Continuing Education

by Gray Gardner

  She sipped her coffee and stepped out of the elevator when it reached their floor, pausing by the door and not looking up at Mait as he fished his keys out of his pocket.

  “Hey,” he began, stepping in front of her as he pushed the door open. She pressed her lips together before looking up at him. The angry face. “I’m just a little… rattled after running into Roberta Greer, that’s all.”

  “Understood,” Mary mumbled, looking down and pushing around him. She was the one who should have felt rattled. What could Bunny have possibly done to him? It was his stupid brother who’d made them two of the most uncomfortable and humiliated girls this side of the Mason-Dixon line.

  And damn her luck, somehow thinking of him apparently made him suddenly materialize, too.

  “Knock knock!” a voice boomed across the living room.

  Mary looked up and all of the feeling left her limbs. She went entirely numb, even forgetting to breathe for a second as Mait’s older brother filled the doorway and then barreled into the condo. It wasn’t until both he and Mait frowned down at her with concern that she realized that she’d dropped her bagel and coffee onto the hardwood floor.

  She glanced down at the mess, then quickly up at Mait. “I’m sorry,” she choked out, kneeling down and trying her best to clean up the globs of cream cheese and milky coffee puddle. She wasn’t afraid of him. She knew that. Mait had been right, though. He just had a way of kind of… rattling her.

  “Hey, hey,” Mait gently said, squatting next to her and taking her hands in his. “It’s okay. I’ll clean it up.”

  She swallowed and let him help her to her feet, thinking herself to be very brave as she stood next to the two large men. Good God, he’d had her bent over and had spanked her like a little girl with a wooden spoon. She was beyond humiliated.

  “Mary,” Carlson began, but he didn’t get to finish. All he saw was the back of a little strawberry blonde head running out of the room and all he heard was the muffled sound of a door slamming. He looked over at his little brother who was rubbing his temples and squeezing his eyes shut.

  “I thought you were coming at like, eleven or something,” Mait groaned, opening his eyes and heading to the kitchen to get some paper towels. Carlson took them out of his hands and knelt by the mess, quickly wiping it up.

  “I was in the neighborhood. What’s happening with you two?” he asked, standing and walking to the trashcan in the kitchen.

  “You happened, you big dumb animal. She’s furious with me. Do you blame her?” Mait growled, pacing around and rubbing his jaw.

  Carlson at least had the decency to look a little humbled at the sight of his upset little brother and his frightened girlfriend. He shook his head and exhaled. “Man, I’m sorry. When I went over there and saw… the police, and that man, and they were missing, and the blood on the floor…”

  Mait watched his brother’s shoulders sag as he sat down on a bar stool and rubbed his neck.

  “I admit, I went too far. I was scared and frantic and incensed. I mean, my little Nicole, and the way you’d described how you felt about your sweet little girlfriend. How was I supposed to tell you something had happened to her?” he asked, looking at Mait apologetically.

  “She seems to have that effect on people,” he sighed, sitting next to Carlson and slapping his back. “But now may not be the time to get a face to face and apologize. She’s too raw. A lot’s happened to her.”

  “I know,” Carlson nodded, folding his hands and looking over. “Is everything all right with you?”

  “Carlson,” Mait frowned, rubbing his eyes. “We ran into your other victim at breakfast an hour ago.”

  “Shit,” he groaned, standing and resting his hands on his hips. “Is she… I mean, did she say she was going to try and get you fired?”

  “No,” Mait replied, shaking his head. “I think she was scared half to death. What I’m worried about is that she saw me with Mary. I mean Mary smoothed things over with a pretty good lie, but Christ, if we get caught together. I just can’t… the whole future…”

  “Calm down,” Carlson soothed, holding Mait’s shoulder. “From what I saw she and Mary are friends. If she was going to say anything she would definitely confront Mary first.”

  “You think?”

