by Tess Harper
Buy me a drink? Was he serious? “Did you just hear a word I said? You cannot buy me a drink.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because you’re 18! We went over this the last time we were at a bar…” I involuntarily convulsed when I realized this was the second time I’d been in a bar with one of my underage students.
This time Jack was the one to glance around the room. “Keep your voice low, okay?”
I cringed. “I can’t believe this. This is insane, alright? I’m leaving.”
Jack reached for my arm again. “Don’t go Emily. Please.”
Something inside of me trembled as I gazed up into his deep blue eyes. The strobe lights made it look as if they were glistening. For a moment, I ignored the heat from the bodies knocking against us and the throb of the music. There was just a man and a woman standing side by side, yearning for what could never be.
“Hey.”
I yelped and leaped to my right. Jack moved closer, scowling.
I’d never seen the owner of the voice before. He was probably in his mid-thirties, so too old to be on the hockey team. Plus, guys on the hockey team didn’t generally wear $2,000 Armani suits.
Shit. He’s probably on the university board. I’m fucked.
“Um, hi,” I babbled, running my hands through my hair with a smile I hoped looked dazzling instead of drunken. “I’m just—we were just—uh, hi.”
The man tilted his perfectly shaven jaw to the side. Dark hair fell over his eyes. It was unfashionably long for guys who wore $2,000 suits, almost making him look like a rock star hippie.
Oh fuck. He is so from the university. I am so screwed. Think of something fast!
“Uh, this is Jack,” I said, pushing Jack in front of me. “He and I were talking, but now we’re through talking.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” the guy purred.
Jack crossed his arms over my chest. “And why is that?”
The guy flashed a cocky smile. “Because there was something I wanted to talk to her about, alone.”
Oh shit! I so do not want to talk to this guy alone! “That won’t be necessary,” I spat. “I mean, Jack is—”
“Just a boy,” the guy finished for me. “A boy who looked to be bothering you.”
I stepped back, eyes widening. “What?”
“I heard you arguing from across the room. You’re far too pretty to be so upset. Do you want me to get rid of him for you?”
The guy stepped to my side. Jack moved in between us with a growl, eyes blazing. “What the fuck are you trying to do?”
The guy’s lips curved slowly, and suddenly I realized his connection to the university wasn’t the reason why he approached us. In fact, he probably wasn’t even connected to the university. He was just drunk. The guy hid it well—he could still talk and stand—but when he exhaled the stench of alcohol hit me like a truck.
“What language.” The guy moved his eyes slowly over Jack’s body, sizing him up. I really didn’t know what he was thinking. Jack stood almost a head taller than him, and even through his jacket you could see that his body was made of pure, lethal muscle. “You know,” he continued, “some of us solve conflicts with words instead of primitive intimidation tactics.”
And he’s a belligerent drunk. Great.
Jack said nothing, but cocked his head to the side. Good job, Jack. The best thing to do is to not react and just let it go.
Unfortunately, the guy still wanted to play with us. “Why are you still here, boy? I’m not interested in you. I’m only offering my services to the beautiful lady you were so crudely manhandling.”
Alright, Mr. $2,000 Armani suit had a death wish, and Jack looked like it was his new passion in life to fulfill it. I jumped between them, spreading them apart with my palms. “Look, I don’t need saving from either of you, or from any man. I save myself.”
The guy gave me a dazzling smile. “That’s refreshing. It’s not very often I find a woman so sure of herself and what she wants.” His gaze turned cold as he turned it on Jack. “Can you imagine how much she’d blossom if she didn’t have you following her like a shadow, beating your chest?”
My stomach fell. That wasn’t the wrong thing to say—it was the worst.
Jack burst past me, leaning down so he could get right in the guy’s face. “Look, I don’t know who the fuck you are, or who you think you are, but this doesn’t concern you. Get the fuck away from my girl.”
His girl? What?
The guy chuckled. “You should turn around and see the shocked look on her face. I don’t think she’s your girl, boy. I think she’s her own girl. You should let a real man step in this time, kid. Someone who knows how to give a woman what she wants.”
Jack grabbed the guy’s suit. “You trying to start something?”
The guy’s smile deepened. “You trying to compensate for something?”
The crowd was starting to part around us. Girls clung to their friend’s shoulders, whispering things in their ears. Jewelry glittered under the harsh lights above as the saccharine scent of perfume wafted around us, merging with the scent of sweat and the promise of violence.
We were attracting way too much attention, but my concerns were escalating beyond that. It didn’t matter anymore if people saw us together—the only thing that mattered was our safety. My fight or flight response kicked in as adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream to the beat of Rihana’s Disturbia.
