Page 81 of Forbidden Lessons

And they’re both in the same class.

And they also assumed their partner sent nude pics to a teacher.

But Kai might as well have looked, pointed, and called me up to the fucking lectern, because when those first chuckles begin, it feels like they’re laughing right in my face.

I try to pull my hand out of Melissa’s as discreetly as possible, but she refuses to let go.

And then she starts laughing too.

I’m biting the inside of my lip so hard I taste copper. Everything inside my stomach is turning to lead, and I don’t know if I’m going to pass out or puke. Maybe one, then the other.

But when I throw the tiniest little peek over my shoulder, no one’s looking at me.

They’re all looking at Kai.

Because he’s laughing so hard, he has to hold on to the lectern for support.

“Out of their car!” he roars. “Bullshit!” He holds up the slip of paper, folded again so no one can see my name. “I call bullshit.”

My breath hitches in my chest.

“Laugh,” Melissa whispers furiously at me.

I let out an uneasyha-ha.

And then I’m laughing for real, because fuck it, I’m not in Kansas anymore.

Kai scrapes the envelopes together and packs them into a neat stack between his palms. “You want to know why I enjoy working with Professor Rooke?”

“He’s easy on the eyes!” someone yells from the back. I swear it’s the same guy who was so disappointed when the professor told him he didn’t want dick pics.

Kai points the stack of envelopes at him. “Sure.”

“He’s fucking gorgeous!” a girl in the front row adds.

“Yeah, Christ, alright,” Kai snaps. “Everyone wants to fuck Professor Rooke.” The students laugh, but he keeps right on talking, and eventually they taper off to listen.

I don’t want to puke anymore, but my anxiety’s at a ten as I wait for the other shoe to drop. And I guess I’m just as interested in what Kai has to say as anyone else.

“Besides this joker—” Kai holds up my slip of paper “—how many of you wrote something hurtful, shameful…and bogus?”

Silence. I have to school myself so I don’t start fidgeting. What the hell is trying to say? That even if it’s cruel, people would rather tell the truth than lie?

“The card didn’t say this ‘secret’ had to be true.”

He twitches his wrist, making the envelopes slap against each other.

“Professor Rooke gave you the authority to be as nice or as cruel as you wanted…and I’m betting most you guys saw a chance to do some damage, and you didn’t even think twice.”

That’s when he looks over at me.

That’s when his impish grin slowly fades, his face settling into a stoic mask.

“I know of at least one.”

Chapter 23

Kai

---