Exclusive Excerpt from Hardwood
by K.M. Neuhold
“Shit,” I curse under my breath. “Not to add to the situation, but I really have to pee.”
“Dammit, what are we going to do?” he asks, his eyes pleading as he starts to chew on his bottom lip. During our make-out session, one of my hands seems to have made it onto his chest, and I can feel his heart pounding now as panic starts to set in.
“Take a deep breath. We can figure a way out of this.”
“I can’t very well come stumbling out of the closet with my daughter’s music teacher. No matter how perfect that metaphor would be,” Everett points out sounding a bit frantic.
“Okay, calm down. Give me a second to think.” We don’t exactly have a lot of options here. I can still hear both muffled voices right outside the door.
“Of all the ways I could end up coming out to Val,” he mutters. “And, fuck, are you going to get in trouble for fooling around with a parent in the janitor’s closet?”
“Ev,” I say firmly but quietly. “Listen to me, this isn’t how you’re coming out to Val. And I’m not going to get in trouble, although of all the reasons I could lose a job, making out with a hot dad in the janitor’s closet would be my preferred way to go.”
“Sorry. If I have a meltdown, it’s not going to help anything,” he says.
“Exactly. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” I check over his appearance quickly to make sure he doesn’t look like he’s been in here getting ravaged. “You go out there, and I’ll stay here.”
“What?”
“Play dumb, act like you got turned around while looking for the bathroom, and then lead Val away from here so I can come out,” I explain.
“I got turned around looking for the bathroom and have been standing in the broom closet for ten minutes?” he hisses. “Am I supposed to pretend I took a piss in the mop bucket too?”
“Do you have a better idea?” I challenge.
He clenches his jaw and is quiet for several seconds before pressing his ear to the door to listen and cursing again.
“All right, fine. It’s going to be a miracle if Val buys this.”
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