AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I need a tutor for math class.”
Mom huffed a laugh. “Little girl, I’m not going to pay for a tutor for you. Girls like us don't need math. I’ll be surprised if you make it through high school.” She paused, giving her very best version of a motherly smile. "You're just like me, sweetie. You won’t amount to anything." She motioned around to the messy trailer we lived in.
Violet Demure you won’t amount to anything.
Words sting. Especially words you’ve heard your entire life despite your many successes and good grades. I’m afraid of failure. Terrified of it. Terrified that one day I’ll end up like my mom, strung out on drugs, too high to care if her daughter eats that day and spending all her money to get her latest fix.
There is so much more out there for me. I’m determined to get it. Even if it’s a mediocre job, anything has to be better than jail, awaiting a trial because I ran a fucking woman over in the parking lot of a Circle K.
I shove out the tense breath lingering in my chest.
From beneath his dark glasses, Landon glances across the aisle at my test. He doesn’t meet my eyes instead he quickly looks away. This is the class he originally offered to help me with. I can see he has a big shiny red “A” on his paper.
He knows how much I need this class. Without a B average, I won’t be able to get a scholarship. Without a scholarship, all hope is lost for me to get to college.
The library smelled musky but not in a bad way. It smelled like books, so many books. Landon leaned down over my shoulder, testing the distance between us like he does every time we come here. The first time we’d come, he’d sat across from me. Eventually he took the seat next to me. Now it was a brush of his arm as he sat closely. The rough scrape of his stubble when he leaned over me to point at some passages he didn’t want me to miss.
If I hadn’t known better, I would think he enjoyed my company. Maybe craved my touch. Though he wasn’t short of girlfriends at all.
Thankfully, I only saw them coming and going. I didn’t have to bear witness like I did with Reed and his ‘dates.’ On truly rare occasions I’d hear the pleasure filled cries of Landon’s many fucks and wondered what he did to them to get that kind of reaction.
I wondered if he’d do it to me one day.
He pointed down to the text I had before me. “Look, look at this. Isn’t it awesome?”
His breath was a hot whisper against my ear. I laughed because I didn’t know anyone else who would find biology as exciting as he did.
He was a sexy nerd in every sense of the phrase.
“I guess.” I wanted to turn and eliminate the small space between us. But that’d be too much. “It’s not biology that I’m worried about this year, though. It’s math. I swear the numbers always jump off the page and do a little dance and if the question is multiple choice my answer is never an option.”
“Oh, math is easy. It always stays the same. One plus one will always be two.” Landon stood upright again. His chair squealed against the floor, interrupting the quiet of the library.
“Everything is easy for you. You’re smart.” I meant it too. Smartest guy I know, Landon Scott.
I swear he blushed. Landon waved his hand in that weird half wave but he was so obviously pleased with his compliment. His amber eyes shone with something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Happiness? Some variation of it?
“Violet Demure, I vow,” he held three fingers up like a boy scout, “to make sure you do not fail your math class this year. You’ll get that B average. Hell, I’ll make sure you get an A average.”
“Okay, Landon Scott. What’s the catch?” I grabbed his hand pulling it down to his side. I thought for a moment about lacing my fingers through his but hesitantly let go of his touch. His fingers lifted to follow mine before he likely remembered he isn’t supposed to touch me. Not like that.
Instead we just stared at each other, our lips so close, our breath heating between us.
He made a show of looking thoughtful. “I’ll call in my favor one day.”
“You help me study and in exchange I owe you a favor?”
“Yes. Just don’t tell the others.” His face became serious and he held out his hand. Always one to push the rules when he had the chance.
Always one to ask me not to tell.
I gave it a firm shake.
“It’s a deal.”
Watching him now sitting in class, his spine stiff and his fingers drumming against the desk carelessly, I can’t help but think back to that first, don’t ever tell.
It felt like a sexy secret between us.
