Page 147 of Lessons in Cruelty

“Coffee. Shower. Breakfast.” I snap my fingers on each. “You’ve got class.”

“You’ve got…” The other eye opens. “To be kidding,” she finishes lamely. “Puh-lease let me sleep.”

“Coffee. Shower.” I stand, crossing my arms.

She tips back her head, her chest heaving as she drags in a breath. “Fine.”

On her second failed attempt to get up, I grab her arm and help her to her feet. “And if you’re not done in five minutes, your breakfast is going in the trash.”

She tugs her arm free, hesitates, and then snatches up her coffee cup. As she half-stomps, half-staggers out of my living room, I swear I hear her mumble, “Yes, Daddy.”

I can’t help myself. I’m hungover, irritated, and already halfway to a hard on.

Haven yelps when I grab her arm, and again when I land a slap on her ass. “The fuck?” she whimpers, rubbing herself through her wrinkled dress.

“Keep sassing me, and there’ll be more where that came from.”

“Promise?” she whispers, still rubbing her ass.

I grab her chin, forcing her bloodshot eyes to mine. “Careful what you wish for, girl. I don’t do safe words.”

She sloshes coffee into her mouth, dragging a hand over her lips when some trickles down her chin.

“Who says I want safe?”

I take my coffee outside, hoping the combination of caffeine and fresh air will jumpstart my brain. And it seems to work until I turn to look back at my house. More specifically, the bedroom windows.

Being tinted, I can’t see inside them.

Doesn’t mean I can’t imagine what’s on the other side.

I should be a hell of a lot more worried about the fact that Haven’s in my shower right now. That she’s naked and wet, and that there’s nothing stopping me from walking in right now and fucking her against the shower wall.

Nothing stopping me from wrapping my hand around that bruised throat while I make her take every inch.

Nothing stopping me from making good on last night’s threat and fucking her so hard and deep I’ll ruin her for every fumbling boy who comes after.

Except, the laws of polite society have made it abundantly clear that anything approaching a relationship between me and my student would bring down a world of scorn and academic retribution.

I can’t fuck this up again.

Coke makes me reckless. Makes me want things I shouldn’t. Like my student bent over my kitchen counter, begging and panting and screaming as I⁠—

No.

This is what happens when I use cocaine to cope.

I stop adhering to boundaries.

Stop caring about consequences.

Agony Hollow is the perfect place for me to lie low. But it won’t be if I draw any more attention to myself than I already have.

So, yes, I could strip off my clothes and step into that shower with my nineteen-year-old student. She wouldn’t stop me. No one can stop me.

…what the fuck are you doing?…

Except me.