Page 69 of Mr. Naughty List

RJ couldn’t seem to find it in himself to argue with that. “Tomorrow night, then?”

Now that Aaron could agree to. Whatever happened with his mom in the morning, he’d need a good, hard, spanking as a distraction. Hopefully his ass would be healed up enough by then. And how lucky was he to have RJ on hand and eager to deliver just what he needed most? It was too good to be true.

They kissed goodbye at the door and no sooner had it closed behind RJ’s back than Aaron groaned, wishing he hadn’t sent him away and instead insisted on another night together.

His phone buzzed.

Gonna be a long 24 hours. Miss you already.

Aaron’s heart flipped over, and he sent a kiss emoji back and hardened himself for the night of grading and mental Mom-arguing ahead. No matter what, tomorrow he was going to take charge of the situation. He wasn’t going to give his mother a chance to rake him over the coals. Though the largest part of his plan was to simply avoid her.

The last day of school before Christmas break was always hectic. With any luck, he could make like a snowflake and melt into the scenery. And if not, then he’d just have to be courageous and take his licks like a man.

Like he took the swats of RJ’s hand.

By mid-day, theplan to avoid his mom was going well. Avoiding Lauren was another story.

“You have that look again,” Lauren said, gazing at him thoughtfully over her coffee mug. She leaned against the door to his classroom, having appeared there like the Ghost of Christmas Present at the start of his free period. Her green, red, and white plaid skirt stopped just above the knee, revealing a line of skin that was a bit risqué by her standards. Her red sweater was tight over her bosom, and she looked like she might even be wearing lipstick. Festive.

Aaron motioned her in. She shut the door behind her and crossed to him, eyes glittering with disapproval. “Please tell me you hooked up with some Grindr stranger and not our former student again.”

Aaron wondered what it was about his face that seemed to give away to everyone the fact that he’d gotten fucked again. He didn’t have any beard burn, and he’d gone to bed early in hopes of recovering from his weekend-long tryst, but still… The kids had all given him funny looks again this morning when he’d walked in, along with a few giggles, hisses, and ridiculous ewwws and oooohs. He’d ignored them, of course, but what was different about him after being with RJ? How did everyone know?

“It wasn’t a Grindr hookup, no,” Aaron hedged.

Lauren wasn’t an idiot, and her brow arched above a decidedly sour expression. “Why, Aaron? I thought we decided not to go any farther down that path? You’re already in the doghouse with your mother. Or so I heard. Word gets around when you throw a hissy fit at a dance and stomp out on the principal.”

“I didn’t throw a hissy fit. I’m not the drama queen for fuck’s sake. She is.”

“I know, I know, but while I want to hear about your mother—why didn’t you call me by the way? I had to hear about it from Jennifer Jenkins, and you know how she distorts things?” She pulled up a chair and sat down by Aaron at his desk. “Never mind—we really need to discuss this mess with your student.”

“Former student. Very much former.”

Lauren snapped her fingers in his face. “Aaron!”

“What? I didn’t call you after the fight with my mother because I had a date.”

“With RJ Blitz?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” She squeezed the bridge of her nose and put her coffee mug down on his desk beside his page-a-day calendar. It offered a decidedly pointed quote by Pema Chödrön declaring that we already had everything we needed.

“I don’t know, because I wanted to, and don’t you think it’s about damn time I do somethingIwant to do for a change? For me? Because Iwantit?”

Lauren stared at him and said slowly, “Your mother is going to lose her mind.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Lauren blinked, stood up, paced away from him, and then came back to sit on the edge of his desk. “Who are you? What have you done with Aaron?”

“Cute. Look, I didn’t mean to see him again. But he texted me on Wednesday—”

“Wednesday! That’s the day we talked about it and you swore him off!” Her eyes were round and vehement.

“I know, but he texted a very civilized message and I ended up replying.” Aaron rubbed a hand over his face. His cheeks were hot to the touch. “So we had a little back and forth then.”

“Aaron…”