Chapter 24 Twenty Four
Chapter 24 Twenty Four
Zara
I slipped out of the lounge with my heart still pounding and my thighs still slick, I had barely made it ten steps down the hallway before I nearly collided with someone coming around the corner. I stumbled back, my hand flying to my chest, and found myself staring at a girl I did not recognize, a pretty girl with sharp blue eyes and honey-blonde hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail, wearing a fitted blazer and a skirt that was almost as short as mine. She was maybe a year older than me, maybe not, but there was something about the way she looked at me that made my skin prickle, something in those pale eyes that felt like an accusation even though I had never seen her before in my life.
"Sorry," I muttered, stepping to the side to go around her, but she did not move, she just stood there blocking my path with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes slithed like she was studying something under a microscope.
"You are in Professor Kane's class, right?" Her voice was sweet, too sweet. "The one he called out on the first day for being late."
I blinked at her, caught off guard by the question. "Yeah. So?"
She smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. "No reason. I just see you around a lot. Near him. You know." She shrugged like it was nothing, but her eyes were sharp and watching, waiting for something. "You two seem close for a professor and a student."
My stomach dropped, but I kept my face neutral. "I do not know what the fuck you are talking about, and I do not know who the fuck you are, so maybe mind your own business and get out of my way."
Her smile widened, and she stepped aside finally, holding her hands up like she was innocent and had not just made my blood run cold. "No need to get defensive, Zara. I was just making conversation." She said my name in an annoying way. "I am Becca, by the way. Becca Halloway. I am in the graduate program. Political theory. Maybe I will see you around."
She walked away before I could respond and I stood there for a second watching her go, trying to figure out what the fuck that was about. I had never talked to her before. I did not know her. But she knew my name, knew what class I was in, knew that Kane had called me out on the first day, that was not random, that was not nothing. That was her letting me know she had been watching.
Fucking great, I thought, turning and heading toward the elevator. Another one.
I tried to shake it off as I rode up to the fourth floor, tried to tell myself she was just some nosy graduate student with too much time on her hands, but something about the way she had looked at me stuck in my chest. She knew something, or she suspected something, and that was dangerous because all it took was one person with a suspicion and a loud mouth to bring everything crashing down around us.
The elevator doors opened, and I walked down the hallway to room 412, my key card already in my hand, I did not even get the door all the way open before I heard Mia's voice from inside, loud and impatient.
"Finally! We thought you got lost. Or kidnapped. Or maybe you just decided to move into the faculty lounge permanently. We were about to send a search party."
I pushed the door closed behind me and leaned against it, trying to look normal, like I had not just been bent over a desk with my professor's cock inside me fifteen minutes ago. Clara was sitting cross-legged on her bed with her phone in her hand, and Mia was sprawled across the other bed, both of them staring at me with identical grins.
"You are glowing," Clara said, putting her phone down and giving me her full attention. "Fucking glowing. Your face is all flushed and your eyes are all dreamy and your hair is a mess. You look like you just got railed."
"Mia," I warned, but Mia just laughed and threw a pillow at me.
"Do not 'Mia' me, bitch. We have been sitting here for like an hour waiting for you to come back so you could tell us everything, by the way you are going to tell us everything, every single dirty detail, and you are not leaving anything out."
I caught the pillow and tossed it back at her, then walked over to my bed and flopped down on my stomach, burying my face in the blanket because I was not ready to look at them while I talked about this. "There is nothing to tell. I went to the bathroom. That is all."
"The bathroom," Clara said slowly, drawing out each syllable like she was tasting it. "You went to the bathroom for an hour and came back looking like you just ran a marathon and then had the best sex of your life immediately after. That is some bathroom, Zara. Is there a hot tub in there I do not know about? A sauna? A secret room full of ripped guys handing out orgasms?"
