Page 126 of Forbidden Lessons

“Haven.” I tap her face. “Haven.”

“Jaysussss,” she whispers, reluctantly opening a blood-shot eye. “Whaaaaat?”

“Coffee. Shower. Breakfast. You’ve got school.”

“You’ve got…” The other eye opens. “To be kidding,” she finishes lamely. “Puh-lease let me sleep.”

“Coffee. Shower.” I stand, crossing my arms.

She tips back her head, her chest heaving as she drags in a breath. “Fine.”

On her second failed attempt to get up, I grab her arm and help her to her feet. “And if you’re not done in five minutes, your breakfast is going in the trash.”

She tugs her arm free, hesitates, and then snatches up her coffee cup. As she half-stomps, half-staggers out of my living room, I swear I hear her mumble, “Yes, Daddy.”

“What?”

She swings around, eyes wide with innocence. “What?”

I take my coffee outside, hoping the combination of caffeine and fresh air will jumpstart my brain. And it seems to work until I turn to look back at my house. More specifically, the bedroom windows.

Being tinted, I can’t see inside them.

Doesn’t mean I can’t imagine what’s on the other side.

I should be a hell of a lot more worried about the fact that Haven’s in my shower right now. That she’s naked and wet, and that there’s nothing stopping me from walking in right now and joining her.

Except the laws of polite society that have made it abundantly clear that anything approaching a relationship between Haven and I would bring down a world of scorn and academic retribution.

I can’t fuck this up again.

Agony Hollow is the perfect place for me to lay low. But it won’t be if I draw any more attention to myself than I already have.

So, yes, I could strip off my clothes and step into that shower with my nineteen-year-old student. She wouldn’t stop me. No one can stop me.

—what the fuck are you doing?

Except me.

And this time, I will.

My eyes focus on the glass instead of trying to peer through. There’s a dark smear on the window, and when my gaze trails down, it latches onto the heap of feathers and maggots below.

Fuck.

How long has that tiny carcass been out here, breeding flies?

This is what happens when I start doing coke—I stop paying attention.

I get sloppy. I fuck up.

I’m left with casualties.

Chapter 35

Haven

My back thuds into the wall beside the front door of Bastian’s house.

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