•Rock Bottom By Hailee Steinfeld•

"Don't go too far, okay?" Char nodded her head and grinned at me before flouncing off to play in the sand. I watched her carefully as I took another drag of my cig, the burning in my throat a soothing feeling.

A few people near by wrinkled their noses at me but I just raised a brow at them and cockily blew smoke out my nose.

"Mommy come look at what I'm making!" Char called at me. I stubbed my cig out and walked over to her. A smile crawled onto my face at the lopsided tower she'd made.

"It's beautiful, baby." I cooed at her, and she smiled my favorite gapped-tooth smile as she surveyed her work proudly.

"But it's about to-" my sentence fell short as the tower plopped over, sending a small splash of water every direction. Char's eyes widened at me and her lower lip trembled. I sighed and knelt down beside her, ignoring the sand that stuck to my skin immediately.

"Here," I spoke as I gathered up some more sand. She watched me for a moment, before her little hands covered my own. "We just gotta make the ground steady." Before long she was giggling at me as I made little sand people and drew funny faces in the sand.

I sat back in the hot sand and watched her with a smile on my face. Oregon wasn't by any means the hottest place on earth, but today the temperature had actually reached 65 so Char dragged me outta bed immediately and here we are.

The beach was filled with people and children, flying kites and running around chasing each other with seaweed. Dogs barked and ran with them, their paws spraying sand everywhere. I soaked it all in and closed my eyes, tipping my face to the sun.

Until pesky thoughts of a certain brunette filled my mind. My face formed a frown immediately. It's been a week since our almost-kiss and she still hasn't said more than three words to me.

I didn't know why she was so angry at me. We didn't really do anything...I mean, it wasn't even a kiss. Just a simple brush of the lips. And she initiated it! So why the hell was she pissed at me?! I sighed and opened my eyes.

I had just enough time to open my arms and shriek in shock right before a familiar, larger ball of white fur crashed into my chest. I flew backwards and the little puppy immediately yipped and covered my face in doggy kisses.

Char laughed beside me. "Mommy that puppy really likes you." She giggled out. I scoffed and grabbed the squirming animal by the middle and held it away from me. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth in a grin and I couldn't resist scratching behind her ears.

My mind finally caught up with my brain on who's puppy this was and every one of my senses exploded as my eyes focused on the figure that had some how just "poofed" in front of me.

Of.....fucking.....course.

Her toned legs were on display and I had to force myself to tear my gaze away from them. Her eyes were narrowed on me and her arms were crossed in front of her, pushing up her already well-endowed chest in the grey tank she wore.

I quickly avoided my gaze and settled it on the squirming puppy. "Um....I think this is yours." I said, awkwardly holding the dog out to her.

Her lips curled in an amused smile but she didn't take the dog from me. My body seemed to heat up at least ten degrees when her gaze ran over me a few times and I was suddenly horribly self-conscious of bikini clad form. I wasn't fat by any means, but I defiantly had well-pronounced curves. "The it you're referring to is Koba, and you'd be correct."

Charlotte gasped and pulled her gaze away from the mini sand-castle to get up and run to our principle.

"Evewyn!" She shrieked.

Ms. Thornton immediately crouched down to meet her and I watched in fascination as she enveloped her into her arms, a completely genuine smile on her face. "Hello, Charlotte."

I pouted. Now why couldn't she greet me like that?

Because you tried to kiss her, dumbass. My mind growled at me.

I did not! She tried to kiss me! I growled back.

Charlotte grinned and played with the ends of her hair, which now that I noticed was falling down her back in gorgeous chocolate waves.

"Look at what I made!" I watched in amusement as my daughter pulled the normally stoic woman over to our creation. She seemed to wiggle almost as bad as the puppy in my arms as Evelyn praised her and I almost wanted to do the same.

"I helped." I mumbled, though the smile didn't leave my face.

Evelyn turned to me and raised one perfectly sculpted brow. I shrunk deeper into the sand and tried to hide my burning cheeks. She just watched me for a moment. I suspected she was enjoying watching me squirm under her gaze.

Koba yipped, shattering the tension and scrambled out of my arms and over to her owner's, who picked her up immediately. "So, do you live around here?" I asked randomly. The question had been burning a hole through me ever since I saw her her the last time.

Her mask went up again and I cursed internally. Damn, I thought I was doing good. I expected her to avoid the question but she actually answered me.

"Yes." She jerked her head to the left a little, signaling that direction.

I bobbed my head, attempting to stay casual when in all reality I was freaking out. Her gaze moved to my arm and her lips curled down at the corners. Her chest seem to deflate in a deep sigh as she sat down in the sand next to me. I tried not to jerk away in surprise.

"How's the arm?"

I shook myself of my thoughts and glanced down and the cut. It wasn't really anything now, just a small scratch. I looked up at her and winked, "I think your surgery paid off, Doctor Thornton." I joked, hoping to get a laugh out of her.

She didn't laugh, but her eyes crinkled slightly and I saw a bolt of happiness flash through her eyes while her expression softened. I wanted to scream with joy as I finally got through one of her walls.

"Well, there was hardly anything to worry about in the first place." She mumbled.

A smile formed on my face as I sat there, feeling the heat from her body encase me. Char giggled happily from in front of us as she played in the sand.

"Scout." I turned my head immediately at the sound of my name and sucked in a breath at the look in her eyes. I couldn't identify it right away, but the longer I looked the more it seemed to lean towards desperation.

"Ms. Thornton?" I questioned, bringing my eyebrows together.

She stared at me hard, those wolf eyes roaming over my face as she seemed to be attempting to come to a conclusion. "I wanted you to know that what almost happened in the office-" she paused as she spoke, and my heart took the time to freak out. "The feelings that were involved....they...it wasn't...." It was almost comical, watching her trip over her own words.

Here was a woman who 90% of the time scared the dick out of people and she was struggling to tell me something simple. I held my breath as I waited for her to say it wasn't right, that it was a mistake, that it could never happen again.

That she was kicking me out of school....

"One sided." She finally breathed out. My mouth dropped open as her words registered in my brain. "Wh-what?" I sputtered out.

That was so not what I was expecting.

I waited for her to explain further...but before I knew it she'd scrambled to her feet and flashed Char a smile before slipping that hated mask back into place.

"See you Monday?" She asked me stoically.

I was so damn confused so I just nodded and she immediately pivoted on her heel and left, the puppy yipping at me from over her shoulder.

What the fuck just happened?

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