Page 99 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

Sloane bites her bottom lip. “I am so sorry for all of this. I know you probably are not my biggest fan…”

“You are correct,” Rowan agrees.

“ROWAN.” I stand and bang my fist down on his desk hard. “ENOUGH.”

Rowan’s eyes flare angrily, but I think he knows I am not playing around, so he backs down slightly. “If only you were this passionate about wanting to keep your job,” he snaps before turning back to Sloane. “Can I get an answer?”

“Mack… the guy who caught us, we were not together. He asked me to homecoming, but that was it… he did allude tonight to being more, but?—”

“Wait, what?” I stop her because that’s the first I’m hearing of that.

“I was going to tell you later tonight, but obviously, things got a little fucked.” She lets out a sigh. “He asked if I’d go on a date with him.”

“I thought you told him you just wanted to be friends.”

“I did. I guess he thought he should ask again under the vibes of a high school dance. I don’t know. I said no, and then right after that, I met you in the bathroom. Do not overthink this,” she tells me.

“I’m not, but now it looks like he’s pissed because he thinks I took you from him.” I groan, before I let my head fall back against the leather sofa.

“Well, we explained that wasn’t the case,” Sloane says.

“He probably doesn’t see it that way,” Rowan interjects. “He is probably thinking, if you weren’t with River, you’d be with him. Regardless of when you met him for the first time.”

The door is closed, but I’m not surprised when it opens, and Ellie walks through without so much as a knock.

“What is with all the yelling?! You woke up Isla, by the way.” She looks at Sloane with a look of confusion before looking at me. “Well, hi there.” She looks at Rowan, presumably for answers, before turning back to Sloane. “I don’t think we’ve met? I’m Ellie.”

“Hi, I’m Sloane.” She gives Ellie a soft smile, probably because Ellie has this calming presence that makes people feel instantly comfortable, and Sloane probably already feels better having her here even though they’ve never met.

Her eyes widen immediately, as if she’s about to start jumping up and down, but she keeps it somewhat together, which leads me to believe that Rowan did not tell Ellie that the woman from the plane was also my student.I am shocked about that, to be honest.

“Baby”—he clears his throat—“this is not a social visit.” Ellie frowns before turning to us both.

“You didn’t tell her?” I ask Rowan, not even trying to hide the surprise in my voice because Rowan tells Ellie everything.

“You’re my client. Even as my brother, you get attorney-client privilege.”

“Client?” She narrows her eyes at me and then at Sloane. “What’s going on? Did you accidentally get married in Vegas? Are you pregnant? What’s wrong? What happened?”

“She’s my student,” I blurt out.

“I’M SORRY?! YOUR WHAT?!” She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at us with wide eyes.Her eyes are furious and trained on me and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this angry.Or angry at all for that matter, Ellie is so mild-tempered.

“I’m nineteen. I came home for senior year…”

“Yes, yes, I know your story. Research scientist parents. Traveling the world. You were supposed to be in college.” She points at Sloane.

“I know, ma’am.”

“Okay, please don’t ma’am me, I’m like six years older than you,” Ellie says as she rubs her temples.

“Seven,” I correct her.

“Do you really think you should be talking?” Ellie snaps.

“Okay, now that everyone is on the same page, can we continue?” Rowan asks.

“No, we are certainly not on the same page!” Ellie says before leaning against the desk. “How…?”