Page 81 of Sinful Desires

A snort of both agitation and amusement left me. “Yeah,” I retorted. “If you refrain from assigning it to me.”

Something flashed across his face, but it was gone before I could process it. With nothing else left to be said between the two of us, I gathered my things and shoved past Foster as I ventured out into the hall.

Thankfully, Gia decided to hang back too. I think she and Raven were starting to pick up that something wasn’t right between me and the guys that seemed to rule this place under the teacher’s thumb.

“Aspen,” Foster called from behind me, the tone in his voice leaving no room for argument. He was pissed.

I ignored him and crossed the walkway over to Gia who was leaning against the row of lockers. Unease settled over her as she looked between the two of us.

“What’s going on?” she asked nervously.

“Aspen,” he repeated, his voice a low growl as he reached me.

Spinning around, I came face to face with him. I hadn’t noticed it before, but with him so close to me I could see the split on his lip from where I punched him. Satisfaction filled me and a small smile hooked up at the corners of my mouth as I took in my masterpiece.

His eyes narrowed as he took in my expression, and then he fixed his attention on my friend. It wasn’t like he could just grab me and throw me over his shoulder right in front of her. Not if he didn’t want a bigger problem on his hands.

“I’m not going with you today,” I said, wasting no time. “You pissed me off. Maybe we can work on the assignment tomorrow.”

“Assignment?” Gia repeated quizzically.

I nodded and flicked my gaze over to her momentarily. “He’s been tutoring me since I suck at history. That’s the real reason I had to go to his room the other day. I ended up crashing there because it got so late.”

“That…actually makes more sense than you guys fucking.”

I snorted in amusement at that. She wasn’t wrong. Foster was a sexist asshole who wanted nothing to do with sex, and I had some standards. Maybe I had a high sex drive and was a sexual person. That didn’t mean I was a slut, or whatever he wanted to call me. His friends got around more than I did.

“Is everything okay out here?” Monroe questioned from the doorway of his classroom as he took in the three of us standing there.

Foster’s jaw ticked as frustration flooded through him.

“It will be,” Gia replied. “As soon as this asshole leaves us alone.” She leveled Foster with a glare of her own and my stomach plummeted. I loved that she didn’t have a filter and that she was bold, but the last thing I wanted was for them to come after her.

Monroe took a step out into the hall, a hard expression etched into his features. “Are you harassing these girls?” he demanded, his voice laced with venom. I watched as he folded his arms across his chest, making his muscles bulge.

Holy shit.

I bet he was jacked under that shirt. While it was partially see-through, it didn’t show enough to sate my curiosity.

Foster ground his teeth together so hard that I was worried he might shatter them. It would be a shame for a beautiful set of teeth to go to waste.

“No.” Was his only response.

“I hope not,” Monroe replied. “I’d hate to have to suspend you from Saturday nights.”

Foster’s lips twitched as he fought the urge to talk back. “That would be tragic,” he agreed in a lethal tone of his own, his eyes flickering over to me. My heart stalled in my chest as his gaze clashed with mine. I knew I’d probably be paying for this too. “I’ll see you tonight.” Glancing back at Monroe, and then Gia, he slowly backed away before exiting the premises altogether.

Once he was gone, a breath of relief whooshed out of me and I turned to Gia, and then Monroe. Monroe stared at me intently, eyebrows drawn together. He looked like he wanted to ask me something but decided against it and retreated into his classroom once more.

“Why was he so creepy?” Gia questioned once we fell into step with one another. “Over a tutoring session?” She barked a laugh which had guilt swirling through me.

I wanted to tell her the complete truth, but knew it was safer for her the less she knew. What if they decided to come after her next? What if she couldn’t handle it? Would they lock her in the cellar for days on end without any nourishment? Would they burn her with cigarettes too? Would they carve her until she was a bloody, blubbering mess? Personally, I didn’t mind most of the physical pain. But what if she did? Would she end up like Dory? I wouldn’t let them hurt her. Not if I had anything to say about it.

“Let’s get you a shower,” she offered, slicing through my thoughts. “You look like death.”

“Hell yes,” I agreed. “A shower sounds good as fuck right now.”

We made our way over to the dorms, making sure to look every which way for any sign of someone possibly watching us. If there was someone watching, they remained out of sight.

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