Page 83 of Hero Hair
Teala shakes her head no, furiously. “Not now,” she whispers.
I stand, towering over the people in various arrays of stretching. I step over a few people using a large stride until I’m standing in front of her. “Yes, now. Now is the perfect time. I have your attention so fully, you won’t be able to run away.”
“Will she?” I ask the room. Someone has the audacity to shush me. I glare in the direction it came from. “I could rap you a song right now to tell you how I feel, but that would probably embarrass you.”
Her hands perched on her hips, she avoids my gaze. “You’re already embarrassing me.” She apologizes to the class and whisper shouts for me to get out.
I shake my head. “I’m not okay with you dating people, Teala.”
She tries and fails to pull me out of the room. Her small hands slide off my slippery chest. I remark it’s her fault for keeping the room so hot.
“Perhaps if it was cooler, you’d have a better grip?”
Tears spring to her eyes and I think she very well may die of embarrassment right here and now.
“Forget them and talk to me and I’ll leave. Okay?”
She motions to the hallway, and with this small victory, I smile. I follow her out into the cool hallway and breathe out in relief.
“Go finish that class!” Teala yells, beckoning the desk girl to take over for her. She doesn’t meet my eyes as she flies into the room. “I can’t believe you did this in the middle of class. You just couldn’t wait until the end? You had to be that selfish? Par for the course, Macs. Par for the fucking course!” She raises her voice at the end, and I wince.
I nod at the door. “You are so loud they’re going to hear everything anyways. Better keep it down if you don’t want your boyfriend to hear.” I lick a drop of sweat off my lip.
She closes her eyes. “I don’t have a fucking boyfriend.” Teala opens her eyes to look at me like I’m insane. “Even if I wanted one it would be pointless. Look at you, Macs. Look at you. No one would ever be you,” she says, motioning to my body. “You’re perfect in all the ways that draw me to a man. But you’re bad for my health.” She swallows as she sizes me up, one section of my body at a time.
“You’re not dating anyone?” I furrow my brow. That’s why Viola disappeared after she let me in.
“Of course I’m not! I’m in love with you, you stupid, selfish man.”
I shake my head. “Why the distance? Why haven’t you called? We’re fucking adults. Staying away from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve done some pretty hard things. Just for reference.”
“I wanted to find myself, Macs. I wanted to be the person you fell in love with. I wanted to be the person you missed again. I will never be that girl, so I didn’t reach out.”
I can tell she’s getting upset, so I grab her arm and lead her to the locker room in the back. She sits on the bench, and I sit on a bench facing her. Our knees touch.
“Plus, you had a girlfriend already. I do have some pride,” she blusters on.
I scoff. “She was not a girlfriend. I don’t even remember her name.”
“Oh, gross. That’s supposed to make me feel better? Why are you here, really?”
I should dime Viola out. She was counting on my Alpha to come out and beat his chest. “I’m tired of staying away from you. I can’t anymore.” I shrug. “Take me as a friend if you must, but I can’t stay away from you.”
Teala furrows her brow. “A friend? You want to be my friend?”
I laugh. “I’d like to touch you, too. Define it however makes you most comfortable. I need to be around you.”
“How do you know Dr. Rhodes?” she spits the question out. It’s been on her mind since the wedding, I can tell.
I sigh. “I knew you were seeing him, so I saw him too. You shouldn’t worry. He didn’t tell me a fucking thing about your life, but I felt close to you by proxy. Your mom told me you were getting better, Teala.” Using the smallest, most unoffending gesture, I brush her knee with my forefinger. “Without me. You were getting better, and I was away.” I shrug. “It was easy to stay away, knowing you were happy.” I’ll let her define easy in any way she would like.
She shakes her head, unbelieving. “No one told me anything about that. Why? I wasn’t happy…I was figuring it all out.”
“Is it really that hard to believe I care about you? Admittedly, I got a little preoccupied with my job, and you can’t fault me for that, but I can’t not care about you. I tried that, too.” I put another finger on her other knee.
She looks down at where we’re touching.
“Looking at you. Seeing you,” I admit, shaking my head. “You’re everything that makes sense. I’m dead inside without you. Being next to you makes me feel alive.” Love animates the soul in a way nothing else can.
