My brain slowly registers his words. Prove he’s lying. That should be simple enough. So why can’t I think of a single thing to provoke him?
He grabs the corner of my seat, angling me toward him. “Come on, Mads, let me have it.” His eyes nearly beg me. To what? Catch him in a lie? This is ridiculous.
I’m not about to air our dirty laundry in front of these kids, but I do have a list of grievances against him. Perhaps we can start at the beginning. “Okay.” I swallow and sit up straight. “Why did you start teasing me?”
The humor in his expression dims and he rubs his neck. He almost seems upset by my question, but he recovers quickly and relaxes in his seat with a forced smile. “Don’t most boys tease their school crush?”
There are a collection of sounds around us, some oohing, some whispering, but I don’t take my eyes off of Conner.
“He’s lying.” I tell the class without looking at them. “His answer was delayed and he replied with a question of his own.” That and he’s sporting his classic good-for-nothing smirk.
“Am I?” Connor says, trying to infuse doubt.
Time to stroke his ego a bit, and get him to drop his guard. “You aren’t like most boys, Mr. Quinn.” I tilt my head in his direction.
His lips twitch, but he shakes his head. “Oh, I’ve been told I’m very…average.”
Next tactic. I take a moment to study him then promptly dismiss him. “You’re right. You are very average. I’d be impressed if any girl ever fell for you.”
A girl in the back chimes in with an “I’d fall for him!” and several kids snicker.
“In fact, I see why youhaveto employ other tactics to get attention. Were you often ignored as a child and had to set about finding other ways to gain your parents’ attention?”
The smile slips from his face and his jaw goes slack.
Oops. That was a bit brash. The last thing I want these kids to do is speak to others with that kind of disrespect. I’m about to open my mouth to switch gears one last time when he speaks up.
“You’re right; they haven’t spoken to me in five years.” Pain fills his eyes as he leans closer to me. “Though, that’s hard to do from the grave.”
I rear back with a gasp. His parents are…gone? And I acted like a jerk about it in front of all these kids?
The class is still. Who knew teenagers were capable of silence this thick?
“That might not be the only reason I teased you, but that’s how it started,” he says. “You were always a good distraction.” There’s a heat coming from his eyes and words I refuse to feel.
Ican’tfeel. I won’t feel anything less than hatred for him.
But…he lost his parents.
I jump out of my seat, nearly hitting his face with my stomach on the way up. “Well, I think we are done here.”
He recovers much better than me and stands with an easy grin. “Sometimes the witness is lying, other times they aren’t. But they are on that stand for a reason. Each one has valuable information. It’s your job to uncover it.”
His eyes flick to mine like he’s trying to portray exactly why that information was valuable. But my brain is a mess.
I don’t stick around for any of his parting thoughts; I run from the room as the class erupts in applause.
I have too much to process, and the anger I’ve harbored for Connor turns into a lump in my throat. He might have started our war years ago, but I took shots at him when he was already wounded.
I speed-walk around the corner and run right into Diedre coming out of the bathroom. She jerks back, dropping a plastic baggy to the floor. The bag sits there, its powder-white contents creating a divide between us.
We both reach for it at the same time. Only her hand is much quicker, and she snatches the baggy up and stuffs it into her waistband.
“What’s that?” I ask, my voice sounding very lawyer-y right now.
The glare she gives me in return could make a queen tremble in her heels. “None of your business.” She shoves past me, hitting me with her elbow on her way.
My shoulders sag, and I walk out of the building. I’m creating a mess here. I never should have accepted this job.
