“The gossip. People were saying things.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What things?”
She shrugged and looked away. “Just that your relationship with him made them uncomfortable. You were too close and…”
“And what?”
She glanced at me. Then her gaze flitted away again. “He had a crush on you that everyone seemed to see except for you. Some people thought you were encouraging him, but I never believed that. Not after working with you. You’d never have touched that boy.”
“He was a child. Of course I wouldn’t have touched him.”
“That’s what I said, but you know people. They like to speculate.” She hesitated enough for me to know what she was about to say wasn’t something I’d like to hear.
“What is it?”
“There was the notebook.” She inhaled deeply. “One evening, he forgot his notebook. He wrote all sorts of things in it about you and him and your ex-wife. It was disturbing. There were pictures too.”
My dick slipped out of Ari’s mouth. I tried desperately not to show my alarm. “I’ve never heard about this book before. What did you do with it?”
“I-it’s been a long time. I don’t know.”
I didn’t believe her one bit, especially because she wouldn’t meet my eyes, but I didn’t want to make a big deal about something that had happened a long time ago. I nodded and even smiled at her.
“Thanks for letting me know. You may go.”
She let out an audible sigh and walked out, closing the door behind her. The door was barely shut when Ari pushed back my chair and crept out from under the desk. His face was red, his eyes flashing with what I knew now to be a sign of his anger.
“The bitch stole my book!”
“What were you thinking?”
“You’re mad at me,” he said simply.
“No, I’m mad she tried to prevent you from coming to see me while you were a student here. I’m worried about what she did with your notebook. What was in it?”
He shrugged and stared down at the carpet. “Things.”
“What things?”
“Silly things. It’s not important. We need to get the book back.”
“No, you heard her. It’s gone.”
He snorted. “You don’t believe her any more than I do.”
He was right, but pursuing this would only lead to trouble. “What else do you have about us?” I asked. “You need to destroy everything. I can’t have people thinking I was sleeping with you when you were a minor. That’ll ruin me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I caught his wrist before he could walk away. “You know what I’m talking about. Your mother told me.”
His face went pale. “The bitch,” he spat. “I did what she told me to do, and now she doesn’t keep her end of the bargain.”
He tried to pry loose, but I held him firmly. “What do you mean?”
“You want to know the truth?” he said. “Yes, it’s true. I was obsessed with you when I was living with you and Mom. I scribbled Mr. Ari Wheeler in my book over and over again. Harlan saw it but just thought I meant I wanted you to officially adopt me until he saw the hearts. Then he knew what I was talking about.” He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding. “I cut out pictures of us and created a scrapbook, removing Mom from every single one of our pictures. I had pages of what our wedding would be like, our honeymoon, of everything I would do for the first time we had sex. The first time I had sex. With you. But she ruined that. She threatened to show my scrapbooks to you and convinced me you would be disgusted and hate me. She bought me a plane ticket and told me to make a choice. Leave or stay and face your disgust.” His eyes welled with tears. “I didn’t want you to look at me in disgust.”
Anne had been right. More than likely, I would not have felt comfortable in the same house with him had I seen all those things then. He’d been jailbait, someone I had no desire to be with sexually. Still, she was a manipulating bitch to threaten her own son to get him out of our lives instead of seeking professional help for him. Maybe if she had, he would have turned out different. He would have found a healthier way to handle his anger and frustration.