I looked up at the building I’d call home for the next three years. I can do anything I set my mind to. I was scared as hell but excited all at the same time.
I made my way inside and looked over all the fine furnishings. It was beautiful, and for some reason just standing out in the open made me feel important, like one day I would achieve something great. I smiled as I thought about everything I had to do to get to that point. I’d worked my ass off and sacrificed part of my life, but it was all worth it. Even though my parents were thousands of miles away and I’d just had my heart broken, I wouldn’t change a single thing because I was right where I’d always wanted to be.
Taking a deep breath, I looked at the signs on the walls to help direct me to the right room. I walked toward the right, down the hallway, up two flights of stairs, and made it to room two hundred and seven, criminal law.
There were certain requirement classes you had to take your first year as a law student and this was going to be the one to help me out the most. Criminal law was what I wanted to specialize in, so I was the most excited about that class. My sister Melanie specialized in criminal and contract law, which was another required class. I wasn’t looking forward to contract law, but at least I had someone to help me out.
I made my way into the room that was starting to fill up. It had stadium seating with half-circle desks on each of six levels, which fifteen students each sat around.
Walking up to the third level, I made my way to the middle seat and placed my things down. I looked behind me to see what everyone was doing. There were a few students talking toward the back, but everyone else seemed to be in their own little world. They were probably getting themselves in the zone to prepare for an overload of information.
Digging through my bag, I pulled out my textbook, laptop, phone, and notebook. Everything I’d need to help me retain as much information as my brain could possibly store. I had no idea how the professor would teach, so I wanted to be prepared. I just hoped he wasn’t the strict kind who didn’t allow phones to be seen because I wanted to use mine to record the lectures.
The door to the room opened as I was logging on to my computer. I’d glanced up for a brief moment, but looked back down. I was pulling up a Word document when my brain registered what I’d just seen. I immediately looked back up with my mouth hanging open. My eyes widened in shock as a tall god started writing his name on the dry erase board. My hands started to sweat and I could feel my ears getting hot as a blush crept up my body. He was more beautiful in the light of day, and I knew then that this was going to be my hardest class. It was going to take everything I had to pay attention and not stare into his sea-blue eyes, or watch the way his lips curved as he spoke. The pep talk I gave myself before walking into the room seemed inadequate by that point. Because if I did anything I set my mind to, I’d be doing Professor Cline.
Chapter 6
Mason
I tossed my pen down and sighed as I looked at all the papers on my desk. I’d spent two hours in my office getting things ready for the first day of class. I rubbed at my eyes and looked at the clock. Class would start in ten minutes. It was one of the things I took pride in. I’d spent so much time getting to that point. Teaching gave me purpose, especially teaching law.
Grabbing my satchel off the floor, I put my files inside and headed toward the classroom. There were eight minutes until class would start. I wondered how many students I’d be locking out on the first day.
If anyone was to ask my previous students what kind of teacher I was, they would probably say I was strict. Some might even call me an asshole. But I was an asshole who knew his shit and made sure they knew it, too. I didn’t play around in the classroom. I didn’t tell stories to make things easier on them, either. The law was hard and I made them work for it. Any soon-to-be lawyer would take pride in learning things the hard way. The ones who didn’t … failed.
I walked into the classroom, set my satchel on the desk and turned to the board to write my name. I knew as soon as students read it, they would put two and two together. Cline was a well-known name in the lawyering community, thanks to my father, John Cline.
Opening my satchel, I pulled out the file with the syllabus inside and looked up to pick a student to start handing them out when I saw the eyes of Emma staring at me. She looked down at her computer almost immediately.
At first, I was stunned to see her in my classroom, but then my lip curved into a smirk. She just made this quest easier.
I motioned to a guy in the front row to come to my desk and then looked at the clock. There were two minutes left until I’d lock the door.