Page 13 of Tempt Me

Fuck, where am I?

“Yeah, great idea. I’ll give their parents a call. I’m sure that a professor with two drunk, injured female students at his home won’t be a red flag at all. Are you fucking nuts? Tell Quinn to get me metal bracelets now, Taliah, for fuck’s sake.”

Professor? Students? Injured?

Oh shit. I was still at the party. I tried to recall what happened before I blacked out, but thinking made my head blaze like fire. I groaned and covered my eyes.

“Shit. I gotta go, Tal. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Bye.”

I stiffened, snapping my eyes shut and pretending to be still passed out. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but clocking this guy and getting the hell out of here was sounding better by the moment.

I held my breath and listened to his footfalls, the creaking of the old floor giving me a hint of his distance. Finally, a shadow blocked the light behind my eyes, and without thinking about repercussions, I acted.

Seven

Consequence: An action that is preceded by one’s choices.

Left where nothing’s right…or right where nothing is left?

Whack.

“Fuck…” I covered my nose. “Why?” I shook my head and backed away. “Is violence necessary? Because breaking my fucking nose is not needed.”

The blood began to fall, so I pinched my nose. Snagging some of the extra gauze off the coffee table, I covered my pained nostrils.

“That’s how you thank a man for saving you?” I said, my voice coming out all nasally. Fuck…

My student had jumped off the couch, breathing fast and intense. It was clear her adrenaline had kicked in, but…

“Careful…I don’t think standing is the best option for you.”

Her injury was catching up to her because she started to wobble like gravity was doing a number on her. She blinked her eyes, trying to focus, and gasped when she looked up.

“You,” she said, squinting at the light behind me.

“Yes, me. First, you stow away in my house to have some damn party, then you get yourself into trouble with some ass-weed, bleed on my couch and now attack me for helping your aggressive ass.” Exasperation swamped me, but I tried to click my nose back into place.

Fallon stared at me dumbfounded, her pretty mouth hung open. She had split her lip, and blood beaded on the pink, puffy texture.

I wanted to lick it off…

I growled at my intrusive thought and smacked the end table with my foot. The action had the girl wide-eyed and backing away from my temper tantrum. I sighed and held up my hands.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, walking over and plopping down on my sofa. “Long day.”

I was exhausted. I couldn’t even sleep because ‘thing fucking one’ was still passed out on my floor. Raking my hand over my face, I pondered the consequences of this stupid fucking party. I just got my life back to a version of normal, and now my dumbass had to go and fuck it up.

These kids were likely to run to mommy and daddy and paint me as some big bad wolf as soon as they got their damn wits back. Honestly, I guess I couldn’t blame them. They were in a ‘murderer’s’ house, after all.

“Son of a bitch,” I said, willing my reality to shift to something less…well, shit.

“Professor Masters?”

I peeked beneath my hand at the woman. Her goddamned body was on display. She had on a T-shirt and some white lace string…thing lying over her ass.

Not fucking fair. Get it together, you old fuck.

Maybe it was just because I was tired as a dead man that I didn’t feel like fighting. I walked over to the bar. My shirt hung over the stool. I hadn’t even bothered to put it on after getting out of the shower after I arrived at this ‘shit show.’ It was still covered in that asshole’s blood.

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