Dean's Delight: The Principal of Pleasure Book Two: A Steamy Romantic Novella (2 page)

The
next day, against his better judgment, Presley stopped by Marcia’s classroom
early before school. She hadn’t answered his calls the night before and he
needed to set her mind at ease. Even though Marcia had been an active
participant, and the kitchen had been her idea, he was her superior, so
ultimately he felt responsible.

Marcia
was busy scribbling instructions for her first period class on her dry erase
board. Presley forced himself to keep his gaze off her ass as it moved from side
to side.

Marcia
turned at the sound of the door closing behind Presley. Her eyes widened when
she saw him. “Pres, I’m sorry but you shouldn’t be in here. You can’t come in
here ever again.”

Presley
walked toward her but made sure to keep a considerable distance between them.
“I know I shouldn’t be in here, but I needed to talk to you. I wanted you to
know that everything is going to be okay. I’ll take care of it.”

Worry
flashed across Marcia’s face. “What does that mean? What did Jones say? What is
she going to do to us? You know that bitch has had it out for you since day
one.”

Presley
sighed and perched himself on a desk. “She promised not to tell anyone anything
about what she saw, but I have to do one thing first.”

Marcia
frowned. “Really? What’s that?”

“I
have to stop down as principal and tell my father to give her the job.”

Marcia
put the cap on the dry-erase marker and set in on the ledge of the board. She
moved closer to Presley so that they were standing face to face. “Pres, you
don’t have to do that. I don’t want you to.”

He
shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s done. I’ll be alright. I’m not
going to let your career be ruined over this.” Presley shuddered. “I suppose it
won’t be so bad having Jones as principal.”

Marcia
shook her head. “Are you kidding me? She’ll totally going to change the entire
mood of this place. Everyone will hate to work here. Isn’t there another way?”

“I
wish there was,” Presley replied.

Marcia
smiled slyly, wrapping her arms around his waist. “For what it’s worth, it was
totally worth it.”

Presley’s
face warmed remembering their encounter in the kitchen. It had been fun and
exciting until Jones barged in and ruined it. His hate for her intensified the
more he thought about her. The woman was hell-bent on ruining his life.

Marcia
brushed her fingers over his lips. “Pres, thank you. I really mean that. You’re
saving my job.” She stood on her tip-toes to press her lips against his.
Presley lost himself in her kiss, clasping the back of her head gently, running
his fingers through her hair.

“Ms.
Fox, I needed to—”

Presley
and Marcia pulled apart abruptly and turned toward the door. Sara Snow stood
there open-mouthed. She cleared her throat, keeping her eyes on Marcia as if
Presley wasn’t even there. “Ms. Fox, I needed to speak with you about a
student, but I can see you’re busy. I’ll come back another time.”

Sara
turned on her heels and stormed away. Presley gave Marcia a look before
following Sara down the hallway.

“Sara,”
he called after her, but she wouldn’t stop. Not until they were behind the
closed doors of her office.

“What,
Presley? What do you have to say?”

“Look,
I’m really sorry you had to see that, but . . .  I mean, like you said, we’re
not officially together. You’re seeing other people.”

Sara
lowered herself into her desk chair. “First of all, you lied to me, straight to
my face. I asked if you were screwing her and you said ‘No, Sara. Of course
not.’ She’s a teacher. Presley, must I really explain to you how inappropriate
this is?”

Presley
hated how she could do whatever she wanted but always wanted to judge him.
“Listen, Sara. You can’t have it both ways. If you don’t want to be in an
exclusive relationship with me, fine, but you don’t get to throw this stuff in
my face. What Marcia and I do is none of your business?”

Sara
sighed. “You’re right, Presley. It’s not. But I don’t think you’re looking at
things from my point of view. Let’s say we do get back together and we are
exclusive, what happens with you and Marcia? You still have to see each other
every day. I still have to look at her and know that you screwed her. I’m never
going to get that visual out of my head.”

Presley
was done worrying about her feelings and walking on eggshells for a woman who
kept acting as if she didn’t even want to be with him. If she would just get back
with him, they wouldn’t be having this problem. “That’s just too bad. You’ll
just have to deal with it.”

