“Scout’s honor, it will be the sugar-free syrup, and I’ll check his monitor and shit before we get to the school,” I declare, holding two fingers up together.
“Whip, you weren’t a scout.” Amaya laughs.
“Yes, I was. Well, I was for one day, that is.” I chuckle. It’s true, I went to one cub scout meet with my dad. The two of us were going to do the scouts thing together. We never got to do it, because by the next meet, my dad was gone from our lives, leaving Brielle and me to our mother.
“Get out of here,” Venom says, laughing. “I need some alone time with this woman before heading out to the garage to help out. We’ve got a lot of shit to get done today.”
“Have fun and don’t bring down the house while going at it like bunnies,” I say, heading down to Lincoln’s room to see if he’s finished getting ready for school. “You ready, kiddo?”
Lincoln finishes putting on his shoes, and I give him a once-over, making sure his pants are on right. Sometimes he gets dressed and puts his pants on wrong. There’s been a few times one of us have caught him right before walking out the door to take him to school with the button and zipper to his jeans in the back when they should be in the front.
Seeing he’s dressed properly, I nod. “We’ve got time to get a small waffle and chicken if we hurry.”
“Yes,” he says, pumping his fist in the air.
The kid loves waffles, pancakes, and chicken. He can’t get enough of them.
Where I’m like, chicken, chicken, chicken. All we eat is chicken. I want a steak and pork chops every once in a while. But I can’t complain about it when I don’t cook for shit. I tried cooking one time, and Amaya walked into the kitchen holding her nose, demanding I throw out whatever it is I’m burning. Evidently, you can burn spaghetti noodles.
Following Lincoln out of his room and out of the house, I help him into the back seat of my truck. He fastens himself in while I round the front and hop in the driver’s seat.
The radio comes on, and I go ahead and pull up the song he wants before he starts demanding it.
““HandClap”, Uncle Whip. Let’s listen to “HandClap”.”
“You got it, kiddo.” I chuckle. Swear this kid makes me smile and laugh any time he’s around.
With the song started, Lincoln singing it off-key, I put the truck in gear.
Time for some chicken and waffles before getting him to school for a long day of education.
I get Lincoln to school five minutes before the day’s supposed to start. With it only being the second week of school, I told Linc I’d walk him to class. The school’s allowing this so the kids can feel comfortable with being in the building. Plus, the club donates to the schools for their programs. No one wants to see the kids go without.
“Here we go, Linc,” I say, releasing his hand. The kid has no problem with holding my hand going through the hallways. I’m just that badass. No one is going to fuck with him because they’ll have to deal with me.
“Thanks for breakfast, Uncle Whip.” Lincoln grins, walking past his teacher and into the classroom. Only when he’s out of sight do I look to the woman standing there, Lincoln’s teacher.
Fuck.
Seeing her beautiful, angelic face and long curly blonde hair, I recognize her right away as the woman from the night in the hotel room out at the Franklin charter. I don’t remember shit from the night after the event stopped and the after-party started. I’d left the hotel room to go get coffee. I’d woken up with a ring on my left hand, and I wanted to talk to this woman, but I couldn’t remember her name or anything. Getting back to the room, I found her gone.
I didn’t say shit to anyone after that. I don’t want to hear the jokes about this shit being like one of those Hangover movies. And I sure as hell do not like being played or made a fool of.
The way she’s looking at me with a wide smile and not a single ounce of recognition pisses me off. I might not remember her or anything about that night, but I remember waking up to that angelic face and kissing those lips before leaving the room.
“You must be Lincoln’s uncle. He talks about you every day. I’m Ms. Wilde,” she announces, holding out her hand.
“Whip,” I murmur, taking her hand in mine.
“Nice to meet you, Whip,” she says, smiling brightly.
I’m sure it is, considering I woke up with her in the bed of a hotel room.
“We already know each other.” I can’t hold back the anger from my voice.
“We do?” she asks, furrowing her brow. If I wasn’t pissed at her, I might actually find the way she cocks her head to the side cute. Too bad for her I’m not in the mood for her cuteness. No matter how much my cock wants to respond.
“Yeah, we do. You can stop playing, thinking you don’t know me, considering I woke up next to you in a hotel room wearing a ring on my finger, same as you,” I grind out.
The way her eyes widen in fear, and she takes a step back. Her lips parting slightly, makes me want to pull her into my arms to comfort her.
“Y–you,” she whispers and glances around us as the bell rings. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”
She leaves me standing there as she steps into the classroom and closes the door.
Well, fuck me.
Turning on my heel, I decide it’s time to bring Nerd in on this one. Now I at least know the last name of the woman I think I married. I can find out who she really is and where she came from.
Then I can confirm whether or not I truly did marry the beauty. And if so, I can annul that shit. I’m not the marrying type. I have too much in my head fuckin’ me up to be with anyone.
Least of all, an angelic, beautiful woman such as Ms. Wilde.
Chapter Three
Harper
No.
Nope.
This is not happening.
After meeting Lincoln’s uncle and finding out his name is Whip, I can’t stop thinking about him or what he said. He remembers me, but I can’t recall him at all. However, snippets keep popping into my head. Okay, not so much snippets, but rather his eyes and that smile.
Oh God, I’m screwed.
Throughout the school day, I do my best to get through it without screwing up. It’s Friday and my lesson plan today is pretty simple. With it only being the second week of school, I want to take them outside. They work hard through the reading and the history part, so after lunch, I take them outside to teach them science and math.
By the time the day is over, I’m exhausted. This is the last thing I need. Since moving here, I’ve loved every minute of it. My brother even commented on knowing a few guys who lived in town and stated he’d have them look in on me. I’d brushed off my brother’s insistence of needing to protect me.
Then, on the first day of school, Lincoln’s mom and dad brought him to school together. His dad looked me in the eye and asked if I was Hart Wilde’s sister. Talk about humiliating when I stuttered out my answer. He introduced himself to me as Venom and stated he knew my brother. They served overseas together.
With the kids gone home, I finish tidying up my classroom and lock up.
“How was your week?” Mr. Davis asks, joining me as I walk down the hall heading for the exit. He’s the gym teacher and has been trying to get me to go on a date with him since the first time I walked into the building.