Chapter 5

5

GAbrIEL

Two Weeks Later

I t's a wonder I'm even able to get out of bed in the mornings with Grace right next to me. Ever since the first night together, she's been coming over to my house every night. I wouldn't want it any other way, either. There's nothing like seeing her sit around in nothing but one of my t-shirts, curling up with one of my books. It's something I know I want for the rest of my life.

I stand at the end of the bed, watching her breathe softly while I sip on my coffee, thinking about how lucky I am to call her mine.

"Do you always watch me sleeping like this?" Grace asks, groggily sitting up with the sheets wrapped around her naked body.

"How am I supposed to look away?" I ask, leaning down to kiss her now that she's awake. "I have an early lecture that I can't miss. Make yourself at home while I'm gone."

Grace nods and stretches out on the bed. She yawns before rolling back over and snuggling into the pillow. It's been difficult focusing on work every day, knowing that Grace would be back home waiting for me. She and I had only been in our secret relationship for a couple of weeks, and I felt like she was practically living with me. I love every moment of it, always knowing where I can find her, that she and I can be together whenever we want without consequence here.

Even though we have my house, there have been several instances on campus where things have gotten pretty hot between us. She visits me during my office hours, teasing me while I'm at work to only make the tension between us stronger before I get home. There have been a couple of close calls, too. But sometimes, after seeing her in class, I simply can't hold myself back. Grace almost always stays late so I can fuck her on the desk when everyone else leaves.

No woman has ever captured my attention the way Grace has. I tried dating in the past, and it was something I thought felt like a chore. I only really did it because I felt like I had to. I never felt a connection with any of the other women I dated. With Grace, I can't stop thinking about her. Every moment of the day, even when I'm focusing on something important, she's in the back of my mind.

I get to campus and make my way to the classroom where my lecture is scheduled to be in. I'm a few minutes late, and the class is buzzing as I walk through, disappointed that I actually showed up, so they couldn't leave. I do my job, teaching them everything I planned from the syllabus, then give them the rest of class time to get into groups and critique each other's stories.

Over the past few years, I have been dealing with writer's block. I've written two novels and several short stories that garnered me a lot of attention, but I've been under a lot of pressure to write something else that could live up to the name I've made. I started teaching because I couldn't think of anything else to write. Ever since meeting Grace, I've noticed that I'm becoming more inspired.

As the students discuss their projects and their chosen groups, I sit at my desk and pull out my laptop, typing away at ideas I have. They flow easily, and I can feel the excitement and passion that I once had for writing blossoming once again.

Students get up and pack their bags, seeing that class time is now over, and I wait for them to leave the room before doing the same. A few students linger behind, chatting with one another and asking me about different books on the reading list. When they're all gone, I grab my bag and make my way out of the room.

"Gabriel," someone yells from behind me. I stop walking and turn around to see Dean Carlton waving at me and quickly approaching.

Dean Carlton was a fan of my work before he hired me to work at the university. Ever since I've been working there, he and I have had a good rapport. He always seems happy to talk to me, to pick my brain about different stories and how I wrote them. Today, he doesn't have any of the eagerness on his face that he normally does. I know I'm actively doing something against the university's code of conduct, and a pit forms in my stomach.

"Ian, how are you?" I ask as he approaches, extending a hand to shake his.

"I've certainly been better," he says, sighing at me. "I just sent you an email, but I saw that you were on the schedule, so I figured I'd come grab you. You and I need to talk as soon as possible."

"Is everything all right?" I ask, feigning ignorance in the hopes it isn't about Grace.

"Let's just go to my office." He tilts his head for me to follow him.

I'm not in a position to argue and tell him I won't go as much as I want to. Immediately, I'm aware that I very easily am about to lose my job because of my relationship with Grace. The two of us could be reckless at times, but for the most part, we were very careful to keep what we had under wraps.

The more I think about it, the more worried I get for Grace. I'm in a good position with the university, and my teaching there happens to be a big draw for students looking to study English or creative writing, so I know I have some sway. However, if it comes back to Grace at all, I'll feel terrible. If she's in any kind of disciplinary situation, it could impact her scholarship, threatening her chances of even staying at the university. That's going to be unfortunate for everyone because there's no way I'm staying here without her.

I don't want to quit my job, but if it all comes down to choosing between my teaching career and Grace, I won't ever hesitate to choose her. It will always be her above all else.

