“So, how can I help you?”
She folded her hands precisely in her lap, reminding me of one of my mother’s moves. “Well, for starters, I’d really like an A.”
To keep from rolling my eyes, I gave a serious nod. “I see. Well, it looks like you have a C now.” I flickered my gaze briefly to my computer, and yep, she was so rocking a C, a C minus at that. “All you have to do is attend all your classes, turn in all your papers, work really hard and raise it two grades, and you’ll be set.”
Okay, that might’ve been a bit smarmy of me, but she was giving me a pretty smarmy look herself. The spoiled brat.
“Actually,” she said, twirling a piece of a hair around her finger. “That’s doesn’t work for me, ‘cause I’m not planning to attend another one of your classes for the rest of the semester. And I’m sure as hell not writing another one of your damn essays.”
Hmm, I’d been wrong. Spoiled brat was actually too mild of a term for this one. I was beginning to think raging bitch might work better. Continuing to smile, I lifted an eyebrow. “And you expect an A for that?”
She flashed me a grin. “Exactly.” Then her gaze went serious as she leaned forward. “Oh, and one more thing. I’m going to need you to stop fucking Noel Gamble while you’re at it.”
I bolted upright in my chair as the blood rushed from my head. “Excuse me?”
With a little sniff, she rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to play stupid with me, honey. I know everything. You see, Noel turned me down the other week.” An aggravated sound gurgled from the back of her throat as she tossed her red locks over her shoulder. “And no one turns me down. I knew something was up then. So...I followed him until I got my proof. And tada!”
She drew up her cell phone, turning it to show me the screen. Noel and I were in my car, cozied up in the passenger seat. We hadn’t reached the part yet where he’d ripped off my bra, thank God, but it was more than obvious what kind of relationship we had.
Wondering how the heck she’d gotten such a good shot, as dark as it had been and as close up as it was, I zipped my gaze up.
Marci smiled and nodded. “It’s time to give me a chance with him now.”
Dear God, she liked him. She liked my man.
Banking on the fact that she didn’t want to hurt him, I said, “If you show that picture to anyone, Noel will get into trouble, too. After the scandal on the volleyball team, his coach told all the football players they’d be kicked off the squad if they were caught in a similar situation. And since he’s here on his athletic scholarship, he’d have to leave Ellamore completely. Do you really want that to happen to him?”
Marci paused. I prayed I had her bluffed out; I even took a relieved breath. But then she came back with, “Then I guess I’ll just have to show them this picture.”
She used her fingers to scroll to a new image, and I almost threw up.
Noel’s face didn’t make this shot. It was all me. My bra was gone, and I’d thrown my head back until my hair was spilling down my back with my bare breasts arched out. The only part of my partner was a strong masculine arm wrapping around my back. I was probably in the middle of my orgasm, and...okay, I had to swallow a little bit of vomit there.
But, oh, my God. This was bad. How many pictures did this bitch have?
“No one can tell who he is here because his face is cropped.” She sent me a little smirk, which I returned with a silent glare. “But you see... right there.” She pointed to his tattoo. “About a dozen other players have that same exact tattoo. So, it’s more than obvious you’re fucking a current player on the football team, but no one has to know exactly which one.”
I kept my expression bland. It was the only thing I could do at a time like this. I mean, sure, I could leap across the table to strangle her to death, and that’s what I wanted to do. But that wouldn’t help Noel, unless I finally did come up with a way to sneak a dead body out of my office.
Damn it.
After clearing my throat discreetly, I asked, “Did you want that to be a low A or a high A?”
***
“The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open.” - Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
***
NOEL
I decided to give Aspen some time. I know, that made no sense. Whenever she had time to reason things out, she decided against us. But I was banking on the fact she’d miss me.
Because I sure as hell missed her.
“Come on, man. You’re killing me here.” Ten reached past me where I sat at the table in our dinky kitchen with homework spread across the surface and slammed closed the textbook I was reading. “You’ve been working or doing homework all fucking weekend. It’s driving me batty.”