Chapter 60

Chapter Sixty

GREY

Redwood Prep stands in all its mighty glory, lording its grand, arrogant face against the sunrise.

For the last time, I move up the stairs and walk inside.

My heels click against the floor, and it sounds like Zane hitting his drumsticks together before a song.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

I move to that steady rhythm, my heart both heavy and full.

Redwood is still defiant after all the scandals that have passed through these halls, mine being one of them.

It doesn't apologize for what it covers up, for the evil it swallows.

It never does.

Instead, it only gets more and more haughty.

Pristine lockers sit beneath grand, chapel-like stained glass windows. The light straining through the glass dances. Red, green and blue colors come alive, not knowing all the darkness that lies just beneath the surface.

I make a quick stop in the admin office and then cut a familiar path to the teacher's lounge where I unfold the cardboard box I brought with me. One by one, I place my text books in the depths.

Othello

Grapes of Wrath

My fingers still when I pick up my copy of Romeo and Juliet . Lifting the book to my nose, I inhale, recalling that moment when Zane and I debated in class about tragedies versus love stories.

I smile, glad that our story ended with us together, happy, and ready to start a new chapter.

The book goes in the box along with all my other belongings. I cover it all up, ready to balance it against my hip when someone wrenches the box from me.

I whirl around with a gasp. "Zane."

"Did you really think I'd let you do this alone?"

"You mean after I specifically asked to do this alone?"

He leans down and kisses me softly.

I kiss him back, feeling daring and untouchable all at once. The contents in the box slosh forward as Zane presses me into the desk and kisses me like his life depends on it. The roughness of his caress eases into a soft, gentle kiss.

"Mm."

Our lips disconnect with a pop that sends goosebumps running over my skin.

Zane peers at me through hooded eyes. "Where's all this energy coming from? I thought I tired you out this morning."

Heat sweeps through my chest when I remember where my lips were when I woke Zane up this morning. After he'd agreed to work for the yakuza with me, I'd felt particularly thankful and… giving.

Smiling, I wrap my arms around his neck. "I still need to formally speak to the Vice Principal, but I left my resignation letter on his desk."

"And?" He arches a perfect, dark brow.

"And that means, technically, I'm no longer a teacher at Redwood."

"Is it that much of a relief?"

I nuzzle my nose with his. "I may be your step-sister, but I'm no longer your teacher. And yes, that feels really good."

"Does it matter to you? That we're step-siblings?"

"It's a little awkward." I shrug.

"What if I told you that your mom offered to divorce my dad if I broke up with you?"

My eyes widen. "When?"

"A while back."

"I can't imagine mom giving up her status just to keep us apart."

"That's how much she loves you." Zane traces my lips with his finger. "Have you considered… maybe… talking to her?"

I stiffen and turn away.

He tilts my face toward his. "It was just a suggestion."

"Mom will never accept us."

"Grey," Zane sets his boxes down and holds me close, "I love you. I love you with everything inside me. That means I want you to have everything you could ever want. Everything. It shouldn't be me or her. That's not the life I want for you."

"But it's the life I'm happy with for right now." I smile. "Really."

"First the yakuza, now your mom. I'm afraid of how you're going to surprise me next."

"Brace yourself."

"Uh-oh."

"Forget it."

"Tell me."

"It's, as my students would say, ‘cringy'."

"Now I'm really intrigued." He plants both hands on either side of me. "Grace Elizabeth Cross, you either tell me what you want right now or I'm laying you on this desk and using that ruler over there to teach you a lesson."

I shudder in delight. "Don't tempt me."

He laughs.

I grin along. "I'd want to feel, just once, what it would be like if I wasn't your teacher or your step-sister or any of that. If I was just a girl you met in school and I had a crush on you and you had a crush on me too."

"That's it?"

My eyebrows arch. Why is he making it sound so easy?

"Come on," Zane says.

He pulls me along and takes me to the lost and found area where he instructs me to put on a school uniform.

I feel extremely awkward wearing the prep school outfit again after six years… until Zane rolls everything under my skirt off and shows me that there are much better feelings in the world than awkwardness.

We hold hands and walk to the library where Zane brackets his hands on the bookshelf above my head and kisses me.

He takes me to the football field where he kisses me again.

