Mr. Rush: An Island Rush Bonus Chapter

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Copyright © 2016 by Marien Dore

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This book is a work of FICTION. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book.The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher.The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.

Mr. Rush

By: Marien Dore

©
Marien Dore 2016

Mr. Rush’s POV

Every man has a different and personal routine when it comes to preparing for the day.  Mine consisted of obsessing over my outward appearance — ironing, bathing thoroughly, checking my skin, and spending hours stressing over small details, I know, people won’t even bat an eye.  It sounds shallow, but with the kind of beauty as the woman in the other room, I had to raise my standards. She was beautiful, perfect, and I didn’t deserve her. I would be deeply disappointed if I looked anything less than perfect in her eyes. I wasn’t good enough for her, and it’s what I had to constantly drill in my head.  Otherwise, I would drown in my guilt.  If I think about the real reason why I try so hard for her, I will flip out before even getting on the plane.

Wincing at letting myself think about that, I scowled at the man in the mirror.  His face was freshly shaven, body clean, nails and skin clear, and now perfectly clothed.  The liar hit almost all the big essentials in the preparation process.  The next step was hair, which was the most annoying to tackle.  After all, she loved my hair!  Sighing softly with my tired breath, I picked up the comb and got to work, styling it back as I spied on each strand.  I used enough product to help save some time and avoid her displeasure if it wasn’t perfect.

After my morning routine had been done, it was time for me to say goodbye to Jill.  Being gone for several days would honestly feel like a nice break. That is if I can stop myself from thinking about a certain student of mine.  She drove me crazy nearly all school year.  With what I learned a few days ago, about her family, it only made my predicament that much harder to bear.  It made my interest grow.  Beyond everything that made me feel guilty, it made me want to help her more than anything. 

Shaking my head to myself, I moved out of the bathroom and shut the light off.  Still very early in the morning, I made my way through the dark house and opened my bedroom door carefully.  Last night, Jill told me to wake her before I leave so I could say goodbye. From that request, I flipped the switch and flooded my room with light.

The bedroom was clean and spotless as usual.  All besides my bed of course, which was being occupied.  She had the gray covers pulled up to where the top of her silky purple pajama shirt was.  However, with my action, she winced and pulled it up over her head.  “What the hell?” I heard her mumble in her high voice. 

I scoffed as I came to sit alongside on the bed.  Turning towards her, I rested my hand on her.  “You wanted to see me before I leave,” I reminded her.

She pushed the covers off her.  Turning to me, opening her sleepy eyes, she nodded.  “Right.  I’m going to miss you,” she said in a voice that said she was not happy. 

“What’s wrong?” It wasn’t unusual for her to act this way.  Of course, I needed to remember she acted like that because she cared. 

“Just going to miss you is all,” she said, sitting up.  Blinking awake, she propped herself up and stared at me, her blue eyes turning upset.  “Plus, I had hoped that your first trip to some place nice would be with me,” she mumbled, looking away. 

“I’m sorry, but we will go somewhere even nicer than the Bahamas for our honeymoon,” I nodded.  “I doubt this trip will even be fun.  It’s with the school and a ton of kids,” I stated, trying to cheer her up, despite knowing my voice was blank.

Releasing a little whine from the back of her throat, she leaned forward and rested her forehead against my shoulder.  “Whatever,” she said in a high voice.

Sighing, I started stroking her soft blonde hair.  I didn’t want to leave my house worried about her getting pissed over nothing.  That would only make me feel worse about myself.

“Hey,” I said, moving her back so she would look me in the eyes. “I’m sorry. You knew this trip was coming, and it will be over soon.  I’ll call you anytime I can when I am there. Okay, honey?  I am going to miss you so much,” I said, smiling gently. “I’ll miss everything about the woman I am going to marry,” I said on autopilot.

Jill gave me a small smile, and my words were all it took.  She nodded and clasped my hand. “I cannot wait until you get back. We are going to do so much to make up for the days lost!  Then I’ll be able to tell you about all the things you missed while you were gone,” she said in a completely different mood now, thankfully. 

