Page 60 of Undeniable
I wished upon a star that my sister was right that Lucas wasn’t like all the men who’d shaped our view of the opposite sex.
20
Mazzie
Our joined hands rested on the console as Lucas navigated traffic through a shopping area of Lakemont with drivers turning into restaurant parking lots and fast food joints. After leaving the Armstrong mansion, we made small talk, discussing Kaylee, my mother, her lawyer, and how Mrs. Armstrong had agreed to foster Kaylee. He’d known that I’d been worried about CPS. At his celebratory party last Saturday, we’d spent most of the night in his bedroom. Between the awesome rounds of sex, we’d talked about his life, mine, things we wanted, and things we didn’t want.
I understood how his father had shaped his cloudy view of life. My mother had done the same to me. Lucas had shared his dream of playing in the NFL. How this season was critical with scouts watching. How he needed to play well if he wanted to get noticed. How his scholarship was important for him to graduate.
I’d spilled my life story right down to my plans for medical school and emergency medicine. It was uncanny how much we had in common.
“Based on our discussion yesterday about your assignment in Historiography, have you thought more about the topic you want to research?” I asked, watching people dart into stores to get out of the rain that began falling.
He stopped at a red light. “I think so. Though it’s hard to think when you’re next to me,” he said as a matter of fact.
I unlocked my fingers from his, thinking back to our meeting in the library. Me stealing kisses. Him playing footsies with me. Maybe I wasn’t the right person for the tutoring job now that we were spending personal time together.
“Maybe you should find another tutor. Business doesn’t mix with pleasure.”
Panic stole the color from his face. “No way. Mr. Gantt says you’re the perfect person to help me.”
“Then we need to keep our lips off each other when we’re in a tutoring session.”
He smirked. “The library was fun.”
I playfully swatted at him. “Be serious. Or I’ll have to handcuff you.” As soon as I said that, I wanted to take it back.
“Kinky, Midnight. I can get behind that.”
I snarled, all in fun. “I don’t want to be responsible if you fail.”
I would feel awful if that happened. As a tutor, I could only steer students in the right direction, and their failures were on them. Lucas wasn’t just any student now. I had a stake in this—my heart.
“I would never blame you. I will be the perfect student.”
Tension knocked us down a notch as the atmosphere felt prickly.
“Fine, and since your hands need to be on the wheel, we’ll use the rest of the time it takes to get to my house as a tutoring session rather than feeling each other up.”
He pressed on the gas pedal, and we moved slowly through the green light. “Hit me.”
“We talked about several medical paradigm shifts over the course of history. Have you thought about one or two you’re interested in analyzing?”
He dragged a hand along his stubbly jaw. “I think I’m going with epidemic diseases in the eighteenth century.”
“That’s perfect. Incidences of smallpox and the plague can be traced through history, and there’s a ton of data on the diseases and how they shaped and even changed the medical field. But in the eighteenth century, there was tension between the divine will and human intervention. You could trace the shifts between the supernatural and naturalistic.”
Driving through a neighborhood of modest homes, he chuckled. “Ajax said you were wicked smart. Have you studied any of this?”
“Here and there. In biochemistry, we’ve discussed medical shifts in history. But I did some of my own research after Mr. Gantt told me the overall topic of your paper.” I’d done the research while lying in bed at night when I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about him.
“I like the idea of the supernatural versus the naturalistic,” he said. “I’ll start doing the research. I need to hand in an outline to Mr. Gantt by the end of the month. And I’ll have plenty of time next week since it’s our bye week. But I’ll need you to look over my outline before I hand it in.”
“Then let’s plan on another session early in the week your outline is due. Of course, you can run things by me as you go since we’re together now.”
“Thank you,” he said. “My mom is happy you’re helping me. By the way, I told her about you. Or rather, she asked. She saw us on the news.”
Heat pinched my cheeks. “You mean she saw you sticking your tongue down my throat along with the entire city of Lakemont? I don’t like the spotlight.”
