Page 69 of Private Tutoring
An immediatenotore through me. “Where’s home?”
Surprise flashed in her expression before it closed off again. “Milwaukee.” She tugged on the door, causing it to bump into Roberto.
He locked his legs and stayed crouched in the open space. “I don’t want you to go.”
The spunk I’d fallen in love with pulsed to life, but the way it came out crushed us all. “It’s not about what you want. This is what I want.”
It felt like a lie, but all the times we’d promised her we wouldn’t pressure her into anything she didn’t want drove me back a step. “Harmony’s made her choice. I don’t agree with it, and it makes me mad as hell, but it’s her choice. We have to honor it.” I grabbed Roberto’s shoulder and pulled him to his feet.
Stephen had stopped talking, but heat radiated off him in angry waves. He took his time moving out of the way so I could drag Roberto backward. “If you change your mind, we’ll be here.”
“I won’t.” It sounded so final, so uncaring, that I almost believed her. If I hadn’t spent half a semester watching herperform on stage, and countless hours in the bedroom where her every emotion was on full display, I might have been fooled.
The hint of hurt in her eyes gave me a glimpse of the truth. “You deserve to be here, Harmony. You’re the most talented woman I’ve worked with in years. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. All those dreams of Broadway that you talked about, you can have them. Even if you never see or speak to us again, please trust me when I say that you are incredible, and the world deserves to hear your voice.”
She closed the door and locked it before putting the car in gear and backing up.
Roberto tensed under my hand, the sudden motion causing me to tighten my grip before he ran after her.
“Let her go.” I squeezed his shoulder. “None of us are thinking straight right now. We need to take a little while and sort this out.”
No doubt her feelings were hurt because of Leighona’s accusations. She was running, panicked and scared. And for whatever reason, she either didn’t trust us enough to admit the truth or she was afraid of our reactions.
I didn’t care for any of those possibilities, but we were beating our heads against a brick wall by talking to her while we were all so keyed up.
Stephen stalked away from the empty parking spot, turned, and walked back. “I can’t believe this. What the fuck just happened?”
“Harmony left us.” It came out as shocked as we all looked. I continued to watch the parking lot exit, some part of me expecting her to come rolling back up and tell us it was all a mistake.
34
STEPHEN
Aweek passed with no sign of Harmony. Matthew kept saying he thought she might change her mind and come back. I knew better. She’d decided we were not worth it and had gone home. I couldn’t blame her, and I didn’t hold it against her. We’d ruined her time at college, and our actions had gotten her thrown out.
I wished she’d accepted our apologies, but I suspected she didn’t believe they were true.
Classes passed in a montage of grief much like I’d experienced when I lost my wife. Nothing mattered. My students took advantage of my distracted state, and I couldn’t find it in me to care. I’d lost Harmony.
Nothing else fuckingmattered.
I ended class ten minutes early, unable to stand looking at my students another second. They stood with surprised grins and gathered up their belongings. All but one. Delilah. She lingered too long putting her books away, and I waited for the inevitable.
She took her time walking down the steps toward me. “Are you okay, Professor?”
I hated the way she said it, hated the way she looked at me. “Fine. Can I help you?” I refused to give her the pleasure of saying her name. She’d brought me the news about Harmony. That put her so high on my shit list I was tempted to fail her, except it forced me to deal with her another semester.
“I’m sorry Harmony left.” The low, sultry tone held no indication she cared at all.
I grunted and picked up the tests the students had left behind on my desk. I kept an eye on Delilah for my own sake.
“It’s for the best.” Delilah said the same thing Harmony did.
And it pissed me off even more hearing it again. “So I hear.” I let it go at that. If only Roberto or Matthew would come in and give me a reason to end this conversation. I couldn’t walk out. My next class started in ten minutes. Delilah had caught me in a perfect moment.
Delilah perched on the edge of my desk, the same way Roberto did. Intentional or something else? “She really wasn’t great at keeping secrets. If she was, she never would have told me all the things you did to her. You and Matthew and Roberto.”
I stiffened with every word out of her awful mouth. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, and this is not a proper conversation between students and professors.”
