Page 105 of Teach Me Your Ways

42

CECE

Isat frozen on the bed, the sheet still clutched to my chest like a lifeline. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. My mind was a chaotic mess of panic and disbelief. Dean Carver showing up in my room felt like one of those dreams where you find yourself naked in front of a classroom.

I had to look down and make sure I was actually naked. Yep. There’s my boobs. Little lower, the vajayjay is hanging out after a night of being well taken care of.

The dean’s words echoed in my head. Common whore. The phrase burned like acid, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I wanted to scream, to defend myself, but the words wouldn’t come. All I could do was sit there, exposed and humiliated, while Grady stood naked in the middle of the room. And what was really wild was I had actually felt jealousy at the fact Grady was naked and the dean had very obviously been checking him out.

I had almost jumped out of bed and challenged her. There was a wild urge to stake a claim and tell her to quit looking at my man. But he wasn’t my man. We had sex. Amazing sex. But I didn’t think that meant he was mine. Not really.

My eyes moved back to Grady. I couldn’t help but look at him. Even in this disaster of a moment, he was breathtaking. His lean, muscular frame was on full display, every inch of him radiating strength and confidence. The faint stubble on his jaw gave him a rugged edge, and his dirty blond hair was tousled from sleep. Well, not just sleep. I had a lot to do with that. My fingers had run through his hair, tugging and pulling as he brought me one orgasm after another. From the broad shoulders down to the narrow hips and long legs, he was perfect.

But that thought only made the knot in my stomach tighten. What had we done? We’d been so reckless, so careless. We’d let our desire override every ounce of common sense we had. And now we would have to pay the price.

The dean had called me out. Grady hadn’t reacted, but there was no way he didn’t hear what she said. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he was thinking. While I was feeling like I’d been hit with some kind of paralytic, I could see his jaw was clenched tight.

“Grady?”

His gaze flashed anger. Then hurt and ultimately confusion. I could see him trying to process all of it. He looked crushed. I did that and it made me feel as small as a gnat.

“Were you spying on me?” He didn’t yell, but the whisper was worse.

I swallowed, heart pounding. “It’s not what you think.”

“It sounds like she wanted you to catch me in the sack with a student,” Grady said. He grabbed his underwear and jerked them on. “You were setting me up. Was that the plan all along? Get me to fuck you so you could run back and tell the dean I’m the scoundrel that she believes me to be? Did you fuck me to get something from the dean? What did she promise you? What favor was she talking about?”

The accusation hurt, but it made my skin prickle. “No.” My voice trembled. “I swear I had no idea who you were when we met at the bar. I was supposed to be a TA for another professor. Carver put me with you and said she wanted me to report back. I wasn’t comfortable with it. But I needed the work. I had to have the money to stay in school, to support Sophie.” I paused and realized I was crying.

He stopped with his pants halfway up his legs. “That night. You set me up. You were going to fuck me in my office so you could run back and tell her.”

“No! I didn’t know who you were.”

He was looking at me with disgust. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m telling you the truth.”

“What have you told her? All of this? Have you been reporting back to her about us the whole time?”

He kept using those words. I understood why he was saying it, but it wasn’t like that. I took a deep breath. I needed to stay calm. Grady wasn’t the kind of man that got irate and wouldn’t listen to reason. I just needed to tell him the truth.

“The night in the bar, I went drinking because of my meeting with Carver. I was torn. I didn’t know you at all but I didn’t like the idea of being a spy.”

“Why? Why did she want you to spy on me?”

I took a deep breath. “She said you were ‘too friendly’ with students. That she couldn’t prove it but there were some concerns. She asked me to keep an eye on things and if I saw something that I thought was professional misconduct, I should tell her.”

“She said I was fucking students?” The words were hissed through his clenched jaw.

“Yeah, and to let her know about anything else I saw.” I figured I may as well go all in. There was no point in trying to tiptoe around the detonated bomb. “She said the department was in jeopardy and implied you were doing things that could threaten the department and the university as a whole.”

He reached for his shirt and pulled it on. “And am I? Am I such a fuck-up you think the university is in jeopardy?”

“No.” The answer was given without hesitation because it was the truth. “I realized the dean could be wrong. That night in your office when you kicked me out, I didn’t know who you were. When I got home, I did Google your name. When I realized it was you, I was confused. Everything the dean said did not match up to the man that practically shoved me out the door.”

“I don’t fuck students.”

I flinched at the harsh words. “I believe you.”