  “Most definitely.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” He nodded, slapping the countertop. His brother always had good advice and most of the time a clear head. He’d been totally relieved to hear that he and Liam had been there for Nicole and Mary. He suddenly frowned. “But from now on no one is spanking my girlfriend but me.”

  Carlson paused as he walked towards the front door. He turned and looked at his brother with a smile. “I’ve noticed the attraction before,” he resumed walking to the door, “and now I know why this relationship works. Good work, little brother.”

  “Get out of here,” Mait said with a partially hidden grin. Carlson just laughed and headed towards the elevators. The door shut and Mait turned for his bedroom, not missing the fact that his brother hadn’t really answered him.

  Now what?

  Chapter 2

  Mary paced the white guest bedroom, pausing every now and then to listen at the door. She couldn’t believe Carlson Frasier had shown up, looking all happy like he hadn’t paddled her with a kitchen utensil. She couldn’t believe she’d let him hold her while she fucking cried on his shoulder either. God, why was she such a weak coward?

  Footsteps became louder in the hallway. She dashed away her tears. She did not want Mait to find her crying like some defeated stupid girl. She quietly tiptoed to the curtains and hid behind them, the warmth of the sun shining through the window making her relax a little.

  She heard him stomp around in his room, then the bathroom, then in the hallway, then in this room, then in the blue guest room. She closed her eyes and was just about to relax when the curtains flew open and he exhaled.

  “Jesus,” he sighed, reaching down for her and stopping as she pushed back into the window. “Mary…”

  “Go away. Please,” she begged, sounding totally defeated. Well, now he was seeing her cry. Great.

  She heard him rustling around and letting out a groan as he plopped down onto the hardwood floor. He leaned against the wall and looked out of the window so she could wipe her face.

  “He’s gone. And… if it helps, he feels terrible.”

  “Good.” She sniffled, using her sleeve to dry her cheeks.

  “And I told him to keep his fucking hands off of you.”

  She lifted her head to look at him and he about melted into a puddle. The combination of her watery blue eyes mixed with pink cheeks was irresistible. He reached out and pulled her onto his lap, meeting little resistance as she found his lap one of her favorite places to be. She leaned into his chest and let his warm, muscular arms engulf her. He rested his lips on top of her head.

  They sat silently for an eternity. Nothing needed to be said. It could have lasted all day. Eventually her ass started playing Misty Mountain Hop and she pulled out of his arms to reach back into her pocket and answer her phone. Her friends, ever vigilant when it came to her happiness, were calling to check up on her. Mait watched as she casually told lie after lie, giving empty reassurances that she was indeed happy. She blew out a shaky breath when she hung up, not quite looking at him as she stood.

  “What was that?” he asked, frowning as she wrapped her arms around herself and walked past him.

  “What do you mean?” she mumbled, walking into the kitchen and pulling a bottle of red wine out of the wine fridge.

  “Why didn’t you tell your friends what you’ve been through?”

  She pressed her lips firmly together as she poured a large glass of whatever she’d just opened, then took two long swigs before turning to him. “What part?” she loudly asked, holding out her arms. “The, the part about being held up at gunpoint in my own fucking house? Or, the part about having to pull out my pistol and shoot somebody? Or being shot a
t in my bedroom? Or having my friends shot at in my bedroom? Having to actually use the panic room I installed simply to increase the value of my home? The fact that my asshole boyfriend likes to totally control me? Hit me! His goddamned brother, too! So that I walk around feeling that at any moment I could set someone off and be totally fucking humiliated! Which part, Mait? Which of those heart-warming fucking stories should I report to my conservative and faithful friends back home? You seem to have all the answers!”

  He lunged forward and grabbed her against his chest as she sobbed the last sentence. She was exhausted, pure and simple. And scared, too, no matter how brave a face she put on. “Shh,” he whispered, holding her as tightly as she could stand, as he rubbed her back and whispered in her ear. “You’re safe with me. In every way. All of the time. And I’m not playing any fucking games, here, Mary Madeline. You… without you… you just mean everything to me. Do you understand that?”

