Teach Me Like That (LMLT Book 2) (2 page)

I can’t really complain about Kadin calling so early. My alarm went off while I was in the shower. I lost maybe fifteen minutes of sleep; no big deal. The mere three hours I got before the phone rang? Status quo for me. My mind is clear, and my body is sated and loose, but a couple hours between the sheets with a no-strings-attached woman is enough to keep me going
almost
all week long.

I go out a lot. I love to have a good time with several of the guys on my crew. It’s been the norm for us for years.

A beer or two and going home with a beautiful woman? That’s my idea of a perfect night. With alcoholism running rampant in my family, I never take my consumption to an extreme. Plus, I can’t drive myself home if I’m drunk. I always go to their place or a hotel, since not being able to escape is not a situation I ever want to be in, not after that one time in college.

I pull up to Kadin’s country house just a little after seven. Pudge, Kadin’s dog, thumps his tail loudly on the porch as I walk up. I reach down and scratch his head. He’s just as exhausted as I would be having to deal with Anastyn and Lennox day in and day out. He licks my hand in thanks and goes back to snoozing.

The door swings open before my knuckles can make contact with the wood.

“Hey, man,” Kadin says taking a step away from the door.

I smirk at his jeans and t-shirt. My brother is the CEO of Cole International, our family’s company. He took over quite some time ago, but has just recently in the last five or six years started acting like the powerful businessman we’ve always known him to be. I’m lucky enough to actually be able to get out into the field and work with my hands building the custom log cabins we’ve become the go-to company for.

Kadin despised his ‘promotion’ in the beginning, but I think he’s pretty grateful for it now that he’s a serious family man. I’m not saying corporate tasks and shit are easy, but they don’t compare physically to the work my crew and I do. He’d never be able to get the upper hand on the girls if he was exhausted from working in the sun all damn day.

“You’ll need to put their booster seats in your truck,” Kadin says walking away and heading into the kitchen. “We have an extra set in the hall closet,” he says over his shoulder.

I leave him to help the girls finish breakfast and grab the little pink car seats from the closet.

Just what I need in my jacked up Dodge pickup; girly as fuck car seats. They match perfectly with the heated leather seats and mud tires.

By the time I have the cock-blocking pink seats in my truck and turn around, Lennox and Anastyn are barreling down the front steps and jumping into the truck. I turn and give Kadin a look of despair.

“Where am I taking them?” I ask closing the door once the last little plaid skirt settles into her seat.

“Edgewood Academy,” Kadin responds.

I cock an eyebrow at him, giving my head a little shake to get more information out of him.

“Seriously? You went there with me last year when we were looking at schools for the girls.”

“Got no clue, man.”

“Pretty sure you banged the headmistress,” he says with a smirk.

I narrow my eyes at him, my recollection failing me this time.

“T&A?” he says quietly, looking over his shoulder to make sure London isn’t within earshot. I grin at him. He’s completely dedicated to his beautiful wife, but the man still has eyes in his head. “Blonde?”

“Ah,” I exclaim with my eyes widening and a smile spreading across my face. “Super nice tits. Thick ass. Hell yeah!” I say rounding my truck as Kadin chuckles and turns to go back inside.

I’m not one of those guys that does the hit it and quit thing. If a woman is great in bed and doesn’t get those romantic stars in her eyes, if she doesn’t set off any ‘need for commitment’ bells, I’m known to give her a second ride in my truck.

The headmistress at Edgewood Academy, from what I remember of her, was very… enthusiastic, but wasn’t interested in anything but my cock the couple of times we hooked up. The perfect woman as far as I’m concerned.

Before I can pull out of the driveway, Kadin comes running to the truck with two handfuls of bright purple fabric bags.

“What the—” I look in the rearview mirror and smile when Anastyn narrows her eyes at me, daring me to finish the sentence.

I roll down my window even though I know what he wants.

“London reminded me that these need to go to the classroom with the girls,” Kadin says handing over the bags.

“How in the world are they going to carry them to class after I drop them off?” I ask situating them on the passenger seat. “They weigh a good twenty pounds.”

