Page 36 of Alive and Kicking
Viv nods. “Thanks Dr. Price. I appreciate the heads up.” She pauses for a moment. “I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ll see you at home.”
She walks out of the room at a slower pace than usual. It almost seems like she’s got a heavy load she’s now carrying, and I feel horrible that it’s my fault she’s dealing with this. Not that I did anything wrong. It’s better that I don’t hide the fact that I’m currently living with a student. I feel like the fact that she’s living in a separate part of the house might be helpful. After all, it’s really no different than us living in an apartment complex with shared amenities.
Though those shared amenities include my roommate’s and all of their bedrooms. There is also the problem of the twenty-four hours I spent having my way with her. While I didn’t havesex with her, I definitely went past the bounds of a teacher-student relationship. I guess edging a person for an entire day before finally letting them come is no better than just having sex with them. But even though I have no moral high ground, I can confidently say that we are not having sex with honesty.
I accepted that I’m going to Hell a long time ago, what are a few more sins going to do.
Viviana
I’m in a foul mood for the rest of the day, so when the end finally comes I’m relieved. Even ending the day with my sign language class wasn’t enough to cheer me up. I don’t wait around for one of the guys to find me like they usually do, I just head straight to the sports and health center. It doesn’t matter that I’m wearing my boots and jeans, I just need to run. I leave my bag by the doorway to the indoor track, which is thankfully empty. The track teams don’t usually meet up on Wednesdays anyway, which is at least something going in my favor.
I’m just glad there aren’t any other students using the track as I get lost in the motions. I count my laps to try to soothe my frayed edges, and after eight my feet start to ache from the insensible footwear I have on.
Twelve laps tells me that I’ve definitely got a couple blisters started, and the amount of sweat pouring down the back of my neck makes me realize there’s a reason I never run in jeans.
I’m sixteen laps in when Zane shows up silently. He doesn’t say anything, but I know he’s there. One moment there’s no one, then he’s just sitting on the railing over the hockey rink with one arm wrapped around a pole to keep him steady.
I still don’t stop until my standard twenty laps. After the five miles I already ran this morning, another five have my legs feeling like jelly. Zane doesn’t say anything and just offers me a bottle of water. Which I take, sucking it down appreciatively. I hadn’t come up here prepared for an intense workout.
My mind feels clearer now though. I’ve had the time to come up with a few different plans on how to fix the situation with Cain. I don’t want to leave his class and I’ll do anything to make sure that doesn’t happen. Just to be nice, I’ll exhaust all the legal options before I break out my more… useful skills.
“Ready to go home? Nox is waiting for you. You guys are supposed to be doing something tonight.” Zane looks me over carefully, like he’s worried I’m about to shatter or something.
“Shit. I completely forgot about that. Yeah let’s get home. I need to shower and get ready. Thanks for coming to find me.” I look at the ground sheepishly.
He walks closer to me until we’re chest to chest. I wrinkle my nose, worried about the way I smell after sweating so much. Zane doesn’t seem to mind though, he just leans in and presses a kiss to my lips. And I lean back into him when his arms wrap around me, fists clenching in the front of his shirt to keep him from getting away from me. He makes a soft sound when I bite down on his bottom lip.
I would love nothing more than to just take Zane right here where anyone could walk in on us. I’m sure he would enjoy that too. We don’t have the time for it though. I agreed to go with Nox to set up surveillance and make a date night out of it. So when Zane pulls away, I let him.
He threads his fingers through mine and stoops to pick up my bag and hitch it over his shoulder on our way out. As we make our way down the stairs he looks at me over his shoulder. “Want to talk about it?”
I huff, not sure what to say to that. I don’t want to sound like a whining brat throwing a temper tantrum, but I just can’t see me continuing in criminology with another professor. I came here for Cain. I ended up finding a place to belong here, but I wouldn’t have been here at all if it weren’t for him.
I don’t respond to that until we’re both buckled into his tiny barbie car and he’s backing out of his spot. “I don’t know what to do. They want to move me out of Cain’s class, but I don’t want to change to another professor. I can’t figure out how Viv Russo would fix this situation.”
Zane hums. “What would Viviana Rossi do?”
I sigh and smile over at him wickedly. “She would find dirt on him and hold it over his head until he gave her what she wanted. I can’t do that though. That’s Cain’s boss. I could ruin their professional relationship with something like that.”
Zane shrugs. “Then maybe just leave that as a last resort. Exhaust all other options before going down that route. I promise Cain isn’t going to be upset about it. He’s only working there because we all wanted to go to college.”
I nod slowly. “Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”
My head turns and I look out the window, considering my options for the rest of the ride home. I don’t come out of my own head until I’m staring into my closet trying to figure out what to wear to a date that involves breaking and entering. I would call Sandy to ask her opinion, but that would make her ask a lot of questions that I don’t really want to answer.
I decide on a cute olive-green top that shows some cleavage and a pair of black jeans, throwing a black hoodie on top. After a few Band-Aids and some thick socks, my feet are back in my boots. And while they still ache, it’s more manageable now. I find Nox waiting for me downstairs by the front door. He’s wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a black henley that stretches across his biceps enticingly.
He’s strong and I’m reminded of last year when Nox broke not one but two guys necks right in front of me. I really need to have Enzo teach me to do that. He said there was no way I could do it like Nox does, but he suggested there was a way I would be able to and I need to know how to do it.
Lennox
Viv rubs her tummy in the passenger seat as I park a block away from our mark’s apartment. “Endless soup? What kind of angelic person came up with such a thing?” she sighs.
A soft chuckle leaves me at that. I’d taken her to dinner at a chain Italian restaurant and she loved the fact she could eat as much soup, salad, and breadsticks as her heart desired. “I’m not sure who came up with the idea, but they do have really good soup.”
“Mhmm,” Viv hums. “I think you need to carry me. Or maybe I’ll stay here and take a nap.”
“You’ve got a few minutes while I get the camera’s ready to install.” I pull out the little black rectangle, activating it before I start connecting the cameras and we make our way to the apartment.