I laughed despite myself, because Clara was funny even when she was being annoying, and I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling. "Fine. Okay. You want the truth? I was with him. Professor Kane. Whatever you want to call him. I was with him in the lounge, and yes, we had sex, and yes, it was good, and no, I am not going to tell you every single thing we did because a girl needs to keep some secrets."
Mia screeched and sat up so fast she almost fell off the bed. "The faculty lounge? Oh my God, Zara, that is so hot. That is so inappropriate and risky and fucking hot. What if someone walked in? What if a dean came in to get coffee? What if..."
"No one walked in," I said, cutting her off. "We were careful. He locked the door. We are not stupid."
Clara raised an eyebrow. "You are fucking your professor in a hotel full of other professors and students. I love you, Zara, but you are a little bit stupid. That is not an insult. That is just facts."
"Thank you for your honesty, Clara. You are a true friend."
"You are welcome."
Mia crawled to the edge of her bed and leaned forward, her eyes wide and hungry for gossip. "Okay, but like, how was it? Was it different from the other times? Was it better? Was it romantic? Was it dirty? Give me something, Zara. I am dying here."
I bit my lip, thinking about how to answer that without giving away too much, without making myself too vulnerable in front of them even though they were my best friends and I trusted them with my life. "It was... intense," I said finally, choosing my words carefully. "He is intense and when he touches me, I forget everything else. I forget about my dad and my grades and the fact that this could ruin both our lives. I just feel him, and it is like nothing I have ever felt before."
Clara and Mia were quiet for a moment, which was rare for both of them, and when Clara spoke again her voice was softer than before. "You really like him, do not you? Not just the sex and the forbidden stuff. You actually have feelings for him."
I did not answer right away because I was not sure how to put it into words, was not sure I wanted to put it into words because saying it out loud made it real in a way that scared the hell out of me. "Yeah," I whispered finally. "I do. I really fucking do."
Mia let out a long breath and flopped back onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. "Well, shit. That is not just a fling then. That is like... actual relationship territory."
"I know."
"Does he feel the same way?" Clara asked, and there was no judgment in her voice, just curiosity and maybe a little bit of concern. "Like, does he actually care about you, or is he just enjoying the fact that a hot twenty-one-year-old is letting him fuck her?"
"He cares," I said, and I believed it. "I know he does. He is just... complicated. He has walls. But I am getting through them. Slowly."
Clara nodded like that made sense to her, and Mia was quiet for once, and the three of us lay there on our beds in the hotel room.
"You know we have your back, right?" Mia said finally, her voice softer than usual. "Whatever happens with this, whatever shit goes down, we are here. We are not going anywhere."
Clara nodded. "Even if you are being a little bit stupid and reckless and probably going to get your heart broken. We are still here."
I laughed, and it came out a little watery because my eyes were stinging with tears I did not want to cry. "Thanks, bitches. I love you too."
"Love you more," Mia said, and then she ruined it by throwing another pillow at my face. "Now tell us about the sex or I am going to die. I need at least one graphic detail to survive the night. Give me something. Was there dirty talk? There was dirty talk, was not there? Oh my God, there was definitely dirty talk. What did he say? Tell me everything."
I covered my face with the pillow and groaned because I was laughing too hard to answer, and Clara was laughing too, and even Mia cracked a smile at her own ridiculousness. For a few minutes we were just three girls in a hotel room acting like idiots, and it felt normal and good and safe, and I let myself forget about Ethan and Becca.
But later, after Clara fell asleep and Mia put her headphones on, I lay awake staring at the ceiling with my phone in my hand and my thumb hovering over Darren's name in my contacts. I wanted to text him, wanted to tell him about Becca, wanted to ask him if he knew her and if she had ever been a problem before. But I did not know how to say any of that without sounding paranoid or jealous or both, so I just put my phone down and closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Becca's face floated behind my eyelids, those sharp blue eyes and that too-sweet smile, and I shivered even though the room was warm.
She knows something, I thought. Or she wants to know something. Either way, she is going to be a problem.
I just did not know how big of a problem yet.