Sara
hopped up from her seat. For a second, Presley though she was going to slap
him, but she folded her arms over her chest. “I’m kind of glad to hear you say
that, because I’ve kind of been keeping something from you.”

“Yeah,
what’s that?” What else could she tell him that would break his heart?

“You
know the guy I’m going out with this weekend.”

A
knot formed in Presley’s stomach. His mind ran through all his friends and he
didn’t think any of them would stab him in the back like that. They knew how he
felt about Sara. “Yeah? Who?”

“Most
of us know him as Dean McGuire, but you call him dad.”

Presley
glared at her. “You’re lying. Don’t even joke like that.”

Sara
smirked. She was enjoying this. “I’m not lying, Presley. He asked me a few
weeks ago. At first I thought it might be weird, but I thought about it.  Finally,
I said ‘why not?’”

“Why
not? I’ll tell you why not? For one, he’s old enough to be your father and two,
he’s
my
father. You don’t date your boyfriend’s father. What the fuck is
wrong with you? What the fuck is wrong with the both of you?”

Sara
sat down again. “First, you’re not my boyfriend, and second, after we broke up,
I dated my fair share of older men, even older than your father. I like them.
They’re more refined and they have their shit together. They’re actually ready
to be in a mature relationship and they treat me well. None of this frat-boy
shit that you pull that you’re too old for, by the way. And like you told me,
you’ll just have to deal with it.”

Presley
was seething. He couldn’t hear anymore. The bell was ringing to start the
school day. Part of him hoped that Sara was making this up just to get under his
skin. Only one thing would clear it all up. Talking to his father himself.

Presley
stormed to the Dean’s office which was located in another section of the
school. Dean McGuire liked to work in peace away from everyone else. He had an
office with his own personal secretary and for most of the day, it was just the
two of them.

Presley
walked in to find Amber sitting at her desk. “Good morning, Amber. Is my father
in?”

She
nodded. “Yes, Principal McGuire, but he’s on a phone call.”

Presley
didn’t care. He barreled through the doors of his father’s office, slamming the
door behind him.

Dean
McGuire looked at his son and held up a finger.

“Hang
up!” Presley demanded.

The
dean frowned and Presley pressed the END CALL button on the phone. Dean McGuire
slammed the receiver down. “What the hell is wrong with you, Presley?”

“Are
you or are you not going out with Sara this weekend?”

The
dean sat back in his chair, staring at his son. He was a good-looking man, an
older version of Presley. He kept in shape and still had a full head of salt
and pepper hair. This was the man Presley got his looks and charm from, but
Presley never imagined they would one day be competing for the same woman.

“Presley,
I asked her out before I knew the two of you were going to give it another go.”

Presley
sat in a chair across from his father. “Fine. Then you can call the date off
now that you know.”

“I
can’t do that.”

Presley
sat forward. “Why the hell not?”

“Because
a date is a date and when I tell someone I’m going to do something, I do it. I
promised Sara and spectacular weekend and I’m going to make sure she has one.”

“What
the hell kind of father are you? I know you’ve never liked me, but I never
thought you would betray me like this. You know how I feel about Sara.”

The
dean sighed. “I know how you feel about Sara, and Natalie, and any other woman
you’re screwing.”

Presley
clenched his teeth. “Natalie was your idea so don’t you dare throw that in my
face. I only dated her because you told me to so I’d get the PTA moms off my
back. Now you want to use that against me? And I’m not screwing any other
women.” Except Marcia, but that was okay because he wasn’t in an exclusive
relationship. “You’re going to call this date off with Sara.”

The
dean grinned. “Presley, you’re my son and I love you. God knows I raised you
the best I could especially after your mother died, but you don’t know how to
treat a woman outside of your wanton sex fantasies. Sara deserves better and I
can give her better. If you really loved her, you’d want her to be happy and I
just don’t think you can give her happiness. Maybe I can.”

Presley
narrowed his eyes at his father. “So you’re really going to do this? You’re
really going to do this to your own son?”

