Page 46 of Forbidden Lessons

“Oh, yeah?” I rummage in my tote, glaring up defiantly at him as I pull out my phone. “Then explain this.” I show him the screen spider webbed with cracks. “I spend more time picking it up than I do actually using it.”

As if to illustrate my point, the phone falls on the floor when I try to slip it back into my tote.

I point at it.

My professor ignores it.

“The only way you’ll ever be able to fight the monsters hiding under your bed is if you crawl in there with a flashlight,” he says.

I shake my head, laugh as I look away. Because, fuck, if only he knew how funny it really was.

Monsters hiding under my bed?

More like sadists lurking in the shadows behind the diner where I work.

“Yeah, I’m not going to class.” I tighten the grip on my tote bag as I bend to pick up my phone. “I don’t have the book, I haven’t read the chapters, and I’m pretty sure I’m already failing. Might as well just climb in my car and get the fuck out of dodge while I still have gas in the tank.”

When I stand, he’s staring at me with a deadpan expression.

“I’m picking up a vibe,” he says.

This time I snort, throwing my head back for a second before facing him. “Why do you care, huh?” I ask, hair flopping against my neck as I slowly shake my head. “Why the hell do you care so much about a nobody like me?”

His eyes drop to my mouth, then dart up to my eyes. He licks his thumb, and for a second I wonder if it looked that fucking sexy when I did it.

Under the table.

Just as I was about to shove my thumb up Kai’s ass.

He would have deserved it after all the shit he’s pulled.

I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance.

“I was nobody too, once.” He reaches out, pausing when I lean back, and then catches my bottom lip with his finger, brushing it hard with the pad of his thumb. “So you’re going to my class, and you’re going to catch up on your assignments, and you’re not going to look a damn gift horse in the mouth.”

I touch my mouth, the rest of my body immobilized by shock.

As if in explanation, he gives me a faint smile.

“My apologies, Miss Lee. That ink was incredibly distracting.”

Chapter 14

Kai

“Of course he’ll fucking fail you,” I tell Oscar, rolling my eyes. “He said art in the form of a digital photo, not fucking—” I swipe my hand at the guy’s phone screen. “What even is that?”

“It’s abstract, man,” Oscar mutters, shrugging like the world just won’t cut him a break.

“It’s bullshit. Jesus, all he’s looking for is a shot of a homeless guy, or a piece of trash stuck in a fence. If you can put Claire de Lune over it, and use it as the intro to one of Sam Mendes’ movies, then you’ve got yourself an A.”

Student stares at me like I’m on smack. I don’t know why he’s in this class when it’s obvious from his build and his athleisure wear that his favorite pastime is playing with balls. On a field. Possibly in the locker room, too.

Oscar slowly starts nodding. “Yeah.Yeah!”

Holy fuck, was I this naïve when I was a freshman?

I stick the end of my sucker stick back in my mouth so I can chew it some more. A few bits are still in their original shape, but I’m like eighty percent done wrecking the plastic stick.

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