Spring …

So far the grand plan of being reasonable with Zephyr and breaking things off … Yeah, that hadn’t worked out well.

She was weak. And he was very good. Besides, she’d already been living with him for months. They just had to be extra careful.

And mostly it worked. And she still barely saw him. She still had her work schedule and classes. The only difference was she came home to him in the bed. And she got significantly less sleep.

No one had to know.

They had to be so careful. They couldn’t date like normal people, but right now she’d take what she could get. See earlier about being weak.

They just had to make sure no one saw them together, which was going to be more difficult seeing as they had a team meeting at his place. It was an effort to keep her eyes off Zephyr through their team meeting. When he told her that they were meeting at his apartment for their weekly review of their project, there had been nothing she could say. A, he was their mentor so he could have the meeting wherever he wanted. B, she had to get her shit the hell out of the apartment.

She was meticulous in cleaning up after herself, making sure she left no remnants of herself in the bathroom or in the bedroom.

Before the rest of the class showed up, Zephyr came up behind her. “Relax. It’s going to be fine.” He nuzzled her neck. “Did I tell you, you smell fucking incredible?”

She sighed into his embrace. “This is such a bad idea.”

“I thought we already talked about this. No more worrying about bad ideas. For once, let the romance take over. This is going to be fine. I promise you.”

“And I believe you. It’s just a lot is riding on this.”

“I know. For me too, but I can't not touch you. We'll figure this out, I promise.”

“Yeah, fine.”

The funny thing was Becky was the first of her classmates to arrive. And she was a full fifteen minutes early. Clearly, she had been hoping to beat everyone else there and have Zephyr to herself.

Yeah, good luck with that. When Zephyr opened the door, Becky was all sunshine and light. “Wow, Zephyr, this is a great place. I love it.”

However, her face soured when she saw that Malia was already there. “Oh, I thought I was early.”

Malia smiled. “You are. I was just earlier. I had a few questions on the assignment.”

Becky scowled at her as if she could see right through the lie. After all, wasn’t that why she’d come early? For “help” on an assignment? “Funny, that’s why I came too.”

Malia just gave her a grin and parked herself on the couch, making sure to close her backpack tightly. She'd haphazardly shoved all her shower stuff inside. Now all she had to do was make it through a two-hour team meeting without staring at Zephyr or remembering what he had done to her last night, and this morning in the shower..

Never mind that. Being with him was fun. But don’t let yourself have too much fun.

Despite all the practical things she'd told herself, despite everything she wanted for herself, she still couldn’t help but melt into a puddle every time Zephyr looked at her. She liked him. But she knew better. Getting this close to someone was going to be a problem.

As soon as she was on her own two feet, it would be better. Because if she hoped to ever have a real shot with Zephyr, that meant moving out of his place and having him see her as an equal, not as someone he needed to take care of.

“Malia?” She shook her head to clear her reverie and blinked.

“Yeah?”

“Where are we on the project plan?”

“Yeah, of course. Sorry, I was distracted.” She’d been so out of it she hadn’t even realized that Tom had shown up. Get it together Malia. You can’t be in a sex haze all the time. “Yeah, everything is great. I’ll have the final timeline for the RFP by tomorrow.”

Zephyr frowned at her, giving her a curious look. And this was why sleeping with her mentor was a bad idea. That was going to get in the way of things. Get your focus on kid. And she was going to have to if she wanted to survive the next couple of months.

Once the meeting was over, she was antsy to finish her econ work and get to bed. She was exhausted because someone had kept her up all night. But it only took her a moment to realize that Jacob and Tom had a whole slew of questions for Zephyr.

Not to mention Becky who was sticking around. When it boiled down to it, she realized she was going to have to get up and actually physically leave the apartment. After Jacob and Tom left, it was just her and Becky.

Good old-fashioned standoff. In the end, she waited as long as she could, but when it became clear that Becky was not leaving until she did, she didn’t really have any choice. Malia tucked her laptop into her backpack with the few belongings she had and stood. “Yeah, I guess, I’m going home.”

Zephyr stood. “You shouldn’t walk alone. I’ll take you.”

Becky was quick on that. “Oh, but I have so many questions. I’m sure Malia will take a Safe Ride.”

Malia gave him a shrug. “Yeah, I guess I’ll do that.”

Zephyr shifted his gaze between the two of them. “Becky, it’s not safe. Let me just take her home, and we could pick this up. I’ve got office hours tomorrow.”

“Oh, really? But I really wanted to get this paper right because I have to turn in this information for Economics and Bartering. And my understanding is you excelled in that area when you were at Columbia.”

Malia knew when she was fighting a losing battle. “Don’t worry about it Zephyr. Becky is right. I will grab a Safe Ride. Head to my friend Emily’s then head home.” Zephyr understood the code. She was telling him where to find her later. She would head to Emily’s then head back when it was safe. But no matter what she told herself, Malia didn’t like walking out and leaving him with Becky. She’d started to feel like this apartment was home.

And that was the crux of the problem. This wasn't her apartment. This wasn't her home. And he wasn't hers.

She pulled out her phone and called Emily. But when her friend didn’t answer, she left a message. “Hey Em, I’m headed your way. Psycho Becky decided that she needs to talk with Zephyr alone. So I’m coming your way to hide out until she’s gone.”

