Bassist Instinct (The Rocker Series #2) (24 page)

“Dr. Assam, I’m Edgar Beasley, part of Dr. Brooks’ temporary security detail while we figure out what’s going on. She has some very powerful and protective friends. May I take her away from you for a moment?”

“Yes, of course, I have a class, my office is yours,” he nodded to Fiona and she smiled at him.

“Thank you very much, Dr. Assam,” Fiona said. He smiled, took his briefcase and left the office.

“He likes you.”

“I like
him
. I also happen to be very fond of his wife,” Edgar grinned. “Don’t be such a yenta.” Edgar laughed at that.

“Nobody’s called me that before. I’m leaving you with Martinez, I’ll liaise with the local cops and campus police and have them fingerprint your office before I head to New York. Don’t be scared.”

“I’m more angry than scared, Edgar, but thanks,” she smiled wanly at him.

“Can I kick his ass for you?”

“God no, please Edgar, just forget it. I’m angry at myself, not him. Well, I’m angry at him, too. I was just trying to be happy for the time I had with him… never mind.” What was she doing talking to Edgar about Tate, she was worse off than she thought. “And Edgar, thanks for everything. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.” She put her hand in his. “You’ve been so wonderful.”

“I’ll be around, Fiona. Tess and Alasdair are crazy about you, and I’m crazy about Piper, so, we’ll see each other again.” He winked at her, squeezed her hand and walked out of the office as Martinez came in. He looked at the egresses and stationed himself near the door.

Fiona got to work, finishing her papers and then she led Martinez to class after taping a sign stating she could be found during office hours in Dr. Assam’s office.

Her first class went without a hitch, despite the upheaval of recent events. Her second class, later in the day was not as smooth. She had a much better rapport with the students in that class, as all but one had taken a class with her before. They heard about her office having been broken into, and someone had spilled the beans about the rock star. She was bombarded with questions from everyone but Tess, who sat arms folded across her chest trying to become invisible.

When Fiona came into the classroom, the first person she saw was Sam. She smiled and greeted him warmly.

“But why are you here? I thought you had been reassigned,” she asked and he stepped aside and she saw Tess slumped in her chair, fiddling with her pen in agitation.

“He was assigned to torment me,” Tess said and Sam rolled his eyes.

“Not torment, Tess, but to keep you safe. I’ve got one, too,” Fiona said, but people started coming into the classroom and she shut up and moved to the front of the room where she put her computer down and opened it.

“Hey, Dr. Brooks,” a student greeted her with a huge grin and went to sit next to Tess. Fiona vaguely noticed Sam’s body tense and she wished she could tell him that Matt was not a threat, but she was glad he was keeping his guard up.

“Hi Matt, how was your break?”

“Great, but not as good as yours. Tate Dylan? Really?” He said and Fiona’s eyes went round, then she laughed.

“How on earth did you hear about that?” She asked him. He shrugged and grinned and turned to look at Tess who was looking miserable. He pointed at Fiona with his thumb as if to say “Get a load of her.” Tess put her head in her hands.

“Dr. Hollander mentioned it to his class,” he smirked. “He said you two were mighty friendly.”

“Dr. Hollander said that?” She said. Why would David do that? The next students who came in all said similar things, and when the time came to start, Fiona had trouble getting her class quiet.

“Tell us how you met him.” Someone called out.

“What’s he like?” Another asked. “And what’s he doing here in DC?”

“Visiting Dr. Brooks, duh!”

“Did you make beautiful music together?”

“Listen, I am in a precarious position of authority here, and although I am quite fond of each of you, it won’t stop me from kicking your butts if I have to.” Her students laughed. “Look guys, I don’t want to discuss my personal life with my class. I’m sure you would want the same thing in my shoes.”

“Are you kidding?” A student named Casey said from the second row. “I’d want to tell everyone if I was doing, I mean dating Tate Dylan.” Everyone laughed but Tess, Sam and Fiona. In her distress she noticed Tess looking at Sam and quickly looking away again. She must not like him, and Fiona wondered why.

“It would be extremely inappropriate, and it’s not going to happen. So, I have emailed your papers back to you with grades affixed. Good job for the most part.”