“I’m
not doing anything. If Sara didn’t want to go out with me, she wouldn’t be. Ultimately,
it’ll be her choice. Let the best man win. Surely, the great Presley McGuire
doesn’t feel threatened by his old man.”

Presley
thought about the times he and Sara were together. All the dinners they’d had with
his father. The times the three of them had hung out together. What had been
going through the dean’s mind then? Had he been visualizing himself with Sara,
plotting ways he could get her for himself? Presley had never wanted to slug
his own father.

“I
never want to speak to you again,” he said. “And I mean that.”

The
dean smirked not looking bothered by that at all. “Okay, son. I think you
should be going now. I think we both have work to do.”

Presley
closed himself up in his office. He didn’t want to speak to anyone and he
couldn’t focus on his work. He was supposed to be going over that quarter’s
budget, but it would have to wait.

There
was a sharp knock on his door and he knew who it was immediately. As usual, the
door swung open before Presley had a chance to respond. Ms. Jones sauntered in
and parked herself in one of Presley’s chairs.

He
rolled his eyes. “Why do you even bother to knock? You just come in without an
invitation, anyway.”

She
sneered at him. “Why is your door even closed? Why do I have to knock? What
could you possibly be doing in here that you wouldn’t want people to see?”

Presley
had no energy left to fight with her. He’d used it all to keep from hitting his
father. “What do you want?”

She
glanced at her nails. They were always filed low and she only ever wore clear
polish on them. “I was just checking to see where we were on the whole
job-switching thing. I saw you go into your father’s office but I assumed you
didn’t tell him because I haven’t received a phone call yet.”

Presley
came to a conclusion right there. Ms. Jones was indeed stalking him. That had
to be the only way she always knew where he was. He should have never brought
the bullshit reason she gave of making sure everything was okay around the
school.

“We
were talking about something else. You gave me until Friday. It’s only
Wednesday so why are you here?”

Ms.
Jones crossed her legs and grinned. “I wanted to run some things by
you—specifically, Mr. Murphy, Ms. O’Brien, Mrs. Ying, and Mr. Kirby.”

“What
about them?”

She
clicked her tongue. “I think you’ve let them slide under the radar for far too
long. As principal, my first order of business will be to get rid of them.
Their test scores have fallen, their classroom management is lacking, and what
they are giving our students is subpar to the kind of education they should be
receiving at McGuire Prep. How are we supposed to keep our reputation for being
the best school on the west coast with these types of teachers?”

“You’re
not firing anyone,” Presley said between clenched teeth. This was just what he
had been afraid of. “They’re all fine teachers.”

“You’re
only saying that because Murphy is one of your friends. He’s horrible at his
job. Pull his scores.”

Presley
felt the need to defend his friend, not only because he was his friend, but
because he really was a good instructor. “You have to cut him some slack.
Algebra is a hard subject, and he’s doing the best he can.”

She
scoffed again. “Enjoy giving me your two cents now, because after Friday I
won’t care and it won’t matter. You’ll be a quiet little church mouse sitting
in your corner while I run things and those weak teachers will be gone. I’m
thinking we should hire some kids fresh out of college. That way I can teach
and mold them to be the way we need them to be. After that, my next order of
business would be to get rid of these old biddies who need to retire. Their
teaching methods are outdated and they cost us a lot more money. We can hire
newbies who’ll work for much less. I’m really going to clean house.”

“Cleaning
house” meant that good teachers who had dedicated many years to McGuire Prep
would be out of jobs. Presley couldn’t let that happen. These people were like
his family.

He
leaned back in his seat watching the idea of power take over Jones. Marcia was
right. Jones was going to turn this place into a prison and make everyone
miserable. “You know, I’ve been thinking. You are the last person in the world
who should be the principal of any school. Teaching is hard enough without you
making it worse for these people. I’m going to keep my job. I’m not stepping
down.”

The
look of pleasure drained from Jones’ face. “You’re not, huh? Well, why don’t I
pay a little visit to your father and let him know what you’ve been up to.”

Presley
stood up. “Go ahead. I’ll even come with you. How’s that?”

