Veiled Innocence (2 page)

“And who might you be?”

That voice.
I swear it touched me—I was that affected.

“Miss?”

Blinking once, I tried to clear my mind and realized that, for one brief moment, the ticking had stopped. My body had overpowered my mind, something that
never
happened with me.

“Miss? I’m talking to you.”

Laughter erupted from the class, and suddenly it was back—
tick, tick, tock
.

The new teacher turned on my loud classmates, and as their mouths closed, the room plunged back into tense silence.

Wow
, that was some kind of authority right there. One glance from him, and my unruly peers shut down…became respectful—and we weren’t even ten minutes into the period.

Again, his eyes came back to mine and even as they conveyed his irritation, they also held something else. Something I instantly craved.

This cover that I had so carefully constructed had caught his eye.

Like a lion, his stare was fierce as he appraised me. All men did—they couldn’t seem to help it. No matter how inappropriate they knew it was, I always drew their attention.

With my wide, bowed lips, innocent blue eyes, and a figure that belonged on a twenty-something—I knew what I had and I was never afraid to use it. Unlike most men, whose expression betrayed their unwanted interest, I pictured this one stalking me from across the room and
me
allowing it.

“Miss? I asked you a question.”

I’d forgotten what he’d asked the minute I saw him. I was too busy imagining him touching me, tasting me. It took four long strides for him to be close enough that I could see the dark stubble dotting his jawline.

“You’re late,” he stated, his tone impenetrable as he opted for a different route. “On your first day. Not a fantastic way to start the school year, wouldn’t you agree?”

Aiming a coy look at him from beneath my lashes, I finally found my voice and assured myself a firm place on his shit list.

“Maybe you could keep me after school and teach me to tell time.”

What a joke that was, considering my obsession when it came to time management. Not that he knew that.

“Since it’s the first day, I don’t think that will be necessary. But from now on, be on time. Your name, please.”

“Addison. Addison Lancaster.”

“Thank you. Now go and take a seat.”

Shrugging my bag farther up on my shoulder, I spun on my toes and made my way down the second aisle of desks with a little more sway to my hips than usual. Glancing at Brandon, I noticed him wink, reminding me of exactly why I’d been running late. Returning the sexy gesture, I owned the sensual smile I aimed his way as it spread across my mouth.

Flirting to me was like breathing to everyone else, and I always made sure I had their attention when I put on a show.  As the school’s track champion, I strived for perfection, and I liked seeing the results of my efforts. I was their role model, their person to admire—
and
to hate.

Everyone, including the teachers, knew me, and everyone loved me. Except for the man standing at the front of my world history class. He definitely did not love me, but I’d always liked a challenge. It was in my nature to win.

I took my seat and let my bag slide slowly down my shoulder and onto the floor. I crossed one leg over the other and returned my attention to my new teacher whose eyes were moving methodically over each and every one of us, before finally coming back to rest on mine.

He studied me for a moment in a way that felt calculated before moving on to Jessica, who was seated in the aisle to my right. Just like that—I was dismissed.

“My name is Mr. McKendrick. I’m going to be your world history teacher this year,
not
Mrs. Ross. I have very few rules, but one of them is to be on time,” he stated in a perfunctory tone as he paced the front of the room. “The other is a little unorthodox. I want you to be curious…but respectful. Ask questions. Challenge one another. I want you looking outside the box, so to speak, because that is where you’ll find some of the most fascinating discoveries.”

Mr. McKendrick.

He was intriguing and
definitely
outside the box
.

I was, without a doubt, fascinated.

* * *

She watched me from her seat—third row from the back, two aisles in—with eyes so blue I could see them from where I was standing. They locked on mine the second she settled, and she continued to scrutinize me.

As I stood at the front of the class introducing the course, I waited for my morals and drummed-in ethics to assert themselves. To remind me that I wasn’t supposed to be affected by a student’s inspection.

Thirty minutes later, and I was still waiting.

I sat at my desk and observed the students quietly working on their first assignment, but I continued to be drawn back to the young lady who had shown up late.

She was positively alluring. From her porcelain skin to the curls of chestnut hair that bounced against the curve of her high, full breasts—Addison Lancaster was more woman than girl, and she was dangerous.

The other males in the room knew it too if the way they acted around her was any indication. They seemed caught on every lick of her plump, red lips—and yes, I had caught those too.

So there I sat, trying to work out what it was that was making her impossible to ignore and then she glanced up, and I knew.

It was those eyes. They held secrets they shouldn’t have.

Dark, sad, and inviting all rolled into one, and yet, she was far too young to possibly understand any of those emotions in their absolute form.

Breaking the searing connection, I focused back on my textbook, but all I continued to feel was Addison Lancaster watching me.

* * *

The first day of school went by faster than I expected and everything was exactly how it should be. Except for Mr. McKendrick. I had not expected him.

Lying between the white sheets of my bed, I enjoyed the coolness of them as I parted my bare thighs and slipped my fingers down between to touch.

Nighttime was
my
time, a time where I could imagine whatever I wanted, and that night, I imagined my teacher. The man who had dismissed me in the blink of an eye. The man who was making my body weep as I lay in my bed. Why I found his rejection so appealing, I was unable to pinpoint, but it was. Almost…challenging.

Biting my top lip, I slid two fingers along the edge of my panties. I wiggled them in under the pink cotton and flexed my toned thighs. As I parted my legs farther and arched my back, I pushed my body into the weight of the sheet, enjoying the feel of it over me—imagining it was him. I teased myself, flirting my fingers over my bare mound. My mouth parted, his name on my lips as my fingertips grazed my clit and then dipped below to slide inside.

