Page 71 of Teach Me Your Ways

29

GRADY

Iclosed the door behind us. Cece was beside me but the distance between us was enormous. I could feel her anger. She was pissed. I had thought I was doing the right thing by going to the dean and suggesting Cece would be better off with another professor. I told her Lina was more than enough and I didn’t have enough work for both of them. I assumed Cece would be happy to be away from me. Of course the fucking dean had to blow up my plan.

Now, I had a really pissed off Cece. She was quiet, but the anger was rolling off her. It felt radioactive.

I pushed open the heavy double doors and allowed her to walk through first. We stepped into the quad, the afternoon sun blazing down on us. Cece and I walked side by side in silence, the vast lawn stretched ahead dotted with shade trees. Students lounged and chatted while eating lunch and hanging out. A few couples were scattered around the outskirts like they were attempting privacy, but not really. Kissing, touching, and one especially enthusiastic couple was about two beats from sex.

Just when I was about to take a left and head toward the staff parking lot, I felt it. It was the kind of feeling you got just before lightning sizzled through the air. The ground itself vibrated with her energy.

A smart man would run. But I didn’t get that chance.

She stopped, spun on me, and for a heartbeat I thought she might punch me.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Her voice cracked like a whip across the calm.

I stumbled a couple steps backward. “Problem?”

She glared at me and I swore there was actual fucking smoke billowing from her ears. And damn if I wasn’t turned on.

“You could’ve warned me about that meeting!” Her words were full of accusation. It was like getting slapped.

“Warn you?”

“Yes!” She crossed her arms, foot tapping against the pavement. “You rolled me in there like I was some lamb to slaughter.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to keep working with me.”

“You could have fucking asked!”

“I wasn’t sure you wanted to hear from me.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.”

“You were pissed. And I’m not changing my mind.”

“Too bad, the dean already said I’m on that dive,” she snapped back. “I’m good enough to fuck. Good enough for you to have your tongue in my⁠—”

“Stop.” My voice was low. I could see we were starting to attract some attention. “Keep it down.” I placed a hand on her arm, but she shook it off.

She looked around and that was when she realized we weren’t alone and too much had already been said.

Her eyes softened for a split second—like she had deflated a bit—but only for a moment.

“This isn’t over,” she hissed.

I sighed because she was right. “Can we please go somewhere with some privacy?”

“Your office?”

“Probably not a good idea,” I said. “Let’s go get coffee from the cart. The park is a better place.”

“Yeah, caffeine is a great idea when I’m already amped up,” she muttered.

“Decaf for you.”

“Fuck you. I can drink coffee if I want to.”