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“Well, I don’t know about that, but you guys have to be more careful. Go to Bill’s or something.”
I held my hand up to stop her, my mind on Whitney. She was still in the alcove, probably listening to everything we were saying. I couldn’t lead her to believe this could happen again, even if it had my fault, again.
I had to stop this now.
“Thank you for your discretion,” I said to Jessica in my most academic voice, looking down at the fiery redhead with a look behind my eyes that pleaded for her continued silence.
She eyed me skeptically, then glanced over her shoulder. Leaning in, she whispered, “Listen, Professor. I know people, okay? I have brothers and cousins and uncles who can make someone disappear pretty easily. If you hurt Whitney, I’ll call in the calvary, and they’ll mop the floor with your body from Gatlington all the way to Atlantic City.”
I opened my mouth but was too shocked to form a coherent reply. She leaned back, smiling gracefully, showing no hint of the threat she’d just spelled out behind her bright eyes.
“You better not be taking advantage of my friend.”
“I’m not. I—” I clamped my mouth closed. I’d almost said it. I’d almost said I loved her. Maybe I should have, because the truth was rolled up sharply in my chest like my heart was tangled in barbed wire. “That’s not what this is.”
“You gotta be more careful.”
“It won’t happen again,” I repeated, but Whitney’s rapid footsteps caught my attention, and I turned, catching a flash of dark hair as she ran down the hallway and out of sight. Damnit. “I need to go talk to her.”
“Yeah, you better—”
I didn’t catch the tail end of Jessica’s words. I walked as fast as I could without breaking into a jog to catch up to Whitney. She’d made it out of Hollis Hall and into the courtyard in record time, her body cloaked in darkness and moving like a shadow under the sycamore trees that grew in thickets toward the bike trail.
I hurried toward her, trying not to look like I was chasing her down. Small pockets of people lingered in the courtyard, their conversations echoing through the vacuum of snowy silence.
Once we she reached the trail, I knew I could get her alone, at least for a moment.
A moment was all I needed to do what my heart was begging me to reconsider.
“Whitney!” I called out. “Ms. Dahl—”
She whirled around, her face tight and expressionless. “Yes, Professor?”
I glanced around to make sure we were well and truly alone as I closed the distance between us. “Whitney, that was really close.”
“Obviously,” she panted, her lips pink and swollen from the kiss.
I fought the urge to kiss her again, my heart starting to race as I clenched my hands into fists at my sides to stop myself from reaching out to her.
“We can’t—”
“I know,” she said tearfully, looking away from me and picking pieces of lint from her jacket. “You don’t have to tell me that. I know we can’t. I just don’t think it’s fair. There has to be a way. I could stay back for Christmas. You could stay—”
“I can’t do this with you,” I said. Time slowed to a crawl as the world shifted around us, cracking and shattering around our feet. The words hurt to say, and I could tell by the pained expression on her face that it hurt worse to hear. “I can’t control myself around you. I can’t stop thinking about you. I just backed you into an alcove and took advantage of you in public—”
“I wanted you to!”
“You’re my student!” I shouted, my voice echoing over the bike trail. “I put you in a horrible situation because I can’t control myself.”
“I wanted you,” she sniffled, her eyes welling with tears. “I still do. I think about you all the time. I can’t stop thinking about you. You changed everything for me, Rhys. Nothing makes sense anymore. I’d throw all of this away if it meant I could be with you!”
“Don’t say that, Whitney.”
“It’s true! I would. I would leave. I would drop out. I’d do whatever it takes to make this work because I—”
The unsaid words hung heavy in the air between us. I felt them whisper over my skin, settling in the most painful place in my heart.
“I can’t lose you,” she said.
