“Flint says she’s close with the kids. That she’s known around town as the teacher to go to if you got problems, even if they ain’t in her class.”
I look over at Flint, and he gives me a nod. I don’t begrudge him for looking into Troublemaker, be it from talking to Jules or running a search on her. I did the same, so this ain’t news to me.
“Yeah.” I let the word dangle out there as Law glances around the table at the other brothers before he looks back at me.
“You think she’d be able to tip us off if she sees something at her school?”
I lean back in my chair and breathe out. I get what he ain’t saying out loud. He wants her to snoop, to look into things a bit more than what’s on the surface. Even though it’s summer, no doubt she has access to records about kids who haven’t registered for the following year. Or even just talking to the students in her class and seeing how the rest of the kids are doing outside. If Duke is targeting the troubled ones, Bailey would have more access to them with summer school.
“Depends.”
“On what?” the VP growls, clearly still upset about his mom and my dad.
“She going to get the backing of the club?”
“You staking a claim?” Law smirks, something I find myself mimicking.
“Maybe.”
Chapter 18—Bailey
I’m not going to check my phone. I’m not going to check my phone.
Shit. Of course I look at it.
Again.
I don’t know why I’m doing this to myself. It’s not like he didn’t leave a note. Hell, he even made me an omelet and toast with said note. A note I can’t stop thinking about. No one has ever left me one before, much less made sure I had a good meal before work.
It was short and sweet.
Best night’s sleep I’ve ever had. Looking forward to doing it again. Sorry to leave early but got club business. Eat up and stay out of trouble.
XO Reese.
Not sure what set my heart beating more, that he signed it with kisses and hugs or that he used his real name and not his club name. I know it’s a big deal for them to give out their real name. Jules broke it down for me once after I asked what Flint’s name was and she went on a tangent that it wasn’t her place to say, and if Flint wanted me to know, he would tell me. Something about people being too close to them and hurting them if they know a name beyond the club name.
But ever since he told me, I haven’t been able to stop saying it on repeat in my head. Maybe it’s because he only told me yesterday, and it feels like so much has happened since then. Or maybe it’s because I’ve known him for so long as either Prospect or Gator that learning his Christian name is almost like a foreign language to me.
Whatever it is, it has me more distracted than ever. And being distracted while teaching high schoolers is never a good thing. Case in point, I just now noticed that half the class is up and talking to each other and not doing the reading assignment. I check the clock on the wall to make sure I didn’t miss the lunch bell or something. I’m not known as being strict in the classroom compared to others, but I have structure.
“Shouldn’t you guys be reading the chapters I assigned and writing a summary sheet?” I say it in a way that I hope gets them all back on track.
It’s Hunter who looks up from what appears to be a sketch of a giant-ass dog on the front of his notebook. “We finished that already.”
“All of you?” I ask as I tip my head back to look over the rest of the room. They’re all nodding.
“Ain’t that hard,” Erica says with a snap of her gum.
I just raise my eyebrow, since it seemed to be the hardest feat in the world when we first started this class a few weeks back.
She must be able to read my thoughts, as she rolls her eyes. “Maybe you’d have noticed if you weren’t off in la-la land. Who are you thinking about, anyway? The biker or the bodybuilder?”
“Bodybuilder is strictly dickly, ain’t he, Ms. B?” Shane chimes in as he gets off the desk he’s sitting on and wanders over to the front ofmydesk to sit.
“Not sure if you’re talking about Jordan or Meekail, but yes, they’re in a relationship. Get off,” I say with a push of my ruler at Shane. I make it a point to not actually touch my students in the classroom. I’ve seen too many YouTube videos of situations blown up for nothing.
“So it’s the biker. Nice. You want the one with the long hair or the young one?” Erica nods like we’re the best gal pals right now, and I’m more shocked that she’s speaking calmly and not cursing at me for the work I assigned. Another freaking miracle today. Either the kids really are working hard or maybe my little run over the weekend inspired them a bit. Maybe what I ask of them in the classroom isn’t all that hard compared to other things in life.
