Page 9 of Forgotten Deeds

The babysitter arrives, and I kiss my daughter goodbye and drive to class, replaying the park incident over and over. I also remind myself—over and over—bad boy!

* * *

Darius

Following Lily through campus, I don’t know why she’s wearing pants and a sweater, being it’s nearly seventy-five degrees. But her hiding that tight little body does nothing to stop the college boys from taking a second look; and them taking a second look is doing nothing to stop the fury building inside me.

She steps inside the Humanities building, and I wait a few minutes before following. Just when I think I’ve lost her, I spot her blonde halo peeking out from a sea of students. She enters a classroom, and I take a seat on a bench at the end of the hall.

Pulling Lily’s schedule from my back pocket, her only class today is a forty-five minute Greek mythology lecture. I kill time by fantasizing about killing all the fuckers who looked too long at Lily. With their dead eyes on us, I’d claim her as mine right there on the grass of the quad so everyone knows who she belongs to.

Fuck, where did that last thought come from? I don’t know, but my dick’s getting hard imagining it.

* * *

Lily

“Ms. Grant, just a moment.” My professor stops me before I can make it to the exit.

“Yes, Professor Miller?” I ask warily.

“Walk with me to my office.”

“What seems to be the issue?” The last thing I want is to be alone with this man if I can help it.

“I want to talk to you about grad school, but this discussion is better had in private,” he says somberly.

“Sure,” I say, my stomach in knots; I’ve yet to receive my acceptance letter.

We reach his office, and he unlocks the door. Following him past his T.A.’s empty desk, we reach his inner office. He gestures to a chair across from his desk, I have a seat as he closes the door. Those knots in my stomach have tied themselves into knots.

Taking a seat behind his desk, he says, “You missed my last lecture. Everything alright?”

“Oh, yes. Just dealing with a personal matter.” The babysitter was unavailable, and of course, Harrison was too, but I never use my daughter as an excuse to garner sympathy.

He furrows his brow. “You feeling alright?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“You’ve been wearing such heavy clothes lately, I didn’t know if you were sick.” He eyes my outfit.

“I never know with this building—one room’s a sauna, the next an ice box,” I say lightly.

“That’s interesting,” he comments, leaning forward. “You don’t seem to have a problem showing a bit more skin at Glitter.”

“Excuse me?” I say, nearly falling out of my chair.

“I’ve seen you dance a few times now,” he tells me, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. “You’re quite the entertainer. I just hope it doesn’t affect your academic future.”

“What I do during my personal time is my business.” I square my chin, but my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest.

He tsks. “A nice ideal, but we don’t live in an ideal world.”

“What are you saying?”

“As you know, I’m on the graduate admissions committee. This letter hasn’t been sent out yet, but I’ll let you in on a little secret—you’ve been accepted. But,” he says, holding up my acceptance letter like he’s dangling a carrot, “now that I have this new information about your ‘extracurriculars,’ I’m wondering if I should inform the committee?”

“Are you blackmailing me?” My mouth falls open.

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