Page 1 of His Toy

Chapter 1

Brooke glanced at the note on her paper and held in the groan. Great this was not what she needed to find on it. It was bad enough that it wasn’t anywhere near her normal level of work but now she had to worry about why he wanted to see her. She was going to be late for her job if she stayed after class to talk to him and she needed the job in order to pay for the apartment.

She couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying as the rest of the period went by and she hung back as the others left the room before slowly making her way down the stairs towards him. Whatever he said would likely ruin her day so she might as well get it over with, not hesitate any longer.

“You wanted to see me about my paper,” she said getting Professor Wilson’s attention. He turned around leaning against the desk and she fought the rush of want that went through her. The man was gorgeous, definitely older than anyone she’d ever dated but not as old as the rest of the professors on staff. Talking to him always made her insides warm and she fought to keep what he did to her from his attention.

“Yes, I did,” he stated. “Is there anything you’d like to tell me about it before I tell you why I wanted to see you?”

“Nothing I can think of,” she lied knowing quite well that there was plenty about it she felt disappointed with, it definitely wasn’t her best work, but she’d been doing overtime at work to save up some extra money.

“Then maybe you’d like to tell me why you reused parts of a paper you turned in last year as the basis for it?” he questioned, surprising her because most of the time they still were turning in paper versions. Hell, a lot of the older professors didn’t even know how to scan them in to check for plagiarism let alone be able to check if they’d reused their own work.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Your paper last year for Professor Altman’s class,” he said giving her a long look and she knew there was no way that Professor Altman had scanned her paper in, despite the excellent grade she received on it. “I was his teaching assistant but unable to be in that section to meet any of the students. There was this absolutely amazing paper I read that’s always stayed with me though, and then I start reading these and find most of it in there. I went back and checked the work from last year and imagine my surprise to find that the two writers were one. You’re better than that Brooke. You shouldn’t be reusing parts of your paper and not even expanding on it.”

“Fine, is that it?”

“You do realize that I can turn this is for academic dishonesty and you could lose your scholarship, don’t you?”

“At least I’d be able to work more…” she mumbled to herself.

“Work? You’re working on top of your schedule?”

“Wasn’t planning on it but circumstances change and now I have to,” she admitted not liking it but she couldn’t be homeless and do school. Her scholarship paid for the majority of her things and losing it would mean no school and fulltime shitty work.

“So, the reason you recycled this paper is because you were working? Why?”

“Because at the end of last year my roommate and I decided to get an apartment instead of living in the dorms again. I had enough left over from my scholarships and grants to cover my half of the rent without working. Last month Tracy told me she was dropping out of school and moving to Philly with some guy she’d met.”

“Why not simply find another apartment or roommate, or get into the dorms?”

“We signed a year’s lease, and I don’t have the extra cash to break it. I’m selective with who I let into my personal space as well and haven’t found anyone yet,” she said with a glance at the time. “Look, do whatever you have to for the paper. I have to go or else I’ll be late and then lose my job.”

“You’re a brilliant student Brooke, you should focus on that instead of working. Can’t your parents help?” he questioned and she nearly snorted at the thought of her parents doing anything for her.

“They’d have to be speaking to me to do that, but they haven’t since I left home to come here two years ago,” she lied, not about to tell him exactly who her parents were.

“Alright, I’m willing to let you redo the paper. I’ll even give you permission to use some of your old points, but I want new research in it also,” he said, stopping her when she began to speak. “It’s due in a week or else you’ll receive a zero on it which will put you down to a C max for the class.”

“I’ll try, I doubt if I’ll have time to do it, but I’ll try,” she said glancing at her watch again. “I really have to go now.”

Neil nodded and watched her walk out, pushing back the urge to grab her and kiss her the same way he’d been fighting it from the second she’d walked through the door at the beginning of the semester. He didn’t need to feel this way about a girl who would likely call the cops if he did what he wanted to do to her. She was short, barely reaching his shoulder in height but she had curves that made him wonder what she’d look like completely naked.

“Stop fantasizing about her and get to work already Neil,” he told himself as he gathered his things up and headed out. He stopped into his office for a couple hours helping students with questions before heading to his parent’s place for their normal Wednesday evening family dinner. Despite being in his thirties, his brothers older than him, they were all still close and since none of them had married and given their mother grandchildren, they didn’t argue about coming over for dinner once or twice a week.

“So, are you ready to give up teaching and come work with us yet?” his brother Simon, the second oldest, asked.

“I don’t know maybe he needs to stick with it and teach some of these kids manners. Maybe then they wouldn’t grow up to be like the fool who keeps messing up my office,” his oldest brother Ted stated.

“Ignore him, he’s just ticked that whoever it is has shown him better ideas than his own,” their middle brother Adam said with a laugh at Ted’s dark expression.

“What are you all talking about?” Neil asked glancing around at his brothers.

“Someone saw the work laid out on Ted’s desk about three weeks ago and left him some suggestions via a book left open on his desk with a sticky note pointing to the paragraph they thought he should read,” Phil their last brother and the one just older than him stated.

“The idea was great which makes Ted mad that he didn’t think of it,” Simon added.

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