Page 121 of Give In

And most of them are rolling on E.

And I’ve honestly never been happier.

Practically jumping out of bed, I excitedly got ready for my day, grinning the whole time. With my head filled with thoughts of Damien and his reaction to my employment—or lack thereof—I’d forgotten how fucked-up life could be and how many ways things could go awry.

And how often they did.

*******

“That’s it for the day,” Damien said to the class. “Assignment seventeen due tomorrow by midnight. If you’re planning on plagiarizing your short answers, don’t copy and paste from Wikipedia. I got bored reading the same passage last week.”

There were some quiet snickers mixed with a fair amount of guiltily darting gazes.

I packed my things slowly, but not so slow as to make it look like I was stalling.

Which I was.

“You guilty?” Brooks asked, grabbing his things.

My eyes widened, my chest tightening. “What?”

“Did you copy and paste?”

I’m an idiot.

I answered his non-accusatory question with a head shake. “You?”

“Yeah, but then I use the thesaurus to spice things up. It works well. Or should I say, it works water hole.”

I laughed. “It’s a totally cromulent way to write if it embiggens the smallest man.”

“ClassicSimpsons. Nice.” He zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “This just opened a deep vault of debate and discussion, but I’ve gotta run.”

For a moment, I contemplated asking him what the hurry was in hopes he’d admit he was dating, but quickly decided against it. Beyond the potential for awkwardness, I respected that it was his decision to share and my curiosity could wait.

Not to mention, I had my own vault of secrets to focus on.

Playing clueless, I smiled. “See you Friday.”

Brooks took off, likely to his mystery date, and I finished gathering my things. I was almost to the door when the last student left.

“Fucking finally,” Damien growled. I began to turn to face him, but he said, “Don’t move.”

My heart raced. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just love the way your ass looks in those pants and standing down here gives me the perfect view to tide me over until we’re home.”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, but my insides got all melty.

That’s your opening.

“It’s Wednesday,” I pointed out.

“And?”

I fought to keep my voice even. “I work Wednesdays.”

“No, youusedto work Wednesdays. You quit.”