Chapter 5

Kendal

I couldn't seem to shake the desire to make a stop by the hospital to check on my sister. Part of it was to make sure she was doing better today than she was the day before when she had her melt-down. The other part was the hope of running into her nurse, Dana.

Jogging up the stairs to the business building, I tried to let my wayward thoughts go and get focused on the meeting with Dean Durham I had in twenty minutes. He was a great guy, but a hard-hitter. He was the kind of guy that could look at someone and assess any situation in a matter of minutes. He was classy and the kind of guy I wanted to be when I got older. Running the accounting department was a dream I hadn't shared with anyone, not even Damon. It seemed too farfetched after being put under probation for two of my six years on staff. Getting tenure was at the top of my list of things to do just to ensure I could cover my ass should another false allegation arise.

"Kendal. You got a minute?" Eliza Turner moved up beside me as I walked toward my office.

"Of course, Dr. Turner. What can I do for you?" Eliza was the other cost accounting professor on staff, but she also had several of the master's courses on her plate.

"What is your schedule looking like for the later part of the fall?"

I held the door open for her and waited until she moved inside to join her. She was twenty years my senior and someone I looked up to as a mentor of sorts. There wasn't much I wouldn't do to support her, seeing that she'd supported me a few years back during my latest debacle at UT.

"It's the same as it is now unless something new comes up. I have my five cost accounting classes and that's about it." I smiled warmly and motioned for her to exit the elevator before me. "You need my help on a new project?"

"No, though I might get you to review my work for the submission to the SEC on intangible assets."

"I'd love to. You know I'm happy to help you with anything you have going on." I paused by the main door to the hallway of offices where we spent very little time.

"Thank you, but the other thing I need help on is teaching one of the mini-mester classes. It runs from October fifteenth through the holidays."

"Oh." My heart skipped a beat. I was a nerd and a half when it came to teaching accounting classes. After two years of teaching basics I finally got to move to cost accounting, but the hope of teaching something more advanced was part of what kept me going from day to day.

"I'd love to, Eliza. Just let me know the subject matter and I'll spend my nights getting up to date on it."

She chuckled. "It's financial statement analysis. Why is it so disturbing to hear that a handsome young man like yourself is spending your nights reading old dusty textbooks and not wooing some beautiful young woman."

I smiled. "We know how well my track record is with women. Books are far more safe as far as I'm concerned."

She reached up and touched the side of my head like my mother used to do. "You can't only live in here for the rest of your life, Kendal."

"No? It's safe in there." I gave her a sad smile as she moved her hand down to my chest, just over my heart.

"Ah, but that's the beauty of loving someone. It's the thrill of the risk you take, the value of the hope you invest in. Live here before you forget how it feels to love."

I cupped my hand over hers and smiled. "Better stop feeling me up, or everyone is going to start talking about us."

"Please. My Fred's been dead ten years, and there are days when I miss him like crazy, but most days... I'm singing hallelujah for the quiet. The man was a horn-ball and a half." She grunted and walked toward her office, leaving me to stand in shock. She was as unpredictable as the wind.

"More than I needed to know, Eliza."

"Dr. Turner to you, boy."

I chuckled and walked into my office with just enough time to grab my files and march back up to Dean Durham's office. His secretary gave me a curt smile and nodded to the vacant chairs outside of his office.

"He'll be right with you, Dr. Tarrington."

"Great, thanks." I sat down and stifled the desire to tell her that her hair looked nice. It did, but there was no way in hell I was giving out compliments. Everything I said got taken the wrong way, no matter how innocent my words were. Between falling in love with Ana six years before and having one of my junior students allege rape against me two years after that... I was blacklisted. Nothing I did or said was ever taken at face value again, no matter the fact that everything was cleared up and cleaned up in both situations.

"Kendal. Come on in, buddy." Mark leaned out of his open door and extended his hand to me as I walked into his oversized office. The large bull head sitting on the wall never failed to pull a chuckle from me. "You laughing at my talents?" He glanced up at it with pride in his eyes.

"It smells like a goat in here, Mark." I dropped down in the seat in front of his desk and smiled. "You been hunting lately."

"Hell no. My wife is pregnant again. I swear I'm going to have to get both of us fixed to make this shit stop." He snorted and pulled out a file.

"Or stop being so active." I shrugged as he glanced up. He was the only other man in our department and to say we were close would be an understatement. His support was about all I had going for me outside of Eliza's trust and friendship.

"Fuck that." He opened the file. "Speaking of..."

"I'm not talking about my sex life with you. That had to be the most uncomfortable hour of my existence last month. Leave it be." I rolled my eyes as he gave me a quirky smile. The bastard was a Kappa Alpha, and though he was ten years older than me, brothers were brothers for life in the fraternity. He honored that... and I did too.

"Fine, but my wife has a cousin that-"

"No. Let's talk about this new master's class you guys are finally letting me teach."

"Eliza told you? That old goat. I wanted to tell you." He got up and walked toward his bookshelf, pulling something off and handing it to me. "Here is the curriculum. It's electronic too, and I'll have Eliza unlock the files for you, but I know you like the smell of old shit, so there's the book for you to enjoy as well."

