Playing For Keeps (13 page)

She should just leave. It was obvious
that they weren't really wanted here and she wasn't about to have
Robert forced on her so could spend the next two hours discretely
removing his hand from her leg or trying to ignore the sexual
innuendos he'd whisper in her ear.

Plus, she really didn't want to sit
around while they treated Jason horribly for another minute. He was
a good friend and deserved better treatment than that, especially
since he'd been nothing but kind to them no matter how rude they
were to him.

They both looked over in time to see
Robert stand up and head in their direction. Great. This night was
about to get worse.

Jason grinned that sexy grin of his as
he leaned down and whispered, "Let's get the hell out of
here."

He really was the best
friend
ever
, Haley
decided as they made their escape.

Chapter 12

“I’m sorry, Mr. Bradford,” Eric, one
of his normally best students, mumbled quickly as he averted his
eyes away from Jason’s murderous glare.

For the past three weeks he’d been
biting everyone’s head off. His normally easy going façade was
completely gone now. It didn’t make any sense. He’d been getting
the best sleep of his life and Haley had quickly become the most
important person in his life. He couldn’t imagine living without
her. He didn’t want to.

No matter what they did during the day
at night they came together. Not in the way he would like, but he
was still able to find peace at the end of a long day. Two weeks
ago they both gave up on rushing out of the other’s bed to go
shower and change their clothes in the morning. Now he had
toiletries in her bathroom and some closet and bureau space and she
had the same in his house.

It was weird, but probably not as
weird as two best friends who slept together but didn’t so much as
kiss. It was like they were living together, but alternating from
one house to the other. They spent a lot of time together, but they
also spent a lot of time on their own or with friends. When he was
away from her he wondered what she was doing and thinking. A few
times he had to stop himself from calling her to find out. The only
thing that was saving his sanity was knowing that she wasn’t dating
another man. He didn’t know how he’d feel about that. Judging by
the urge to put his fist into a wall every time he thought about
her and another guy it wasn’t good.

Another loud cheer went up next door.
He clenched his jaw tightly as he focused on the fifteen students
of his Honors U.S. history class. This was their two hour study
block to go over the material for the final exam which was tomorrow
and only ten minutes into it and he wanted to throttle every last
one of them.

He threw his papers onto his desk in
disgust, making his students shift around nervously in their
designer school uniforms.

“I don’t understand this. We’ve gone
over this material all year and none of you have any idea what hell
we’re talking about!” his voice rose, making the girls look close
to crying.

Another roar of applause came from
next door, drawing his attention back to the woman who was always
on his mind. He speared his fingers through his hair and paced the
floor. He was wound so damn tight right now, so close to
snapping.

A soft knock came at the door
connecting his classroom to Haley’s. She popped her head in,
smiling. That smile was like a balm to his soul, instantly relaxing
him.

“Yes?” he asked her in a much softer
tone than the one he’d been using with the kids.

Haley nibbled her lip nervously. “Mr.
Bradford, I was wondering if I could ask you and your students a
huge favor. I need some help preparing my kids for their test
tomorrow and since both classes are studying the same material I
was hoping you wouldn’t mind coming in here and giving me a
hand.”

“Yes, of course,” he found himself
answering immediately. Who in the hell could say no to someone so
adorable? She pushed her glasses back up on her nose and smiled
again damn near making his knees buckle.

“Excellent!” she said brightly,
pushing the door opened wider. “Why don’t you kids come in here?”
She turned to face her class. “Alright, you bunch of miscreants,
make some room!”

Jason grabbed the review packet he
made over the weekend and followed. As he walked past Haley he
couldn’t stop himself from grabbing her hand and giving it a
squeeze. If any of the kids saw they smartly kept their mouths
shut.

He watched as his students filled the
empty seats in her classroom. They kept shooting him nervous looks.
No doubt they were waiting for him to start yelling again. Little
did they know his little grasshopper kept him grounded.

Haley hopped up onto her desk and
crossed one beautiful leg over the other, drawing every guy’s
attention. He had to stop himself from killing the little bastards
then and there.

His little grasshopper seemed
oblivious to the attention she drew as she reached back to grab a
large brown paper bag. She winced a little as she picked it up and
placed it onto her lap. She held onto it, grabbing a large packet
with the other hand. He didn’t wait for an invite. He sat down on
the desk right next to her.

“Alright, guys, for those of you who
are just joining us we’re having a review. We’ll each take a turn
asking you a question. If you know the answer you get a prize,” she
said. He saw his students visibly relax. He didn’t think it was
over the prize, but over the reprieve from his temper.

Curious about the prize he leaned over
and gasped. How dare she hide these from him! He sent her a glare,
earning one of her exasperated eye rolls. He reached into the bag
only to have his hand slapped away. How dare she?

“You can have one after five of your
students answer a question correctly,” she informed him.

He sent a scathing look to his
students, letting them know they damn well better answer correctly
and quickly if they wanted to live. The woman had a huge bag,
probably twenty pounds, of Hershey’s Kisses and mini Reese’s Peanut
Butter cups and he’d be damned if he wasn’t getting at least
fifteen pounds of that. The hell with the kids. Did they really
need an education more than he needed chocolate? They all had trust
funds. They could get away with a tenth grade education. He on the
other hand needed that damn chocolate. Once his five students
answered their questions correctly he was attacking that bag
consequences be damned.

“Alright guys, first question,” Haley
announced as she looked at her packet. “Who was the first President
of the United States?”

Every hand in the room went
up.

