Page 70 of Bad Kind of Love

“I'll let you do whatever you want to me, if….” I go on and his mouth drops from mine. “You tell me something about you. Anything.” I beg.

Seemingly frustrated, he pulls back, but soon gives in when I give him my sad eyes.

“What do you want to know?” He grunts, running a hand through his mess of waves.

“Anything!” I grin. “Something about your childhood, your parents, what made you become a teacher…”

“I didn’t always want to be a teacher.” He admits.

I knew teaching probably wasn’t his true calling, but I was always curious about why he became one.

“No?” I raise a brow.

“After I found out about Wes, I knew I needed a more stable job. Something safe and reliable. I wanted to give him a good life, better than what I had growing up.”

Glancing off into the distance, Jack seems to get lost in his own thoughts. His normally cool posture was now tense. I knew he cared for Wes, loved him like a father should, but his hope of having a real relationship with him was dwindling.

I hated to see them both hurting. I felt compelled to comfort them both but now, everything had changed.

“So you chose to be an English teacher?” I chuckle, hoping to lighten the mood. “Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re good...but I pictured you as more of a mechanic or something.”

Laughing, he pulls me in closer, securing his arms around my naked waist. “Why? Because of my long hair and tattoos?”

Shrugging, I snuggle in closer to his warmth. “Yah.” I agree. “When I picture a teacher, I don’t envision someone like you.”

His lips brush against my ear. “Well, when I picture a student, I don’t see someone like you.”

His voice is low, but it’s the light touch of his finger on my thigh that has me distracted.

“Someone like me?” I question as my eyes flutter closed from his tracing on my leg.

“When I look at my students I feel nothing. I see naive teenagers who never suffered a day in their lives... knowing nothing about the real world.” He continues rubbing a small pathway up my leg and back down. “But with you, I can sense the hardships you’ve gone through. The pain that burdens you. The one you’ll never admit to yourself or anyone else.”

“I wouldn’t call what I’ve gone through hardships.” I shake my head, but he immediately shuts that down.

“Don’t down play it, O’Connor.” He grunts. “I may not know what you’ve been through but I know privation when I see it.”

“So what makes me so different then?” I ask confused. “Why choose me?”

Peering up into his dark gaze, I search for answers.

“When I look at you, I don’t see my student.” He devours my face with adoring eyes, and I swear my heart melts all over his chest. “I see a woman. A beautiful, fierce woman who, like me, knows what it's like to be different. To have lived a hard life and survive with only a few scratches.” Grabbing the sides of my face, he gently pulls me toward him. “Some need the light to drag out the darkness, but, you and I both belong to the night.”

He was right. The darkness was the only place for us.

I have finally succumbed to the devil himself.

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