“Is he as good a kisser as they say?” There were some giggles.

“A week from today is the next big exam until your final project,” she tried to rein it in a little.

“Professor Hollander must be heartbroken.” The classroom erupted into laughter.

“Oh please,” she said angrily. “Don’t be unkind.” That stopped their laughter, and she breathed and got back to work.

She wanted to tell her class everything, how his lips seared a path along her skin, how it felt when he moved inside of her, how she came an unprecedented five times the first time they’d made love. How he made her laugh in the most frightening time of her life, and made her feel secure when people were trying to kidnap her in order to torture her for information that she didn’t have. How he slipped away like a thief in the middle of the night. She tried not to think of that, she didn’t want to cry in front of her students. Instead she did a quick review of the diminished seventh chord.

At the end of her last class she went to Assam’s office, packed up her things, washed her tea cup and was getting ready to start cleaning up her office with Martinez, when Tess knocked on Assam’s door.

“Come in, Tess,” Fiona said and Tess went to her and flopped on the sofa. “Bad day?”

“Awful. I want to apologize for ever introducing you to Tate. That behavior in class today is exactly why I don’t tell anyone about my connection with the band, and I’m really sorry.”

“Tess, don’t waste a second regretting that you introduced us, I’m really glad you did. You wouldn’t rather not know them, either.”

“No, I love them all, but they’re my family. It’s going to be like that all the time for you now,” Tess said.

“Your mom seems to deal with it well,” Fiona said. “Tess, Tate and I went out for a long weekend, things will settle down when people realize that the inevitable happened and he left me for a six foot blonde, or whatever.”

“He’s just gone to New York, he’ll be back.” Fiona shook her head.

“I don’t think he’s planning on coming back, Tess, he’s gone for good.”

“What? But he was so…engrossed. God, I’m so sorry. Now you must really hate me,” Tess said miserably. She hoped that her friend hadn’t lost her heart to him if he had left for good.

“Look, it’s been a long few months for me since Dean was killed. Thank you for siccing Tate on me, it was very well received. Please don’t second guess yourself.”

“You knew?” Fiona smiled.

“Forbidden fruit, how could he resist? And for my part, he was exactly what I needed.”

“Just so you know, that first night he told me he was already smitten when he first saw you lying on the pavement, my elaborate plan was superfluous.” Fiona laughed.

“So, why don’t you like Sam?” Fiona asked.

“He’s impossible. He’s a bully, and he’s a tyrant. He tries to intimidate me all the time.”

“And he’s gorgeous?” Fiona asked.

“Oh my God he’s so beautiful, I can barely stand it,” she whispered and then quickly glanced at the door to make sure it was closed, the man was eerily silent. Fiona laughed and Tess looked at her and laughed, too. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are.”

“I don’t really like having security. I guess I should be used to it by now, though. There’s always been somebody hanging around ever since Connor came into our lives. Did you know that when I moved out of the dorms into my own place, my grandfather
arranged
,” she made quotation marks in the air. “More like vetted, for a roommate for me. She’s great, quiet and neat, but she’s not as much a roommate as she is a bodyguard.” She chuckled. “My family is a little over the top when it comes to personal protection, and there are good reasons to be nervous, but I’m not sure I can take much more of being joined at the hip to that man.”

“Do it for your mother. Think of how you felt when she was in trouble.” Tess looked up at her with surprise.

“How did you know that she was in trouble?”

“Your grandfather visited me last night. He hinted that Connor was maybe a tad overprotective because of an incident involving your mom, and I made Tate tell me everything later. Lally also confessed to having followed my career since I was five. He never let on.”

“He’s a sneaky spy type, he never lets on.” Tess stood up and stretched. “I feel better, Fiona, thanks.”

“My pleasure. You know, I feel better, too. Now I’m going to clear up my office,” Fiona said. “Stay safe.”

“You too.”

They parted at Fiona’s office and she stepped in and looked around feeling overwhelmed. Where to start? She wondered, as she waded in and carefully picked files off the floor. Thirty minutes later Martinez stuck his head in and cleared his throat. Fiona looked up from where she was sitting cross legged on the floor.