“I won’t be gone that long,” I reminded her.

“It’s going to feel like it.”

Peering into those pretty blue eyes, I nodded in agreement. “I know. Even worse is that I need to get going right now.”  I was pushing it as it was.  It took a while getting ready, and I packed up the last few things I would need for the trip.  Now, I should probably be on my way.

“Oh my god, I’m going to miss you,” she said, leaning up and cupping my cheeks.  Giving me one of her famous gorgeous smiles, she then gave me a big parting kiss.  A long and deep one, which I forced myself to go along with.  Returning it, knowing I won’t be seeing her for several days, I moved my lips with hers sweetly.  By now, I knew the right amount of affection to give her to make her happy.

After I waited for her to move away first, I then gave her a hug.  “I will be talking with you very soon,” I whispered in her ear, noticing my digital clock. I needed to leave immediately. 

“I love you,” she said, her voice muffled against my shoulder. When she let go, I repeated what she said back to her and stood up.  Staring down at the disheveled and still sleepy woman, I smiled gently at her. This was an early hour for her, and I appreciated that she got up to say goodbye. 

Not long after we exchanged a few more words, I flicked the light off and allowed her to go back to sleep. A few minutes later, I had my bags in hand and left my house in peace. I was looking forward to a little break, but I had a feeling with everything on my mind, this trip wouldn’t do anything to help my thoughts.

From the moment I left the house until I joined the majority of the junior class at the airport, it had become increasingly evident that my worries wouldn’t be going anywhere. I couldn’t stop thinking about Janice and the things I learned about her recently. It would be hard for any teacher to ignore learning about how a student is being threatened, how that student is being forced to try to get her brother out of jail for murder, and how that student’s father will possibly kill her if she does not comply with his wants. 

This wasn’t just any student, though. The circumstances weren’t only extreme in this girl’s case.  It was driving me crazy on a personal level, as well.  Hell, the months before this, she has driven me crazy.  To finally learn the truth about what happened to her, I just wanted to go to the cops. I felt like I was failing as a teacher, as a human being and citizen. It wasn’t just my job to report this as a teacher. I should go to the police because it was the ‘right thing’ to do.  One of the many internal struggles of this entire issue though was that doing the right thing, in this case, could kill Janice.  I wouldn’t be able to live with that.

Sighing from my stern lips, I forced my mindset away from my current stressors. I would have to try my hardest to not worry like Janice requested. She told me that if I didn’t go to the cops, everything would be okay.  I had to believe her because she was such a strong soul.  I had to remind myself of that as I tried putting my focus elsewhere like getting through this long and dragging line of people.

I should have known going through security wouldn’t be that easy. When it was my turn to pass through the detectors, a loud alarm went off. The sound was instantly recognizable, and it was clear I was the one that caused it.

I groaned heavily.  I truly wasn’t in the mood to be stopped for whatever reason.  Ironically enough, the same second I groaned in annoyance, my gaze caught her. My eyes found a pair of beautiful brown eyes that were already imprinted on my mind. She was waiting with the rest of the juniors, but sitting on her own.

I spun back around at the alarm I somehow triggered, just wanting to get this over with. Two men from security approached me and saw what caused the alarm before I could even speculate. “Sir, would you mind handing us your bag?” one of the men asked, unsympathetically nodding towards my shoulder. My eyes were on Janice that I totally forgot the camera was still on me.

“Sure,” I nodded, maneuvering it from my shoulder.  His slick eyes followed it as I gave him the bag.  When he unzipped the top, looked through the bag, and then took the camera out, I realized with fear why the alarm went off.

I only had a split second to decide what to do as I tried to keep my expression calm.  This wasn’t my camera or camera bag. I must have grabbed Jill’s before leaving the house. I might have confused mine with hers since both bags looked almost the same. Since I got hers instead… I knew instantly what triggered the alarm.

