Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 34206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 171(@200wpm)___ 137(@250wpm)___ 114(@300wpm)
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to worry. It’ll all be fine.”
“I’m not taking any chances. I’m being serious about this, Teal. I’m going to put my job on the line for you. You’ve got to do this for me.”
“Why is it so important to you?” she asked.
“You’re important, and this is important.”
She took a deep breath. “Did you make your previous lovers do this?” Teal didn’t even know what to call herself. A lover? A girlfriend. She had no idea what she actually was.
“No.”
“Then why am I?”
“None of my previous lovers were eighteen-year-old students, Teal. And I didn’t give a fuck about what happened to them. They were not important to me.”
But she was.
“Do you have any other lovers or girlfriends that I should know about?”
Jaxson finished chewing on his bite of bread. “Do you think I’m the kind of guy who would do that?”
“I, I don’t know. I don’t really know you, do I?”
He sighed. “No, you’re right. You don’t know me. Not the real me, but that’s okay. I’ve got plenty of time to show you exactly who you’re dealing with. Now, eat your breakfast.”
His commanding tone shouldn’t affect her, but it did.
She didn’t have much left of her breakfast, and she finished everything off with a slice of bread through all the tomato juices on her plate.
Jaxson picked up her plate, and she watched him clear up the table. She should have known he was going to make her continue to study.
He did.
He made her take the examination, naked, and work through every single question. The man knew how to torture.
****
“How is she doing?” Bethany asked on Monday after school.
Jaxson had given Teal’s mother his number when she told him she’d be out of town. Glancing around his empty classroom, he felt the anger in his gut. Not at himself, but at Bethany.
Her daughter was home and very clearly fucking struggling with what her parents were doing. Let alone the fact she had just entered into some kind of arrangement with himself, one that so far hadn’t resulted in sex, but had crossed so many lines.
She was legal. He wasn’t pushing this on Teal. They just … connected.
He didn’t see her as forbidden fruit, but as his.
There was no other word for it. The way he felt about Teal, he knew it was wrong on every single level, but how could something that felt so fucking right be wrong?
It was impossible.
“I’m taking care of Teal.”
“I hope she’s not too much trouble.”
“She’s not.”
“No, of course not. She has always been a good girl. I don’t even know why I’m worrying. She’s amazing.” Bethany laughed.
He didn’t find any of this entertaining. From what he could tell, Teal had gotten used to taking care of herself as her parents were always in some kind of drama with each other.
“How are things?” he asked.
“Oh, you know, we’re, er, we’re working through it. I think we’ll come back from this. We have to.”
“Well, I wish you both luck.”
“Thank you, Mr. Rebel. You are a lifesaver. Take care.”
She hung up, and he stared down at his cell phone and blew out a breath.
“Is everything okay?”
He looked up to see Mr. Hitchcock, the principal.
“Yeah, everything is fine.” He shoved his phone into his pocket and checked the time. Teal would have already left school. She had mentioned to him that morning she needed to go to the library to do some studying. He still had a few assignments to read up on, and also to make a decision about heading back to his old job after this year was complete.
The school was great, and the kids were fine, but he did miss his old classroom and his old students. Not that the students didn’t change year to year, they did.
“I wanted to see how everything is settling in, and how you’re handling the class.”
“Have you had any complaints?” he asked.
“No, no, none at all. I just, you know how it all is. New class. New year. New teacher.”
He forced a smile to his lips. Yes, he did know how it all was. “I’ve got a few things to catch up on and then I’m heading home.”
“Ah, yes, I’m so sorry to bore you, but I was curious about your, er, your living arrangements.”
Jaxson paused. “My living arrangements?”
“Yes, the house that you are currently living in, it is, I don’t mean to pry, it’s just that it’s quite famous around these parts.”
“I don’t think that is true,” Jaxson said.
Mr. Hitchcock laughed. “Ah, yes, it always happens at first, but you see, I’ve been around for a while, and I’ve seen quite a bit in my time.”
He had no idea what he was talking about. Jaxson frowned. “I’m sorry. I live at the bottom of a street, a cul-de-sac. I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”