“Well, yeah, sure.” Taylor sounded anything but sure.
“If you read the syllabus, you would have known that in my class midterm grades do affect your final grades. In other words, if you receive a failing midterm grade, you will not get a passing final grade. No exceptions.”
“But it’s not fair!” Taylor said. “That’s not howthings are done!”
“That’s how things are done in my class.” If possible, Rutledge’s voice became even softer. “I will not pass a student who had an abysmal attendance record for half of the term and failed to turn in his assignments or turned them in late. If you read the syllabus, as I told you all to do on the first day of the term, you would not be in this predicament. You can thank only yourself. Do you have other questions? Intelligent questions?”
“No,” Taylor grumbled.
“Now are we done with that, or does anyone else want to waste my time with pointless questions you’re supposed to know the answers to?”
The silence was almost eerie. No one dared to breathe.
“Good.” Rutledge returned to his desk.
“Wow,” Christian whispered, barely audibly. “What crawled up his ass and died?”
Probably pissed off he couldn’t fail me.
His skin prickled. He looked up and found Rutledge giving him a look of such loathing it made him feel like he was being repelled from the room. Shawn lifted his chin and met his gaze firmly. Seriously, what was the guy’s problem? It wasn’t like he had forced Rutledge to put his dick into his student’s mouth.
The thought—the memory—made Shawn blush and shift in his seat uncomfortably. Looking at Rutledge’s stony face, it was hard to believe it had really happened.
But it happened.
Shawn glanced at Rutledge’s hands—gripping his face as Rutledge pushed his cock into his mouth—
Shawn licked his lips, his skin uncomfortably hot, and fixed his gaze in front of him.
He wouldn’t think of it.
He wouldn’t.
* * *
He had thought he could put the incident out of his mind. He had thought Rutledge would just ignore him after the incident.
He had been wrong on both counts.
Shawn sighed and stared moodily at the assignment in front of him. Rutledge had been incredibly difficult the past few days, giving him brutally difficult assignments and constantly scolding him in front of everyone when Shawn failed to complete them to Rutledge’s satisfaction.
“Are you done, Wyatt?” said a familiar cold voice, and Shawn tensed. He glanced at Christian to his left, but his friend eyed the book in front of him with exaggerated interest. Traitor.
“I’ll be done soon,” Shawn lied. He stiffened when Rutledge put a hand on the desk and leaned down to look at the blank piece of paper in front of him.
“I see,” Rutledge said.
Shawn turned his head to glare at him and was taken aback by how close the other man’s face was. Inches away. Dark eyes locked with his for a moment before their owner’s lips twisted derisively. Rutledge straightened up to his impressive height and said, “Your assignment is due in ten minutes, Wyatt.”
“But you said—”
“Ten minutes,” Rutledge repeated.
He walked away, and Shawn glowered at his back.
He returned his gaze to the paper in front of him and stared at it sullenly. It wasn’t fair. How was he supposed to complete this assignment in such a short time? The questions were ridiculously difficult and barely reflected what they’d learned in class. Why couldn’t the asshole just leave him alone? It felt like Rutledge was determined to make his life a living hell—and he was succeeding.
Shawn scowled, trying to keep his temper in check and failing. He was tired, sleep-deprived, hungry, and angry—never a good combination.