I’d been doing this from an early age, learning my body and exactly the way I needed to be touched. Brandon never got it right. He was always in a rush, and it was over before it began. Didn’t that apply to most boys?

But Mr. McKendrick…

I knew he’d be different.

He’d touch me the way I desired, and he’d take me the way I craved.

Not like a boy—but like a man.

Chapter Two

Present…

Tick, tick, tock.

“Would you say that you consciously try to push people’s boundaries, Addison?”

Tick, tick—what?

Seated again in the tiny, white office, I glance around at the bare walls, then back to the desk placed in here for my “stay” and I think—
what
?

My face must convey my thoughts because he starts over.

“Or do you think it’s more”—he pauses, I’m sure for dramatic effect—“subconscious?”

He knows I’m aware that I don’t have to answer, so what does he get from me? Silence. Complete and utter silence.

“Okay, let’s go back to Mr. McKendrick.”

Let’s not,
I think as I study my nails.

“You aren’t in trouble.”

Aren’t I?
Being locked away sure doesn’t help his case in convincing me.

“We just need more information.”

Don’t we all.

Tick, tick, tock.

“Why don’t you tell me a little bit about how things began?”

I feel my anger start to rise. This man knows me better than anyone but about
this
, he knows nothing.

They’re all grasping. Grasping for a reason to make this
his
fault.

To somehow make him the devil and me the angel in this salacious little tale of sin.

They want to know who approached whom.

None of your fucking business, that’s who.

If he thinks this is going to be easy like it use to be, he best reevaluate.

I only have me to think of now. Me in this place, with nothing but time. Time to remember or, as they are all hoping, time to forget.

Tick, tick, tock—the mouse ran up the clock.

Is my hour up yet? It has to be close.

I glance at the only thing on the wall, a wooden clock, and then turn back to Doc and lick my lips.

Do I like to push boundaries?
Yes
.

I raise my thumb and bite my nail, noticing his eyes drop to it before he shakes his head.

Do I do it consciously?
Yes. Yes, I do.

* * *

Past…

Again, she was late. This was the kind of conduct I could not tolerate. Blatant disrespect for my authority, that’s what
this
was. I shut my classroom door with a firm hand and locked it.

She was going to be
that
student. The one I battled all fucking year.

Clenching my teeth, I faced my other students. There was a clear void where she’d sat yesterday and the more I fixated on the empty space, the more annoyed I became.

Everyone sat patiently, waiting to see what would happen when Addison Lancaster decided to grace us with her presence, but she remained a no-show. Knowing I couldn’t let a student dictate the way I ran things, I stepped to the front of the room and rested back against the desk.

“Okay, guys. Please open your textbooks to page thirty-seven. As you know, this term we’ll be learning all about the reign of King Henry the Eighth. So let’s start at the beginning, shall we?”

Straightening from the desk, I slid my hands into my pockets as the kids flipped their books open.

“Did this dude really have six wives?”

I looked down at my roster to check the name of the boy talking. Brandon Williams.

“Yes, he really did, Brandon” I confirmed.

He slouched back in his chair and dropped his arm on the desk. “The dude had game.”

“He was a king, you idiot,” his friend ribbed. “He was rich and powerful. Women love that shit. Why do you think Addy’s with you, your brain?”

“Ahh, Sam? Language, please.”

“Sorry, sir,” he mumbled, his cheeks turning a ruddy color as if embarrassed, but I’d already moved on and was thinking about…Addy?
No, that didn’t fit her at all. Not the girl who’d given me that look…that inappropriate look from the day before.

Addy was a little girl’s name. It didn’t fit, but
Addison?
Addison was a name that belonged to those deceptive eyes.

“It’s okay, just don’t do it again. So let’s read chapter one, then we’ll—”

That was when the banging on my classroom door began. I turned toward it and saw her through the narrow pane of glass. The room fell into complete silence as her fellow classmates waited to see what I would do. They had all sat through the same speech she’d been given, so now was the time I’d have to assert my authority over the situation. Something I really didn’t want to do on the second day of the school year.

I walked over to the door and saw her looking directly at me. I should have sent her to the principal’s office immediately. I
should
have left her standing out in the hall. There were a lot of things I should have done, but instead, I unlocked and opened the door.

“Sorry I’m late. I got…held up. But it was for a good reason,” she tried explaining, as she stepped into the room.

Not believing her for a second, I gestured to the hall. “Outside. Now, Miss Lancaster.”

I watched her closely as her expression changed, and she gave a cocky grin to the other kids. “But I really
did
get held up.”

I ground my teeth in frustration. She was impertinent, she was brazen, and right now, she was pushing every single one of my buttons. Lowering my voice, I once again gestured to the hall.

“Outside.
Now
.”

With an exaggerated sigh, she stepped out into the empty hall and I followed close behind. As the door clicked shut, I noticed the way she dropped the cutesy schoolgirl act and morphed into a much more threatening creature.

I wondered at that moment what I’d done to deserve this. Surely, this was some kind of fucked-up karma because the girl in front of me had the face of a woman that would bring men to their knees.

Men just like me.

* * *

“I really was held—”

“Stop talking.”

The smile that crept onto my lips was sly as Mr. McKendrick cut me off.

I wondered for a brief moment what he thought of the skintight jeans that clung to my hips or the black lace tank that had ridden up over my stomach. I also wore a black vinyl jacket with zippers all over it because my mother had made me.

All the better to keep my secrets covered.

“Listen to me very carefully, Addison, because I only plan to say this once.”

He didn’t have to worry. I was listening. So much so that I was lip reading as I memorized his mouth. The same mouth that had become a new fascination of mine.