Jason snorted. “Are you trying to just
give away my chocolate? Make them work for it.”

Haley randomly picked a student, one
of his, and tossed a Kiss. As she asked the questions they got
tougher. Nine questions later he was patiently waiting for one of
his students, John, to answer one of Haley’s questions.

“It was eighteen sixty….” the kid
trailed off as he thought it over. Jason was going to fail the kid
if he couldn’t answer the question. Not because it reflected poorly
on his teaching skills, but because this was the fifth question and
he wanted chocolate!

While Haley was watching the kid for
the answer, Jason discretely raised four fingers.

“Eighteen sixty-four,” John answered
quickly, trying not to look at Jason.

“Very good,” Haley said, tossing John
a peanut butter cup.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Cindy or
whatever the hell her name was from the dance cried. He should have
known the little witch would be looking for revenge. “Mr. Bradford
told him the answer!”

“Don’t be petty. John answered the
question correctly,” he said, holding out his hand for the
chocolate that was due him.

Haley eyed him carefully while he gave
her his most innocent expression. “Did you just cheat so you could
get chocolate?”

He did his best to look insulted.
“Would I do that?” he demanded.

She rolled her eyes and handed him a
huge handful of chocolate. “This should keep your cheating ways at
bay for a while.”

“You would think that, wouldn’t you,”
he said, unwrapping his treats while Cindy or whatever the hell her
name was scowled at him. He ignored her. He ate his chocolate
between asking questions of the class. He only paused to reach back
and snag Haley’s water bottle to wash down the
chocolate.

While they sat there hip to hip asking
questions he reached back and casually rubbed a circle on Haley’s
lower back. He almost groaned when he felt her tremor. Outward she
was cool and relaxed. She laughed with the kids and never had any
problems carrying on with her questions. He only stopped rubbing
her back when she handed him more chocolate, which only happened
when she caught him cheating.

The lunch bell rang. Haley held up a
hand. “Alright, guys. You’ve studied hard all year. I want you go
home, review and then I want you to relax. This is just a test,
guys. Just remember that and you’ll do fine. Remember everyone that
earns a passing grade of at least eighty will be joining me next
week on the last day of school for a make your own sundae
party.”

Jason glared at Haley. First chocolate
and now ice cream. What else was she withholding from him? He held
up his hand to stop everyone from leaving.

“The same deal goes for my class,” he
said.

“Copycat,” Haley mumbled.

“Damn straight,” he said as he waved
the students to leave.

They got up and left while he reached
over and grabbed the bag from Haley. He settled it on his lap and
started snaking away. Haley grabbed the bag from him and dropped it
in her desk drawer, locking it.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, cause that
will stop me.”

“Behave. If there’s any left by the
end of the day you can have more,” she said as she put her things
away. She paused by the door and tried her best to look stern as
she said, “That chocolate better be there after lunch,
mister.”

“Of course,” he readily
agreed.

She threw him one last look of warning
before she headed off towards the cafeteria for lunch duty. He’d be
right behind her since they had the same schedule. Only he had one
thing to do before that.

After making sure that she was gone he
knelt down and picked the lock with two paper clips he found on her
desk. Seconds later the lock clicked and he stole the booty and
headed for his room, sighing. When would she ever learn?

**********************

“I still don’t understand your
problem,” Mary said.

Haley scowled across the booth at her
friend. “What’s not to understand? Somehow, someway I managed to
find myself in a serious relationship without the
relationship.”

“That sounds…….different,” Mary said.
After a short pause Mary asked, “What the hell do you mean? I
thought you and Jason were just friends.”

“We are! It’s just that……” She sighed
heavily as she fiddled with the label on her beer. “He doesn’t date
anymore. He doesn’t even show any interest in another woman. When
we’re out he sends women away telling them he’s not
interested.”

“Well, that’s sweet-“

“When guys approach me he throws his
arm around me and gives them looks that scare the hell out of them.
Last night when we were out with Mitch at the movies some guy in
line stood too close to me and Jason got into a shouting match with
the guy.”

“He’s just being
protective-“

“He treats me like his girlfriend.
He’s always touching me and cuddling up with me. We sleep in the
same bed every night. We try sleeping positions like they were
sexual positions!” she hissed quietly, hoping the loud jukebox
music blocked out her voice to the rest of the bar
patrons.

“And you don’t like any of this?” Mary
guessed.

“Like it? I love it! Except I want
more. God, I can’t stop thinking about him and having him so close
but not close enough is killing me. I am so pathetic,” she mumbled
sadly.

“Does he know?”

“No. If he did he’d step back. He
doesn’t want a girlfriend. He wants a friend, a sister.”

“Doesn’t sound that way to
me.”

“Trust me. There’s no chance in hell
Jason Bradford is going to change his ways for me.”

“Well not if you don’t give him a
chance he won’t.” Mary reached over and took her hand. “You’re in
love with him aren’t you?’

Haley wiped at her eyes. “Let’s talk
about something else.”

“Fine,” Mary sighed. She stirred the
tiny red straw in her ginger ale and looked around the bar. “There
are a lot of really cute guys here tonight.”

Haley followed her friends gaze and
nodded her agreement. There were a lot of cute guys here tonight.
That brought up another interesting question. If she decided to
date and take the guy home would Jason get pissed? If she started
dating someone she couldn’t sleep in the same bed with Jason
anymore. It wouldn’t be fair and it would make everything weirder.
The fact that she didn’t want any other man but Jason holding her
didn’t help.