  He was such a damn coward. He couldn’t even tell her he loved her again. She seemed satisfied, though, because she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face into his chest. He’d take it. He’d take her any way he could get her. He hoped she would, too.

  Mary inhaled his manly, delicious scent as he held her and told her that she was safe with him. She believed him. She wanted to tell him how she really felt. She loved him. But she didn’t want to freak him out again. The decision to say things like that was better left to guys or else they disappeared into the wind. Besides, they’d made promises to each other, and that was enough for the moment.

  * * *

  Mait had just planned on running into his office and grabbing a couple of file folders holding the American Revolution 201 papers he needed to grade when Mary had surprised him by showing up early that afternoon from her jaunt to the library.

  “I want you to forgive me, Mait,” she said with resolve, knowing that if she took the first step he would, she hoped, follow.

  His mouth fell open as she peeled off her faded green Eastland sweatshirt and stood in front of him in black track pants and a matching tight tank top. She toed off her bright tennis shoes and grinned up at him. No orgasms? She’d make him change his mind.

  “Will you forgive me?” she quietly asked, reaching for the hem of her shirt.

  His heart was beating in his cock as he watched her slow, apologetic strip tease. He hoped this was how she’d ask for forgiveness until the day he died. Rubbing his bottom lip absently, he gave a nod and inhaled deeply. Oh, please keep going.

  “I promise to be a very good girl.” She grinned, pulling her shirt halfway up and revealing that she had no bra on. She tossed the shirt at his head and went for her leggings next, turning her back to him and looking over her shoulder.

  “How good?” he asked, having to clear his throat a few times as she revealed more and more creamy skin. He sucked in his breath as she leaned over the desk, facing him from the other side, a heated look in her eyes.

  “How good would you like me to be, Mait?” she asked, biting her lip as he shifted his weight and adjusted the tent in the front of his pants a few times.

  “Honestly,” he replied in a low voice, “not very.”

  Giggling, Mary crawled up onto the desk, completely naked, and stared at him on her hands and knees. She would get an orgasm before the day was over. Maybe even a few. Her eyes trailed down his chest as he reached for his zipper.

  Suddenly there was a loud knock at his outer office door.

  “Frasier? Frasier, are you in there?”

  Mary dropped to the floor, pulled her leggings and her shirt back on and looked at Mait with confusion. He wildly shook his head and helplessly pointed at her shoes and sweatshirt as they heard his door open and a second later the head of the Sociology department walked in, complete with starched white shirt and striped bow tie… even during the break.

  “Dr. Frasier,” he began, glancing at Mary as she stood with her sweatshirt pulled awkwardly around her body and both of her shoes in her hands. “Miss.”

  Fuck. A think fast moment. Mait was crouched over in his chair, sweat trickling down the side of his face and terror in his eyes. She blew a strand of hair out of her face and drew her arm back like she was about to throw her shoe. “I told you that if we were going to run in the Boston Marathon that we shouldn’t buy these stupid trendy shoes!” she hollered, cheeks flushing as she yelled at Mait. She slammed both shoes onto his expensive carpet and looked up at the frightened sociology professor. “Can you believe he’s encouraged us to enter the race for our health and then told us our team had to wear matching uniforms?”

  She tried to emphasize health with air quotes and an indignant tone as she rounded on the confused man. A valuable life lesson she’d learned early on: when absolutely all else fails go for the crazy-girl act.

  “The only thing my health needs is beer and an Xbox. I quit!” she shouted, turning and walking out of the office in her white socks. She had a hard time catching her breath as she ran down the hallway and down the stairs, practically sprinting all of the way to her house.

  There was still yellow police tape around her front door but she really didn’t have anywhere else to go and her now black socks were making her feet hurt. She waited for Mait warily, hoping the impromptu lie had been believable. That had been a close call, for sure.

