Page 57 of Tangled Up In You
Hunter was in his classroom, and his back was toward the door. He talked to Joel, another student I’d gotten to know, and I snuck up behind him.
Joel caught sight of me and nearly gave me away with how his mouth instantly went into a smile, but he looked back at Hunter and tried to avoid looking at me.
“You just need to apply yourself more,” Hunter told him in a gentle, but serious, tone. “You’re smart, kid, and you’re a great writer. But you have to actually do the work to pass my class.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Walsh. I’ll do better.”
“Don’t apologize tome,” Hunter countered, handing Joel a paper with a big red D- on the front. “It’s a disservice to yourself. You had some great ideas in this, but you skimped on the research and gave me wikipedia sources after I said those were unacceptable.” I was only a foot away now. “Corbin, I swear to god, you better rethink what you’re about to do.”
“Damn!” I stood beside them, crossing my arms. “You have eyes in the back of your head.”
“He does!” Joel chimed-in. “He used to always catch me and Daniel passing notes in class. It must be his teacher super powers.”
“What’s this I hear about a D?” I looked at Joel. “Man, you’re better than that.”
Joel looked down at his feet and shifted his weight. “Yeah, I know.” He brought his hand up and rubbed at his neck before dropping it again and folding his research paper in half. “Is there anything I can do to make it up, Mr. Walsh? Like a bonus points assignment or something?”
“I’ll think about it,” Hunter said, clearly softening up to the kid. “Now go to lunch. We’ll discuss it later.”
Joel bumped my fist before leaving the room.
“Kid needs to stop fooling around so much,” I said with a grin. “Maybe then he’d be able to focus on his work.”
“Huh?”
“Ah come on, Hunter.” I nudged his shoulder. “Did you not see the freaking hickey on his neck? There were, like, three of them actually.”
“Didn’t really pay attention,” he answered, turning to straighten the stack of papers on his desk. “I was too busy worrying about his future.”
I admired his toned forearms before taking in the broadness of his shoulders and how the dress shirt he wore was so fit around his biceps that it looked like the material would split if he wasn’t careful. My mouth watered, and I suddenly had images of me pushing him on the desk and ripping that shirt off, kissing down his smooth chest and down lower to his belly button, where I’d swirl my tongue and…
“Cor?”
Snapping out of my fantasy, I focused on his sweet brown eyes. “You ready to eat lunch? I didn’t have time to stop and grab us something, so I guess school food will have to do. Unless you want to leave campus for lunch.”
Hunter narrowed his eyes. “What were you just thinking about?”
I shrugged and fidgeted with one of the markers in the tray by the board, finding them suddenly fascinating.
“You want to fuck me against this desk, don’t you?” Hunter asked, and when I looked back at him, his arms were crossed over his chest and he had a knowing look in his eyes.
“Maybe.”
When Hunter smiled, it was like everything was made right in the world. The flash of pearly white teeth and the crinkling in his right cheek was a sight for sore eyes. A lopsided grin that hit me square in the heart and traveled down to my throbbing dick.
“Come on, Romeo,” he said before walking toward the door.
“Does that make you Juliet?” I asked, wiggling my brows.
He turned and scoffed. “Definitely not. If we’d be anyone from Shakespeare’s world, it’d be Beatrice and Benedick fromMuch Ado About Nothing, because of our joking around and battle of wits.”
Warmth spread through my chest at a memory from so long ago: a text I’d sent him on the last morning before everything went to shit.
“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest,” I quoted from the play.
Hunter’s gaze softened. “You remembered.”
I stepped toward him and took his hand. “I never forgot.”
