Not wanting to stay undressed while he looked his best and composed, I fixed the position of my dress and put the blazer back on.
I stared at him buttoning the collar of his shirt and fixing his chequered tie. His cheeks heated as he looked away to the window on the other side of the classroom.
Wait… no way. Was he… ‘Shy much?
The professor put his trousers back on and coughed a little as if he were unsure of what to say. Funny. He wasn’t so restrained a minute ago. ‘I don’t usually fuck my students.’
There it was, the moral high ground I expected coming here. Or ethical dilemma, but I couldn’t exactly complain. We both wanted it, and the way his eyes lit up when he saw me was cute enough to sweep me off my feet.
‘Well then, we’re lucky I’m not a regular student, right?’ I joked, finding his consternation hilarious.
A sharp exhale left him. ‘Why don’t we discuss the ethics of what we’d just done, since this is why you’re here.’
‘To fuck you?’ I couldn’t contain myself.
He tittered lightly before sitting on his desk to face me. ‘Why was what we did ethically wrong?’
Okay. Harsh. ‘Shouldn’t you be the one to tell me that?’
‘Technically I need to assess your understanding of ethics.’ The muscle of his jaw twitched. ‘If it’s strong enough, you can move on to your other classes.’
Way to entice me. Who wouldn’t want to get released from a silly course like this? ‘Power imbalance between a teacher and student, lack of verbal consent, actions that prevented the ability to withdraw non-verbal consent, and lack of agreement regarding possible unwanted outcomes. Want me to go on?’
The crease in his forehead signalled my victory. ‘Did you take an ethics class before? How do you know all this?’
The way he looked me up and down rubbed me the wrong way. Was it the way I dressed? ‘Did you expect me to be stupid?’ I countered. ‘Because I’m blonde? Or are you a misogynist, professor?’
The colour left his cheeks, but he murmured a laugh. ‘Not quite. Keep your secrets, princess. Anyway, you’re released. You can visit me for round two sometime though,’ he said,flashing a smile.
Cheeky. I liked it. But he was growing too confident of his charm. ‘Maybe. I keep my options open.’
‘I wouldn’t dare to assume otherwise.’
The second I exited the ethics room, I realised I had no way of getting back home. No. It wasn’t home. It was a prison. Or a temporary safehouse. I didn’t know what to think about it anymore.
It would certainly help if I had a phone, but as it was, I had been stranded in the university I didn’t even want to attend. With nothing else to do, I decided to go sightseeing until the shadow-stalker eventually made his way here to pick me up.
I had no doubt he would realise I wasn’t home and make his way here. It was only a matter of time. Hours had passed as I walked from classrooms to student enrichment areas and a stocked canteen that at least didn’t let me starve.
The place wasn’t entirely horrible, though I had a hunch the corridors were usually filled with pompous dickheads.
Afternoon had come relatively quickly, and I made my way to the foyer where, surprise, surprise, my stalker had already been waiting with a scowl on his face. Lately, this had been a permanent expression of his.
Grumpy asshole.
My heart sped up at the prospect of leaving. The university might not have been as terrible as I envisioned, but I still considered it a waste of my time.
As I stepped closer, the air around Alec tightened, his darkness whipping around him like lashes as he put his cold hand on my elbow and transported us back to the estate’s entrance. Just before I could open the door, he stood in front, blocking it.
Heat flashed in his gaze, and I took a step back. I assessed him some more, and the way his fists curled at his sides made him look ready to snap.
‘What is your problem?’ I shot in his direction as he ground his teeth. ‘Cat got your tongue?’
Silence. Nothing. Not the way we usually argued.
‘You know what my problem is, you ungrateful shit?’ he asked, quietly. ‘I think about you every second, every hour of every day and every night. And you’re out there fucking everyone that breathes.’
‘I’m not into unbreathing ones.’
