Alex POV:I wake up to being wrapped around Zane's arms. We are cuddled tight together on the couch, and I am naked. He has his white briefs on, and we are covered with a thick duvet. I don't even remember falling asleep last night.Fuck, last night. We were hot as fuck together. I am sore but the pain is pleasant. If he wants to take me again right now, I would gladly offer myself to him."Where do you think you are going?" Zane whispers, his sleep laden voice is so fucking hot. He holds me closer against his warm hard chest making my escape impossible."I am parched." I say, and he lets me go. His eyes are still closed. I take a second to admire this stunning man. He looks less like a sex expert in the morning light compared to last night. His features soften with sleep. It is a remarkable switch. But he is still darkly handsome even when vulnerable like this. I wonder what I look like. Probably like a train wreck. But I don't mind because I know Zane wants me in any way I present.
I do the walk of shame down the street, putting a safe distance between me and the house. But not before Lana sees me from her mother's car parked a few blocks away from their bungalow. She presses her face against the glass, huge hazel eyes like her father's, and follows my shameful movements. I can't stand her innocence. It makes the shame burn more acrid.Thankfully, the street is quiet. It is not a rich neighborhood per se, but it is comfortable with its simple bungalows and family-friendly apartments. Well tended lawns and colorful front porch gardens. I feel sorely out of place as I trudge down the smooth, paved street in Zane's oversized shirt, and the hem of my dress pulled down to act as a makeshift skirt. I am shaking, and it is not from the weather.This kind of low is foreign territory to me. I can't believe what just happened in there. Every time I remember the anger in Daisy's face when she lunged at me, fully intending to hurt me physically, a chill runs down my spine
"What? What are you talking about, Mom?" I can't keep my voice from shaking. Mom has the worst timing I've ever encountered in a person before, and here she is, cementing that fact."I know you chose NYU because of him." Mom says calmly over the phone.Oh my God. Oh my God. I want to scream."Oh my God, Mom. What is this? How do you know about Zane?" As I ask the question, the answer forms in my head.Fuck! I knew I had forgotten something when I was packing for college. She must have stumbled on the diary I kept when I was fifteen and discovered him for the first time. Oh God. I wrote some crazy things in that damn book."How else? I read your diary." She says."You are not supposed to read that!" I scream, I didn't expect to sound this shrill, but a cold sweat has broken out on my back.I know it is completely irrational to think she must already know what happened just a few hours ago, but my mind is beyond rational thoughts at this point. I am so strung tight that I fear I might u
Alex's POV:"Come on, Alex. We will be late." Penny says, it is the third time she will be repeating the same thing and I am still no where close to being ready to leave the room. To attend that class today. To see Zane Orion again. It is the first class he would be holding since the incident that happened at his house on Sunday. Today is Friday.He cancelled his previous classes since Monday, there was some talks about that being weird since he never cancels on classes. Ever. People shared gossips and speculations, each one being more insane than the last. Since Zane Orion was a pretty private person, nobody had concrete gossip. We just knew he wasn't available.And I have driven myself insane wondering what it all meant. Why was he missing classes after what happened? What did Daisy do? Or rather, what did she not do?I have been anticipating the apocalypse since Sunday. Been waiting for the roof to fall on my head. For the storm to hit. I hear her loud angry voice yelling that sh
"Claire! My name is Claire, Professor Orion." The girl beside me breathes, blushing and visibly excited at having caught the professor's attention. The lecture hasn't even lasted for thirty minutes, and I already feel a clawing anxiety. Zane is not looking at me. It is not like I expected his attention to be on me, but there is a coldness in the way he avoids even looking in my general direction. I can't read him because I can't fucking see him even though he is right in front of me. He has shrouded himself in that familiar mask again. He allowed me only a tiny peak behind his shields but it is back up now. Unyielding than usual. "Okay, Miss, what was your question?" Zane asks Claire who is standing beside me so there's no way he can continue not meeting my eyes but I seem not to know the man because he manages just fine. No other person in the classroom would understand or even notice what I feel, but it is there and it is undeniable. Professor Zane is ignoring me. "Okay sir.
