Page 14

Gift: An object of value to be given to a loved one.

L ife was the greatest gift.

I wasn’t surprised to see the strawberry blonde bolt out of her chair like she was on fire when the timer on my desk went off, indicating class was over.

The students reminded me of mindless drones leaving the classroom. Mechanically, they collected their shit and milled out the door, not even giving me a passing glance.

Fallon, on the other hand…

She froze at the front by my desk, the door just a short walk away. I knew the path out of the classroom required her to pass me, and I kept my hand firmly gripped around my cock, the come slippery on my fingers and soiling my button-up shirt.

“Have pleasant dreams, Miss Summers,” I said, warming my tone, hoping to snap her out of her frozen state.

My words seemed to break the spell. Fallon straightened her backpack, and her little skirt was sticking to her soaked cunt. She ignored me, looking down at the ground and marching out the door, slamming it shut on her way out.

I chuckled, letting go of my spent dick and pulling off my shirt without bothering to unbutton it. Staring at my come on the material I thought about leaving Fallon a gift when she engorged on my surprise.

There is nothing better than her anger. I want to see her cheeks redden with her delicious rage.

Scrawling a note down, I shoved it in my pocket. Glancing at the balled-up shirt in my fist, I sighed.

Was I being ridiculous here?

“Nah.” I reached down into my bag and grabbed another shirt.

It was the one I wore yesterday and the one I changed out of this morning after watching Fallon’s naughty little shower session.

This girl made me ravenous, more heated than I ever had felt. Fuck…she created an unquenchable thirst to fucking take her.

Break her.

It was a chant in my blood every time she was near me.

I’d acted carelessly today. Any one of the students could have spotted me, yet the temptation to tease my watchful Little Voyeur was too great to fucking care.

I wanted her to burn for me.

Making my way over to the back of the room, I found her seat. It was shining with her arousal. I swiped my finger over the metal and brought it to my lips.

“Mmm…Little Voyeur. Your taste brands me like a sin.”

I saw a shadow by the door, and when I walked over to investigate, I caught a stream of reddish-blonde hair. Fallon was headed to her little lunch date with her friend like she did every class day, so why would she still be lingering?

The sandwich…

Moving faster now, I snagged my bag and was out the door, cruising down the hall at a fast clip. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted a front-row seat when she took a bite of her homemade sandwich.

The walk to the cafeteria wasn’t too far, but I made a quick stop first. I softly knocked on the little door, and Gardenia’s silver-haired head greeted me.

“What trouble are you getting into now, Pharaoh?” She chortled, ushering me into her tiny office.

She was the head of the custodial department and was as tough as the hard-tiled floors she worked on. Her old age hadn’t made her fragile, and I would bet on her in a fight against any number of punk-ass kids in this shit hole.

She used to own a bar, and her biker mentality for that place had never left her. It reminded me of Quinn and his army friend, whom he spoke about a few times.

“Trouble? Me?” I feigned hurt, holding my heart. “You wound me, Nia. Why would you think I would be causing trouble?”

She raised an eyebrow, her short stature not lessening her disapproving gaze up at me one bit.

“I have met lots of boys like you, sweet cheeks.” She giggled and poked me in the stomach. “And none of them were for good conversations.”

Her wink made me snort, turning into a full-blown laugh.

“The promise of that smile alone is dangerous, kid,” she said, her smoker’s tone making her raspy voice husky.

I flashed her the smile in question, leaning down to her, and she shoved me, backing up and laughing with her hands up in surrender.

“Oh, you know your trouble, Professor Masters.” She cackled in her twangy accent. “The only question is…” She narrowed her gaze at me. “What kind of trouble are you getting me into?”

I crossed my arms. She was as no-nonsense as a person could get, and I debated how much truth to tell her.

I started to speak, but she cut me off, wagging her bony finger at me. “When are you going to find a Miss Masters? You know my old bones can’t handle ya’, sadly.”

I laughed, and she frowned. “I am serious, Pharaoh.”

My smile fell, and it was like being scolded by my mother.

“Women are a damn distraction I don’t need,” I said curtly, the irony of my visit hanging heavy on my tongue.

She shook her head at me. “You can’t hide behind that mask forever. You need to trust someone again to give that good heart of yours some love. You are worth it, kid. I don’t care what these stuck-up pricks say about you. My old ass knows a good one when I see one, and you’re as good as they get.”

My eyes stung with tears, and I blinked them back, not wanting to look weak in front of the one person I could call a friend in this place.

Ever since I had got here a year ago, Gardenia and the custodial staff under her were the only genuine faces I had met. All the other professors and my damn boss just gave me fake smiles and bullshit lines while gossiping about my damn life behind my back.

I had spent hours sitting on the concrete bench in the courtyard, shooting the shit with Nia about her and her life before this place.

