Page 71 of Hope & Harmony

But then hours passed, and he didn’t let me out of his sight all night.

Then the call came. And my phone wasn’t on silent. It blared through my pajama pocket.

I had just enough time to get a few words in before Professor Morgan wrestled the phone out of my hand and threw it out the window.

I didn’t even see who was calling. It could have been a robocall. Maybe it was Sarah wondering where I was.

Since then, he’s corralled me into my kitchen, the farthest room from the front door. Someone knocked a few minutes ago, but he sent them away. Probably a Girl Scout selling cookies or something.

I take a deep breath in, attempting to calm my jumping nerves. I force myself to look him in the eye. “Let’s just talk. It’sbeen hours now. You’ve just been staring at me. You can’t make me feel something that isn’t there.”

He crosses his arms. “You know why I’m here. I’ve already told you. I’m in love with you, Blaire. And I know you return my affections. You’re just afraid to admit it.”

I shake my head. “There’s nothing between us. You have to let me go.”

He hasn’t tried anything. I don’t think he’s a bad man. Still, I’m frightened, and I want him gone. If only I hadn’t opened the door.

He gets to his feet and caresses my cheek gently, sending a chill of horror down my spine. “You’re my angel. You always have been.”

He hasn’t tried to hurt me. He hasn’t so much as tried to kiss me. He seems convinced that I want this. That I have some deep-seated feelings for him that he just needs to coax to the surface. We’ve been at this all night, and my one lifeline is now shattered in pieces on the sidewalk outside my window.

“I’ve wanted you from the moment you first walked into my studio,” he says. “But I’m a professional. I kept an appropriate distance while you were under my tutelage. The whole while I watched you blossom into a beautiful young woman.” He grabs a bottle of whiskey from the top of my refrigerator and takes a swig. “For six excruciating years I’ve waited to tell you how I felt. And then I saw you let Gunnar Healy kiss you, put his dirty hands on you, and I knew I had to interfere. For your sake as well as mine.”

God, the kiss.

That kiss…

“I don’t know how else I can tell you this, Professor. I’m simply not interested. Now will you please?—”

“Shut up!” He throws the half-empty bottle of whiskey onto the floor, shattering it. Amber liquid spreads over the tiled kitchen. I have to jump to avoid a big piece of glass.

The glass is the least of my problems. This man, the man I’ve entrusted my voice to the last several years, is now behaving violently. And I have no escape. Nowhere to?—

I jerk at a pound on the door.

“Open up! It’s the police!”

I gasp. Should I be relieved or should I be more frightened? What will he do now?

Morgan sneers. “Damn it. Now look what you’ve done.”

“I didn’t call them.”

“No, but you answered your phone. Alerted someone, andtheycalled them.”

I gulp.

Then I clasp my hand to my mouth.

A pistol. In his hand. Where did it come from? Where was he hiding it?

He aims at me. “Tell them to go away, or I will shoot.”

“I…” My legs don’t want to work. Can’t work.

“Tell them, damn it.” His face goes red.

I slowly walk out of the kitchen and to my front door. I do everything in my power to steady my voice. “Please go away,” I yell, my voice shaking. “I am… I’m okay.”

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