Page 220 of Broken by my Bully
I’m not the only one who doesn’t appreciate Professor Rooke’s jump scare when he steps out behind the dean.
She turns to him, her eyes low. For a tall lady like her—in heels—I guess she’s used to looking down on people.
Not Rooke.
They’re on eye-level and I can tell it puts her panties in a knot by the suddenly sour twist of her mouth as she has to look straight at him.
“I will be with you momentarily, Mr. Rooke.”
Ouch.
But Bastian ignores her condescending tone, glancing over at me and Melissa. “I see you’ve met my two most promising students.”
The way he says ‘my’ makes something clench low in my belly.
“I was hoping to have a quick word with them.”
“I’m in the middle of—“ Dean Winslow begins, but Bastian steps closer to her, grasping her elbow and turning her away from us.
“As you just said, there is a time and place for everything. Now, seeing as Mr. Callahan is on his way over here with his wife, perhaps you should choose a different time and place to air your grievances with Miss Lee.” He glances at me over his shoulder, giving me the faintest smile.
My heart lifts, hearing him defend me like that. But it sinks again when I remember how we ended things at the taco stand earlier today.
“Callahan?” The dean absently smooths her black gown. “Shit.”
She turns back to me, the brief panic on her face gone. “We’ll resolve this later, Miss Lee. Good evening.”
And then she’s off, running a quick hand over her hair as if to check for stray ends.
Melissa lets out an audible sigh of relief, and I join her a second later. Professor Rooke turns to us, and smiles.
“If you’ll excuse us, Miss Parker.” He holds out his arm, brown eyes fixed on mine. “There’s something I need to speak with Miss Lee about.”
“Actually, I was just—” I hike a finger down the other side of the passage. But I cut off when Melissa jabs her elbow into my ribs. Thankfully, it’s not the side where Kai stabbed me.
She isn’t even subtle about it.
“Ow!”
Neither am I.
“Stay and enjoy the party,” she says, then cuts her eyes to Bastian. “I’m sure Professor Rooke will protect you against all the baddies.”
If she only knew heisthe baddie. If she only knew what he did in that dressing room.
If she only knew how much I liked it.
I refuse to crane my head back to look up at him as I take his arm because I don’t want him seeing any of my thoughts written on my face.
“Catch you later,” Melissa says, and I turn to scowl at her over my shoulder. She smiles, making a heart out of her fingers like she’s doing me a favor.
If she only knew.
“Never a dull moment with you, Miss Lee,” he murmurs, nodding his head to a guy in a white tux as we turn the corner into the main ballroom area. “But I really wouldn’t recommend getting on the dean’s bad side.”
“Yeah, I heard.” I try to pull my arm out of his, but he tightens it against his side, trapping me like he did back at the boutique. “Apparently, she hunts people for sport.”
He laughs, and I throw him a suspicious glare despite promising myself not to get drawn in by his charm.