She’d outlived her kid. Her daughter had cancer, died at the age of twenty. She’d left her bar and her home to work in this college and sadly was treated like dirt.

She said it was okay because she wanted to be as close to her daughter, Dalia, as possible.

Dalia had been a professor here—the previous psychology professor, to be exact. For all intents and purposes, Nia should feel nothing but pain from looking at me, but she opened up her loving arms and took care of me like I was her son.

I had a kinship with Gardenia for more than one reason, I supposed. She was a good lady, and I had knocked the daylights out of enough assholes who played pranks on her, and she snuck me the good shit from the cafeteria.

We would sometimes talk about our lives and our daughters. Other times, we just sat in silence, enjoying the world around us. Gardenia didn’t need a reason to be there. She just was.

“I am afraid to let someone see behind my mask, Nia. I am afraid to love someone again and have to watch more pieces of my soul be buried along with them.”

I let the tears fall with my words, my shame unimportant, and the freedom to be fully myself with Gardenia taking priority. She wrapped her arms around me, nearly tripping me with our height differences. I awkwardly tried to lean down without falling on my ass in front of the woman.

She sniffled and removed her glasses, de-fogging them with the hem of her vest. I cleared my throat, my mask sliding firmly back into place and my tone getting back to playful.

My past and the pain there was better left in the grave in which it was buried.

I could hear Xenia’s giggle around me, her sweet, flowery scent like a breeze popping up. It made me smile.

“Fine, my hot, very dumb friend. How can I help you?”

I laughed, happy she was allowing me to continue my mission.

Deciding to keep my explanation to a bare minimum, I shrugged. “I just need the master key to the students’ lockers.”

She raised a bushy brow and looked at her desk, the involuntary action disclosing that she had them locked in one of her drawers.

She glanced back at me and crossed her arms over her uniform, which consisted of jeans and a blue vest.

“Now, why would you want that, professor?”

I kept my smile casual. “One of my students has some weed hidden in there. I figured I would do everyone a favor and confiscate it.”

She eyed me down, staring into my soul. I had swiped some ‘flower’ from students before, sharing the stash with Gardenia and the other staff members in the courtyard by the forest.

She must have found her answer in her scrutinizing gaze or just didn’t give a fuck about my lie because she shrugged and hobbled over to the desk.

“I will be waiting at the glass house, boy,” she warned, punching me playfully in my rib.

I dodged her next jab and swerved away from her, grinning sheepishly.

“You betcha. I will see you tonight, Nia.”

She sat down at her desk and waved me off, busying herself with papers on the mahogany wood.

“Yeah, yeah, pretty boy. See ya’ then. And you better behave yourself.”

Fallon was smiling and laughing with her friend. The sandwich was in her hand, but she hadn’t taken a bite yet. I smiled, happy I hadn’t missed this moment.

I waited patiently, leaning over in preparation for that moment when the sandwich would touch her lips and my gift would be known.

I chuckled to myself and sat down a few tables from her.

I was directly in eyeline.

She stopped laughing when she spotted me, her body straightening like an arrow.

“You’re too tight, Little Voyeur, I need to loosen that body up.”

Ignoring me, she took a large bite of the meal, annoyance painting her features as she chewed angrily.

Suddenly she stopped and her mouth hung open with the food half chewed inside it.

I covered my mouth, trying to prevent myself from laughing.

“Oh my god! What the fuck is my sister trying to kill me? This is disgusting! Last time I let her pack my meal. Holy fuck that’s nasty.”

Her friend eyed the sandwich on the table, completely dropped and disassembled now while Fallon scraped her tongue, letting the prior contents fall out onto the used plastic wrapper.

“What’s wrong Faye? You look like your about to puke.” Her little friend had no idea.

I was laughing at my internal thoughts and missed the fact that she stood up from the table and snatched her friend up beside her.

“You aren’t in the same shirt I saw you wearing in class,” she said, holding her lunch bag in one hand and her friend’s arm in the other.

“Yes, well, you see…” I looked down at my button-down, smiling wide. “I made a mess on it sadly.”

She stiffened at the sound of my voice, and her multicolored-haired friend was looking at her, trying to assess what was happening. The secret message she was clearly missing. Good for her, for not being one of the stupid mules of this place.

“Well then.” Fallon huffed, falling into the seat across from me and yanking her classmate down with her.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be so careless, huh, professor.”

Her friend gaped at her, staring at us back and forth.

I raised my hands in surrender.

“Perhaps not.” I smirked. “But sometimes you get too caught up in distractions to pay attention to possible…messes.”

She glared at me, her deadly stare so fucking edible I wanted to pin her down to the damn table and take her right here.

“And besides…” I teased, getting up from my place. I leaned over the table, getting close to her glaring, beautiful face. “A mess can be quite tasty to clean up, can’t it, Little Voyeur?”