Chapter Twenty-Three
Noah
I walked into class Wednesday morning skeptical of Jen’s assurances that Iris would be there on time. My skepticism quickly faded when my eyes immediately landed on where Iris sat hunched over slightly in her desk next to Jen, skimming over the reading I had assigned the previous class.
I willed my eyes to burn holes into her, but Iris refused to look up at me. A week’s worth of frustration simmered beneath my skin. I managed to keep a collected smile on my face as I shut the classroom door behind me.
“It’s nice to see everyone here on time,” I said, not willing to let Iris get away with skipping class so easily. I sat my bag on the front desk. “It’s nice that you can join us after coming back from an extended spring break, Ms. Paige. May I inquire how wonderful it was?”
She looked up at me then. An array of emotions played out in her eyes, but Iris looked away from me after a stretch of awkward silence in the classroom. The color in her cheeks drained, and she looked pale and worn out.
“It could’ve been better,” she said.
Everyone looked between the both of us in confusion. I stared at her, trying to decide if that was an insult or if something else had happened after leaving my house. I let it drop until I could speak with her by grabbing my book.
“Let’s talk about the assigned reading,” I said. “What did you all think of it?”
I half-listened to a few students’ replies, but I found my eyes lifting constantly from the text to where Iris sat sullenly in her desk. She refused to even look in my direction. If that was how we were going to play it, then I could play the game, as well. I had more experience of ignoring people than she ever could’ve imagined.
And I planned on doing it after I delivered the news of her failing grade if she continued to skip my class and tutoring sessions.
As class concluded, a few students came up to my desk to talk about the exam next week. I tried my best to answer them, but I kept focusing on where Iris sat next to Jen. She still refused to look in my direction.
“Will there be tutoring tonight?”
I focused back on the students standing around my desk. I needed to get my shit together, not let this woman get underneath my skin this way. Still, when Iris rose from her seat next Jen, I watched her duck out of the classroom without saying a word.
What the fuck?
“Professor Webber?”
I snapped out of it. If Iris wanted to think she could get away from that easy, she had another thing coming to her. I wouldn’t let my job be put on the line because of a mistake I had made by giving into the one thing that had tantalized me for weeks.
“Yes?”
I looked back at the student standing nervously in front of my desk.
“Is there tutoring tonight?” she asked, timidly.
“No. Not tonight,” I said, forcing an apologetic smile on my face. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I have some things that I need to take care of this evening for classes. Enjoy the evening off and get your assignments done. If you need anything, email me.”
They exited the classroom without any further questions. I rubbed at the back of my neck in aggravation as I glanced up at the clock above the door. How was I supposed to handle this shit throughout the afternoon?
I took a deep breath before gathering the rest of my books to head over to next my class, but stopped when I heard Kale call my name out from his office. He came out when I stopped in the hallway.
“Everything okay?” he asked, undoubtedly sensing the tension rolling off me in waves. “I heard some of the students in the hallway saying you were having a hard time in class.”
“Hard time?” I echoed with a scowl. “What does that mean?”
He frowned deeply. “It means that they could tell you were pissed off about something. What’s going on?”
“Nothing. There isn’t anything going on.” Anymore.
I started down the hallway to my office without saying another word to Kale. I felt his eyes threaten to burn holes in my back as I strode into the privacy of my office. Locking the door behind me, I dropped my bag carelessly to the floor before taking a seat at my desk. I sent out a quick email to my other morning class that classes were cancelled and for everyone to study for their exam on Monday.
I doubted that anyone would question it, but a stab of uneasiness went through me after I sent the email. I needed to be careful from now on about how I reacted whenever Iris was around. I’d already attracted too much attention just this morning by acting like a complete dick to everybody because of it.
“Get over it,” I told myself firmly. “She’s just another chick. She pulled my own moves on me, but I’ll get over it.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the track on campus to work out the anger swimming in my veins. My knee ached horribly by the time I reached the English Department right as the sun was beginning to set. The warm spring air started to fade into a typical chilly night, but I savored it nonetheless.