Zane Orion POV:I feel like complete shit. Like an asshole. I didn't come in today with the intention to ignore Alex, but as soon as I stepped into the class and caught her startling eyes watching for mine, I panicked.And it all went downhill from there. Quietly. Privately. A battle between just the two of us in the full classroom. One, I failed woefully. I couldn't face her after the way she left my house the last time. And I was the careless one who brought her in. I really don't know what I was thinking. I guess I simply wasn't thinking at all. I was the one at fault. And yet she bore the full brunt of it. I can't look her in the eyes without feeling my guilt lodge itself in my throat."Professor Orion?" The girl in front of me says, pulling my attention away from the closed door Alex just walked through. I look down to see that I am squeezing the book in my fist. This is the first edition of my first ever published book. I loosen my hold."Oh. Yeah. Here you go." I do the autogr
Alex's POV:"Oh, it is nothing sir! We are sorry." Claire pipes up. The class is so quiet, I can feel all the piercing stares directed at me but I am only concerned about one particular pair of intense dark eyes trained on me the most.Claire had been whispering to me nonstop about some shit I am vaguely interested in since Zane Orion joined the class, five minutes late. Judging by the way she is currently beaming, enjoying the attention from Zane and the whole class, I now understand that she might have been doing it on purpose."Okay." Professor Zane says after a few more tough seconds of silence pass. I can't look up to meet his eyes.It is Monday morning. I still hear the tortured sincerity of his apology from when he called me out of the blue last Friday in my head every time he speaks in this class. I feel like a broken record player already. I should still be mad at him for what his ex wife did to me and how he handled the aftermath of that situation, but I knew it would be ha
Zane Orion's POV:Hearing the applause doesn't quench the angry fire in my chest.The little impudent prick. He doesn't realise I could end his career before he even started. The audacity to question my qualifications. Tristan Bryan. I note the name to memory. I will think of a better way to deal with him.For now, all I want to focus on is Alex. She doesn't seem as mad or unforgiving as she sounded on that call. Just neutral. Annoyingly neutral. But that is what is so bothersome about it. I can't accept nonchalance from her about us. It meant something to me, and it would truly pierce me in the worst way possible if it didn't mean anything to her.That night in the parking lot, her moans, her hot mouth sucking me off, the look in her eyes as she did it, how much cautious we threw to the wind that night. The recklessness. It was new and exhilarating. Just listen to our bodies and make magical love. The momentary madness that took hold of me to invite her to my house for the weekend.
He gives his charming smile and nods, "Hello to you too, Madeleine." He says good-naturedly. The audience is still cheering and clapping. Someone uses the teleprompter to ask for silence, and it still takes a few seconds for the studio to go quiet so Madeleine can continue. They love him. My heart fills with pride. And love, too. I am so grateful that we are past that dark phase in his life two years ago where it felt like he was losing everything, and it was my fault. "Let's get right into this book!" Madeleine says, and the audience erupts with cheering and applause again. But it is quickly controlled. "First off, I want to talk about the process. It is very rare to see projects like this. I know of authors coming together to write biographies or translating books. But actually writing together? That is new and different. Alex, I want to know what the writing process was like for you. Orion is already quite established and experienced, but this was your debut!" Madeleine asks me.
"I have no idea." I say, truthfully. I really don't. I have still not come to terms with the thought that I am not going to return to the college for the new session. Since Zane is not going back, it makes no sense for me to. That is how it works now. That is how it will be from now on. "Okay. We can put a pin on that for now, then. Back to my offer, what do you think, Alex?" Zane squeezes my knee with one hand, his eyes stay on the traffic ahead, as he navigates the car. I recognise this highway and where it leads. He is driving us to the cabin. His cabin. Our cabin. My heart is so full, I can barely breath. "You want me to co-write a book with you?" I ask him again, just to be sure I am not in a dream. Just to be sure that this is real. The sound of his laughter reassures me. It is real. I am going to be an author! "Yes, Alex. I want to work with you on a book that is going to be more successful than all the books I have ever released." He says as he pulls into the countryside, i
Alex POV::"Oh my God! What do you mean?" My voice comes out as a really loud scream that is very uncharacteristic of me, Zane just smiles, he takes my hand and leads the way out of the hallway, I follow him still confused but feeling a swirl of excitement ramp up in the pit of my stomach at the mere thought. I can't even begin to fathom it! "Come, let's go before you summon the whole department." He says and I laugh but the laughter bleeds off my face as soon as we step out of the department and there are a lot of people around and they all stop to stare at us as if we were stars in a movie and the director yelled for everyone to stare at us. I blush under the scrutiny. I didn't expect this much people to be out and about but I guess most people are already resuming. I think it is only my class that is resuming a week later, the rest of the department are resuming this week. I try to pull my hand from Zane's grip, he doesn't let go, he looks down at me with a questioning look in hi
