Page 42 of After Hours Lectures

Shit.I forgot he would be home since Hayden had canceled class. I turned back and stopped at his door. “Nah, I’m all good.”

“Lucky for you, Professor Foster had to cancel class this morning.”

“Uh … yeah. I saw his email.”

He laughed. “Maybe he got stuck in the snow too.”

My mouth popped open, and I tried to think of a witty comeback, but my mind went blank.

Fallon looked at me, his eyes widening. “Wait …”

I looked down at my feet, still at a loss for words.

“Is that who you were with?” he pressed.

“Look—”

“Holy shit! You’re fucking our professor?”

I stepped into his room and slammed the door behind me. I was pretty sure no one else was home, but I couldn’t be too careful. “Keep your voice down.”

“When did this start?”

Since he’d already put two and two together, I figured there was no harm in telling him. Maybe he wouldn’t think it was such a big deal if he knew it started before Hayden was our teacher. “We hooked up the night I went to Chrome at the end of winter break. I had no idea he worked at the school. Hell, we didn’t even tell each other our names that night.”

“You guys have been messing around for almost two months?”

“No. I mean, kinda.” I shook my head. “It’s a long story. Please don’t tell anyone. He could lose his job, and I could get kicked out of school.”

“No shit.”

“Please,” I begged.

He let out a sigh. “Of course, I won’t tell anyone. Just be careful.”

“I will, and I appreciate you keeping this between us.”

“Not a problem.” He stood. “I’ve got to head over to campus for class. I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” I said as we both walked out of his room.

For a moment, I considered texting Hayden that Fallon knew. But I didn’t want him to freak out and break up with me since I was positive my friend wouldn’t spill the beans.

At least I hoped he wouldn’t.

14

HAYDEN

Mr. Statler,

Please see me in my office before class to discuss last week’s photo assignment.

- Professor Foster

It had beena week since I’d seen Tyler. He had been busy with school and fraternity stuff and I had my work to do too. We had texted, but that was it. No phone calls, no seeing each other, and I hadn’t expected to miss him, but I had. And honestly, it terrified me.

It wasn’t because of our secret relationship. It was because I was starting to have feelings for him. Feelings I had tried to avoid since Jonah.