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“Is there something you need?” I asked, my voice low. “Something I can help you with?”
“No, sir,” he said, turning around to face me fully. “Just talking to Winnie.”
The sound of her name coming from his lips had rage boiling inside my chest.
“My class isn’t social hour,” I snarled. He tilted his head to the side, that same grin on his face. It made me see red.
“It’s after class.” His tone was so fucking calm, so arrogant. I wanted to slam his head into the desk. “I didn’t realize?—”
“Do I need to escort you to the Dean?” I interrupted. A slow grin spread across my face as I recognized who the kid was. “Isn’t there a big game this weekend? It’d be a shame for you to miss it because you were trying to fight with your professor.”
“I’m not trying to fight with you,” he said, emphasizing the word. “I’m trying to ask a pretty girl out on a date.”
The world tilted around me, and a dull roar sounded in my ears. Date? He was asking her on a date? Had she said yes? Is that why she was blushing?
“You need to come with me,” I hissed, holding my hand out for her. “Right. Now.”
“I was going to walk her to?—”
“You’re going to leave her alone,” I snarled, stepping closer to him.
I was a few inches taller than him, but wasn’t stupid enough to think that would matter in a fist fight. He was twenty years younger than me, and an athlete. It didn’t matter how strong he was, though. I had more of a reason to win than he did.
“She doesn’t want me to leave her alone.”
We were so close, I could feel his harsh breathing, could feel his chest brush against mine with every inhale. “Professor Ashford?” Winnie’s soft, trembling voice pulled me from my rage, but I didn’t look at her.
“Go to my office.”
“I wasn’t done?—”
My hand went to his chest, and I gathered his t-shirt in my fist, hauling him back a step. He braced himself, and I knew he was seconds from swinging. “I said you need to go.”
A grin crept across his mouth, slow and taunting. “So the rumors are true?”
Ice shot through my veins, cooling the rage burning in me. My hand fell away from him as I stumbled back a step. He knew? How?
“And with her?” He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head.
“What rumors?” Winnie asked, but I ignored her.
Everything was slipping from me. It was all out of my control. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t know. How did he even know about this?
“Oh, she doesn’t know?” He laughed again, and I braced my hand on the desk beside me. What would she say when she found out? Would she hate me?
Everything was spinning out of my control, and I felt like I was about to fall off the side of the earth at any moment. Like my carefully crafted house of cards was about to be destroyed by a few words from this kid. He was going to ruin everything. Not just my life, but my relationship with Winnie. He was going to ruin her trust in me. He was going to ruin whatever feelings she had for me.
Go.
I wasn’t entirely sure if I was speaking or if I’d said the word in my head. But as he turned around, that all-knowing smile on his face, the one that told me he was about to ruin everything, made me snap.
I heard it—it was as loud and real as the snap of the rubber band against my skin had been.
Gripping his shirt, I yanked him back. He tripped and fell to the floor, but I didn’t stop. Kneeling, I gripped his throat in my hand. I didn’t say a word—at least, I didn’t think I had. All I know is that my hands were trembling as Winnie pulled me away from him, and when he inhaled, it sounded like a wet gurgle. I stared at him, watching as he rubbed his throat, his shocked expression overriding everything.
I’d attacked him.
I’d choked him.