I didn’t know who the sexy guy in the suit was, but he was bad news. He was hitting all of Jack’s buttons, and I didn’t want to see what such a foolish action would lead to. Jack was a force of anger when he got passionate. I had a feeling he’d be a hurricane if he was angry. And, from the stormy, powerful look in his eyes, it looked like my fears were right.
“Just step away, Jack,” I whispered, placing my arm on his shoulder. His muscles were so tense beneath mine, ready to fight anything. “This guy isn’t worth it.”
Jack clenched his jaw but didn’t let go.
“I see I was wrong,” the guy in the expensive suit murmured, looking past Jack’s shoulder at me. “I thought the girl was worth something, but she’s just a slut.”
Jack’s grip turned lethal. “What did you say?”
Oh no. This isn’t happening. I had to diffuse the situation, fast. I looked Jack in the face. His dark blue eyes bore through my skin making me feel naked and vulnerable. “He’s drunk, Jack. Just let it go. Don’t let him pull you down to his level. Walk away.”
The guy raised his perfectly manicured eyebrows. “You gonna let your little bitch tell you what to do?”
Jack’s jaw tightened. “Apologize. Now.”
“I don’t need an apology,” I told him. “I need for you to walk away. You’re better than him. You’re better than this.”
“Why would I apologize for calling her bitch?” the guy taunted. “Only a bitch would spread her legs for a dog like you.”
Crack!
The sickening sound broke out above the music. I didn’t have time to react. I didn’t even see it happen. One moment Jack was holding him, eyes dark like the sea before a hurricane, and the second the guy was staggering back as Jack stood above him like a demon whose seal had just been broken.
“You think I’m a piece of shit, you can call me a piece of shit,” Jack spat. “You can fucking say what you want about me, but you leave her out of this. No one disrespects Emily.”
The guy glared at Jack from the floor. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. His gaze darkened when he saw his cufflinks. “You ruined my suit.”
“Get the fuck away from my girl before I ruin more than that.”
The guy stumbled up, laughing. The lines between his teeth were red. “You just made a powerful enemy, boy.” He rotated his neck left and right, cracking it, then charged forward.
Jack stepped to the side, getting into a position that would allow him to use the guys’ momentum against him, but the guy was expecting Jack to do just that. He
shifted at the last moment and grabbed Jack, pulling him to the ground.
The guy twisted his torso, pulling Jack into an arm bar, or at least trying to. But Jack refused to let him get the dominant position. Not even a second after his back hit the floor he shot up, bringing his elbow down on the guy’s head.
The crowd parted like oil and water. People screamed as the two men wrestled, elbows, palms and fists hitting each other’s faces and knees hitting each other’s torsos. As Jack straddled the guy, the guy landed a knee to Jack’s ribcage. Jack groaned, answering with another agonizing punch to the top of the guy’s head.
They’re not stopping. They’re going to kill each other. “Stop!” I screamed from the sidelines, but neither listened.
Just then, Brucie and two other bouncers cut through the crowd.
“Break it up!” Brucie bellowed, charging into the middle of the fight. Jack twisted and fought as the bouncer pulled him off the stranger, and I got the first look at his face. It was a mash of red and reminded me of ground beef.
That didn’t stop the guy from charging at Jack when he was pulled off. He went straight for Jack’s exposed stomach.
“I said break it up!” Brucie yelled, twisting the man’s arms behind his body. “Both of you, OUT! I don’t wanna see either of you in here again, undastood?”
I stood in shock, not knowing which was scarier: witnessing Jack and Brian’s fight or the threatening tone of Brucie’s Jamaican accent banning them from the club. Yet, despite that, I couldn’t move. Brucie pulled the guy off the dance floor as he screamed, cursing both me and Jack. Jack went quietly, but before he disappeared into the crowd, he looked back, searching for me.
His face was bloody and starting to swell but his eyes were tender. It hurt to see it. There was kindness in him, but Jack was trouble. He wasn’t the sort of person I should get involved with. I knew this already, but his anger and obsession had just become too real and it scared me. Jack scared me because as much as I feared him at that moment, I wanted him even more.
Chapter 16
I burst into the VIP room. “Soph!”
Soph was in Mikal’s lap, dutifully playing with an olive on a toothpick. Or at least that’s what she had been doing before she shot up. The toothpick hit her temple and she squealed as Mikal got up and grabbed her, concern etched on his face.
“Em, what’s wrong?”
My chest heaved. My shoulders shook. Sophie pushed Mikal from her arms and ran over to me, pulling me into a hug. “Jesus sweetie, what happened? You gotta talk to me girl.”
I couldn’t talk. All I could do was sob into Sophie’s shoulder. God, was I really this pathetic? But the words didn’t come out. There were too many of them. I couldn’t make sense of what just happened.
