Jasmine knew that was her argument’s main pitfall. "I only went out with him once, to the wedding. I don’t think the funeral can really count. His dad got a wrong diagnosis and lived a month longer than he was expected to. Mr. Lane just wanted him to have that big day. He slept on the floor in our hotel room, for God's sake. He hated the entire situation. He wants to be a principal, you know. Do you really think he'd ever risk taking me to a wedding unless it was important? It was for his dad."
Her dad sighed and rested a hand on her knee. "We're sorry for jumping down your throat about it, but you must know how it looked to us. We just wanted to make sure you weren't being taken advantage of."
"I lied to him about my age in the beginning," Jasmine continued to say, because she could still hear the waver in his voice. He wasn't entirely convinced, and that wasn't good enough. "I told him I was twenty-one. He would never have hired me if he knew I was still in high school. He was so mad when he found out the truth."
But her mom was still shaking her head. "It's still inappropriate, can't you see that, Terrance?"
Jasmine bristled. "I only needed the money in the first place so that I can fund my way through college. If it weren't for you, none of this would have ever happened."
Put like that, she couldn't thank her parents enough for what they'd done with her college situation. It was the first time she'd ever been able to look at it positively.
At least, if they didn't report Sebastian to the principal.
Her mom's face fell, and for the first time, Jasmine was sure she saw guilt. Her mom turned back around in her seat and stared out of the window. "Let's just go home," she said, turning up the radio.
Jasmine's dad gave her one last look, opening his mouth but never saying the "I'm sorry," she wanted, and drove away.
She pulled out her phone and sent Sebastian a text.
No reason to hate me yet. They bought it. I hope I'll get to see you tonight.
Thirty-One
Jasmine
Jasmine paced up and down her bedroom, still wearing the prom dress, and listening to the argument going on downstairs.
She hadn't heard her parents arguing in nearly a decade.
It was about her, about her college education. Luckily, it wasn't about whether they should report Sebastian. That issue had been put to bed.
Only, her parents weren't really arguing. They were shouting the same things back to each other.
"We had to be firm!" her mom shouted, and Jasmine could picture her throwing her arms up. "A music career isn't stable enough."
"I know we had to be firm!" her dad agreed, only he shouted it back at her mom, as though they were actually falling out about it. "Everyone knows that you can't walk into a job with a music degree. It's a bad choice."
All Jasmine wanted was for them to go out so she could leave.
In her room, all her bags were packed.
Tonight had been the final straw.
She couldn't stay here with them anymore. She didn't want to see them anymore.
Jasmine had absolutely no desire to maintain a relationship with her parents. They continued their slinging match downstairs without any consideration that she was above them, listening. They continued to belittle her dreams—both of them had repeated her dad's favorite phrase that unless you were the best, it was a waste—without giving a shit that she was upstairs with tears in her eyes.
She just needed to get out of there. Maybe in a few months, when she'd settled down to independent life, she'd decide she wanted to give them a ring and go out for dinner or something.
Right now, she knew she couldn't stay under the same roof as them any longer.
She'd written them a letter—written whilst they argued as tears tracked down her face—explaining that she was leaving and that she'd be in touch at some point, but to not expect much.
It had been blunt, and there would be no way for them to argue because they wouldn't know where she'd gone.
Jasmine didn't want to impose on Sebastian. She had no intentions of him showing up in his car, loading her bags into the back without warning and crashing and his place for the rest of her life. It would be a week, at most, before she could sort out a lease. She needed to find one anyway, for college. Dorms had been too expensive. She needed to find an apartment out of the city center with roommates. Brad and Evie were staying in Madison, anyway, and so she wasn't as bothered about the social aspect of dorms.
The arguing stopped suddenly downstairs, and Jasmine knew they'd lowered their voices so she couldn't hear. They must have realized how stupid they were being.
"Jasmine!" her dad called from the bottom of the staircase, and a streak of panic shot through her. They couldn't come up here and see that she'd packed. She jumped from her chair and left the bedroom to see them. She wrapped her bathrobe around her to hide the fact she was still in her dress.
"What's up?"
"I know you've probably got party plans soon, so your mom and I are just heading out to go have a meal, get a drink together. We won't be back until the early hours, so we won't be judging you if you get in late." He laughed, as though he hadn't just been insulting her for the last half an hour.
"No problem dad." Her enthusiasm wasn't faked. This was when she escaped from them, forever. "Have fun."
"See you tomorrow."