Zane Orion POV::"We were just trying to determine how this scandal started. If you get what I mean." Mrs. Tyrell tells me, she sounds like she would rather be anywhere else, but Mrs. Manson looks exactly the opposite, I understand she wants to be rid of me and sent that announcement of my job termination to the press. I understand that as vice president of the college, she can't afford the fallout from the scandal, so she must do what is in the best interests of the college, but this is going too far. They are still trying to pin everything on Alex. They want a different story. "I thought the panel was referencing the interview. You should already have your answers to that." I say, holding Mrs. Manson's narrowed gaze. Alex squeezes my hand under the desk, I interpret it as her being nervous. I have missed her so God damned much, it is unreal. Sitting beside her, I keep taking full lungful of her scent. She smells just as I remember, the nostalgia of us together at my cabin, naked
"These feelings, you didn't consider them inappropriate seeing as he was your Professor and a respected member of this faculty?" Mrs. Tyrell asks when the rest of the room remains silent. "No, I didn't." I say, deciding to be truthful and straight to the point."Did you act on these feelings first?" They are trying to determine if I should be the one to place most of the blame on. So it becomes a case of a student seducing her lecturer and they can get Zane back since he is obviously more valuable than I am in terms of who contributes more to the college. I didn't come here to be crucified so I wouldn't give them that satisfaction. It is becoming clearer to me that I definitely wouldn't be allowed to finish my degree here. I nursed a pipe dream, hoping that I could do anything about this case that has now spiralled into something more than me. "I can't answer that as I can't say. I don't know who acted first. It was mutual and consensual from the beginning." I tell them, the confid
Do I even want to continue schooling here? I don't know. I have not been able to really think about the impact of this situation and what it meant for my interests. I came to this school because of Zane, if he is not going to be here, do I want to stay? I mean, I have to think about myself and what would work best for me, but I can't help thinking about him too, I can't help it. He was summoned too and he promised me he would show up after they were done with me, I can't wait to see him. Though it would feel weird meeting again in this department after everything that has happened, but I look forward to it regardless. I missed him so much. "You said you chose this college solely because professor Orion taught here?" Mrs. Tyrell asks, she is obviously going to be the one doing all the questioning while the others sit in, I can feel their sharp gazes trained on me, I can't bring myself to look at any of them, I keep my eyes set on a spot above their heads. "Yes, I did. It was the tru
"I told you to be careful because you are young, Alex. He is almost twice your age. I told you that he had more life experiences you can only dream of. This relationship, it isn't fair on you. You probably can't see it now but you are getting the short end of the stick. I can't watch you spend your youth like this, Alex. This is the time of your life to be young and free and unburdened, you can't spend it dating a man with a kid and a mad ex wife." It is one thing we have come to agree on. That Daisy is insane. She didn't hesitate to believe me after I told her about how Daisy was stalking me and being weird. "Mom, I am young, but I am not naive. I matured almost ten years above my age after we lost dad. I am not a kid. I am not going to spend my 'youth' being free and unburdened as you put it because it would never happen for me. I am already burdened, Mom. I understand your worries and I am sorry that I have disappointed you or that I am not going to listen to you, but it is someth
"How did you know where she is? Did her family home location get leaked online?" My heart is racing so hard, I can barely breath. I can't follow all else that Madeleine said, I can't get past the part about her getting an interview with Alex. The last time we talked, we didn't agree on talking with the press. My dumb strategy was waiting out the outrage. I know that it would eventually fizzle out. I didn't mind being the worst hit. As long as Alex was safe and shielded."Is that the only thing you heard me say?" Madeleine leans forward, intense eyes narrowed in interest. "No, her location wasn't leaked, Orion. I found her because I was interested, it takes little to find someone these days." She says, leaning back, arms crossed over her chest. "Why were you interested?" I will get back to the interview bit but there was something about Madeleine's presence in this cabin that felt different. We are friends but we hardly get involved with eachother's lives. She has made it clear that
"You look like shit." Madeleine pushes past me and the half open door to make her way inside the dark living room. "What are you doing here?" I ask, reluctantly turning on the lights, knowing I look exactly like shit as she said. Madeleine is more than an acquaintance, I would say we have a friendship of sorts. We have kept in touch over the years since my debut, she invited me to her wedding three years ago. She is a wildly interesting woman with a diverse group of friends. Artists and writers and everyone in between. She is also three years older than me. There might be some kind of maternal undertone to our relationship, but it isn't weird. I like her. We work really well together, she is always the first person my books are sent to for a review. And it is a mutually beneficial relationship that has held grounds for years now. All this doesn't explain to me why she is here. She is not the kind of journalist to chase after scandalous stories like the one I am currently involved w