Page 2 of Bad to the Bone

“Yeah, you. When you were interviewing he got real particular about your application. He let it be known that you were one of his girls.”

“One of his...I’VE NEVER MET THE MAN!”

She took my hand in hers and patted it softly.

“I believe you, but not everybody will. And even if they do, it’s best not to get on the wrong side of Mayor Turner. So they all just keep their distance. Nobody gives you any trouble do they?”

“No.”

“Good. But you’ve heard the news.”

“Yes.”

“It’s all true. I can tell you the names of half of the girls he got into trouble,” she spat with disgust. “All of them were young, and pretty, and new in town, just like you. And all of them were gone in a flash. Just up and left.”

“Well, I’m not like that and I certainly am not one of his girls. I’m just a teacher,” I explained. She smiled at me with kind eyes and nodded as I spoke.

“I believe you, but you should know that others won’t. Those who have been around a while might believe that you turned him down. But that won’t win you any friends either” she said, turning her back on me and going back to her seat.

I wandered around for the rest of the day in a daze. I felt like an atomic bomb had just gone off in my lap. Did people think that I was sleeping with the Mayor? Why was he interested in my application in the first place?

Logic said that a sleazy guy saw an attractive woman during an interview and wanted to make a move. But, I’m not that lucky or that attractive. It had to be something else, something deeper, or else, why would he stay away all of this time? The problem was that I had more questions than I had answers and no way to get the answers I sought without possibly losing my job and making an already uncomfortable situation untenable.

That was yesterday.

Today, as I pull into the parking lot, Zayne is already there waiting for me. I suppress a small sigh as the sight of his tall, muscular body leaned against his car comes into view. Shannon gives a small “woohoo” before jumping out of the car, saying something unintelligible to Zayne and darting into the building. If there’s one thing she knows, it’s when to make herself scarce.

Despite all of the turmoil that must be going on in his home he looks relaxed, even a little smug as I approach him.

“Hey you,” I say, not sure if I should express sympathy for his father’s scandal or concern for his mother’s pain.

“Good morning, Luciernaga!”

“You look bright and chipper, considering…”

“Considering the fact that my father is plastered all over the local news and his phone won’t stop ringing?”

“Well, yeah,” I kick an errant pebble on the ground and push a few wispy hairs behind my ear. I’m back to my brown leather sandals and decidedly uncool denim jumpsuit again. Some people have comfort food, I have comfort clothes. Shannon insisted on dressing it up with a belt and a few accessories, but it doesn’t make much of a difference if you ask me.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” he says, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“What?”

“I am the source. It was me,” he says gleefully.

“What?” Seriously, the hits just keep on coming. I can’t handle any more shocking news today. “Why?”

“To get him off our backs.” He shrugs as if he just shut the front gate to keep the goats from running off. Simple. Not like he scuttled a man’s political career and shattered any hope of making a successful run for a state senate seat or anything.

“Why? Why would he be on our backs anyway?”

He stands up and takes a step forward as if he wants to hug me. I back up and clutch my bag. I have the great and terrible feeling that I am in way over my head with this kid and my best hope for survival is to back way the hell off and keep my head down until I can get the hell out of dodge. Unfortunately, my heart is having none of it and begins to thump painfully at the thought of not being able to see his smug face in the halls between classes.

“You don’t have to be afraid. I can protect you,” he says, sounding way too confident for my taste.

“Protect me from what? Your father? I don’t even know the man and he already managed to turn half the town against me. How are you going to protect me?”

“It’s not you he’s watching, it’s me. He thinks I like Shannon.”

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