To Professor, With Love (Forbidden Men 2)

“So, the girl got stuck with all the heat, and you just...let her take the fall...by herself?” Pick shook his head, disappointed oozing off him in waves.

“No,” I growled. Fisting my hand, I slammed it down on his dashboard. “I did not just let her take the fall. By the time I’d found out what had happened, she was already gone. Ten and Hamilton managed to talk me out of confessing to Coach. But that’s what I should’ve done. Damn it. Instead, I went to Aspen’s boss and tried to talk him into bringing her back. Big fucking mistake. Let me tell you. Coach would’ve just kicked my ass off the team and pulled my scholarship.”

“But not this prick,” Pick guessed.

I shook my head. “Nope, not this prick. When he learned I was the guy in the picture, not only did he refuse to reinstate her, but he refused to reprimand me. He’s a big football fan, you see. So I threatened to leave school and drop out of the team if he didn’t bring her back, to which he in turn threatened to go public if I even acted like I was going to leave. So, now she’s gone, and I’m stuck here in order to save her reputation and make sure she doesn’t lose all chance of getting a job anywhere else in the country. But in the meantime, yeah, I look like a complete bastard for letting her take all the heat for our relationship.”

“Man.” Pick shook his head and blew out a low whistle. “That’s harsh. Sucks to be you right now.”

“Yep,” I muttered, turning my face away to look out the passenger side window again.

“And you haven’t heard from her at all since that went down?”

Emotion overwhelmed me. I wanted to hit something again. Or break down like a pussy and cry. “No. I’m pretty sure she left town. She won’t answer her door, and her mail has been piling up.”

“You don’t think she would hurt herself, do you?”

White hot panic roared through me. I glanced slowly at Pick, giving him the death glare. “Well, I hadn’t...until now. Jesus, she wouldn’t—wait. No. Her car’s gone too. If she was in the house, her car would still be there. She’s okay.” She had to be okay.

“Unless—”

“Jesus, Pick,” I snapped. “Stop freaking me out. She’s okay. She just needs some time.”

“Well, if you ever need to get into her place, just to check and make sure, I know how to jimmy a lock.”

I shook my head. “God, man. Where’d you learn a handy trick like that? The state pen?”

“I never went to the pen, ass wipe. It was county lockup for, like, two weeks. And, no, I didn’t learn how to break and enter in jail. You meet all kinds of interesting kids when you grow up in the foster care system.”

I knew he’d done some time because he’d mentioned having to meet with his parole officer before. But... “I didn’t know you grew up in foster care.”

“Yep. From birth until I graduated out of it at eighteen.”

With a shiver, I wondered what would’ve happened to me if my mother had been any more of a crappy parent then she’d been. I could’ve grown up in the same kind of life as Pick had. Hell, my little brothers, and maybe even Caroline, still might fall into that fate if I didn’t watch myself.

Fuck, I should definitely call and check in on them.

“Here we are.” Pick pulled to the curb of a split-level apartment complex behind a vintage jeep.

Rubbing my face, I followed him from the car and toward the opened bay door of a garage. As we approached, voices filtered out from inside.

“Oh my God. Alec? What’re you doing here? How did you even find me?”

Pick caught my arm before I could step inside. After pulling me back a foot, he peeked around the corner to spy on whoever was talking. Curiosity getting the best of me, I crowded up beside him to look as well. The pregnant, blond cousin of Lowe’s girlfriend stood there, her arms wrapped around her baby bump as some rich-looking douche hovered over her. He looked pissed, while she appeared to be shocked senseless.

“Mason told me you were here,” her visitor answered her.

“You think he’s her baby daddy?” Pick whispered to me. I began to shrug when she spat, “Well, he shouldn’t have bothered. Because I haven’t changed my mind. I’m not getting rid of this baby.”

“I talked to your parents, Eva—”

“Oh, well, you know what? I talked to my parents too. And I know exactly what their position is. I wouldn’t be here in BFE Illinois, sponging off my cousin if they hadn’t kicked me out because I refused to get an abortion. And since I’m still here, Alec, I guess that means I haven’t changed my mind. So, sorry for your wasted trip, but you came for nothing. You can turn around and go right back to Florida.”

Alec gave a low chuckle and stepped ominously close to her. When Pick tensed beside me as if he wanted to intervene, I glanced sharply at him and grabbed his arm.

“Don’t. This is their fight, man. They obviously have issues to work out. If you get involved and break your parole, you’ll land right back in jail.”

Pick wouldn’t take his steely glare off Eva’s baby daddy, but he didn’t move away from me either. He just popped his neck, probably to relieve some tension and kept watching the scene unfold with narrowed eyes.