Page 75 of Teach Me Your Ways

“Please, call me Felix,” he said. “We’re not in class. And it makes me feel old.”

I smiled. “Felix, I’m going to get you some water. You’re a little red.”

Before he could tell me he was fine, I walked over to a cart advertising cold drinks. I imagined the guy made a killing out here. I quickly bought two bottles of water that were overpriced, but they were icy cold and dripping water from the ice they’d been in.

“Here you go,” I said and handed a bottle to Felix.

“Thank you. You’re Grady’s TA.”

Since he used Grady’s first name and wanted me to use his first name, I assumed it was safe to be casual. “I am. For now.”

“For now?”

I shook it off. I had said too much. “It’s nothing.”

“Grady is my best friend,” he said. “Do I need to kick his ass?”

It was laughable. Felix was probably half the size of Grady. While Felix was trying to get in ten-thousand steps and practically keeling over, Grady could manhandle three frat boys without breaking a sweat. I knew because I had seen him do it the night we met.

“It’s settled,” I said with a small laugh. “But thank you.”

“What’s settled?”

I let out a long sigh. “Grady wanted to transfer me to someone else in the department. He doesn’t want me as his TA.”

He looked at me. “Yeah?”

“He also didn’t want me on the upcoming dive, even though I’m more than qualified. Sent me an email saying I couldn’t go because there might be a storm.”

He nodded as he gulped down water. “I heard about a storm.”

“We’re on the coast,” I said with a shrug. “There are always storms.”

He smiled. “True. You all seemed to be getting along well at The Library.”

Did Felix know? He said he was best friends with Grady. Did he tell him about the sex? Shit.

Then again, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Felix knew there was a lot more than what I was saying. Maybe he could give me a little insight into what Grady was thinking.

I nodded. “We got along great, but, well, it got weird once he learned I had a kid. Then he sent me a stupid email kicking me off the dive. I got a feeling it was personal.”

I didn’t know if he knew we had sex but I wasn’t going to just blurt it out. I could bluff. If he knew, fine. If he didn’t, I wasn’t saying anything revealing.

“So, let me make sure I understand the situation,” he said. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. His scientific mind was studying and deducing the facts he had. “You two were… friendly. Then you told him you had a child and he removed you from the dive. And then he requested to have you removed as his TA.”

“Bingo,” I said.

His tone when he said the word friendly told me he probably did know about the sex. “How well do you know Grady?”

I felt my cheeks burn.

“I meant, do you know his background?” Felix quickly clarified.

“I know he’s been on a lot of dives and digs,” I said.

He offered a soft smile. “No. Not that.”

I waited, feeling like I was about to hear something big. Had he been married? Was he still married? Did his wife die in a diving accident? Was I triggering some horrible memory?