So far things had been easy. In the months she’d been there, no one noticed or asked questions. But as they got closer and closer to the presentation of their projects after midterms, they’d probably have meetings more at Zephyr’s place, and that was going to become a problem. She hung up and as she promised, she took a Safe Ride.

She knew Zephyr would probably be watching from his window to make sure that she did get into a Safe Ride. When the SUV pulled up, she got in and gave directions to Emily’s dorm.

But when she arrived at her friend’s dorm, Emily wasn’t there. One of her students came up. “Are you looking for Emily?”

“Yeah, where is she?”

The kid shook his head. “Some idiot freshman drank too much at a pledge party. He was throwing up at his room, so she had to take him to the ER.”

Jesus Christ. The kid leaned against Emily’s door as if more than eager to share the slice of gossip he had. “Yeah, word is, they might shut down the frat.”

Malia didn’t give a damn about the frat. What she did care about was how long Emily had been gone and when she was expected to be back. “When did this happen?”

“Like minutes ago. Maybe half an hour.”

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Okay, thanks.”

“Hey, don’t you work at Fly Bar?”

She sighed. “Yeah. I do.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen you there. I’m Jake. I’m a sophomore. You probably don’t remember me; I’ve been there a lot. I’m not twenty-one yet. I gave you my fake ID once. Do you still have it?”

Was this guy serious? She shook her head. “Sorry, nope. We were supposed to toss those.”

He nodded. “Ah well, it was worth the shot.”

She shrugged and tried to go, but he called out, “I mean, if you’re not doing anything, maybe you and I could —”

She shook her head. “Sorry Jake, it’s not going to happen.”

He shrugged and nodded. “Okay.”

The library closed early tonight. There was a basketball game tonight so the student center was going to be packed and busy. It was not exactly the best option. She needed somewhere warm to wait until Zephyr gave her the all clear to go back to the apartment.

The faculty offices stayed open until eleven. She'd hope Emily was back by then. Otherwise she'd be in trouble. Above her, the storm clouds thundered. Of course it was going to rain. She ran under the awning for the student center. And even from the first floor outside, she could hear the thundering roar coming from the auditorium. If they lost, all of campus would be in mourning throughout. If they won, the party would go on all night. Screw Friday morning classes.

Fat drops of rain splattered at the concrete in front of her and she shivered.

Screw it. She made a mad dash for the faculty building.

God, how was this her life, again? Because you let yourself get lazy.

Drenched and shivering, she took the stairs two at a time to the department offices. When she rounded the corner, she nearly ran into Professor Rand.

“Oh my God, I'm so sorry.” She bent to help pick up the papers the professor had dropped.

“You're fine.” Professor Rand studied her as they gathered the stack on the floor. “Not the first time. Won't be the last. Life will continue to be crazy until I bite the bullet and hire a TA.”

“Oh shit, the job is still open?”

The older woman blinked at her. “Who are you?”

“Malia. Malia Adams”

Recognition lit her gaze. “Oh, you're the one who has been calling and emailing.”

Malia flushed. “Sorry for stalking you. It's just your office hours are when I'm in class and when I'm at work.”

The professor studied her for a moment. “Are you stalking me now?”

Shit. “No. I'm waiting for my fellowship mentor. I was supposed to meet him.” That sounded plausible, right?

The professor nodded. “Well you are either very lucky or are too aware of my schedule, but how would you like to interview now?”

For a brief, terrifying moment, she hesitated. Then she pulled her head out of her ass. “Yes, absolutely.”

“Then right this way.”

* * *

An hour later with a text sent to Zephyr and her interview over, Zephyr met her at the deserted office.

“You okay?” His question was soft but strained. As if he was worried she'd run again.

“It was kind of the only place I could go right now.”

”I'm sorry about earlier. I couldn't get her to leave.”

”It's not your fault. I mean it was your apartment. And she is your student. You have to do your job. Not look after me.”

He sighed. “I can do both. This situation was an anomaly.”

”Shit. I feel like everything changed. Maybe it changed when you found out I needed help. You said this is what you do. Save people. There are rules, Zephyr.”

“You are different. We met before any of these rules were imposed on us. Come on. Come home.”

She shook her head. “But it’s not my home, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, it’s your place, your home. I’m just the interloper.”

He sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. “I thought we agreed you’d stay until you got back on your feet.”

She sighed. “And I’m grateful. I am, but can we really do another night like this? Where I have to leave because Becky is staying? I mean, what happens if she just turns up unannounced? Am I going to hide in the closet?”

“No, you won’t hide in the closet. And when you were gone, she did try and see if I’d be open to hooking up with her. I shut her down. I let her know that I was just her mentor and that it was not going to happen.”

“Oh fantastic. Did I really need to know that?” The rain pelted the windows to his office harder. Zephyr moved forward and bracketed his hands on the desk, barricading her in. “You needed to know that I told her no. And she won’t be popping by unannounced. Come on, we talked about this. No more running. Not when you have someone who’s willing to help you.”

“And I am so grateful for the help. But I don’t want to become dependent on you.”

“Maybe we can argue about this once we get home?”

She had a point to make. She did, because he had to know that she’d be leaving soon. As soon as she had a little bit more money saved. But she wasn’t going to fight him. Right now, she was wet and cold and just wanted to crash. So their argument could wait. “Yeah, I guess. Let’s go home.”

“Glad you're seeing things my way.” Then he kissed her.