AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Did any of those articles explore the fact that Austin was still just a regular guy?
Maybe I should read them before I talked to him about it.
I glanced back at the table where my phone sat, taunting me. Fine. It was better to talk to Austin with all the information, anyway.
I sat back down, picked up my phone, and took a deep breath before tapping on the first article that came up.
My head was throbbing by the time I finished reading four of the reports. No one had a lot of information. It was all, “unnamed sources” and a few references to articles that had run without names when the guys had all made their money in the first place. There were several interviews with students and other staff at the school—those, at least, were positive. Or mostly. One student had taken the opportunity to slam Austin because the kid had earned a C minus in his algebra 2 class.
Knowing Austin, the kid had been given plenty of opportunities to change that outcome.
I rubbed little circles in my forehead as I prayed for the right approach and words to use when I brought this up to Austin.
“Hey.” I must have jumped, because Austin started to laugh. He rubbed my shoulder. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought for sure you heard me come in.”
I shook my head and managed a weak smile.
“You all right?” His concern was evident as he searched my face. “You don’t have to get out of bed, you know? There’s no harm in lazing around. We’re on vacation.”
“Just a headache. It’ll go away.” I glanced around. “Where’s Cody?”
“Cody?” Austin looked puzzled. “How’d you know I was hanging out with Cody?”
“My bedroom looks out on the beach.” I grinned. “I might have watched the two of you playing in the surf a little this morning before coffee.”
Austin chuckled and leaned close. He pressed his lips to mine. “You should have come out.”
“Did you miss the coffee part of that?”
“I forgot about your addiction.” He shook his head. “A good swim would wake you up even better.”
“Maybe. I don’t see myself finding that out.” I should tell him. Now was the perfect time. There was no one else around. And still, I choked. “Whitney mentioned Wes was putting a dive together for this afternoon. Did you want to go?”
“Do you?” He took my hand and lifted it, then brushed a kiss across my knuckles. “I want to spend the day with you. So I’m game for whatever.”
I melted. “I wouldn’t mind just hanging here. We could bike into town for a bit and shop and then maybe just park by the pool? Even if everyone saddles us with dinner because we’re keeping close.”
“You know they will, too.” Austin shrugged. “But that sounds nice. We can figure out the food when we’re in town.”
“If we volunteer, they can’t complain about what we make, either.” I squeezed his hand. “Have you checked your email at all?”
“Nah. It’s vacation. I turned my phone off on the plane and haven’t missed it.” He nodded to where my phone sat on the table. “I see your extra appendage is sticking close.”
“Hey. I’m not that bad. It’s not like I’m on my phone during the workday.” Mostly that was because it was a pretty serious writeup if I got caught. Our administration was absolutely not okay with teachers using their phones. Even during our lunch or planning time was frowned on, though they couldn’t technically do as much when students weren’t around.
“True.” He tipped his head to the side. “Why did you ask?”
I sighed. “There’s something you should see.”
His eyebrows lifted.
I unlocked my phone, navigated back to the article, and slid it over to him. “Read this.”
I licked my lips as he looked down at the screen. I didn’t want to read over his shoulder or anything like that. And I’d already seen it anyway. But it was awkward sitting here while he read.
What was he thinking?
His lips thinned. It was the only reaction I could pick out. Austin used a single finger to slide the screen up.
