“Come on, Tina,” I whine. “You’ve lasted me since I was sixteen. Don’t give up on me now.”
Tina, it seems, is just as embarrassed of me as I am, because she sputters once, twice, gives a violent shudder… and completely stalls out. My car would rather die than deal with me.
Great.
“No… no, no, no.” I try to start her up again, and the high-pitched noise that comes out of the engine instantly has me yanking the keys out and clenching them in shaking fingers.
This is the worst night. The absolute worst night.
Even more so because when I step out of the car and the wind catches in my hair, all I can think about for a second is how much better things would have been if I’d stayed in that club, pressed against Professor Levine’s warm body and…
Nope.
I pull my phone out to call Zandy, wondering if he’s going to hate me if I ask him for help… and notice that I’m still clicked into the information about the club. I back out of the directions and actually check the website.
Kink club.
“Oh my God,” I groan. Because of course I couldn’t take five seconds to actually scope out the club I was going to. I’d made sure it was queer friendly and dove in blind…
Kink club.
Was there a kink for tall professors who called you “good boy?”
That’s mine.
Oh God, is that mine?
I…
I need at least three to five business days to process this, and another ten to do research. I need…
The beaming lights of a car slowing down as it approaches me sends a shock of relief through my chest. Maybe I can catch a ride back to campus and get someone to tow Tina to the junkyard tomorrow. I’ll probably forgive her by then and try to get her fixed but…
But…
God hates me. There’s no other explanation for the man who steps out of the fancy sedan as it pulls alongside the curb, one dark brow arched as he looks me over.
“Mr. Archer?”
Oh, so he’s back to calling me that now that I completely embarrassed myself. I take two steps back, feeling my shoulders hit my car… and I wonder if I can somehow slink in through the rolled-down window without looking like a complete psycho.
I settle for keeping myself pressed against the frame of my traitor of a car, while I look up at Professor Levine as he approaches.
“Is everything okay?” The fact that there’s still concern in his voice is shocking. I don’t know how he can look at me right now after I just ran out on him. I can barely manage to keep my eyes open to look athim. I’m so… humiliated. And anxious.
And…
Angry that some part of my stomach is curling and warm again as he steps closer and the broad expanse of his body towers over me.
“Tina died.” When his eyes widen in shock, I quickly correct myself. “My car. She… I mean… it died.”
“Are you hurt?” His eyes are already raking over my body like he doesn’t trust me to answer, and that warm, fluttery feeling in my stomach raises its head again. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
I ran.
I was supposed to go home in a pathetic little lump and cry in the shower, not…
Not get rescued by him twice in one night.
