Page 6 of Finley
“Look, usually I’m a hard-ass when it comes to things like this, but today was a colossal mess on everyone’s behalf. As long as you show up on time tomorrow, this won’t affect your attendance. Okay?”
When he didn’t immediately receive an answer, he tucked the mug under his arm and flipped his binder open. “What was your name?”
That seemed to kick-start the guy’s brain again, because he finally spoke. “Daniel. Daniel Finley.”
Brantley went down the list. Then stopped beside the name and ran the tip of his finger across it. “Ah, okay. Daniel Finley. Impressive GPA, young man. Well, like I said. Today was a bust for all of us with the room switch. You get a pass. But don’t be late tomorrow.”
Daniel hoisted his bag farther up his shoulder and nodded. “Yes, Mr.…”
“Hayes. Professor Hayes.”
“Right. Sorry. It’s been a shit—I mean crap—morning.”
Brantley lost the battle that time—his lips twitched. When Daniel’s eyes fell to them, he became more than aware that he was currently under some heavy,and interested, scrutiny.
Going to have to tread carefully around this one…
“Well, let’s aim for a better one tomorrow, Mr. Finley. I’ll see you at nine o’clock sharp.”
He didn’t wait around for a response. Instead, he shut his binder and turned to make his way down the hall, needing some distance between himself and his handsome, young student.
“FINN!”
DANIEL ROLLED to his side in his childhood bed and pulled the pillow over his head. He’d snuck in last night, not wanting his mother to make a big fuss, and he had a feeling the yelling was about to escalate now that she’d spotted his bag in the hallway.
“Daniel Finley! You get up right this minute and come and greet your mother properly, you hear me?”
He wondered how long he had until she would slam his bedroom door open and yank his covers back like she used to when he was a boy. But it wasn’t his mother shoving his door open with her foot. It was his kid sister.
“Mornin’, slacker. Time to wake up.”
As Katrina came in and sat on the side of his bed she handed him a steaming mug of… “Coffee?”
“Maybe,” she said with an impish grin.
Her raven curls were falling over her shoulders, and they looked like they’d seen the morning waves—he missed that. Hitting the beach at sunrise before starting his day. Maybe he would dust off one of his old boards and head down with her tomorrow.
It was funny how when they were standing side by side, people rarely guessed they were related. They were such a contrast in colors—her dark and him light. But the two of them had shared a close relationship while growing up, considering the nine-year age difference between them. He attributed that to the fact that they’d lost their father to cancer only months after her second birthday. And as a unit, the three of them—him, his mother, and Katrina—had been closer than most. Which was another reason why it’d been so hard when he’d first decided to leave.
“If that’s not coffee for me, you better fucking run after waking me up this early on my first vacation in three years.”
“Mom woke you up, and it’s not that early. And by the way, three years? That’s pathetic.”
He shoved himself up on his elbow and took the mug from her. “That’s dedication,” he said, winking at her. “And that was when you visited Chicago, right?”
“You can’t remember? Nice.” She rolled her eyes and reached over to run her fingers through the short spikes of his hair. “This is weird.”
He swatted her hand away. “Fuck off.”
“Thirty years old and still a filthy mouth, I see.”
“Twenty-one years old and still a brat,Isee.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, and pushed off the bed. “This brat just thought you might want to know that herprofessorgets extremely annoyed when she’s late to his class. And her exam starts at…hmm…ten today.”
With a cheeky grin, she shut the door, and he tried to ignore the way his pulse had sped up at the mention ofhim. He would deal with Brantley Hayes in his own damn way. He just needed the coffee to kick in before he decided how that would be.
“Finn!”