Heartbreak Lover (Broken Hearts Academy #2) - C.R. Jane Page 0,27

what happened?” he exclaimed as my cheeks flushed from the fact that everyone in the classroom was watching me.

“A tumble down some stairs,” I told him, of course leaving out the fact that I’d tumbled because I’d been pushed.

The professor took a step forward, as if he was going to try and help me, and I maneuvered as fast as I could to my seat, not wanting to cause a scene.

Professor Brady looked at me with a frown before he began to talk about this week’s writing prompt. As usual, I was able to immerse myself in his words and began writing as soon as he gave us the okay.

The class passed by in a flash.

“Everly, can you stay after for a moment?” Professor Brady asked right after the bell had rung to signal the end of class.

I nodded, frowning as the rest of the class left the room, some of them giving me furtive glances that I didn’t want to try and understand.

“What’s up, Professor?” I asked after I finagled myself and my crutches through the desks and up to his desk at the front of the room.

“I wanted to talk about the story you did last week, but I also wanted to make sure you were okay.” Professor Brady’s hazel eyes bore into me, and I shifted uncomfortably under his stare.

“I’m fine. I have a concussion and a bruised leg…but it could have been a lot worse.”

“You know you can let me know if you ever need help,” he said, leaning towards me. I had always been the most comfortable around Professor Brady, even considering him a friend. That’s why it was weird the strange prickles going down my spine at the way he was looking at me.

There was just…more in his gaze than usual.

But I had to be imagining that, right? I had hit my head pretty hard just a day ago.

But then he leaned towards me and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear. My breath froze in my body. No, no, no. What was he doing?

Couldn’t I just have one thing in my life that was okay?

I took a step back, and his face fell a bit in disappointment, like he’d been expecting me to jump into his embrace with his touch.

“What about my paper did you want to talk about?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

He pushed my paper across his desk towards me, a bright red A gleaming at the top of it. As I reached out to grab it, his hand covered mine, lightly stroking the skin.

“I’d like to talk about the progress you’ve made this semester, preferably at dinner?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. My words had been failing me the last few days.

“Everly—” Jackson’s voice echoed through the doorway, making Professor Brady and I both jump. I pulled my hand out from under the professor’s, my cheeks burning as if Jackson had just caught me doing something wrong.

“Mr. Parker, are you here to talk to me?” Professor Brady asked calmly, like Jackson hadn’t just walked in on him propositioning a student.

“Just coming to pick up Everly,” Jackson answered coldly, intense dislike written all over his face.

“I didn’t know you were friends with Ms. James.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting.”

I grabbed my paper and my backpack, and crutched over to the doorway where Jackson was waiting.

“Think about what I said,” Professor Brady said sinfully behind me.

I waved at him over my shoulder, unable to turn around and face him after what had just happened.

Why me?

Jackson waited until we had turned the corner, and then he pushed me into an empty classroom.

“Moving onto professors, Everly?” he asked mockingly as he pushed me against the wall, leaning against me until I had nowhere to go. His voice was dark and threatening…threaded with danger.

“I-It wasn’t what it looked like,” I stammered, glaring at the audacity of him daring to accuse me of something…once again.

“You belong to me. How do I get that through your pretty little head?”

I opened my mouth to object that I most certainly did not belong to him, and then he crushed his lips against mine. I opened my mouth to allow him access, and he plundered my mouth fiercely with deep swipes of his tongue. We were all lips, teeth, and tongue, arms desperately pulling at one another like a dam had broken and we couldn’t be controlled.

His left hand trailed down my skirt in the back. He slipped under the fabric of my thong and gripped me from behind