“You have to walk them into their class, Kegan. This is a private school. You don’t just drop them off down the block and wish them luck. They’re in kindergarten, not flipping middle school.”

“Amateur,” Anastyn’s sweet voice says from the back. Kadin bites his lip to keep from smiling. Six years old and that girl has a mouth on her many people can’t seem to control.

“Two different classes?” I ask pulling my death glare from Anastyn.

“Same class,” Kadin says. “Anastyn’s birthday was after the fall cutoff. Since they’re only ten months apart, they’re in the same class.”

I nod in understanding, immediately feeling sorry for their teacher. One on one the girls really aren’t that hard to handle. Together? Well, let’s just say, Mary freaking Poppins would walk out on her first day!

We aren’t even out of the driveway before Anastyn begins talking.

“Guess what, Uncle Kegan?”

“What’s that?” I say looking at her in the rearview mirror.

“We’re getting a cat!” Lennox interrupts.

I shake my head. “No way. Your dad is allergic to cats; that’s why you have Pudge.”

“Yes way,” Anastyn argues. “We heard daddy telling mommy how perfect her kitty was.”

A quick glance back finds Lennox nodding in agreement with her older sister.

“I think they’re hiding it until Anastyn’s birthday in a few weeks.”

“How about some music?” I ask turning on the radio while trying to divert their attention. London and Kadin need to seriously watch what they’re saying or sound proof their room. I shouldn’t have to suffer through conversations like this.

Twenty minutes later I’m pulling into the parking area at the private school. I check my ears in the rearview mirror. Much to my surprise, I don’t have blood flowing from them. I was certain after listening to a kid bop station on the radio during the drive in would have done some damage.

I instruct the girls that they will lose every toy they ever wanted if they do not file out of the truck on the same side and hold each other’s hands as they walk across the narrow driveway into the school. They may be complete heathens, but I’ll be damned if they get hurt on my watch. Surprisingly, they comply.

I file threats of toy loss into my mind to use again at a later date.

Lennox holds my hand, and Anastyn holds her other one as we walk in a line to the front of the school. The bright purple bags on my arms make me feel like a complete douche, but it is what it is, right?

I ignore, mostly, the looks from all the soccer moms as I clear the front door of the school. You’d think rich women would have enough couth to not openly gawk at me while standing in little clusters giggling like damn teenagers, especially with the huge rocks of their wedding rings shining in the damn morning sunlight.

I may have enough notches in my bed post that I’m surprised it’s still standing and hasn’t been relegated to sawdust, but married women are something I don’t even touch. Ever.

“This way,” Lennox says tugging my hand down a wide hallway.

I increase my speed. The sooner I get out of here, the sooner I can get rid of the girly ass bags dangling from my arm. I’m not anti-female anything. I love all kinds of women, especially very feminine women, but carrying these bags makes me want to do pull-ups or crush a beer can on my head.

The girls are excited and acting like they’re hyped up on loads of sugar and caffeine as we make our way down the hall. They bounce, skip, and giggle all the way to the classroom. It won’t be long before Kadin and London get the call from this school informing them that the girls are going to have to go somewhere else for their educations. I can’t even imagine the disruptions they cause in the classroom.

Anastyn pulls open the door for their classroom, holding it open for her younger sister to bounce through. I grip the top of the door as she steps in herself.

“Girls,” A woman says. “Take your assigned seats.”

The girls calm immediately. What kind of witchcraft voodoo is this shit?

“Yes, ma’am,” they both say in angelic voices.

I watch in awe as the two little spawns of Satan turn into completely different children.

I cut my eyes toward the sorceress, prepared to ask for her spell book and stop in my tracks. Piercing green eyes, surrounded by more dark hair than you’d see in an expensive shampoo commercial, look over at me as the door slams closed. I’m so enchanted by her attention toward me that I released my hold on the door. The sound rings through the quiet classroom and echoes off the walls, breaking the trance she’s holding me under. I blink several times, unsure if I lost seconds or entire days.