“The guy from this morning is here, do you want me to tell him to beat it?” He asked.

“Who?”

“Hollander,” he said, his face impassive.

“Oh God. Let him in, I guess, but please, don’t go too far away,” she added.

Martinez opened the door and stood in the doorway so Hollander had to press himself against the jamb so as not to touch him. Fiona thought she saw Martinez grin just a little. These guys were expert intimidators.

“Fiona, can I give you a hand?”

“No thanks, David. Did you need something? I am a little busy.”

“I’m just trying to help, maybe spend a little time with you,” he said looking hopeful.

“No thanks, David.”

“Come on, you have your hands full, let me help.”

“When I was in the fifth grade I had a crush on a boy in my class. I asked my brother what to do, should I ignore him, or tease him? It seemed to be what the other girls were doing with their own crushes. My brother said ‘just be nice.’ It was such a revelation,” she looked him in the eye. “I don’t want to spend any time with you, David, you’re not very nice.”

“What? Where’s this coming from? I’m nice.”

“I’ve been sitting here clearing out some of this mess, trying to understand what your motivations were for telling your class, in great detail I’ve discovered, what you saw transpire between Tate and me over the weekend.”

“What? I didn’t tell them anything. They must have heard it from some other source, Fiona. Anyway, you two were practically having sex on Wisconsin Ave, Georgetown’s main drag on the biggest shopping day of the year, people were bound to notice,” his hands were out in front of him as if trying to ward off a blow.

“Hmm,
practically
having
sex
? Are you listening to yourself? He gave me a peck on the lips.”

“Twice. You could tell he wanted more,” his tone was snide. “A rock star? Fiona, you’re classically trained, you’re wasting your time with the likes of him.”

“I should spend my time with…?”

“Me! We have similar interests, we’re from the same socio-economic group. I know which fork to use.” Fiona’s mouth fell open.

“Socio-economic group? You know, I come from poor Irish immigrants. My dad sounds just like Tate. Tate and I have more in common than you think.” David took a deep breath.

“Fiona, you’re a genius, he’s an uneducated punk,” he said. Fiona’s hackles went right up.

“You don’t even know the man. Tate Dylan has seen and learned more than you or I ever will because his mind and heart are open to new things. He is kind, generous, funny and intuitive; he is not a punk,” Fiona started to sound a little shrill so she took a deep breath.

“He only sees what you look like, I see what’s inside, Fiona. I know that you are just as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside. It wouldn’t matter to me in the least if you were ugly, but you aren’t. I see beyond the body and the baby blues, but Tate Dylan, he just wants sex.”

“You are unkind.”

“I just said you were beautiful on the inside
and
the outside,” he complained.

“You don’t know me anymore than you know Tate Dylan.”

“Look, I didn’t say anything to my class about you and Tate Dylan, I promise. Can we be friends again? We are meant to be together, and you know it.” That comment made her cock a skeptical eyebrow at him.

“You and I are not meant to be together, I do not mean to leave you with that impression,” she said maybe a little harshly. David started to say something but she held up her hand. “Three of my 2:00 students came straight from your class and told me what you said,” she waved her hand. “That in itself, is minor, you had juicy gossip and you couldn’t help yourself. I mean Tate Dylan, the rock star, he carries a certain cachet with the twenty something crowd; I get it. But then I started reviewing our interactions over the years, and you have been consistently rude. I don’t want your attentions, David. I don’t know how to be any more clear, and if you kiss me again, I will bring charges against you.”

“What?” He ran his hand through his hair. He tried to look slandered, but gave up and sneered at her. “You didn’t seem to mind when Tate Dylan had his tongue in your mouth.”

“A perfect example of your rudeness,” Fiona said with a weary sigh. “It’s my mouth, and my choice whose tongue is allowed in. Goodbye, David.” Martinez opened the door and cleared his throat. Hollander looked at him and Martinez cocked his head toward the door.

“You’ve just been summarily dismissed, Hollander,” he said and Hollander blew past him out the door. Martinez looked at Fiona and she saw the hint of smile again before he too, stepped out the door. She looked around at the mess surrounding her and decided to leave the rest for tomorrow. She was going home to have a glass of wine and a very long shower.