Something meaningful to Jill was hidden in a little pouch at the bottom of the bag – a knife. It once belonged to Jill’s grandfather who always had it on him, including in the Vietnam War.  It’s very special to her and something she always likes to have.  If I were to allow security to take this, it would devastate her. My choice now was to take a risk for Jill or surrender the item to the security. I ultimately decided to keep my mouth shut. I just hoped they would think the camera caused the alarm.

Luckily, they did.  “Sorry, sir,” the one holding Jill’s camera said.  He started putting it back into the bag as the other man explained how this was a common mistake occurring in the past few days with their machines. Gladly, they thought today was just one of those days.

Handing me back the bag, they had me move along so I was free to sit and wait until boarding began.  Naturally, my eyes found the person I wanted to think about the least.  I didn’t want to worry, but I couldn’t help it. All I could do, therefore, was try to ease my concerns. However, I felt persistent. I felt the need to move towards the girl who, for the past hour, had been mindlessly sitting alone.

Taking her in as I neared her, it was always hard to ignore how pretty she was. I could see her wavy brown hair flow down her left shoulder.  It contrasted wonderfully with the peach shirt she wore and her soft pale skin.  Before I could scold myself like I usually do every time I see her, I reached her and took the seat beside her.  

The moment I sat next to her, she looked at me with those insanely intense brown eyes.  Only for a moment though before she looked away quickly and sighed.  I asked the first thing I’ve been inexorably wondering. “Are you okay?”

Janice is nice but can be feisty and defensive.  I shouldn’t have been too shocked about her answer. “Mr. Rush, I am very fine. I am going on a vacation from my life, so I would not like to be reminded of it,” she said, pausing for only a split second.  “I have no idea why you care.  You never seemed to care about anything other than your precious hair and your job.  So no offense… but please cut the act and leave me alone.”             

She was admirable, but that didn’t mean she didn’t get to me with her poor attitude. In fact, sometimes I couldn’t stand her with how she would speak to me. As a teacher, I took professional offense when she would speak to me that way.  That’s why I never hesitated to send her to detention before. Personally, it made me more intrigued. 

Scowling and internally scolding myself for trying to help and feel better about her situation, I got up and left.  There was no point in trying to get some relief so I wouldn’t be worried.  I guess, I could take some relief in knowing she would be out of this town for a few days and away from her abusive father.

It wasn’t too long after that when we started boarding the plane.  Locating my seat within the first few rows, I noticed who I would be near me for the next couple hours. Clearly, this wasn’t going to be a relaxing or quiet flight. It was Mrs. Marshall, who was once my math teacher when I was in high school. She was a sweet older lady, but she was extremely chatty and thought she was superior compared to most people.

Making eye contact with the woman who occupied the window seat, she instantly smiled.  Shoving a smile towards her too, I took my seat next to her. “Bless my luck, I get to sit next to someone I actually enjoy talking to!” she said in a voice that was too chipper for this hour. I noticed her graying and short hair was curled like always. She was always covered in color and today didn’t disappoint. Her bright pink, yellow, and purple flower patterned blouse covered her overweight body.  It was blinding. 

Head craned to my left, showing her my appreciation towards her comment, I nodded with my forced grin. “Well, I guess I am one lucky passenger, Mrs. Marshall,” I lied with the most positive note in my voice I could muster to not sound sarcastic.  Looking away and judging how much space I had in front of me, I took the camera bag off my shoulder and set it on the before sitting back.

Looking around at all my other co-workers around me, she continued speaking. “Oh hon, put that bag up in the compartment above us,” she said in a concerned, but assertive voice like my mother would sometimes use on me. That’s why I still called her Mrs. Marshall and not Colleen.  Though we were now both teachers on equal ground, she liked being the boss and treated me like a kid.

Remembering her words were said out of concern, I pushed away how she was already annoying me and smiled tightly, turning towards her again.  “Oh, I’m good.  I like to keep this bag close to me because of how fragile my camera is.”