She waited five minutes after the door had shut and then looked out of the window, making sure they weren't lurking around for any reason, then pulled out her cell and called Sebastian.
"Jasmine," he breathed, relief palpable. "You okay?"
"Can you come pick me up?" she asked, voice rushed with excitement. "My parents have gone out all night. I was hoping you could come pick me up. It's no risk, I promise I wouldn't do that to you again."
He laughed, with just a bit of hysteria. "I can come get you. I'll be about ten minutes."
She beamed into the solitude of her room. "I can't wait for you to get here."
She hauled her suitcases downstairs whilst she waited. She hadn't packed everything; just the essentials. Some memories that she was unwilling to leave behind. She'd have to come back and get some more of her stuff at some point, but it wasn't urgent.
She re-read the note she'd left for her parents, chest constricting, and then left it on the kitchen table.
They probably wouldn't even care.
If they'd thought she was going to visit often when she went to college, they were deluded. It was just coming a month or two earlier than they'd been expecting.
The doorbell rang, and Jasmine checked the peephole before opening the door.
"Hi," she said to Sebastian, grinning.
He took in the prom dress and her suitcases. "Hi," he replied, clenching and unclenching his hands. "I want to kiss you, but I think it would be a bad idea on your doorstep."
Her stomach in flops, she picked up two cases. "I'm moving into your apartment. Presumptuous, I know. I hope you don't mind."
He dug around in his pockets and produced a box for her. "Not that presumptuous."
When she opened it, it was a key, with a burgundy bow that matched her dress pressed on top of it. She squealed like a five-year-old, and tears gathered in her eyes. "It's really, really difficult not to jump you right now," she said, biting her lip and looking up at Sebastian, who stood on her doorstep and made their relationship official with such a simple gift.
"Then we'd better hurry up and get home."
Home.
Her home now, too.
He helped her carry her things to the car and then they sped off. He went just above the speed limit, one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting on her thigh, fingers tight and teasing.
She should have said goodbye to her parents, done it properly, she knew. But right now, this felt like a clean break, and it was exactly what she wanted and needed.
Thirty-Two
Jasmine
It was no different to performing in the Junior Orchestra, not really, but as her
fingers flew over the harp and the audience watched them with rapt attention, Jasmine was on top of the world.
Sebastian was in the front row, and his eyes hadn't left her the entire time. There were other people that knew her in the audience, but she'd never even looked for them. She met his intense gaze head-on and played her heart out.
When it was over, she stood and bowed with the rest of the Orchestra. She was still a baby compared to them, but they'd accepted her without question after hearing her play. It made her heart soar, and her parents' comments about her never being the best fading away. She didn't need to be the best, she just needed to be recognized and accepted.
She had that here.
She barely spent any time backstage, though, and after putting away her harp Jasmine went hurried back through the Orchestra House to find Sebastian. Tears pricked her eyes when a few people stopped her to say she'd played beautifully.
People she didn't even know, recognizing her and complimenting her.
Then she found Sebastian, and her heart soared. She practically leapt at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. They'd go further than that later, when they didn't have an audience.
At their apartment.
Jasmine's plans of finding a house to share had never happened. She didn't need one. She and Sebastian lived perfectly together, without argument, and she knew that even if she was paying rent for another place in the city she'd spent all her nights with him.
He beamed down at her, fingers biting into her hips. "You were amazing," he said. "More than amazing."
Her cheeks flushed. "Thank you."
Sebastian was suddenly displaced by another two people wrapping her in a hug from either side. "Definitely amazing," Evie chorused.
It hadn't taken them long to get used to having Jasmine and Sebastian around as lovers rather than student and teacher. They'd settled straight into being his friend, and it hadn't been awkward.
Now they got to double-date, which was Jasmine's dream. Surrounded by the people she loved, and good food.
Without her parents or school in her life, all the sadness had fallen away. She'd cocooned herself in a shell of happiness, with only people that loved her, and she loved them.
Sebastian's family were around, too. She'd managed to get all of them tickets, and they'd actually wanted to come.
She'd only spoken to her parents once since moving out so abruptly, and they'd taken that time to tell her how selfish she was.
She had no intention of ever calling them back.
"We're going to miss our reservation soon," Evie checked her watch. "They said it was really strict since there's so many of us."
Sebastian's family appeared at that moment, the three of them adding to their group.
Jasmine's eyes were wet as she looked around. She finally had everything she'd always wanted.
A real family.
