The Teacher (4 page)

He steered me toward the corner
, giving us a sliver of privacy, at least for a few minutes anyway.

"So now I exist?" I whispered between clenched teeth. "I was beginning to think I was invisible."

"Don't be silly, Cass," he said gruffly. "Everyone else made it to class on time. I can't give you special treatment."

"Ah, so that's
what was going on," I said, dripping with sarcasm
. "See, I thought you were trying to pay me back for last night."

His jaw tightened. "This has nothing to do with last night."

"Whatever," I snorted.
I crooked my thumb toward the door.
"I'm going to go."

"We're not done here," he said angrily, stepping to block me. "I want you to take this class seriously or what the hell is the point?"

I frowned.
"The point?"

"
What’s the point o
f me standing at the front of the class and pretending you mean nothing when you mean everything
?”

His confession was a sledgehamm
er, demolishing any animosity and l
eaving only the ache in my chest.  And when his eyes flickered to my lips, desire overwhelmed me.
Desire to kiss him.
Desire to knock everything from his desk and let him have his way with me.

I leaned in and pursed my lips before I caught myself, taking a few steps back. The door swung open, bringing a rush of conversations and footsteps and I let out a sigh and gave him a long look before speaking.

"I won't be late again."

“Good.” He moved closer and I just knew—I wasn’t getting off that easy.
“Tonight when you come over we can discuss further disciplinary action.”

My body rioted as I moved from him
, every step physically painful.
I paused at the door and glanced back, my heart skipping a beat when he mouthed a single word: tonight.

****

"How about a little coffee to go with your sugar?"

"
Hm
?"
I murmured, blinking rapidly, glancing at Alicia.

She took a sip of her frappe then nodded at the raw sugar
packet in my hand. "That's
the tenth one you've put in."

I scoffed
then looked down at the stack of brown sugar packets sitting beside my latte. Instead of a frothy layer
of foam speckled with raw sugar,
there was a solid golden crust. I quickly swiped it off with a stirrer and popped my lid on, ignoring Alicia's suspicious gaze. "Where do you want to sit?"

It was a silly question since Royal Bean was almost always packed to capacity and there was only a loveseat near the front and a small table near the back, but I needed a subject change or she'd see the truth on my
face. W
hile I was trying
to forgive Chance
for the past, I knew it would take
a while
before he earned back her trust--if at all.

I lowered myself into my seat and wearily shrugged my cardigan off. "We're barely back and I'm already drained."

"You and
me both,” Alicia said with
a groan.

She was definitely wearing her exhaustion better than I was. Her blonde locks hung in glossy waves, skirting past her shoulders. She looked fresh off the runway in her sheer polka dot dress paired with leggings and a leather cropped jacket.

Her eyes smoldered as she narrowed them to baby
blue slits. "How's British Lit?
"

"It's fine
." I fondled my cup sleeve.
"A ridiculous amount of Jane Austen right now.
Pride and Prejudice
."

She crossed her arms. "The last thing you need right now is
Downton
Abbey
's Romeo and Juliet."

"Okay first, wrong century," I snickered. "And there are no murders or suicide."

She made a dismissive grunt in the back of her throat. "Speaking of murder, I'm hoping you've killed off whatever you had going with Chance."

I tightened my hold on my cup. "I thought you agreed
to
no Chance talk."

"And I thought you agreed you'd never give him another chance after what you did to you," she said pointedly. "I mean, is it amnesia?
Because I can still remember you almost putting all of yo
ur hard work in jeopardy,
holed up in your dorm, refusing to get out of bed."
Her
voice was taut with anger as she rehashed the horrible fallout. "He broke your heart, Cassandra. He cheated on you because you didn't immediately agree to be his twisted sex slave!"

I bristled as the businessman at the table beside us tilted his head in our direction, ears perking with interest.

I took a deep breath, trying to remind myself that she was just trying to be a friend. "Alicia, I don't want to talk about this right now."

"Whatever." She took a long, overly loud slurp of her frozen latte and I tried to think of something, anything except for Chance.

I wanted to ask about her classes, but I knew it would just cycle back to how I was a weak, amnesiac idiot. I thought back to an email from Mom. She was finally going through cards and flowers and condolences.
"So Mom wanted me to invite you and your mom over for dinner.
As a thank you for everything you guys did with..." I took a swig of my coffee but it did nothing to dul
l the lash of pain in my chest.
"To thank
yall
for helping with Dad's funeral."

The glaciers in her eyes melted instantly. "You're my best friend, Cass. You would have done the same for me."

I smiled
. "Just to warn you, she's threatening to cook
dinner."

Alicia bit her lip. "
I'm sure it will,
uh, be delicious." We both knew she was definitely being generous with that description. I inherited my culinary skills from mommy dearest, which meant it wo
uld be barely edible at best. "
Mom and I could always bring something."

"
That's probably best," I toyed
with my napkin. "
And I could make my infamous brownies."

