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.
Alex's POV:Zane has me cornered. My back is against the wooden podium, and he is an air's breath away from me. I can't breathe. All the air in the room, and I can't instruct my lungs to take some in. All my anger peeled away, and I was left defenseless even as I stubbornly held my chin up. Refusing to let him see."Yes. According to your wife." I spit out the words like they are a bitter pill.Zane pauses, does a double take, it is all the time I need to escape and I take it. But I don't make it far before Zane grabs my wrist, spinning me around and I come too close to his body."You mean ex-wife." He says through gritted teeth. Is he angry right now? What right does he have to be angry? I was the one that was humiliated! I don't think I will ever walk down his street for any reason till I leave this earth. That is how bad the shame runs. I can't think of that Sunday without being acutely reminded of my walk of shame down the street."I don't care." I say, the anger slipping out in
I get to my dorm after a thirty minutes walk. I walked instead of taking the bus because I thought it would be good for me to think things through. But it didn't do anything. I just walked the distance in a sort of exhausted rage induced trance.I am worried about Claire. I have never seen anything like that performance she put up with me. It is such a scary thing to think about the repercussions if she spread whatever she saw to the class. I have never dealt with a situation like this before, I am so lost."Oh! Hi." I say to Penny as I enter the room after a tiring walk up the stairs to our room. I was looking forward to a few quiet hours of napping before she came in. It is so surprising to see her in the room after classes. She usually hangs out around the college or even outside around the city with her gang. But here she is, laying on her bed, popcorn in front of her, her laptop playing a film loudly.She doesn't reply. I don't know if she didn't hear me or just doesn't want to
Zane Orion's POV:"Daddy! We are late!" Lana screams at me as I go back and forth between the car and the house, trying to make sure I have got everything I need for the picnic. She is just five, but she can throw a tantrum that would have me regretting every single bad decision I have ever made in my life if I forgot some essential."We can't be late, princess. It is a picnic. The park will be there anytime we get there." I say as I rush back in to look for one of her tiaras in case she suddenly needs it.The picnic is a little tradition we engage in. Just the two of us. On Sundays. Just before I hand her over to Daisy for the week. I hate this arrangement, this back and forth at such a young age for Lana, but it works for us. I am ashamed to admit that I enjoy it even. It leaves me time to focus on my work as both a writer and a professor. I am grateful that my toxic marriage with Daisy is dissolved.But it doesn't remove from the fact that my heart aches for Lana. She is too young
Alex's POV:"Hi, Alex. I didn't know you took walks in this park. Meet Lana, she is my princess." Professor Zane says to me as I stand there feeling all sorts of feelings. Prominent of all is that I should have listened to my damn guts when I didn't feel like coming to walk in this park.I don't usually take walks. I am severely unfit. I have not even walked for up to thirty minutes around the park, and I am already out of breath, sweating like I ran a marathon. This walk was a spur of the moment thing. I just needed to leave the room, I was feeling stuffy. Also, Penny has been around more, mopping around and being irritable. I can only guess that things are not going really well with Tristan. I can't stand another moment of her mood swings and loud sad music bouncing off the walls of the room.I also have something to mope and be sad about but mine is better experienced privately because I dare not tell anyone that the reason for my mood swings is because I fucked my professor and h
Alex's POV:"Alex, I am so sorry. There is no excuse." Zane says, filling in the silence. The sincerity shines bright in his deep voice. I can't look him in the eyes because I am scared of feeling weak by the genuine intensity I will find there. I keep my head straight, like the squealing children have suddenly become interesting to me."Right." I say, my voice is low, and I hate the vulnerability I hear in it. Fuck. He can't know how weak I feel on the inside. How easily he gets to me. I pick up the golden leaves on the floor around the mat, and I pick at it mindlessly, still maintaining the absence of eye contact."Alex." Zane says when I don't say anything more. He doesn't know that there is a lump lodged in my throat and that if I speak, I risk sobbing."Alex, look at me..." He says quietly, and he moves an inch closer to me. We are sitting close but not suspiciously to anyone who might be watching. His crazy ex-wife, for example. I dread coming across Daisy ever again. Mostly bec
Alex Pov: "Okay, that will be all. Have a great day guys." The tall thin language lecturer wraps up her lecture after answering a couple of questions from the class. The class doesn't move or make a sound as she leaves. We are all waiting for something together with bated breaths. It is mid semester already, the time seems to have flown past but not for me. I noted every single passing week since that afternoon in the park with Professor Orion and his daughter. It has been four weeks of some kind of clarity for me. I am able to focus on my studies, classes and activities outside of my studies. I stopped taking walks in that park as a precaution but I joined a pottery class and that is as far as my extracurricular activities go. I also attend a debate club once a week. I managed to find a new friend in class. Maggie. She is nice and quiet with a sense of humour that catches one off guard. I like her. I hope she likes me as much. I rarely see Claire in class except on days we
Maggie sits patiently beside me as the class starts moving out. Some minutes pass by, I am sweating, and I still can't bring myself to type my name. Because I am afraid of the result. Things have been normal, or at least close to what normal should look like between us since the Park incidence. We have done our quiet best to act normal. I know I have. If he accepted my proposal, it would confirm everything we have tried not to talk about for weeks. In a way, it would. If he rejected my proposal, it would be the same thing. There is no winning. Then why the hell did I pick him? Because I couldn't imagine myself mentoring under anyone else. Fourteen year old Alex wouldn't forgive me for being a coward. It is all I have ever wanted. Mentoring under him would open doors for me. People always thought that writing is just talent. Nobody except those in the industry fully understands the hardwork that goes into perfecting the craft just like almost any other profession. You might have a
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