Page 25 of Forbidden Lessons

Professor Rooke throws Kai a quick look, but his eyes are back on me a second later. “Kai, go get Miss Lee a cup of coffee from the cafeteria,” he says.

“What?”

I can see Kai’s frown from the corner of my eyes. I lift my chin and throw Kai a frosty glance. “Just cream. No sugar.”

“Yeah, sure.” Kai’s grin looks forced as he pushes to his feet and heads for the door.

He lets it slam shut behind him, and Professor Rooke’s lips twitch at the sound. I almost drop my bag.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Rooke asks as he sits on the edge of the desk, his hands clasped and dangling between his thighs.

I could tell him what just happened.

Ishould.

What Kai just did was aggressive, and violent, and…confusing as fuck.

Then there’s the way Professor Rooke is staring at me.

With this kind of fascination.

I guess he finds people interesting. Why else would he teach a class like this? But it makes me uneasy, because I don’t know if he sent Kai out of the room so I could be more open with him…or so that he could be alone with me.

If it’s true and I’m not just losing my mind, it kinda takes the sting out of what just happened.

This man? Interested in me?

Besides, I’m not about to get Kai into trouble until I get a handle on this situation. If he’s mad because I left Agony Hollow, then he’s pathetic. I had no control over that.

He must be having problems at home. I remember all the times he’d arrive at the creek with bruises on his arms or legs. I never asked him about them—and I probably should have—but I was a kid, and we were there to play and have fun andforgetabout the bad things, not wallow in them.

Maybe that’s why he never told me stuff, either. He was just as willing to play pretend the whole afternoon long.

If it’s not that, then all I can think is that after being in Hillside for years, and with me technically a Riversider, he’s finally bought into all that elitist bullshit this place is so notorious for.

“You look shaken,” Professor Rooke prompts.

“The curse strikes again,” I shrug, holding up my hands and smiling ruefully. “I’ll have to go to that crystal lady’s shop in town and get some smudge sticks or something.”

My professor doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t even smile. But I guess he dismisses whatever concerns he had about what he did or didn’t see, because he changes the subject.

“Did you have any questions about the coursework?”

I shake my head. “Nope. Pretty self-explanatory.”

“So you understand how to fill out your Activity Log?”

I open my mouth, trying to figure out how to word my response, and his eyes drop to my lips. It’s so brief, I might have imagined it, had I not felt a sudden tingle on my skin.

“Like, I guess, I just don’t know how…petty I should be?”

“Petty,” he repeats quietly.

“Like…” I groan softly. “I know you’re probably going to say that’s part of defining cruelty or whatever, but is a bird pooping on my car being cruel?”

There’s a glimmer in his brown eyes when he shrugs. “I don’t know. Is it?”

I slowly start nodding. “Okay. So…I’m gonna have to figure it out as I go along, kind of thing?”

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