Page 30 of Mr. Naughty List

“No, but…” She chewed her lower lip, conflicted. “What’s…what’s he like now?”

Aaron snarked, “Entirely adult.”

“I mean, I’d hope so. But what’s his job?”

“A guitarist. Tours the world. Home for the holidays.” Aaron didn’t know why he was being so stingy with information, but his defenses were up now. He’d known she’d react like this—any teacher would—but he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Doing? No, done. Past tense. He hadn’tdoneanything wrong.

It was over and finished.

“I don’t know about this, Aaron.”

He put his hand on Lauren’s forearm reassuringly. “Look, it was a one-night stand. It’s no big deal. Nothing’s going to come of it.”

“I really hope not. I know I said that they can’t fire you for being gay, and no one is actively looking to invoke the code of ethics against you. But hooking up with a former studentcouldpiss some people off. It could cause a ton of problems for you, fair or not. You know, parents would take it the wrong way. Or one of our asshole colleagues. And if your mom found out…” Lauren grimaced. “She really wouldn’t like it.”

Don’t embarrass me, Aaron.

He could still hear the words his mother had hissed on his first day at Pineview Middle before she’d plastered on a smile for everyone else’s sake, and then “proudly” introduced him to the rest of the staff and faculty as her son. Most of them had known him for years, of course. He’d grown up at Pineview, both as a student and as the principal’s son, but his new position was clear to everyone: fellow teacher, to be treated as such. Don’t go easy on him. Don’t treat him as anyone special.

And his mother surely didn’t.

“I’m not seeing him again,” Aaron reassured Lauren.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I mean, if it’s just a fling, it’s not worth the drama.” Lauren closed her lunch box with finality that signaled their hour was almost up. “I’m glad you got it out of your system. I know how you get when you’ve waited too long to take care of business. You make rash choices.” She cleared her throat and winked. “Now you can spend the rest of the holidays the right way: relaxing at home with cocoa and Hallmark Christmas movies. Like me.”

Aaron laughed, his skin prickling with embarrassment over her assessment. She was right of course. He did make poor choices when he was horny. As for the rest, well, Lauren was the happiest single person he knew. She loved her alone time in her apartment, and had never dated, and never wanted to date anyone. “I do love the whole ‘stranded in a small town during the holidays’ trope. It’s got to be the basis for half those movies.”

“Half? Try three-fourths.”

Aaron grinned, grateful that Lauren had decided to stop scolding him and get back to their usual friendly, fun conversations.

“Oh, wow. Time has flown. Aren’t you meeting up with Carter Ward?” Lauren asked, glancing at the clock on the wall above the vending machines.

“Shit,” Aaron whispered, shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “I am.”

Chapter Ten

Carter sat sullenlyat his usual place in Aaron’s classroom. He kicked at the carpet and flicked a folded-up paper “football” back and forth on the desk in front of him.

“Sorry,” Aaron said, breezing in and tucking his unfinished lunch into his satchel beneath his desk in case he got hungry later. He turned back to Carter. The young man’s light brown hair looked freshly trimmed, and he had cut himself quite badly shaving that morning by the looks of his chin. No late blooming for him. “Time got away from me.”

“S’okay,” Carter said with a shrug.

Aaron sat down next to him in a student desk, folding himself up to fit into it, and smiled. “I do apologize, though. Students are important to me, and I know your time is just as valuable as mine. What’s going on? How can I help you?”

“I dunno.” Carter flicked the paper football with his right hand and caught it in his left palm. “I guess it’s not a big deal.”

“You’re here. It was a big enough deal that you wanted to talk to me about it.”

“Yeah.”

“So talk to me.”