  Mait finally found his voice as he cleared his throat and looked at Trenton Winters. The man had practically walked in on Mary naked on his desk so that they could have sex in his office. What if he’d been a few seconds later? A few minutes?

  “S-sorry you had to witness that,” he tried to say as casually as possible. “Kids today… I mean, Xbox? How about going outside and enjoying this weather?”

  Dr. Winters frowned over at him for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled. “I’ll tell you,” he said with a grin. “She reminds me of my two in high school. They can’t seem to get interested in anything but YouTube. I don’t get half of the stuff on there.”

  “I know, right?” Mait nodded, relaxing the slightest bit. He clutched his folders and rounded his desk. “I was just leaving. Did you need something?”

  “Oh!” Dr. Winters nodded, following Mait out into the hallway. Mait prayed that Mary had the sensibility to not wait around out there for him. “Do you have a minute to speak about the summer sessions?”

  “Of course.” Mait nodded, sweating again as they left the building and Mait wondered if she’d be waiting at his car. He prayed that Trenton would make it quick as they strolled across the campus in the late afternoon, talking about the three summer sessions.

  “So, great, I’ll get my secretary to write it up.” The other man grinned, shaking Mait’s hand. “Oh, and just a word of advice, we had a little trouble with a female grad student a few years back. Really nasty business, she ended up getting kicked out and blackballed from any respectable university and the professor, well, he’ll never work again. Anyway… just play it safe if you ever find yourself alone with a student. Leave your door open or call in a colleague.”

  “Uh, will do,” Mait said, voice cracking as he shook Trenton’s hand.

  They parted ways and Mait had to wipe the sweat from his forehead a few times as he drove back to his condo. They could have easily been caught. It could be them getting kicked out of Eastland and barred from any kind of future in academia. He parked and paced the elevator, then pushed through his door, going straight for his scotch.

  He sipped and leaned over on the bar, deep in thought. What would he do without his job? What would Mary’s future be like without her graduate degree? He inhaled deeply as he turned and recognized the blue smartphone on the counter top.

  Mary!

  She shivered as the sun began to set and her sweatshirt couldn’t protect her from the thought of being caught with her pants down in the office of one of her professors. Sure, she could have gotten kicked out but what would happen to him? He’d never work at a respectable school again. Leaning over on her elbows, she
stared at the steps beneath her dirty socks, wishing that she were graduating that May and they could actually have an open, serious relationship.

  “Mary!”

  She jerked her head up and smiled as Mait jumped out of his car and approached the steps. She skipped down to him but stopped when he stepped back, looking nervously up and down the street. Oh. Someone could be watching them. God, this sucked.

  She gave him a nod and a tight smile, moving to walk around him and get into his car.

  “Here,” he said with a forced grin, handing over her shoes.

  “Oh, thanks.” She smiled sweetly, leaning over to set them down and jam her feet inside. A bag suddenly appeared at her feet, opened at the top so that she could see her black purse, satchel and change of clothes. She looked up at Mait in confusion.

  “Mary,” he began, looking down the street with his hands on his hips. “I… this is great, really great, but… I…”

  “Mait,” she softly said, wondering why he wouldn’t look at her. She eyed the bag and then his tense face.

  “If Dr. Winters, or anybody on campus for that matter… if anyone discovered us…” he said in a shaky voice, trying to keep it together. He couldn’t, though. His heart was breaking.

  “Mait,” she said again, more forcefully. Her stomach jumped up into her throat at the hurt look on his face and shakiness of his voice.

  “There would be no future, do you hear me? For either of us. You can’t… you just can’t do this.”

  “Wait,” Mary grit through her teeth, tears suddenly springing to her eyes. “Are you telling me that… after everything… you can’t, we can’t make this work?”

  “If someone finds out what’s been going on you can kiss Eastland goodbye,” he cruelly replied, staring down at her. Oh, the sad face. The worst one. He steeled himself and continued. “Do you really want that? This is important. This is so important.”