We get to the dean's office, and he closes the door behind me, gesturing for me to take a seat in front of his desk. I set my briefcase down and take a seat, crossing my legs casually and folding my hands across my lap to appear as calm as possible.

"What's this about, Ian?" I ask, wrinkling my eyebrows at him.

He takes a deep breath and leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him as he stares at me with a frustrated look in his eyes. "I wanted to talk to you about this before anything else happens," he begins, slowly contemplating the words before saying them. "It's been brought to my attention that you might have an inappropriate relationship with a student."

"Inappropriate?"

Ian sighs and looks down at his hands, shaking his head back and forth. "I had a student come to my office yesterday to tell me they saw you engaging in sexual activities with a student in a classroom on campus."

Right away, I know what he's saying is true. Grace and I had sex for the first time in the classroom where we met moments after another student left. On top of that, there had been several other times after when she stayed late to fool around with me. There are several incidents that could be in question, and I know that if I admit to one of them, I'm admitting to all of them, which will only hurt my case.

"You don't seriously believe this, do you?" I say, laughing under my breath and leaning back as if hearing it is the most ridiculous thing ever.

"I don't have to believe it," he says, taking another deep breath while he types something on his computer. "I have evidence of it."

He turns the computer around and shows me a video that appears to have been taken on someone's cell phone camera—of Grace sitting on one of the desks in the classroom while I go down on her.

"After seeing this video, I took the liberty of accessing security cameras on campus and found many more just like it," Ian says as he clicks out of the video and turns his computer back around. "What am I supposed to do about this, Gabriel? You know how much I like you, but this is far beyond something I can stick my neck out for."

"I know what it looks like, Ian," I begin, trying to think of some way to smooth this over. "Both of us care about each other a lot, and this is just an expression of the love we feel."

As I say it aloud for the first time, I realize there's more truth to it than I realize. I've only been with Grace for two weeks, but in that time, I've come to love her. She's bright and creative, and her curiosity and desire to learn are exciting. I can't let anything bad happen to her.

"You're in a position of power over her," Ian continues in a low, stern voice. "What you say here doesn't really matter. No matter who looks at this, they'll think you're taking advantage of her. That's a liability I don't know if we can afford here."

"Who took the video?" I ask him, thinking about it some more. I have a suspicion about who it could be. Maise Lee always sticks around after class to talk to me, and I can tell she has a crush like some of the other students, but she's never seemed to notice the connection Grace and I have. She's always too focused on me to see that.

"You know I can't tell you that," he replies, typing something on his computer. "Look, I'm gonna have to ask you to take the rest of the week off while I figure out what to do. I'll have to reach out to Miss Simmons and some other faculty about this as well. We'll try to keep this quiet if we can. Fewer people know about this, the better."

At least we're in agreement about that.

As soon as I'm able to, I make my way to my car to go back home to Grace. We need to have a serious discussion about what we plan to do. Leaving the office, I see Maise in the waiting room of the building, scrolling on her phone. I stop and stare at her for a moment, contemplating if I want to ask her about the video or not. She looks up from her phone and stares back at me. The usual friendly, eager look on her face is gone, and she looks shocked. I know instantly that I was right to think it was her.

I shake my head and leave the office, fumbling in my briefcase for my car keys.

"Dr. Griffin!" Maise calls behind me, jogging to catch up with me before I get to the car. I don't turn around to talk to her. "Dr. Griffin, wait!"

I hit the lock button on my car and stand by the driver's side, ready to get in when Maise catches me. "Are you still gonna be teaching here?" she asks me, panting as she waits for my answer.

I don't know what to say to her. I can see in her eyes that she feels some kind of guilt, like she regrets sharing what she did, but she clearly wasn't thinking. On top of that, answering her question might harm me if this comes to an investigation.

"Why do you ask?" I look at her with as straight of a face as I can manage.

"The video," she whispers, stepping closer to me. "As soon as I showed it to Dean Carlton, I realized I made a mistake. I was just so messed up after seeing you with someone else . "

"I really ought to get going now," I say without acknowledging her.

"Can you please forgive me? We can start over," she begs, standing much closer to me than before. "I'll do anything for you. I can be so much better than her."

She reaches a hand out to touch my chest, looking up at me with big, puppy dog eyes. I grab her wrist and stop her before she does, shaking my head and climbing inside of my car.

Maise stares at me for a moment, and then her face wrinkles into a pout before she runs off.

"What the hell just happened?" I mutter out loud before rushing back to Grace.