She’s nothing like I normally go for. Her thin, almost lanky frame, and from what I can tell, tiny breasts, are nothing similar to the thick thighs and double Ds of the headmistress I was hoping would be down for some fun this evening.

She gives me another quick smile and looks down. I’m certain my cheeks flush when I realize my dick must be straining against my jeans.

Lexi

The first week of school is always complete chaos, even more so when you’re teaching kindergarten. Granted, this is only my second first week of school, but if I recall, last year was pretty rough as well. I may have almost given myself alcohol poisoning with my wine consumption that first weekend.

No matter how much planning you do, you can never really prepare yourself for the ruckus that comes with fifteen tiny kids in their initial week of a structured educational environment. If they’re not crying because they don’t want to be separated from their parents, they’re out of control and have absolutely no manners.

You’d think things would be different with the children of some of the richest parents in Washington; it’s not. Tiny humans don’t really understand money, responsibility, and image at such a young age. Lucky for me, I’ve always managed quite easily with children.

My secret? I don’t really have one. What I have found that works best is to make sure they know how much fun they can have, and then whisper. That’s right, whisper. Yelling over them doesn’t work. It will become a competition. Forcing them to get quiet or miss out on the fun is accomplished by lowering my voice. I read it in a book once, and I thought it would never work, but to my surprise, it works like a charm. You have to get your bluff in early of course.

What frazzles me most is being late, which of course on the third day of school, is the situation I find myself in this morning. The house next door to mine is in the process of being torn down, and every morning this week I have found bits and pieces of that destruction in my own damn yard. After the storm that blew in last night, the debris in my yard was more than normal. Hence, the reason I’m running late. My grandmother took great pride in her yard and would roll over in her grave if she knew I just walked away and left it a mess.

I tuck my head to my chest and do my best to slide past the front office unnoticed. The clearing of a throat tells me I’ve failed. I stop in my tracks, knowing if I just keep going there will be more hell to pay than just standing there and taking whatever chastisement Headmistress Amelia DuPont deems fair for a four-minute tardy.

“Should I expect behavior like this to continue throughout the entire school year, Ms. Carter?” Her voice is like a highbrow Minnie Mouse and grates on my nerves more than someone tapping the end of a pen in an otherwise silent room.

I roll my lips between my teeth and take a deep breath, reminding myself that I need this job, and I serve a purpose in the lives of the children entrusted to my daily care.

“Should I?” she prompts again.

“No ma’am,” I respond.

I could tell her about my morning. Most people would understand. Honestly, most people wouldn’t bat an eyelash at a four-minute tardy. I only had one last year because I witnessed an accident on the way to work and pulled over to render aid. Ms. DuPont, however, doesn’t care.

She doesn’t take into consideration that four minutes late is still twenty minutes before the children start to arrive. She’s hated me since day one, this being my second year and her third. Granted, I’m the youngest teacher here, and the one closest to her in age, but she’s had it out for me since the beginning. Luckily, I toe the line and never give her any reason to admonish me.

“The formal reprimand will be ready in the office this afternoon,” she says with more joy in her voice than necessary at a time like this. “I’ll expect you to come by before leaving for the day to sign it.”

My right eye twitches uncontrollably. I take a calming breath and blow it out slowly; it’s the only thing keeping me from scratching her eyes out. I’m not a violent person, but she brings out the worst in me. I nod and walk away.

Crazy thing about that little interaction? She held me in the hallway, asserting her power, longer than the four minutes I was initially late. Ironic, isn’t it?

Deep breaths in and slow breaths out. That’s my focus as I walk to my classroom. I refuse to let my bad start this morning reflect in my day. The kids in my classroom don’t deserve any animosity that the headmistress forced into my soul.

Amelia DuPont is a prime example of how a rich daddy’s money can buy you a position of power. I’m not even certain the woman has the educational background to run Edgewood Academy, yet here she is the tyrannical leader of the entire school. I’m not the only teacher who seems to have trouble with her. She tends to let her claws out with several of the teachers; female teachers, of course, never the males.