After Ruin

Kendra’s PoV

Stupid.

Shagging my ex’s captain at work is officially the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my entire adulthood. The last of the fireworks from the last thirty minutes instantly turned into shards of ice in my belly.

My body, slick with sweat, trembled as I shoved my legs back into my uniform.

Noah’s full brows furrowed as he threw his sweatshirt over his head, whispering lowly. “I could hide in the showers.”

Another heavy bang rattled the door, erupting. I swallowed a suffocating gasp. “Uh no, that’s the last place you need to be!”

The corner of his lips tilted up. “Maybe she’ll give up and walk away.”

Before I could school him on Warden’s gift of persistence, the lock jiggled. Click.

“Fuck!” I mouthed.

I hauled Noah back against the wall, just in time for the door to swing wide open.

Warden strode in, a clipboard pressed against her full bosom. She cast a scowl at me, her loafers thumping against the tile.

I flashed my teeth and felt my eyes twitch a little. “Ma’am.”

“And why did you keep me waiting, Miss Drake?”

A mouthful of excuses caught in my throat like an anvil.

Right behind Warden's shoulder, Noah was smirking. The little shit. He gestured a fist near his lower region, doing sharp strokes with an impish wink. Blood rushed to my cheeks. Geez, this freaking guy!

“Um…I…I had to…take a piss,” I squeaked. “In one of the stalls.”

Noah flashed a silent thumbs up in encouragement.

Warden didn’t share the same sentiment. She pulled a face as she moved past me to check the bathroom. “Child, you know using student facilities is against staff policy…”

“Go!” I hissed under my breath at Noah.

He took one step to the side.

Right about the same time my boss started to turn around, I quickly threw an arm over her shoulders like we were old buddies and made her face the other way.

Her chubby body clenched under my hold.

“What the hell are you doing, Drake?” She snapped.

“It’s just that I…I thought you might need some support.”

She knocked me aside. I did a double take at the empty doorway; much to my relief, Noah had completely vanished.

Meanwhile, Warden’s face darkened. “Never touch me again.”

“But…”

“Ever!” she barked.

I didn’t even flinch or look her directly in the eye.

My nerves were on fire until an insect buzzed… No, a phone.

Warden scoffed before moving to pick it off the bench. “Seriously?”

My brows lifted at the masked anime character with silver hair printed on the phone case. A far cry from my simple black one.

I dragged the back of my hand over my lips, forcing down a curse.

Damn it. Noah left his phone behind!

She gestured at the messy room. “You kids can't handle not tweeting all day.”

“And barely even done any cleaning. I should fire your butt right now.”

My dad's sleeping face flashed through my head; my heart sped nervously. “You can’t!”

Warden pouted fully. “This is a prestigious institution." She wrote something down on her clipboard. “Maybe you’ll have better luck working at a cheap fast food restaurant.”

My jaw locked.

I hate her.

And mostly myself.

“Ma’am, please don’t…” I croaked, my throat burning with intensity. “I need this job, okay? I love it and I’m fully committed to ensuring the locker room is up to code.”

Warden studied the back of Noah’s phone like it held my entire lifeline before making eye contact with me.

Tears glossed my eyes. “It’ll never happen again.”

Neither will I be making love nor any close substitute, I told myself. But Warden didn’t need to hear that part.

“You know what, Miss Drake?” Warden asked. “You either be the worker that shows up or the one I’ll fire the next time you lock that door again. Are we clear?”

A wave of relief splashed over me; I exhaled. “Crystal.”

Warden handed over the phone, and I tucked it into my pocket like a second skin.

Warden tapped her pen to the clipboard, smirking. “Now, why don’t you show me how much you really love scrubbing the toilets?”

*****

The Michigan sun was up by the time I clocked out of my shift, clutching my backpack as I hurried down the stairs of the rink arena. Cold wind slapped over my hair, and I dragged down my baseball hat, wincing at the tightening across my shoulder muscles.

Warden must have been a drill sergeant in her past life. And I, a pigeon.

I paused, taking a full glance of the students strolling to classes or maybe breakfast at the café a few blocks away.

As if on cue, my stomach growled for a meal.

I headed in the direction of it.

Walking inside, I saw only one person drinking coffee at the bar, and I slithered into the back booth, facing the wall.

After my food arrived, I heard a vibration, then another.

I retrieved Noah’s phone from my backpack. I barely tapped the screen before it unlocked.

“What the heck?”

He doesn’t use a password?

Was he born in the last century?

Let’s be clear, I never snoop around.

or even read Simon’s texts even though he told me his password.

But Noah is different.

A total stranger whose privacy I shouldn’t be invading. I mean, if I were anyone else, I'd probably wipe his fat bank account… Get some dirty pics…

Unfortunately, my eyes dropped to the long social media thirst texts from tons of women. My nose twitched, wishing I had a jar of bleach for my eyes right now.

MiaCulpa: Come to my birthday party this Saturday…

HollyPreacher67replied to your story: Omg, your abs are fire, Noah!

DirtyBetty: I want you in me…

A groan escaped my throat as I shoved a forkful of hot fried eggs into my mouth.

“Could you be any more predictable, O’Shea?”

For the next five minutes, I entertained myself by bingeing on the messages. They were enough to fill an entire scrapbook.

A text message popped up.

Pop: Think you’re too cool to answer your own father’s texts? Yet you’re online fawning over those puck bunnies!!!

I choked on my coffee. “Whoa, major perv alert!”

“Who’s a perv?”

My coffee mug froze midair on my lips.

The voice came from behind.

Deep.

Male.

Belonging to the guy whose phone I was holding.