we wouldn’t get anything done.”
I cough to disguise my laugh. “True.”
“Come on. Let’s warm up, and then I’ll run through some basic techniques with you.”
By the time I leave an hour later, I’m sweating profusely, I ache all over, and I realize I’d be utterly useless if anyone came at me. I wasn’t able to block any of Vander’s moves, and he overpowered me every single time. It was also difficult concentrating with him touching me so much. But there is no denying I need it, and I intend to talk to Viola and June to suggest they get some training too.
“Got a minute?” I ask June the following Monday as I lounge against the door to her office. Her head is buried in her laptop, and she has a look of fierce concentration on her face.
“Of course. Come in.”
I step inside and shut the door behind me. “I need a favor.”
She leans back in her chair and sets her pen down. “What’s up?”
“Does Carly’s friend still work in the administration office at Yale?”
She nods. “She does. She recently got promoted too.”
Good. That might come in handy. “Do you think you could arrange a phone call? I want to talk to her about financial aid for Vander.”
June arches a brow. “He got in?”
I smile. “He got early acceptance.” I’m not surprised. I knew he would be offered a place. “West got into OU too on a football scholarship.”
“That’s amazing news. You must be so proud.”
“I am, but I’m worried about Vander. His finances aren’t great, but the financial aid options at Yale are based on ability to pay, and his father’s wealth could be a big issue. I want to find out how we can submit a special case for him.” Vander doesn’t know I’m doing this or that I saw the papers spread out on his coffee table over the weekend. I wasn’t snooping, per se, because his budget calculation was in plain sight. He is paying for his mother’s rehab, and it isn’t cheap. He’ll be lucky if he can afford one year of Yale. I saw applications for student loans, but if he can get financial aid from the college, it’ll save him racking up a ton of student debt. I want to help if I can.
“I’ll talk to Carly tonight and see if she can give Della a call. I’m sure she’d be willing to talk to you.”
“Great, thanks.”
I stop by the printing room on my way back to my desk to copy a few files, inwardly groaning when I walk inside and find Greg there. He’s standing at one of the copiers, loading papers into the document feeder. He only returned to work recently, and I have managed to avoid seeing him until now.
“Kendall.” He jerks his head in acknowledgment as I walk by.
“Gregory.” It takes effort to sound civil.
Tension bleeds into the air as I walk to the farthest copier, putting as much distance between me and Vander’s father as possible. I do my best to ignore him as I remove papers from the first file and put them into the document feeder. The whooshing of the copiers is the only sound in the room as we purposely ignore one another. I wet my dry mouth and focus on the task at hand, wanting to get in and out as fast as possible.
My heart rate accelerates when I spy Greg walking toward me, out of the corner of my eye. Bypassing me, he crouches down just behind me, searching for something on the supplies shelf. My hands shake as I reach for my second file, inserting more paper into the document feeder as I lean over and collect the copies of the first file along with the originals.
Something brushes against my leg, and I turn rigidly still. My heart jackhammers behind my rib cage as a tickling sensation creeps up the inside of my leg. Blood rushes to my head, and panic sluices through my veins as fingers brush along my inner thigh. I stumble to the side, gripping the copier for support as I swallow over the bile collecting in my throat. “What are you doing?” I stare at Greg as he straightens up.
He flashes me a blinding smile while waving a wad of envelopes at me. “Dropped these. Oops,” he lies.
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t touch me again.”
He steps forward, putting himself all up in my space. “Or what?” The amused look on his face irritates me to no end, and I straighten up and glare at him.
“Or I’ll report you to human resources.”
He chuckles, but it’s a low menacing sound. “Do you honestly think Paul Cummings would give a shit?” He backs me up, against the printer, trapping me in the corner with no way out. I wish I could remember any of the moves Vander showed me last week, but my brain is mush as terror does a number on me.
“I bill millions of dollars every year, honey.” He runs his fingers down my cheek, and I move to swat his hand away when he grabs my wrist and squeezes it. “I could bend you over this copier and fuck your brains out, and no one would give a damn.” He thrusts his pelvis into me, and acid churns in my gut as I feel the evidence of his arousal pressing against my stomach. His fingers sweep down my neck. “We should try that sometime.” Leaning in, he licks up my neck, and it’s a miracle I don’t puke all over him. “Now that we’re both spouseless and free as a bird.”
“You couldn’t pay me to touch you, and if you don’t get away from me, I’ll scream.”
He steps back, holding his hands up like he wasn’t just groping me against my will, chuckling again. “This is going to be fun. I am really going to enjoy it.” He blows me a kiss as he backs toward the door. “Until next time, sexy.”
35
VANDER
“Senior year is shit,” Shep grumbles as we make our way out of school on Friday afternoon.
“It’s nearly over.” I remind him while we walk toward the parking lot. “We are already into February, so there are only three more months of school before we graduate. I thought you were happy with your college acceptance.”