I finally enter the infamous private practice room for The Kings where Zane sets me in his lap and…

"Is this what dating at eighteen is like? Just…" I breathe out as he nibbles my ear and skates his hands over my thighs. "Making out?"

"We did more than make out in the romance section," he says, sucking on a finger to prove the point.

A jolt of electricity zips up my spine.

Zane chuckles, a dark and filthy sound that reminds me of the bookcases pressing into my back.

I lift my curls away from my neck, feeling hot and flushed.

Zane presses one more, firm kiss against my lips and then he sets me off his lap. "It's about time for school to start. You should check if the principal's in his office now."

"Yeah." I sigh heavily and leave to accomplish my final task.

The talk with the Vice Principal is as tense as I expected.

He wears a stern expression as he pulls my resignation letter across the table. "Thank you for… doing what's best," he says.

Watching his disapproving eyes, I get the feeling if I hadn't resigned before school started this morning, I would have been fired during regular working hours.

"I'll process this resignation immediately." He plucks at the edge of the envelope like it's filthy.

"Understood." I nod.

"Miss Jamieson," the Vice Principal's face is grave, "I don't like confrontation and, now that you're also married into the Cross family, I have even more reason to choose my words carefully. However, I have to ask for the safety of all the students at Redwood and for our internal write ups…"

I hold my breath, waiting.

"Were you and Mr. Zane Cross… involved before he turned eighteen?" A blush steals across his face. "And did any of your… interactions happen at this school?"

"No, he was eighteen at the time we…" I clear my throat. "And about the second question, I won't answer that."

"Even if you don't answer me, you may have to answer the police if the parents' petition gets enough signatures."

My back stiffens but, I was prepared for that kind of response too.

"Understandably, the parents and the staff are horrified to learn that you not only dated a student while he was attending Redwood Prep, but you married him. They believe you may have crossed a legal line."

"Zane is eighteen, so no laws have been broken."

The Vice Principal firms his lips. "Miss Jamieson, if your only defense is that your deed is ‘technically' legal, how strong is that defense?" He shakes his head. "If you were a male teacher who had done this to a female student, whether she was eighteen or not, the outrage would have been immediate and visceral. You would not be standing here, so calm and unaffected. And the world… the world would not crown you as a hero because you avenged your deceased friend."

His words give me pause.

"I simply don't understand," he continues. "Eighteen-year-olds are adults in the eyes of the law, but I've been an educator for forty years and one thing holds true. Reaching their eighteenth birthday doesn't magically turn an eighteen year old into a mature adult. These kids are not yet developed and have immense growing left to do. Zane Cross in particular is known, even by the staff, to be unmotivated by anything but having as many girls as possible."

"It sounds like you're concerned for me now, Vice Principal."

"You belong to the Cross family. You're up here." He points to the ceiling. "And I'm down there. How can I feel sorry for you when we both know nothing will come of this scandal? Those boys won't let you suffer." He frowns.

"You seem disappointed."

"Can I not be disappointed by a fellow teacher dishonoring the profession I gave my entire life to?"

My expression doesn't change but, inside, I flinch.

"No matter how much money they throw at us, no matter how this family tries to hide your faults, that won't fully scrub away this scandal. It will follow you for the rest of your life. With one choice, with one student, you're ruined."

I purse my lips, not because I don't have an argument but because it's pointless. Nothing I say will convince him of my innocence. No evidence will prove that I deserve his respect. The world will assume the worst, so he's right. My reputation is shot.

I speak slowly and firmly. "A teacher's job is to teach and I have never faltered in that area. I have always encouraged my students to be respectful to me, to their families and to each other. During my time at Redwood, I was eager to teach in the classroom, eager to inspire, eager to give these kids the tools that they'll use long after they've left Redwood behind. My hard work shows through their results. Their grades improved, their thirst for knowledge and interest in literature soared, and they've come back with impressive pre-college test scores."

The Vice Principal temples his fingers, saying nothing. He can't. The evidence is right there in my students' files.

"I have been professional and earnest, holding those in my class to the highest academic standard. As you said, my relationship with one student will overshadow all of that. This is the road I chose to take and these are the consequences I'll bear because of it. However," I lean forward, my eyes determined and my voice steady, "I was a damn good teacher and my students are going to excel because of the short time they spent with me. That is my legacy at Redwood."

His eyes dart away and he lifts my resignation letter. "I hope ‘one student' was worth everything you had to lose, Miss Jamieson."

