Always You (6 page)

Had I just propositioned my teacher? Yes, yes I had.

To my relief, he laughed. “You said you’re going to study law, right?”

I nodded.

“That’s good. You certainly give compelling arguments.” He waved down the
waitress and smiled at me. “I think we should get you back home before you get
me in trouble.”

***

He dropped me back at my car just before ten thirty. I was shocked at how
late it was. We had been talking for hours. I felt so relaxed around him, yet
at the same time nobody had ever had me feeling so damn wound up.

“So, you still want to see this movie tomorrow?” he asked, raising an
eyebrow.

“Are you asking me out?” I asked, my tone sweet.

“No. I’m merely trying to broaden the cinematic knowledge of one of my
students.” His expression became serious. “Asking out one of my students would
be incredibly unprofessional on my part, and unethical. I wouldn’t take
advantage of you like that.”

“What if I wanted to be taken advantage of?” I moved toward him, very
slowly, gauging his reaction. He held his breath as I edged closer, until our
lips were almost touching. I paused, looking into his eyes, so desperately
wanting to feel his lips against mine but not wanting to step over that
boundary without him wanting it equally.

He tilted his head so his lips brushed over mine, the sensation making me
dizzy. His hand wandered up to my face, his fingers gently running along my
hairline. Then suddenly my lips were crushed up against his with a passion even
I
wasn’t expecting.

As quickly as it began, he was away from me, his eyes a mixture of lust,
regret, and confusion. I was a hot mess. My heart was beating out of control, I
felt hot
and
cold and lightheaded.
Thank God I was sitting down, or I was sure I’d have ended up fainting.

“I’m sorry, Wrenn. I shouldn’t have done that,” he said quietly.

“You didn’t do anything I didn’t want,” I replied.

He sat, his hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel, not speaking.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” I asked.

He glanced at me, confused.

“The movie,” I reminded him.

He exhaled loudly. “Do you think that’s a good idea?” he asked, raising
his eyebrows.

“Maybe not, but I think we need to talk about this . . . ” My voice
trailed off as he nodded.

“I’ll call you.” His voice had softened, as had his expression. His eyes
were no longer hard.

I nodded and got out of the car, closing the door. He drove off, and I
stood there on the curb, staring until I could no longer see his taillights.
Once he was gone, I stepped into my car.

I sat there, trying to digest what had just happened. Kissing him had
evoked everything in me. It felt like a hurricane of feelings and emotions had
ripped through my body, leaving me a muddled mess inside.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone. It had been on silent
since I’d arrived at the theater. There were six missed calls from Kassia, and
countless texts, all conveying the same message;
call me.

I dialed her number. She answered on the first ring.

“Where the hell have you been?” she shrieked loudly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, alarmed at her tone.

“What’s wrong? Fuck, Wrenn. If you’re going to tell your aunt you’re
going out with me, at least clue me in on it.” She sounded frustrated and
annoyed.

Shit.

I hadn’t even considered the fact that Layna was friends with Kass’s
parents.

“Shit, it didn’t even occur to me,” I groaned, slapping my forehead.

“It’s okay.
This time.
I
covered for you. I’m sitting in a diner just out of town, freezing my ass off
for you. You
so
owe me,” she grumbled. “Get your ass over here now.”

***

I slid into the booth opposite
Kass, handing her my spare jacket. She took it gratefully and slipped it on.

“You so owe me a dessert,” she grumbled, still pissed.

I smiled. “Sure. Get whatever you want.” I sat back, running over the
night in my head. That kiss . . . I shivered as chills danced down my spine.

“Oh, I plan on it.” She reached for the menu to survey her options. “So,
spill.”

“Huh?”

“Where were you, and who didn’t you want your aunt to know you were with?
And don’t even
try
to lie to me,” she
warned, her brown eyes narrowing.

I glanced around the empty diner, fighting myself on how much to tell
her. I could trust Kass, and I
needed
to tell someone. I was desperate for someone else’s opinion, and there was
nobody who would give it to me straighter than Kass.

“Promise this doesn’t go further than you and me,” I said, leaning across
the booth.

She did the same. “I promise,” she said, her eyes wide.

“Okay. I was with Dalton.”

She looked confused, so I added “Reid.”

Her eyes grew even wider. “As in . . . ”

“Mr. Reid,” I agreed.

“Tell me everything! Leave nothing out!” she hissed as I giggled,
relieved by her reaction.

“It’s hard to explain. We’ve had this kind of flirting thing going on for
weeks now. I called him and asked him to a movie, and he said yes.”

Kass’s mouth dropped open.

“Kass, I feel so . . . I don’t even know how to explain it. And when we
kissed—”

“You kissed him?” she squealed.