Epilogue
Sebastian
Jasmine sat on the bathroom counter, legs wide, as he thrust into her again and again. She was smothering her cries, barely, with a hand pushed against her mouth and her fingers biting into his bicep.
Then they kissed, open-mouthed, pleasure humming through every inch of his body.
He was unable to keep his hands off her at the best of times, but right now he was insatiable. Dressed up to the nines in her tight black dress, it stretched over the bump that carried their second child.
His cock was hard every time he laid eyes on her. She'd just been cleaning her teeth when he’d come up behind her and pushed his stiff length into her back with a groan.
Jasmine wasn't complaining: he knew she was just as horny when she was pregnant as he was.
She'd just hit sixth months, and this was his favorite time. Her stomach wasn't so swollen that he couldn't reach her, or cuddle with her properly, but it was there. It was tangible that she was carrying his child inside her, and that sent him crazy.
She convulsed, his name falling from her lips in a muted cry, and he spilled inside her. They came down together, breathing hard, and Sebastian peppered light kisses all over her face.
"Shit," she muttered, running a hand through her hair and pressing the other to her forehead. "Shit, shit, we're going to be late."
"No, we're not. I knew what I was doing before I came in here all turned on. I checked the time."
She grinned and kissed him quickly. "Good. But really, we do need to go. They always worry when I'm late. They're really starting to dislike you, you know."
He laughed and helped her off the countertop. "You tell your colleagues you're late because of how much I need to fuck you, then?"
They both cleaned themselves up in a rush, and double-checked their appearances in the mirror. Jasmine looked as perfect as always.
Exiting their bathroom, they both glanced towards Timothy, their son. He was engrossed in his phone, headphones plugged in. "Those devices are a miracle," Sebastian said, putting his arms around his wife and placing his hand on her stomach. "I'm not sure we could have survived without being able to preoccupy him."
Jasmine beamed, resting her own hands over his. "Do you think he'll be able to stay quiet throughout the entire thing?" she asked, eyebrows knitting together slightly. "He's too young."
"He's six," Sebastian told her, easily. "If he's old enough to have a phone, he's definitely old enough to sit and watch his mom be a star on stage."
Her cheeks still turned red when he praised her, and it always made his heart pound. "I'm off on the side, he probably won't even notice me there."
"Of course he will. He loves listening to you play."
"I don't want you to end up missing my last performance before maternity leave," she admitted. "This one is special to me."
He spun her in his arms and kissed her. "They're all special to me, and it'll be special to Timmy, too. I'll keep him in line, and we'll have a great time."
Jasmine wrapped her arms around his neck, and their kiss was long and sensuous. He never got bored of having those lips against his; he could sink into them forever.
Someone else wasn't too fond. "Yuck!" Timmy exclaimed from the couch, taking off his headphones to grimace at them. "Are we going soon?"
Sebastian grinned but didn't let go of his wife. "We're going soon," he confirmed, looking to Jasmine. "If your mom is ready."
She stretched to grab her purse from the breakfast bar without leaving the circle of his arms. "I'm ready."
The three of them walked to the car together, Sebastian with his arm wrapped around his wife, and Timmy holding her hand. They’d both been so scared when Jasmine left her parents that night, her bags packed and ready to start a new life, but it had been perfect.
He’d never felt like it was taking too long, like he needed to be married and have kids straight away.
For the four years of her degree, he could only marvel at the fact that she was really there, in his apartment, in his bed. And after a couple of months, in the streets, too. Just walking on the sidewalk hand-in-hand without getting odd stares. Sometimes students or teachers recognized them, but surprisingly, it was never disgust. Sebastian was sure it was obvious how much they loved each other.
He'd taken his Masters in that time, and when after he’d had the paternity leave for his second child, he was going to start applying for principal positions.
He pressed a kiss to Jasmine’s forehead when they reached the car and helped her into the passenger side. “I’m not an invalid yet,” she joked, doing up her seat belt. “Just give me a couple of months.”
Driving to the Orchestra House, Sebastian still couldn’t believe he was really living the life he’d always dreamt of.
A real family, who loved him.
He turned to his wife and rested a hand on her thigh. “I love you,” he said.
She still flushed and grinned whenever the words left his mouth. “I love you too. Forever.”
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Stripped: A Student/Teacher Romance
After rescuing her younger brother from their abusive parents and moving across the country, strapped-for-cash Celeste's only option is to turn to stripping. At her new school, Mr. Cunningham puts her life back on track and a consuming heat burns between them.
But can their relationship ever work when he finds out what she does at night?
Resistance Page 11