That
wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. Jones scrunched her face at him,
storming from the office. Presley followed right on her heels. The office staff
watched them, probably wondering what was going on. Something was obviously wrong,
and it wasn’t unusual for Presley and Jones to bump heads.

Jones
flew by Amber who stared at her and Presley, but before she could object to
them barging in, both Jones and Presley were in the dean’s office with the door
closed behind them. The dean was filling out a form. He looked back and forth
between the two of them and then dropped his pen. “Whatever it is, can’t the
two of you work this out?”

“No,
Dean McGuire,” Jones answered quickly. “I’ve some across some troubling information
that I need to share with you about your son.”

The
dean looked warily at Presley. “What has he done now?”

Presley
felt like he was five years old all over again, in trouble for sending his
baseball through the neighbor’s window.

Jones
took a deep breath. “Unfortunately I found your son in a compromising position
with a Ms. Marcia Fox. They were in the kitchen engaging in sexual activity. I
found them both completely naked and I suspect this isn’t the first time they
have indulged in such dalliances.”

She
looked at Presley triumphantly, proud of what she’d done, but Presley wasn’t
worried at all. How could his father chastise him when he himself was involved
with an employee of McGuire Prep?

Surprise
flashed across the dean’s face, then it was replaced by the look of ‘I shouldn’t
be surprised at all. This is what Presley does.’

“Is
this true, son?” he asked Presley.

Presley
nodded. “Yes. I am ashamed of my actions and it won’t happen again. I only hope
that you will give both Ms. Fox and I another chance.”

Jones
scoffed. “Another chance for what? Dirtying up the sterile surfaces of the
kitchen where the students’ food is prepared?”

“Adella,
that will be all,” the dean said.

Her
jaw dropped. “Dean, what do you mean, that will be all? What are you going to
do about this? I know Presley’s your son, but he needs to be fired or at least
demoted!”

The
dean clasped his fingers in front of his face. “I thank you for bringing this
to my attention, but he’s neither going to be fired or demoted. Don’t worry
though, I will deal with Principal McGuire accordingly.”

Presley
reveled at the look of shock on Jones’ face. She’d really thought she had him
bent over ready to be fucked, but her plan was blowing up right in her smug
little face. “What do you mean, Dean McGuire?”

Presley
was ecstatic that his father wasn’t firing him, but he was still angry with him
over the Sara situation. Since his business was out there, he wanted everyone’s
business to be front and center. “He can’t fire me for being involved with a
co-worker because he’s involved with a co-worker himself. That would make him a
big fucking hypocrite.”

Presley
watched the color drain from Jones’ face and he felt a little sorry for her. She’d
been in love with the dean since the day he’d hired her so that was the last
thing she needed to hear, but there was no going back. Presley really didn’t
know what these younger women saw in the old man.

She
glared at the dean who looked down at the desk. Since Presley had started, he
might as well finish. “Yes, Sara Snow. They’re going to be spending the weekend
together. They’re going white-water rafting and then renting a big fancy cabin
the rest of the time.”

Jones’
stared at the dean, her lip quivering. She was waiting for him to deny
everything Presley was saying but he didn’t. She swallowed hard. “Oh. Well, I
guess I don’t have to tell you how inappropriate that is because you don’t seem
to care. Nobody cares about the rules around here so why don’t we all just
treat this institution of learning like it’s Mardi Gras and do whatever the
hell we want to do?”

The
dean stood, holding his hands up. “Adella, calm down. You are right about
Presley and Ms. Fox. These inappropriate activities do not belong on school
grounds and I can assure you it won’t happen again. Please, can we keep all
this amongst the three of us?”

Ms.
Jones hurried from the office mumbling under her breath. She’d heard enough. Things
hadn’t played out the way she’d wanted them to at all.

Presley
watched the door close. “She is going to be a problem.”

The
dean shook his head. “She’ll get over it. Just be nice to her, please. Don’t
agitate the situation.”

Presley
glared at his father as he went back to work. He wasn’t done with his
conversation about Sara, but he couldn’t find the words to say other than he
was hurt and felt betrayed. His father probably already knew that and didn’t
care.