I rush down the hall to his dorm room and bang on the door.
No answer.
I bang on it again, much louder this time. “I know you’re in there, fuck-face!”
The door swings open, and Tyler answers wearing nothing but a pair of grey briefs. His six-pack abs are on full display, and the briefs are slightly hanging off his hips, exposing a perfectly carved “V.”
“Yes?” He smiles. “How may I help you?”
My breath catches in my throat as he leans against the door, as his gaze pins me to the spot.
“Would you like to come inside?” he asks. “Is this a personal thing?”
“No, this is a ‘You’re a jackass thing.’ It’s also an ‘I’m seconds away from hiring a hitman to handle you’ thing.”
He raises his eyebrow, looking completely unfazed.
Why does he have to be so fucking attractive?
“You’re trying to sabotage my chances of becoming the Scholar of the Class by telling everyone that I need a break.”
“You do need a break,” he says. “You’re killing yourself trying to keep up with me.”
“I can keep up with you just fine.”
“Would you like to come into my room and prove that to me?”
“We have an exam in two hours.”
“That’s plenty of time to prove your stamina.”
“I think we’re talking about two separate things right now.”
“I don’t think that at all.” He stares at my lips. “I may have been trying to sabotage you. It’s my competitive nature, though. You’ve done some super petty shit to me, too.”
“Name one.”
“Here’s three.” He’s still staring at my mouth. “You sent me a fake email about our group meeting being moved to one hour later to make me look bad.”
I say nothing. It’s true, but it was payback for him not sharing his lecture notes with me.
“Two, you let me turn in my part of the group project with three typos.”
“I didn’t prevent you from running spellcheck.”
“And three, you’re standing in front of my dorm room pretending like you don’t want me,” he says. “Maybe we can work something out if you just admit it.”
“I’ll see you during our exam this evening,” I say. “Don’t get too excited about having the top score, because it won’t happen this time.”
“I already took it.” A slow smile spreads across his face. “Oh, that’s right. You probably didn’t get the email from the professor moving it up by a day—yesterday. I guess someone hacked your inbox when he was concerned that you weren’t answering his emails…Good luck asking the professor for you to make it up.”
Motherfucker…
Tyler
Present Day
Manhattan, New York
* * *
Me: Chassie, deposition prep starts in fifteen minutes. Are you coming?
Chassie: Not at all. I’m sure that you can handle it yourself, FIRST CHAIR.
Me: I still need help with certain things …
Chassie: Here’s the link to the best psychologist in the city. You’re welcome.
Me: I showed up to the address you have on file with the firm so we could talk tonight, but it belonged to another employee. Can you give me your address, please?
Subject: URGENT. The case files.
These are due within the next three days. When do you want to work on them together?
* * *
Tyler Hudson
Walsh & White
Me: Okay, seriously. Issues with me aside, why aren’t you doing any of your goddamn work on the other cases?
Chassie
Present Day
Manhattan, New York
Subject: URGENT. The case files.
Subject: Audio Narration Redraft Request #4
Subject: New Audiobook Request: Erotic Kink
I knew, deep down, which subject line I should click on tonight, which subject line would get me back on track.
Passion won the fight within seconds.
Subject: Audio Narration Redraft Request #4
Hey there, Best Audio Narrator Ever,
I really love your work, but I’m having a few issues with your latest submissions.
I’m not trying to sound offensive, but the sex scenes don’t sound as raw or real as I was hoping. They um…They actually come off like the narrator hasn’t had sex in a while. LOL (Not my business, just being honest.)
And the gag sounds are off a bit as well.
Can you please re-record the dialogue and the effects?
I need them to come off way more realistic.
Thank you so much.
Lisa Fathom
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author
Sighing, I poured myself a glass of wine and took a few deep breaths.
I stepped into the soundproof room and pulled up the book again.
The scene was relatively simple—a typical hero and heroine have sex in the backseat of the car. The only thing different was that they were having an “affair,” and their passionate moments were supposed to be “so powerful that they reset the world’s axis.”
I had six hours to make this right.
Then I’ll finally do my legal work. I promise.
Tyler
Present Day
Manhattan, New York
“AHHH…Fuck me harder. Harder. Harder, Austin!”
It was official.
My neighbor wasn’t a nympho after all.
She was a faker.
She’d banged a Thomas, Andrew, Austin, and a Liam this week alone. As if having endless fake sex wasn’t enough, she recapped it frame by frame until she had her next fill.