Page 54 of Give In

Not just because of our connection and the stupid heady power I got from it.

Not just because I feared him—the good kind that made me feel more alive than I ever had.

But because Iwantedto bend.

That weakness was why I didn’t dare look into his midnight eyes when I shook my head. “I have class soon, and I have a lot to do before then.”

“So I saw.” His words were spoken so close to my ear, I jolted and scooched forward before twisting in my seat to look at him.

Oh shit.

His hands were wrapped around the back of the seat as he leaned toward me. Arching a brow, he dipped his head toward my laptop, killing any remaining hope I had that he hadn’t seen exactly what I’d been looking at. “Does it really matter if you miss class?”

“Yes, it does,” I said, my voice firmer than I felt. Grabbing my bag, I turned my back on him as I packed up. “I have things to finish.”

“Are we going to do this song and dance? You say no. I say yes. You say no again. I threaten to make a scene. You do what I say. How about we switch things up, and you just do what I say?”

I rolled my eyes. “And break this fun tradition?”

“Eden,” he practically growled his warning, earning subtle glances from the baristas.

Realization hit, and a freeing sense of do-not-give-a-fuckery followed it. I smiled wide. “You’ve lost your leverage. What’re you gonna do, tell people I strip? I’ll do it for you.” I spun and opened my mouth, ready to share my truth with whoever was around to hear.

Before I could, his rough growl was right at my ear. “No, but I can do something about that attitude.”

I whipped around. My voice didn’t hold the same confidence it had moments before. “You wouldn’t.”

“No?”

“You still work here,” I pointed out.

“You think that’d stop me? That I give a damn?”

“You’d care if they fired you.”

“Get this through your head, Eden. You willneverwin this battle because I don’t care about anything else. Go ahead and tell everyone how fucking badly I want to spank your ass red.” A sinister smile curved his lips as his gaze moved to the cluster of students who’d walked in. A challenge burned in his eyes when he tossed my words back at me. “I’ll do it for you.”

It shouldn’t have mattered. My foot was out the door, the wheels of change were in motion, and I was days away from ghosting everyone.

If people found out about… whatever it was that crackled between Professor Caine and me, it’d have no bearing on me because I was leaving.

Which was why it made no sense that my hand shot out to grasp his thick wrist and my mouth opened to blurt, “No. I’ll meet you in your office in ten minutes.”

He studied me like he was a human lie detector before nodding. “Make it five.”

Then, as if nothing had happened, he casually strolled from the shop, leaving me to wonder whether or not I was going to follow.

*******

Damien

She’d smiled at me.

Not a small one.

Or a sad one.

The week before, after a long day of school, an even longer night at Sinners, and a short amount of sleep that’d barely constituted a nap, she’d grinned at me.