Page 12 of Before He Was Her Headmaster

Nobody will notice that I don’t want to be the one to give Lily her final grade.

Nobody needs to know there’s no way I could be unbiased about this gorgeous, clever young woman.

And nobody needs to know that I would give anything to spend the next three months watching her learn and grow in her craft.

“I would say….” My voice is a rough rumble, full of gravel and unexpectedly raw need. I swallow hard and try again. “If you want me to be your teacher, I will happily have you in my class.”

Chapter 5

Lily

When I leave Sebastian’s—Headmaster Craig’s—office, Stacey is waiting with my dorm key and a map. “I’ll take you to your room and give you a quick tour before my first class.”

“Is that the small group creative writing seminar?” I show her the schedule he printed out for me. “I’m in it, too.”

She gives me a wide, cheerful smile. “Awesome. He’s really nice, you know. Once you get past the stern stuff.”

Stern? Was he stern?

I think once I’m alone with my filthy thoughts, I’ll imagine him even sterner. A little mean, even. “Good to know. What’s the worst you’ve ever seen him?”

Apparently, he assigns detention when people need to get caught up on their homework and yells at people for bullying, all of which places him firmly in the nice category to me. “He doesn’t smack rulers on desks or make embarrassing examples out of people?”

“Headmaster Craig?” Stacey’s eyes go wide, and she shudders. “No, never.”

“What about any of the other teachers? Who are the perverts to watch out for?”

Her eyes are genuine saucers now. “What schools did you go to before you came here?”

“Dangerous ones,” I mutter. Schools where my father could exert undue influence and make my life a living nightmare so I’d stay under his thumb.

“I don’t think Headmaster Craig would tolerate anything like that happening here.”

Not here, maybe. Ten miles down the highway, though… “No, right. He seems really nice.”

“He is.”

“Good.” I’m thinking Stacey might be a bit simple. No way is Edgewood this great. Not when their headmaster is a secret truck stop sex fiend.

She leads me across the quad to the dorm I’m staying in, a co-ed building. Every student has their own room; mine is on the first floor, near the back of the building and facing a forest.

“There are trails in there,” Stacey offers, seeing my bright pink running shoes spill out from the top as I dump my bag on the bed. “If you run.”

“I do.”

“We’re allowed free access to the property until ten at night, then we need to be in our rooms. Curfew lifts at six in the morning, so there’s time for exercise before and after classes. Speaking of which….” She glances at the clock on the wall. “I better let you get changed into your uniform before the seminar begins.” She gestures back at the quad. “McDonald Hall is directly across the quad, and our classroom is on the second floor.”

* * *

After she leaves me alone in my room, I check out the uniform hanging in the closet, then unpack my bag. I have another suitcase in the trunk of my car, which will be delivered here once it’s repaired.

I think back to last night. The freak-out I had when my car broke down and how I just abandoned it on the side of the road and grabbed a ride with the next trucker who stopped.

Stupid, really, but I can’t regret it.

Being at my breaking point led me to Sebastian and that wild make out in the shower stall.

I glance at my phone, still in airplane mode. It’s a defense mechanism I have, turning it off so my parents can’t track where I am. But they know I’m here. They put me here instead of letting me return to the public school in the city.

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