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He looks at me with a stern look on his face. „I’m calling you an Uber.”
„I don’t need an Uber, I can—”
„Please, could you just do as you’re told without any backtalkfor once!” He raises his voice so much that I wince in shock.
I’m taken aback at this sudden shift in atmosphere. Just moments ago, we were engaged in the most passionate kiss, and now he avoids me like the plague and yells at me as if I was an unruly child, who’s getting on his nerves.
„I don’t want you to call me an Uber,” I insist, straightening my back, before I march over to the front door.
He lets me pass, but I can tell that he’s fighting with himself not to stop me, as I bring my hand on the doorknob. I leave it there when I turn to look at him.
„I’m a grownup and can get home by myself,” I let him know. „I don’t need your help.”
He looks at me with a slight frown on his face, but then he nods, with a pained grimace on his face, before he lifts his hands in defeat and takes another step away from me.
The way he retreats from me fills me with a strange sense of power. He’s just trying to be reasonable, I know that. But I can see how hard it is for him—and I’m confident that I can get him to lose control again.
And I will make sure that he won’t be able to stop it next time.
I turn the knob to open the door and leave without looking at him again. There will be a next time—and it will not end like this. I will make sure of that.
Chapter 18
Aston
It’s been five days since I ran into her at the cat shelter. Five days of neither seeing her nor hearing from her. With the way she’s been acting at my house, I feared she might bombard me with text messages to try to lure me out and be stupid together.
But there was nothing. Complete radio silence.
And I hate that. Despite my best efforts, I’ve not been able to stop thinking about her. I think about her when I feed the cats, I think about her when I’m preparing material for my class, I think about her when I walk across campus—which I have been doing a lot less this past week than I usually would.
I’ve mostly been hiding inside my office, thwarting calls from my sister, while still being unable to put my phone away. I know I can’t evade her and her demands forever, but I can’t talk to her right now. I haven’t been feeling like myself this week, and I need to have a clear head and focused mind to deal with that insolent and greedy proposition of my sister.
I don’t know what I’m expecting today as I head to class, where I’ll see Claire again. It was hard when I didn’t have to see her, but the pressure rises to a whole new level today because I will see her in class. And I will have to talk to her about some of the students’ assignments, tasks that I need her to handle. There’s no way around it, as long as she’s my student and my TA.
I’ve been anxious all morning, and it almost seems like the mother cat, Zeta, is sensing my turmoil. She has not shown herself to be much of a lap cat during her first few days with me, but today, when I sat down with my morning coffee, she jumped up into my lap and began purring so loudly that it made me laugh.
„You sound much bigger than you are,” I told her, and the cat rubbed her head against my chest. It really seemed like she was trying to calm me down, and in that very moment, it worked and made me feel better.
Still, I need to find a long-term solution for that little family. I don’t know why, but it felt wrong to try to hand them over to the shelter when I was there. I felt it the moment I stepped onto the premises, and that gut feeling was only confirmed when I was told that they didn’t have any capacity to take them in. Maybe I should leave a donation with them instead of a litter of cats.
Of course, Claire being there didn’t exactly help with keeping a clear head. I’m obviously unable to make reasonable decisions when she’s around.
Which is why my palms are sweaty and my heart is racing while I’m on my way to class. I barely recognize myself, and I can hear the mockery of my old college friends in my ears. I think the last time I felt like this was during a party at college that got a little out of hand. There were drugs consumed, which led to more stupid ideas, and I was the only responsible person around, keeping everything in control. My friends, on the other hand, called me a chickenshit and a goody-goody. Maybe I am somewhat of the former, but definitely not the latter.
I’m early today, just like I intended. It’s a way for me to regain at least a touch of control over the situation. I don’t want to run into her again like I did last time.
But of course, that’s exactly what happens when I turn the corner and step into the classroom.
She’s already there, standing at the front, in the middle of cleaning the board. I come to a sudden halt and freeze in the door frame, stunned by her appearance. She’s wearing a short skirt with a dark green tartan pattern, which ends way too far above her knees, despite the thick tights she wears underneath. Her top is a little less provocative, a light blouse with a wool cardigan on top, but when she turns around to face me, I notice that she left the top unbuttoned, revealing way too much of her cleavage, when she moves.
„Good morning, professor.” She smiles at me, still holding the sponge in her hand, while she straightens her back in an obvious effort to present her irresistible body.
I quickly scan the room to make sure we’re alone before I stride over to her in wide steps.
„What the hell do you think you’re doing,” I hiss at her, speaking in barely more than a whisper.
Her eyes widen, and she looks at me with feigned innocence. „Excuse me? I was cleaning the blackboard in preparation for class. What’s so wrong about doing my job?”
