“And what would you say she’s like?” he asked.
“I think you know. She’s not the kind of woman who settles down with one man or is controlled.” Teri ran her hands up and down her thighs before she continued talking. “I’ve never seen her with a guy twice in a row. She’s happy to have some fun, which isn’t a problem at all. Cora’s a free spirit.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I watched you watch her. I care about you, James. You’re a great fuck, but I consider you a close friend. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
“Cora’s not going to hurt me.”
“Not intentionally but she will hurt you if you’re after what I think you’re after.”
James let out a sigh, growing frustrated. “Just tell me what you’re trying not to tell me.” He was even confused by that statement. Clearly, Teri wanted to say something, but she wasn’t being blunt with him. James wasn’t in the mood to play twenty questions.
“I believe you’re at risk of falling in love with Cora, and she’s not capable of loving you back.”
He burst out laughing. The idea of him falling in love was completely absurd.
“Laugh, James. I know what I saw. The boys have even been talking about it. She passed Pixie over for you. I watched her as much as I did you. Cora didn’t look at Pixie. She was more interested in you. That’s never happened before.”
James stopped laughing. He licked his lips as her concerns were right on the mark. “I’m not going to fall in love with her. We’re sleeping together, that’s it.”
Teri placed her hand on his knee. “I’m here for you.”
“Don’t do that, Teri.”
“I told you years ago, James. I’m not in love with you. We’re friends. You just don’t see the difference. We can be friends without love.”
James had pulled away from Teri a couple of years ago when he believed she was getting a little too close. Teri had told him numerous times that she wasn’t in love with him. Over time, he’d started to believe her. There wasn’t really anything else he could do. He couldn’t argue with her over her feelings.
“I see the difference.”
“If you don’t know, you will with Cora.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve got a feeling there’s a chance you could fall in love with her.”
James wasn’t worried about that. Part of him already had.
Chapter Five
Back at work on Monday and Cora was catching up on everything she’d missed Friday that Sharon had wanted her to do, from writing letters to checking up on exam scores. She never took her work home with her as the paperwork wasn’t allowed to leave school premises, and so she always called Monday “catch-up day”. Cora didn’t need to take her work home. As the principal’s secretary, she usually got everything done in school hours. Besides, she didn’t want to have any files on the kids in the school at home. Sharon was locked away in her office with another bad boy of the moment, who liked to drink, smoke, and cause fights. He wasn’t much of a bad boy. Cora recognized the bad boy type, and Ryan Weston wasn’t one of them.
Sure, he brought alcohol into school and smoked cigarettes, but that was as far as the bad boy image went. Not once had he stunk of booze. Ryan may bring everything into the school, but he wasn’t drinking it. He sure was smoking, but there you were. Kids smoked, and tried to rebel, and Cora didn’t take that shit seriously.
Pushing the latest practice SAT scores into the files, Cora then placed each file into the cabinet. Sharon liked to keep a file on every student at the school. Once the senior year left, they all had the option of retaining their file or they burned it. Everything was loaded up onto the computer network anyway, but Sharon liked to have paper copies just in case. Even though everything was done on the computer, Sharon liked it done a certain way.
Cora wasn’t going to complain. When the computers crashed a year back the high school remained operational throughout, and Sharon didn’t even break into a sweat. There was a benefit to having a backup file that wasn’t located on a computer.
The door to Sharon’s office opened. “You’re going to need to have a long think about what you’re doing with your life, Mr. Weston.”
Sharon glanced toward her. “Can you keep any eye on him? I’ve got a call to make, and it’s very important.”
Ryan muttered something.
“Sure.” Cora didn’t have a problem with keeping an eye on the kids. If they tried anything, she’d soon teach them not to with a thirty year old woman who knew how to handle herself.