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I’m going to do it.
Pulling out my phone from my sweater, I carry it back to the workstation and put it down, bracing my flour-dusted hands on either side of it. Some dough is caked beneath my nails and around my cuticles. I tap my nails, chewing on my lip.
Come on, Thea.
But I can’t. I can’t bring myself to do it, not yet. My chest collapses as I release a heavy exhale, hanging my head.
“Stupid,” I mutter.
My face prickles with heat as mortification slithers in and chokes me with long tendrils I can’t escape. It’s not just the nudes I can’t face, but where I took them. In school, in class with that photo of my underwear. And, god, Connor was sitting right behind me when he asked for it. I swallow thickly. He’s awful.
A bastard playing me for his pleasure, taking the torment to a new level.
“Thea?”
My head pops up. Mr. Coleman leans against the open doorway with a cardboard cup of coffee, mouth turned down in a frown.
“Is everything all right? I thought I saw you run from the cafeteria when I was getting coffee. I’ve been looking around for you.” One of his handsome dimples appears as his mouth curves at my confused blink. He shrugs. “The student cafe serves better coffee than what they brew in the teacher’s lounge.”
“Oh. Um.” I dust my dirty hands against the apron and flutter my fingers against my hair, hoping I don’t look like a total mess. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” He steps into the room and weaves through the other worktables to get to me. His gaze shifts to Mrs. Horne for a moment, absorbed in her paperwork, before returning to me. With a soft smile, he puts his hand on my shoulder. “You can always come to me if you need to talk.”
The heat filling my cheeks now is a different kind. Mr. Coleman is my favorite teacher, even above Mrs. Horne. He truly cares about connecting with us, and I admire him for it.
“Thank you.” I’m smiling for the first time since that dimly lit science room. “You’re so kind.”
“You’re at a difficult time in your life,” he says, his voice soothing and warm. His eyes sparkle with his smile and his shoulders shake with a short laugh. “It wasn’t that long ago for me. I want you to know I understand what you’re going through.”
I re
turn his smile. I’m about to offer to bring him the second loaf of challah that my dough will yield when I catch sight of someone hovering in the door. My blood turns to ice and it becomes difficult to breathe all over again.
Connor looms in the doorway with a black, dangerous expression.
How long has he been there? Did he hunt me down, waiting for me to emerge?
He meets my eye and crooks his finger to call me over.
Can hearts turn into rabbits? That’s what mine feels like, racing around.
He’s the reason I ran to my sanctuary at school, and now he wants me to go to him just like that? That unfamiliar, violent urge returns. I draw a fortifying breath and rub my forehead, turning back to Mr. Coleman.
“Actually, I was, um.” A nervous laugh escapes me. “Just cooling my head off, but I feel better now. I should get to class.”
Mr. Coleman’s expression shifts to something harder to read as he glances between us. “I’ll write you a late slip. Come with me and we can chat about it on the way.”
Connor steps into the room, silent as death. He picks up my sweater from the apron hook where I left it.
Frazzled, I swipe my phone from the worktable. “No, please. I’m okay. My boyfriend is waiting for me.”
I pause, closing my eyes. It just rolled off my tongue. What is wrong with me?
Connor stills, too, watching me curiously. He tips his head to the side and lifts a brow. My stomach rolls unpleasantly.
Did I make a mistake? Isn’t that what he wanted from me?
I open my mouth, but Mr. Coleman pats my shoulder. “Well, just remember what I said, okay? I’m always here for you, Thea.”
