Page 23 of Mr. Naughty List
Still nothing.
Oh well, one night with Mr. Danvers was a better Christmas gift than he’d ever expected to get. He’d have to be satisfied with it.
Hope was as stubborn as partridge in a pear tree, though, and RJ headed down the stairs with it chirping madly in his heart.
Chapter Seven
Aaron was lateto work but none of the kids seemed to care, which was perfect as far as he was concerned. When he walked into his paper snowflake-strewn room, they were all discussing the upcoming Winter Dance on Friday, negotiating meeting times, describing dresses, and bragging about the relative popularity of their “dates.” They were so absorbed they didn’t bother snapping to attention the way they usually did whenever a teacher entered the classroom.
The obedience granted to him by the kids wasn’t earned, though, and it always grated on his nerves more than gratified him. The current disrespectful chatter and downright ignoring of his presence was infinitely preferable. He wasn’t a taskmaster or a disciplinarian, and he didn’t like that the school in general had been run in such a way that the kids expected that attitude from him.
Aaron put his bag down on the desk, cleared his throat, and spoke into the rustle of final whispers and the creaks of students turning around in their seats to peer curiously at him. “Sorry I’m late.”
“S’okay, Mr. D,” William Sandburg said, winking. “You probably needed the extra rest.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Aaron’s insides knotted up, confusion warring with the urge to stride back out of the classroom and down the hall to the teacher’s lounge where there was a full-length mirror to investigate his appearance. Did he look like he’d just gotten banged all night or something? William’s leering expression and the sniggering of the boys next to him certainly seemed to say so.
He smoothed his bowtie and lifted his chin. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t mind him, Mr. Danvers,” Chastity Lovell called out, flipping her blond hair over her shoulder. “He’s just trying to get under your skin.”
“Ormaybemy mom’s boyfriend works at Scruffy City Hall, andmaybeshe was there last night visiting him, and maybeshesaw you flirting with another guy, andmaybeyou left with that guy, and—”
“William!” Aaron snapped. “Enough.”
There was a lowooooohthrough the room from William’s friends and a few wide-eyed stares from the other kids. Aaron forged ahead. “We have to get through roll call and announcements.” He glanced toward the clock, sweat prickling his brow. “We’re behind already. Michael Adams? Here. Okay, Shira Bernstein?”
He studiously didn’t look up as he ticked people off as present or absent on his computer screen. No matter what William’s nosy mother saw at the pub the prior night, it was meaningless. Aaron had ogled RJ on the stage over a glass of whiskey, taken a phone call, then sat and chatted with RJ outside before leaving with him. That proved nothing. RJ could have been a friend. None of the kids in this room had any reason to think he’d spent the night lost in paroxysms of pure pleasure with another man.
He was still safely closeted here where it mattered. He hadn’t made another error in the magnitude of Coach McAllister. A titter of laughter rose from near William’s seat along with speculative whispers. Aaron steeled himself against it. Hewasstill closeted, dammit.
But, after he chose Lee Belle Rhodes to read aloud from the announcements sheet, Aaron’s racing pulse and rising nausea bucked off the grip of reason and ran wild, hand-in-hand, with irrational fear. Vomit rose slowly up his throat. He rolled his shoulders, trying to shake free.
What was the worst thing that could happen if he got outed at school anyway? The kids would know their teacher was gay. So what? It wasn’t as if he were sucking cock at the front of the classroom or getting pounded while explaining the finer points of grammar. He was a man like any other, who had sex like any other, just with other men instead of women, and there really wasn’t any reason anyone should have a problem with that.
So why was he sweating like a pig?
Because peoplewouldhave a problem with it: parents, other teachers, some of the kids, and definitely the principal. Aaron couldn’t afford exposure. He’d made one stupid mistake his third year teaching and it’d been more than enough. The humiliation had gone so deep. He’d been lucky to get another job. Even though he wouldn’t technically be breaking any rules to be out and openly dating men, it was safer to keep hidden.
Relieved when the bell rang and everyone in the class gathered their things for first period, Aaron leaned back in his chair and studied the hand-cut snowflakes he’d strung up around the room the week before. He’d made them every year since he started teaching. The kids liked them. He did too. Even RJ had remembered…
Oh, God,RJ.
He’d been so good at fucking. Thank Christ those other men had canceled, because RJ’s hands on his body had been transcendent, and his cock up his ass had been—
“Mr. Danvers?”
Startled out of his memories of the night before, Aaron sat up straighter at his desk. He plastered on a professional smile and hoped he didn’t look like he’d been thinking about strong hands, a cocky grin, and a giant dick. What on earth was wrong with him anyway? He was at school!
Red-headed, lisping Elsie Peters was a tiny little thing. She was almost thirteen and in seventh grade but looked closer in age to a fourth grader. That had to suck for her. Aaron could relate, having been a very late bloomer himself. He hadn’t needed to shave until well into college. Truth be told, some days he didn’t really need to shave even now. He had a baby face, just like RJ had said.
“How can I help you, Elsie?”
“It’s okay if what William says is true, you know.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you’re gay, I mean. My dads are gay and they’re awesome. You’re awesome too.”