It was a warm Spring day. The buds on the trees were threatening to burst, plush petals pushed their way towards the sun. As Allison drove into work that day she savored the crisp morning air and warm sunlight streaming in through the open windows of her white Lexus SUV. After a long, cold, wet winter full of endless days of rain, even something as simple as opening the windows on her morning drive brought a smile to her face. She knew it would also inevitably mean the students would be extra squirrely, barely able to keep their seats in their seats today, but she didn’t care, she closed her eyes momentarily and savored this beautiful morning. The wind whipped through her hair, casting strawberry blond locks across her freckled face. She smiled again. Something within her told her that it was going to be a good day.

She turned into her spot in the faculty lot, rolling up her windows and swinging on her staff badge. She slipped her legs out of her car, onto the pavement right as Catie pulled into the spot two down from hers. Catie Mills was a tall, thin blond woman with a trigger mouth. She wasn’t ever afraid to voice her opinions and speak her mind. She was sassy and sarcastic. Allison envied her confidence. Catie had been her staff mentor when she’d started teaching here, a veteran teacher who showed newer teachers the ropes at the school. Actually, Allison had been Catie’s sub when she went on maternity leave, it had been her in at the school. Catie wasn’t that much older than Allison but had worked at the school for several years. Catie’s knowledge, confidence and ability to connect with students made her one of the most respected teachers in the department. Allison had spent several years working as a long term substitute after getting her teaching license, and landing this job, having Catie as her mentor and now friend, being a part of this staff felt like a blessing every day.

“Emergency stand up staff meeting in the library in like five minutes.” Catie grumbled at her, taking a swig of coffee as their steps fell in line with one another.

“What? Why?”

Catie simply shrugged her shoulders. “Email came like ten minutes ago. Just said meet in the library, no extra information.”

They walked together into the large white building ahead, Allison swiping her badge against the pad to release the locks on the glass front doors. For a high school theirs wasn’t huge, approximately thirteen hundred students in total. The looming white building was the oldest high school in town but also the nicest, located right in the downtown of Bellingham. Students often left the school to run across the street to the absolutely amazing sandwich shop for lunch and the teachers were known to congregate at the brewery that was located a single block behind the school after their required work hours had finished. There were always people flying past the building on bikes or strolling around past the shops that surrounded the southern end of the school. Some of the other high schools in town were removed, tucked away into the silence of the trees. Allison liked that their school was downtown, it made it feel more alive. But it also meant they had to be vigilant, keep an eye on who should and shouldn’t be on the school grounds. After all, they were within walking distance to the famous “Ted Bundy Bar,” a waterfront watering hole with a sign declaring Ted Bundy had stopped there to have a drink during his reign of terror in the PNW. All staff wore their badges at all times, a sign they were supposed to be there, weren’t trespassing, weren’t a monstrous serial killer stalking prey.

They trudged down the white and grey checkered hallway towards the library. It was a dark room, with low hanging fluorescent lights and ancient gray carpeting. It desperately needed to be updated, but school budgets are what they are. The walls were lined with honeyed shelves of books. Long tables were placed in the center of the room facing the librarian’s desk and check out counter. All the staff was congregated around the tables in the center of the space, sitting in the worn out chairs. Their principal, Eric, was standing in the front, leaning against the check circulation desk. Catie and Allison grabbed a seat at the ELA department’s table. They were never assigned to particular seats but each department, once upon a time, had claimed a table and that was their sacred space. No one dared sit at a different table or switch things up, it would be considered blasphemous among the older staff members.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Her department chair, Susan, gave her a sweet smile as Allison sat. Susan was warm and protective and kind. She was also an amazing teacher and someone Allison looked up to. If Catie or Susan told her to do anything Allison would do it without a second thought or question, she trusted them to guide her in the right direction and look out for her always. The rest of the department sat with their faces buried in their laptops, planning and grading and emailing.

“Anyone know what this is about?” Catie asked, slinging her teal messenger bag to the floor.

“Eric will speak in just a moment.” Susan responded, as if she knew slightly more than everyone else but not much.

Returning her attention to Allison, Susan asked her about her weekend. Allison was about to lie, tell her it was good but boring, when Eric pushed off from the desk behind him, drawing the attention of the entire staff.

“As you all know, Ms. Dubois has been out these past few weeks,” he began, causing a hushed and uncomfortable silence to settle across the room.

Immediately Catie’s hand shot up to interrupt. Eric’s eyes fell on her and she interjected without waiting for him to call on her.

“Have the police found any sign of her yet? Any clues?” Catie asked him sharply.

Sonya Dubois was a younger business teacher. She’d started around the same time as Allison. She was a curvy, warm, blond woman who tried to bring fun and laughter to her classroom by bringing in as many games and hands on activities as she could. The students liked her and Allison knew some of the boys maybe even liked her class a little too much considering it was a lot of math and economics involved in the curriculum. She’d disappeared two and half weeks ago. She’d never shown up for work that Wednesday and so the school had called for a welfare check. Her apartment was ransacked and she was gone, seemingly without a trace. The thought of it sent a cold shiver up Allison’s spine.

“No. The police haven’t updated me much, but last I heard, there were still no leads.” Eric answered Catie before continuing. “But the show must go on, as they say. So, we’ve finally found a long term replacement who will take over her position for the foreseeable future.”

To Allison that sounded ominous, like a long term solution to what they had all been hoping was a short situation. Eric motioned to the doors behind her as someone entered the library. The entire staff swung around to look at the doors as he entered.

Allison’s breath hitched for a moment in her throat. There stood the most attractive man she had ever seen. He was tall, very tall, with broad, muscular shoulders. He was wearing a tight black tee shirt, fitted in such a way that she was able to tell he was muscular all over, with a black blazer over top, dark jeans and checkered Vans. He had longer black hair that framed his chiseled jaw perfectly. But it was his eyes that she couldn’t peel her gaze away from, sharp icy blue eyes that were staring right back at her. She was surrounded by a room of people, a room of colleagues, and yet it felt like they were the only two people there as their eyes locked. Something inside her swelled and churned, making her suddenly very uncomfortable, but she was unable to turn away from him. His lips tilted up at the corner, a smirk spreading across his face.

Fuck.

He broke eye contact first, turning his gaze to the front of the room as he continued walking. Allison held her breath as he walked past her to the front of the room and stood next to Eric. He turned and faced the staff with a small smile on his face. He looked as though he was trying to appear slightly uncomfortable and humble, but she could tell it was a show, he oozed confidence.

“This is Gabriel Parson. He has years of experience working in corporate finance but also is a licensed teacher and when he read about Ms. Dubois in the paper he offered to fill in. We thought he’d make a great addition to the team here so please join me in welcoming him.” Eric started clapping and everyone followed suit.

The man’s gaze fell on her again. Allison felt like she was drowning, legitimately drowning as she looked into those eyes. She needed to get a grip. This was ridiculous, she was acting more hormonal than her freshmen students. She took a deep breath and managed to pull her eyes away from his, towards her phone that was buzzing in her hand.

An alert of a text message buzzed across her Lock Screen.

HUBBY: Hey babe. Sorry again about this weekend, I promise I’ll be better. How’s work so far today?

A pit formed in Allison’s stomach as she realized how lustfully she’d just been looking at a man who was definitely not her husband.