I laughed and took the book from him. "What else am I here for?"

A knock at the door resounded behind me, and I stiffened.

"We have a new financial accounting professor joining us seeing that Daisy Jackson decided to up and quit last week."

"Daisy quit? Why?" I turned in my seat as he opened the door and glanced over his shoulder. His thick upper body blocked my view from seeing who was standing on the other side, but the shapely legs I could see had my attention.

"Family problems. You're going to mentor our new professor." He turned and spoke to the woman for a few minutes as I tried to figure out how I was going to nicely tell him no. Where we were close enough to talk sex, women and past failures, he was still my boss.

I stood up and figured I would suck it up and help him out until we found someone else to do it. No reason to deny him my help when I had the time and he'd finally come through on the promise to give me an advanced class to teach. Hopefully the woman's legs were no prediction of her body. I didn't need a fox beside me to tempt me into being the man I was in college. I'd buried him in the sand six years back, and fuck if he didn't try to poke his ugly head up from time to time.

"Kendal, this is Heather Turner. She's from UCLA and has been highly recommended for this new spot with us. You'll be her mentor until she gets her feet wet." He moved back, and I nearly choked. Not only was she ten steps past gorgeous, but I didn't need an introduction at all. Heather was the vice president of the sister-sorority that partied right alongside the Kappa's back in college. The number of times Damon and I had taken turns fucking the woman was embarrassing.

My luck couldn't have gotten any worse.

I extended my hand and gave her a warm smile. Maybe six years of life had forced both of us to grow up and move away from being the sluts we were in college.

"I'm Kendal. Nice to meet you." I'd have to feign ignorance about who she was. Hopefully I'd changed enough to get by on a wing and a prayer.

"Nice to meet you too. I've read up on you and your research on just-in-time inventory. Riveting stuff." Her smile was genuine.

I sighed internally. She didn't remember me, or if she did, she was playing it off really well. Good. Drunk sex in the back of a car or in a laundry mat or... I let my thoughts go. Whatever we'd done in the past was locked back there with every other stupid decision I'd made.

"Thanks." I turned to Mark. "All right, man. I'm off to teach brilliant young minds how to better balance their income statements. Need anything else from me?"

"Just show Heather to her office and we'll be good." He patted my back and smiled at Heather. "Welcome, Dr. Turner. You're in good hands."

She smiled. "Thanks. I'm sure I am."

I held the door for her and moved up beside her as she glanced over at me with a smile on her pretty lips. Dark red hair billowed over her shoulders and down her back, silky hair that I'd gripped tightly too many times to forget.

"So why Dallas? California seems so much better." I pressed the button on the elevator and turned to face her.

"I was ready to come home." She took a step toward me as her eyes narrowed a little. Fuck. She was playing in front of Mark. "I'm quite thrilled to hear I'm not only in good hands, but ones that know exactly where I like to be touched."

I swallowed hard and glanced over my shoulder. "Heather... that was the past. We're grown up now and I'm not interested in-"

"Tough." She smiled and pulled a card from her purse. "You're not married, nor are you dating."

"How do you-"

"I checked." She tucked the card in my clasped hands and leaned in closer, breathing in deeply. "You know how many times I called out your name while I fucked myself?"

"Heather," I whispered, lost to how much I enjoyed being a bastard with the beautiful woman in front of me.

"Right. You know, don't you?" Her dark blue eyes studied me, the look in them leaving my stomach turning. I was in deep shit - Again.

I moved back as she got into the elevator and let the door shut. I'd have to tell Mark that I couldn't mentor her in any way, shape or form. She was the same slutty girl I'd owned all four years of college when Damon wasn't busy owning her. I hated myself for being a part of something so vile - using women for pleasure and making them beg for the next round.

Bile rose in my throat as I walked down the stairs and pulled my phone from my pocket to call my best friend.

"This is Damon."

"Do you not have my name in your phone? What the fuck?" I barked into the phone as I looked for a quiet place to sit.

"Oh wow. Someone's pissed in your cheerios. Let me guess, you're in love with your stepsister, who works for you, is at every fucking family dinner, and she's over you. That your deal? Oh no, wait... that's my dicked up life."

I dropped down on a bench and let out a painful sigh as I pressed my free hand to my face. "I'm sorry. Fucking Heather Turner just walked into the accounting office as the new Accounting professor, and of course I'm assigned to be her fucking mentor. I can't look at her without seeing jizz all over her face and tits. I'm going to hell."

"You're a man. Fuck the woman and make her beg for more, Kendal. She's a grown woman and isn't one of your students. Get laid and call me back."

"You're an asshole, you know that?" I dropped the call and closed my eyes tightly. Why couldn't something work out? Anything? Fucking Damon. He deserved that shit with Bethany. She was too good of a woman for him anyway.

I should know. Every woman on the fucking planet was too good for me.

"Piece of shit," I mumbled under my breath, hating myself more than I had in a long while.

Funny how the past could remind you of who you were trying not to be in the future.