“You’re gonna love it,” is all she says, eyes wide with excitement and taking a seat on the couch.
I can live through a musical. The greater feat is surviving a musical where my mother randomly bursts out into song. Despite all my teasing, I’d take it any day. Just to see her happy, smiling, singing.
A notification chimes on my cell phone. A message from an unknown number.This little ploy you’re using isn’t going to work.
My heart skips a beat, thudding to a halt for one brief moment before recovering. Ploy? What ploy am I supposedly using? And who the hell is accusing me of it?
Who is this?It is the only response I can devise to type back.
You think fucking your professor is going to get you that apprenticeship?
My blood runs cold as the letters form across my screen.
There’s no way. This had to be a joke. Only one person would be concerned about that apprenticeship. The one person determined to take it for himself and ruin my life in the process.
Jackson? How the hell did you get my number?I write back.
Not Jackson. Just a concerned private citizen worried someone like you is taking advantage of the system.
Right. For someone supposedly so bright, Jackson’s an idiot when it comes to covert affairs.
Then again, apparently, so am I. Otherwise, no one would have realized what was going on. I remind myself they have no proof. There’s no evidence to support this is even a legitimate threat. It could be anyone who saw me pining away for my professor in the lecture hall and simply put two and two together. Or so they imagine.
Don’t text me again.I write.You have no idea what you’re talking about.
I toss the phone to the side, ignoring any notifications that follow it. I’m not sure what’s worse, the fact that being with Zach is going to land us both in trouble or that we’re going to be punished for these crimes without actually sleeping together. If I am to be accused of having sex with my professor, the man of my every wet and waking dream, I’m sure as hell not going down without a fight.
And I’m definitely not going to accept my punishment without reaping the full benefits of my crime.
Three months?
To hell with it. If I’m going to stand before the board while they strip me of my apprenticeship and hand it to Jackson, I’m not going to be doing it a virgin.
Chapter Sixteen
Zach
“Ican’t take her,” Derek says.
I’ve only been asking him to take Aly on as his protégé for two weeks, while he keeps skirting around the question. Now, sitting across from him in his office, blocking all potential escape routes that don’t involve rappelling down five stories, he’s finally delivered an answer.
“What do you mean?”
He shrugs and begins shoving the numerous papers littered across his desk. “I mean, I have too much stuff going on at the moment to be helping students with their proposals. This is a big undertaking, Zach, as you know. I don’t have the time for it.”
“If it’s the housing project you’re struggling with,” I say, “I can pick up some of the slack for you there.”
“It’s notjustthe housing project.”
The tension in his voice triggers a silent alarm. I’ve been so caught up in my own problems, I haven’t even bothered to think about what’s happening in Derek’s personal life. “What is it? Is there something going on I should know about?”
“No, man. Don’t worry about it.” He shakes his head and places the strap of his bag over his shoulder like a soldier. “I just have to take care of mine, and you need to handle this on your own. You got yourself in this mess with the girl, and now you need to man up and see it through.”
He makes it sound like I knocked her up and need to either marry her or send her child support payments. It isn’t like that at all. It wasn’t a mistake I need to patch up quickly.
It’s more like a mistake I want to revisit over and over again.
No matter what I tell myself, I can’t get Aly out of my mind. All I can imagine is her smooth skin beneath my fingertips. Her hot mouth gasping, meeting every move I make with equal passion and force. All I keep hearing is her call out my name, the sweet melody of her climax taking hold of her as she cries out in pleasure.