I nod slowly, trying to hide how my fingers are trembling. The Vice Principal's judgement is written on his face and I can only imagine how the rest of my co-workers are feeling. I'm glad I already cleared my things out of the teachers' lounge.

With nothing left to say, I turn and walk out of the office with my head held high. Guilt is nibbling at the corner of my heart; however, I faced a yakuza head and stood my ground. If I did that, I can hold my head high in front of the staff at Redwood Prep easily.

To my surprise, the receptionist's area is empty except for a six-foot-three student who unfolds himself from behind the receptionist's chair and stretches his long arms to the ceiling.

"Zane?" I whisper in surprise.

His eyes follow my gaze to the chair that he's occupying. "Oh, I asked for the room. I wanted to be here when you were finished with your conversation." He stands, walks around the desk and rubs up and down my arms. "You okay, tiger?"

"Yeah." My throat has a tight lump of emotions, but I'll be okay. "There's no going back now."

"Nope." He studies me intently.

"I'm saying goodbye to Redwood for good. I won't ever be back."

Zane flashes me one of his signature, charming smiles. "Are you sad you won't get to be eighteen with me anymore?"

"Maybe," I admit with a small smile.

"Don't be." He pulls me toward him and gives me a hug. I rest my head on his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart. At once, I feel calm.

"From now on," Zane promises, "I'll be the one living like I'm twenty-four. No, like I'm thirty-four. I'll be as reliable as a fifty year old and as steady as a seventy-year old. I'll protect you like I'm sixty-five and cherish you like we're eighty."

"Now you're just throwing out numbers," I mumble.

He runs his thumb over my scar and then kisses it. "Are you ready for your new life, Mrs. Cross?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," I answer.

"I'm not ready," I say, three days later when I see the two lines on the pregnancy stick. I'd taken the test after missing my period—just to rule it out, but I hadn't actually thought it would come back positive.

Cadence and Dutch have been trying to get pregnant for ages and maybe some part of me thought we'd have that same result.

The two little lines tell me otherwise.

Still in shock, I drive to the hospital.

A nurse takes my information when I walk in and points me to the waiting chairs. There are mothers sitting with swollen bellies. Some are alone. Others are with their partners. They all look extremely excited.

"First time?" an older woman turns to me, rubbing her stomach.

"Uh… I'm not sure."

She laughs. "This is my seventh."

"Seventh? Wow."

"Yeah. The first one almost killed me. The second tore me up, but it got easier from the third onward."

My eyes widen to twice their size. Did she mean for that to be comforting? Because it wasn't.

"Mrs. Cross." A voice calls.

I shoot to my feet, nod politely at the mom of seven and hurry away.

The doctor is all smiles, but I'm all panic and frantic movements.

"Did you come alone?" the doctor asks.

"I'm married." I lift my hand on impulse to show my ring. "I mean, no. I'm not alone. I mean, I am alone right now, but my husband is… he's at…" I'm not going to say high school.

I absolutely won't.

"… busy," I finish lamely.

"No problem. You just seemed nervous. Is there anyone you can call?"

I consider calling mom but discard the idea immediately. She made it clear that she won't see me if I'm with Zane. The fact that she hasn't reached out since she heard Zane and I are married is proof that she fully intends to cut me out of her life.

"I'll be fine. Please go ahead," I say.

The doctor takes my blood work and then sends me on my way after telling me to expect a call from the lab.

The call comes in later that afternoon.

"Mrs. Cross," a professional voice on the other end says, "your results from your bloodwork are in. You are indeed pregnant. Congratulations."

My eyes burst open.

Zane's at school and I'm in the house alone. Martina just left to get groceries and I've been doing research on all the complications that come with birth.

"I'm… pregnant?" I wheeze. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

"No, that can't be right."

"The results are right here." The woman sounds astonished by my response.

"How do you have my results so fast? The doctor said I'd know in three to five days. It hasn't been three hours yet."

"Three hours? These… results were from six days ago."

My jaw drops.

Papers shuffle in the background. "Isn't this phone number…" She rattles off the number for the villa.

"Yes, but…"

"Aren't you Mrs. Cadence Cross?"

The ground shakes under my feet.

I sink into a chair. "Cadence Cross?"

My heart ricochets in my chest.

Cadence is pregnant.

I set a hand on my stomach…

And so am I.