Page 73 of Forbidden Lessons

“Didn’t stop you.”

There’s a long, awful beat of silence. “You’re right. I was wrong to treat you as an adult. Trust me, I won’t make that mistake again.”

My head is spinning from our rapid-fire conversation. Or, possibly, because I’m still a little drunk.

What the hell is his problem? Calling me at—I try to read the tiny clock on the top of my cellphone’s display, but this must be what it feels like to get old, because it’s impossible.

I lock my phone and turn on the display to read the much larger clock.

Bastian’s calling me at three in the morning?

Something flutters in my stomach, but I don’t know if it’s excitement or uneasiness. Either there’s something wrong with me…or something very,verywrong with Professor Rooke.

Or the flutters are something else, because that’s when my body rejects what’s left of the tequila.

I barely have time to spin around and lift the lid before I empty my guts into Gamma Alpha Zeta’s pristine toilet.

Chapter 20

Kai

It’s a lie what they say about time healing all wounds.

Time just softens thememoryof the pain so you can convince yourself that it doesn’t hurt anymore…and, eventually, that it never ever hurt.

I spent years stoking my hatred for Haven. Letting it simmer. Hating her had become an unhealthy obsession. I’d dredge up old memories, fond memories, and find little details about her to hate.

Her laugh.

The way she’d clap her hands when I was handing her candy.

Her soft hair.

Her even softer skin.

Sometimes I was so busy replaying those happier times, that I’d briefly forget to hate her. I’d smile at the memories, shaking my head at how innocent we were.

But I’d always end up at that same memory.

The last time I saw Haven before she abandoned me, leaving wreckage and ruin in her wake with the empathy of a fucking hurricane.

I rebuilt. I thought my foundations were stronger. But Hurricane Haven is already rattling the shutters.

It’s been days since I’ve seen her. Not a peek of her wavy brown hair or a glimpse of her confused, angry blue eyes. Even the memory of her trapped under the desk, her pink lips stretching over my cock, is fading.

That absence lulls me into a false sense of security, my weekend passing in a blissful haze of drinking, video games, and partying. I even get some studying done.

I was too wasted to track down her father. I’d have to drive all the way to fucking Ashwood Crossing, for starters. It would have taken most of the day just to find out where they live.

She must have leased a place in town while she’s in college. No way she’s driving an hour to get here, and then back, every day.

I’d be happy for her, finally get out of the toxic environment she was living in. But fuck her.

My class timetable is lax. I could have added a bunch of electives, but I already have a job waiting for me after graduation, so what’s the point? My only goal in life was to get the hell out of Agony Hollow, and next year, that shit’s a reality.

Monday, I spend the whole day recovering from the weekend, preparing myself in case Haven shows.

By the time Rooke’s next class rolls around, I’m a new man, ready for anything.

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