Page 76 of Not Your Girl
The love that swamps me is so massive it’s almost overwhelming, and the need to get my arms around her is intense. My intention must be written all over my face because her eyes go wide and drop to her phone, her thumbs flying over the screen until my phone dings.
Amelia
Dean Miller, at your six.
“Professor Wyles, just the man I’ve been looking for.”
Wincing inwardly, I turn. “Hey, Dean Miller, how’s it going?”
He shakes his head, as if in disappointment. “It would be going better if you would respond to my emails. I’ve been trying to schedule a meeting with you for two weeks.”
He has, in fact, been doing exactly that, and I’ve been dodging him. Mainly because he’s an asshole and I prefer to never speak to him, if at all possible, but also because if he asks me about Amelia, I don’t trust myself not to take a swing at him, which would have the unfortunate side effect of outing our relationship.
There’s nothing I want more than to be with her all the way out loud, but not that way, and not until she’s ready. And I guess I should also have some self-preservation about my own job, but when faced with the thought of being able to yell to the world that Amelia is my girl, my job seems unimportant in comparison. “Sorry about that; the semester has been a heavy lift. I haven’t had a ton of free time.”
He takes a casual sip of his coffee but the way his eyes sharpen is anything but casual. “I’m sorry to hear that. If you have too much responsibility, I’d be happy to see about reassigning some of your classes. Or maybe you’re too busy with…extracurricular activities. I’ve seen this before, you know. A professor gets involved with a female student and their job performance goes straight off a cliff. It never ends well for the professor. And as for the student? Well, it usually ends worse. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Professor Wyles?”
The smirk on his face has a red haze covering my vision because how fucking dare he, and suddenly I’m Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk and busting out of his clothes in rage. I’m King Kong on a rampage through New York. I’m all of these things, but I can’t be any of them. I take a deep breath to try and calm my rising fury because showing it to him will only make it bad for Amelia. He already clearly suspects that we are exactly what we are. Tearing into him will only prove him right and I’ll be fucking damned if he gets to sayI told you so. “Again, I apologize for not getting back to you. When I get to my office, I’ll check my calendar and send you my availability.”
Dean Miller studies me for a long minute. “See that you do,” he clips, before turning and walking straight out of the coffee shop.
Fucker. A curl of anxiety snakes through my belly as I fumble for my phone.
Me
Shit that was…not great.
Amelia
What did he say?
Me
He knows.
Amelia
He can’t. There’s no way. He might think he knows, but he doesn’t really.
Me
For a guy like that, him thinking he knows is as bad as him actually knowing. He won’t stop until he figures out what’s going on.
Amelia
He’s an asshole.
Me
An asshole who can out your connection to Gabe to the entire tech world if he wants to. Who can figure out Genesis is yours and tell everyone before you have a chance to.
I fight my racing brain, closing my eyes for a second and taking a deep breath. Until this second, I hadn’t realized how little I care about what happens to my own job. They can go right ahead and fire me for having a perfectly consensual relationship with an adult grad student if they want to.
Amelia is worth it.
She’s worth everything.
But Amelia has been crystal clear about making her way on her own. About keeping her connection to Genesis and to Gabe a secret. And the dean outing us can fuck up everything she’s worked for. All her plans.