I blushed and shot her a look. She immediately clamped her mouth shut.

“It just kind of happened. Now I have no idea where I stand.”

“Forget dessert. Stay at my house tonight. We need to hash this out.” She
grabbed my arm and steered me over to the counter. “But first, you need to pay
for the five coffees I had while waiting for you.”

***

Kass’s bedroom was bigger than our living room at home. It was fucking
huge. She had her own bathroom and balcony. Her king-sized bed barely took up
any of the room. A large TV hung on the ivory-colored wall above a fireplace.

“Okay, so tell me everything,” she said, wriggling out of her jeans and
into a pair of gray sweatpants.

I lay down on her bed and told her everything—from the movies, to
him coming over, to how I felt when I was around him. It was like a weight had
been lifted off me. I’d needed to get all this out, and if not Kass, then who
was I going to tell? My aunt? I snorted at the thought. I could talk to Layna
about many things, but a crush on my teacher was not one of them, especially
when I had just
kissed
said teacher.

Kass collapsed dramatically on the bed beside me.

“Wow,” she muttered, sighing loudly. “Can you promise me one thing?”

I turned to her expectantly.

“If, for whatever reason, this has to get out, can I be there when you
tell Paige? Or better yet, can
I
tell
her?” She grinned.

I burst out laughing. God, the look on Paige’s face would almost be worth
it.

“I told him about the betting pool,” I said with a giggle.

“Ha! That’s awesome. What did he say?”

“That it explained a lot,” I said. “I think he was a bit bewildered with
all the attention of the girls.”

“Well, he’s a delish young teacher. What did he expect?” She smirked. She
shook her head. “Holy shit, Wrenn. This is so . . . rebellious of you. I never
would’ve imagined you getting with a teacher.”

“I haven’t
gotten
with anybody.
Not since Toby, anyway. And it’s not like that. I really like the guy,” I said
quietly. The question was, did he like me?

“Toby?” asked Kass. “Was he your boyfriend back home?”

I nodded. I’d been convinced that I was in love with Toby, and looking
back, I think I was. That made it so much worse when he broke up with me. When
things get difficult, you don’t expect someone you love to abandon you. But
that’s what happened. Abandoned by my family, and then by Toby.

“You never talk about your family,” Kass said slowly. She eyed me as if
she were not sure how I’d react.

And there it was. The
questions began.
It was inevitable that it would come up sometime, but the thought of
telling her still made me feel sick. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, or I
worried what she would think; it was more the way
I
felt when people knew that about me.

“My parents and brother were killed in an accident,” I said.

Her eyes widened and she moved closer to me, her arm wrapping around my
shoulders.

“My brother and mom were killed instantly, my dad died a few hours
later.”

“Oh God, Wrenn.” She hugged me. I felt relieved that she knew. “I can’t
even imagine how hard that would’ve been.”

“It was. My life before was completely different from how it is now.
Toby, my boyfriend, pretty much stopped seeing me because he didn’t know how to
act around the girl who’d lost her family.” I laughed, thinking about how
awkward everyone else had acted. “I mean,
I’m
the one whose family died,
yet
they
can’t handle it?” I shook my
head.

“And then you came here.”

“Yes. Layna thought I needed to
be around her. At seventeen, I could’ve stayed at home, but there were way too
many memories…” I swallowed as tears stung my eyes. I missed them all so
much.
 

After our deep and meaningful conversation, Kass and I watched movies and
chatted about anything and everything. She was in the middle of telling me
about the plans she and Trina had for the holidays when my phone beeped. She
stopped midsentence and stared at me.

“Is it him?” she pressed.

I fished my phone out of my purse, my hands shaking.
It’s probably just Layna. Why the hell would he text me?

I stared at his name on my screen for a good ten seconds before opening
the message.

Can I call you?

I texted back.

I’ll call you. Give me five
minutes
.

“He wants to speak to me,” I whispered, feeling sick.

Kass jumped off the bed and ran over to the balcony. “Go out here. I’ll
go downstairs and get us something to eat. Come down when you’re finished.”

I waited until she had left the room before tiptoeing out onto the
balcony. The concrete was freezing against my bare feet, but I barely noticed.
All I could think about was what he wanted to say to me.

I pulled up his number and pressed Call. Holding the phone against my
ear, I clutched at my stomach, waiting for him to answer.

“Wrenn.”
God, he sounded amazing.

“Hey,” I said, sitting down on one of the wicker lounge chairs outside
the door.

“You’re right. We do need to talk, so if you’re still up for the movie,
we’ll go. I think the sooner we clear this up, the better.”

My stomach flopped. The sooner we clear this up? That didn’t sound
promising. That sounded like a mess he wanted sorted out before anyone else saw
it.