Brucie’s heavy footsteps stopped at the door. “If you want to take your friend home, I’ll escort you, yeah? It will be my pleasure.”
Mikal strode forward. “What happened?”
Brucie took a moment to answer. It could have been my imagination, but I swear I felt his eyes boring into the back of my head. “There was a fight. Two boys who had too much to drink.”
Sophie looked back and forth between me and Brucie, terror overtaking her eyes. “What are you talking about? What happened?”
Mikal’s response was more subdued. “I take it you took care of it?” he asked, his cruel voice sending a shiver down my spine. Mikal didn’t fuck around. He was fiercely loyal to those he cared about, and he never let anything jeopardize the integrity of his club.
“They’re gone and they won’t be back,” Brucie assured him.
With a nod, Mikal stepped back. “I’m sorry they ruined your evening, Sophie. I won’t forgive them.”
“It’s nothing, Mikal. All that matters is that Emily is safe.” Sophie knit her hands through my hair, holding me close. “What happened, sweetie?” she asked softly.
I grit my teeth, shut my eyes and swallowed. There was no way I was going to be able to hide this from my friend any longer. I don’t know why I did in the first place. “Jack,” I whispered. “Jack.”
***
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me!” Sophie screamed for what seemed like the hundredth time.
And I did exactly what I’d done about a hundred times before. “I know, I know,” I moaned, dropping my face into our pink couch pillow.
Sophie paced back and forth, her heels clicking on the wood floor. We were still in our Sunday best—or maybe I should say Friday raunchiest. Goosebumps flared over my arms. My legs were freezing. I had a feeling Sophie felt the same, but neither of us had changed. We were too involved in one of the worst arguments we’d ever had in our 25 years of friendship.
“I mean, we’re best friends, right? Remember when we were eight and afraid of knives, but still wanted to become blood sisters? Remember what we did instead?”
I clutched the pillow tighter.
“We spit on our palms and then slapped them together,” Sophie finished when I could not. “It was freaking gross.”
“I know,” I whispered.
She stopped pacing with a sigh. “And I thought it was forever.”
“It was.”
Sophie’s heels started clacking up again, but this time instead of pacing she came and sat next to me on the couch. “If it is forever, then why didn’t you say anything about Jack? This is big. Really big. Way bigger than the fact that you spilled milk on your shirt.”
“It was a latte,” I corrected before I realized the details really didn’t matter.
“Why didn’t you tell me, girl?”
I groaned and flung myself back. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore—what to do, what to say. He’s one of my students, Soph.”
That had been almost as big of a surprise for her as it had been for me. She’d shrieked so loud that even Brucie had winced.
What? He’s a student? Like, is he one of those Super Seniors? she’d demanded.
No, Soph. A Freshman. And then I’d dropped the bomb. He’s 18.
That last, little bit of information had set Sophie off. If Jack had been a hurricane, Sophie was a tornado, ripping up every bit of conscious thought from your own mind and beating it into submission with the winding, all-consuming sound of her high-pitched squeal. I think it was pretty safe to say that Brucie really liked us, since anyone else would have thrown us out on the curb regardless of whether or not they were pals with their boss.
Sophie made a face when I said student, but unlike before, she didn’t shriek. I guess she’d come to terms with the fact that I’d banged someone barely legal. “What do you want to do?” she asked, putting her hand on my back and rubbing my shoulders.
I tried to play dumb. “About what?”
Sophie didn’t give an inch. “About anything.”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I know I already said that, but I really don’t know.”
Sophie gave me a quick nod. “Em, let’s try something.”
“What?”
“For just five minutes, forget everyone’s expectations. Forget what you think is right and what you’re afraid is wrong. Forget everything except what’s in here.” She put her hand on her chest. “What do you feel, Em? What do you want?”
My heart beat faster. “I don’t know.”
“Do you really not know, or are you actually afraid of admitting the truth?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, this will be the second time you’ll have to say goodbye to him, and this time it’s going to be harder. He’s a student. There are boundaries you cannot afford to cross, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t remove yourselves from each other’s lives either. He’ll have to watch you twice a week in class, and you’ll have to watch him date girls and make obscene jokes with the guys from his frat and the hockey team.”
I liked how Sophie didn’t mention that I’d be moving on with other guys, though I guess it was nice of her not to bring up my corny sense of humor.
/> She continued, “You both still have feelings for each other from last summer, and despite being thrown together on a biweekly basis, you won’t be able to act on them.”
I shivered. “I know.”
“But that’s not all,” she continued. “This could also be your second chance.”
It took a moment for her words to sink in. I mean, was she actually saying what I thought she was saying? “What do you mean?”
“You think I haven’t noticed how sad you’ve been for the past few weeks? I’ve felt like I left my best friend somewhere in Nantucket.”