I opened the window in my office and sat down at my computer to write down a few ideas I had to pitch to the agent in New York. I still hadn’t gotten around to calling her back, and I wanted to have a couple good plot ideas written down to help my pitch.
When I finished, I sat back in my chair with a relieved sigh and five completed chapters. Writing had always been the one thing I could count on to work out my frustrations when my body couldn’t handle it physically.
I rubbed at my sore knee while I shut down my computer after answering a few emails from students. Stuffing my wallet into my back pants pocket, I glanced at the clock on my desk. 9:41 p.m. Picking up a sandwich from somewhere sounded more tempting than going home to order a pizza.
I turned sharply in my chair at the sound of a knock on my door to find the one person I didn’t expect to see standing at the edge of my office.
“Can we talk?” Iris asked softly. She tucked a strand of errant hair behind her ear nervously and took a small step forward into my office.
“About what?” I demanded, coldly. “It’s late, Ms. Paige. I want to go home and go to sleep.”
The expression on Iris’ face didn’t falter. Instead, she looked down at the floorboards and appeared to struggle for words from how thickly she swallowed. I sighed in irritation. I was no longer in the mood to try to understand her behavior after a week’s worth of it.
“I’m sorry for missing class on Monday,” she said, her tone still soft. “I wasn’t feeling well and-”
“Cut the bullshit,” I snapped out, and she looked up in surprise. Her eyes widened. “You didn’t want to face me in class, so you ditched. Don’t waste my time or yours by lying about it.”
Tears sparkled in her eyes, but I didn’t fall for them this time. Pent up anger from the past week and a variety of other things I didn’t want to pay attention to swirled hotly through my veins.
“We had this discussion at the beginning of the semester,” I continued, standing up from my desk. My heart pounded in fury against my ribcage.
“If you skipped class, or ditched our tutoring sessions, I would fail you. Is that why you took my offer to stay at my house over spring break?” Iris remained mute, which only stoked the fire blazing in my chest. “You hopped into my bed thinking that I’d give you an A while you slacked off?”
“No, I-”
“Then what the fuck is going on with you? Not once did I expect anything to happen afterwards, but damn it, Iris.” I shook my head at her in exasperation. “I liked you. You’re different from any other woman I have known.”
Iris toyed with her fingers absently while absorbing my words. I had no idea what she planned on doing here tonight, but I didn’t plan on staying behind to see. I grabbed my coat from the back of the chair, but stopped when my office door clicked shut. I looked up at her with my coat in hand as she slowly turned the deadbolt into place.
And send me to hell, I felt myself harden when I caught sight of the desire swirling in her eyes. I detected a bit of hesitance, though, as she reached for the light switch on the wall.
Not here, a part of my mind screamed. Don’t do it here. Don’t give in. Fuck. She looked so beautiful with her wavy hair pulled back in a loose braid held by a gray scrunchie. My eyes raked over the curves of her legs and buttocks I had explored eagerly last week. My fingers itched to touch her.
When I didn’t say anything, Iris clicked the lights off. Darkness filled the room, but I could sense her approaching me. Soft hands gently touched my shoulders, and it stole the breath right out of my lungs.
“Give me the F then,” she whispered, grabbing a hold of my tie. “I don’t care. I slept with you because I wanted to sleep with you. There was no other reason.”
She tugged me forward. A pent-up groan escaped my throat when her silky lips pressed up against mine in a hot kiss that instantly had the rest of my blood pooling down between my legs.
Her tongue stroked mine teasingly while I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist and pressed myself against her in desperation to ease the ache in my crotch. She didn’t fight me when I tilted her head back to kiss her thoroughly, deeply.
Unlike last time, Iris’ hands were bold as they slid their way up to undo the buttons of my shirt. She parted the fabric and slid her hands around my waist to rake her nails gently up my back. The fire between us sparked wildly, and I no longer cared that we were in my office.
I could get caught right here, right now, with my hands all over Iris, and not even give a damn about the consequences. Rules were meant to be broken, anyway. I’d gladly break this rule all over again.