“Okay. I will see you there at seven? We can talk after the movie.”

“See you then,” he said, his voice soft.

***

I trudged downstairs.

Kass frowned when she saw me approaching the kitchen. “That was fast,”
she observed, handing me a bowl of ice cream.

I sat down at the table and nodded. “He wants to talk to me tomorrow so
we can clear this up.”

“Oh.”

“Exactly,” I agreed. I pushed the bowl away and dropped my head onto the
table. “Kass, I’m an idiot.”

“It’s okay. Listen to what he has to say before you get yourself worked
up.”

“No, it’s not okay. I’ve made a complete idiot out of myself.”

“Did he kiss you back?”

“Huh?” I asked, not seeing her point.

“When you kissed him, did he kiss you back? Even for the slightest
moment?”

I thought back. I’d instigated the kiss, but he had definitely
reciprocated it. That was not all one-sided. There had been something between
us.

“Yes,” I muttered. “But that’s not the point.”

“What is the point? What do you want from him, Wrenn?” she asked,
pointing her spoon at me.

I couldn’t answer that. Did I want him to risk his career, sneaking
around with me? No. But I couldn’t ignore my feelings either.

Dalton

I stared at the phone after she’d hung up, telling myself over and over
that this was the right thing to do. The kiss had been amazing—
she
was amazing—but it couldn’t
happen. If only for the fact that I was her fucking teacher, this was wrong.

It didn’t feel that way, though. When we were together it felt equal. She
was as bright and mature as me. That wasn’t saying much, but she wasn’t your
average eighteen-year-old.

Eighteen
. I was only twenty-three.
She was only five years younger than me, a socially acceptable age difference.
The surge of anticipation that had rushed through me when I’d found out she was
eighteen had shocked me. I liked Wrenn a lot, but it was only when we kissed
that I realized my feelings for her extended beyond attraction. Her comment
about how, had things formed differently, we could’ve both been in college at
the same time had gotten under my skin.

She was right: I wouldn’t have blinked an eye about asking out a pretty
freshman.

God, those lips—so soft and smooth. And the way she’d touched my
face had made me numb. My body tingled just thinking about her.

Stop! This wasn’t going to
happen. Tomorrow, you are going to tell her that, and then you will distance
yourself from her.

Except something told me Wrenn wasn’t going to be so easily swayed. And I
knew it wouldn’t take much pushing for me to snap.
I
have
to stop
thinking about this or I’m going to go insane.

Opening the fridge, I grabbed a soda and sat down at my computer. I
logged into Skype to see if Cam was around. He wasn’t, so I sent him an email.

Dude,

How’s it going? Let me know
when you’re around and we’ll Skype.

Say hi to Amy.

Dalton

I’d just clicked send when a notification buzzed through from Cam saying
he was online. I clicked Call. His face popped up, and I laughed. His usual
shaggy blond mop of hair was styled into place, and he wore a suit instead of
his usual T-shirt and jacket.

“Nice look,” I snorted.

“Yeah, well, I had an interview, then I had to do this thing for Amy.
Anyway, it’s not important. What’s up?”

“Not much, dude. Just wanted a familiar face to chat to.”

“Aww, poor Dalton’s not homesick, is he?” Cam
tsked
as I laughed.

“Fuck off. I’ve had a hard week. This just keeps getting worse.”

“That bad?” He winced, scratching his ear.

“Let’s just say I’m making this much more complicated than it needs to
be,” I sighed. Did I tell him about Wrenn, or not? I wanted to, but something
was stopping me. The less people knew about this, the better. “Anyway, things
will get better. They have to, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Cam said, raising his eyebrows and not looking convinced.
“So when are you back home next? We’ll catch up.”

“Definitely. It probably won’t be until the end of my contract though.”

“Sweet. Well, stay out of trouble, and you watch yourself around those
young hussies,” he warned, clicking his tongue.

If only he knew.

***

After an hour of grading homework assignments, I could barely keep my
eyes open. Fuck, I was tired. They could wait, because right then all I wanted
to do was sleep.

I shoved everything back in my briefcase and stumbled down to the
bedroom. I hung my jacket over the bedpost and peeled off my shirt, discarding
it on the ground. Unbuttoning my jeans, I took them and my boxers off and
climbed into bed.

It took my body a few minutes to adjust to the temperature of the
freezing sheets. I lay there, almost asleep, but unable to switch my mind off.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her. I felt myself get hard, aroused at the
thought of her smile, those lips. God I could only imagine the feel of them on
my…

Fuck!
I rolled over, disgusted
with myself. I was
not
going to jerk
off while thinking about her. She was my fucking student! There was nothing I
wanted more than to see where this…whatever this was, took us. But I had to be
realistic.

It was never going to happen.