She arched a golden
brow
. "
You gonna remember the egg this time?"

"What?" I said
feigning
innocence. "They were supposed to be vegan."

"Uh huh."
She finally cracked a full smile bu
t when her eyes glanced past me,
it dropped instantly.

"What is it?" I turned in my chair and I had to check myself to stop the grin from spreading across my face. It was Chance--clad in a deep blu
e button down shirt with the cuffs rolled back,
revealing tan skin with a dusting of ebony hair. His dark locks were held back by a pair of Ray Bans and he was looking around like
h
e
was searching for someone
. I open my mouth to call him over but sto
pped when he moved to a set ar
m chairs near the door. A bubbly looking blonde was qui
etly sipping her drink and
flipping through a magazine. He s
ank into the chair opposite her,
flashing a smile that
was like a blow to the stomach.

I slowly turned back to face
Alicia
, my face hot with
embarrassment. The rational part of
me tried to tame the part that wanted to make a scene; c
law her eyes out, smack him across the
face, then key his car. It
told me it wasn't what it looked like
.
To breathe.
In and out.
But the fact that Alicia was clearly fighting to keep her cool
too
only fanned the flames.

"He didn't waste any time, huh?"

I swallowed hard
. "She could be just a friend."

"Right.
B
ecause he's such a stand up guy."
She was sending me nonverbal cues: round 'w
hat are you waiting for?' eyes
and sitting on the edge of her seat like she was ready to spring into action. When I didn
't budge, she got to the point.
"Aren't you going to confront him?"

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Well, I didn't think giving Doctor Ass
hole another chance was
a good idea either." She didn't pull a singl
e punch. "And surprise surprise! H
e's already up to no good."

I gave her a long,
pleading look. "Now is not the time for I told you so
Alicia
." I grab
bed my things,
wanting to get out of there before I had a meltdow
n. I guess I really had grown. Three years ago,
I would have totally gone Jerry Springer bu
t now I was just exhausted. E
xpending that kind of energy on
someone that didn't even bother to take
his piece of t
ail somewhere other than my favorite
coffee shop seemed pointless.

"What are you doing?" Alicia asked, watching me stand up and pivot in the opposite direction of Chance
and the girl.

"I just
wanna
go," I sighed. "Can we just go?"

Alicia was
flabbergasted,
staring at me slack jawed, not moving an inch. B
ut it was the quiet befo
re the storm. When she stood up,
I realized that she was taking matters in her own hands.

Before I could stop her,
she stormed to w
h
ere Chance sat. I could tell by the way his brow was furrowed that he was trying to remember how he knew her. Wh
en it dawned on him he stood up,
extending his hand. As soon as Alicia ignored it and gestured at the blond looking around in confusion, I gathered my wits about me and walked towards them.

Chan
ce eyeballed me and for a split second, I let him know that I knew exactly what was going on
.

"Miss Woods,” he
said,
voice as sharp as a whip. “
I was just telling your friend-"

"Miss Woods?" Alicia's volume rose to a level everyone on the block
could
hear. "After what you did to her, she's
‘
Miss Woods
’
? You really
are
a dick, huh?"

Chancels nostrils flared. "I don't know who you think you're talking to-"

"Oh I know exactly who I'm talking to, Doctor Crawford,"
she said acidly.

I moved between them trying to
diffuse the situation. "Alicia, let's go.
P
lease
."

"But he-"

"Is trying to meet with his advisee to discuss possible majors," Chance fini
shed his voice taut with anger.

I gaped at him. He was her faculty advisor?

I steered Alicia back towards our table. Eyes regarded us with interest as we moved to the back exit.

Once we were back in the parking lot I let out a better laugh. "He was her advisor Alicia." I toyed
with the keys in my pocket, the
truth sinking in. "He wasn't cheating."

"Not today anyway," Alicia growled beside me.
Even when I gave her a look she didn't back down.
"I'm not going to apologize for having your back. It's clear you're still in love with him and it's blinding you."

She was wrong about that--my eyes were wide open. I thought I was
beginning to get over the past and slowly letting him back in, but all it took was
a pretty face for me to go back to that dark place. It only took a sliver of doubt for me to believe he was a liar and I wasn't enough.

"I know you're
trying to help," I said softly, leaning against my hood. "B
ut you can't do this."

"Look out for my friend?"

"Attack Chance because of what he did," I answe
red. "I'm trying to forgive him,
Alicia."

"You can't be serious.
What he did was unforgivable!"

"That's really not up to you."

"I guess you're right. I'll just have to pick up the pieces."

"Alicia-"

She let out a snort, gesturing behind me. "Prince Charming is on his way to do damage control and I'm on my way back to reality."

I watched her sto
mp toward her Cherokee,
wishing that I could make her understand; that I could show her that he was trying to
make up
for the past. I wanted to help
her see that I
needed him now more than ever but h
er squealing tires confirmed what I already knew--it was going to be a hard sell.