Total pages in book: 15
Estimated words: 13606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 13606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 68(@200wpm)___ 54(@250wpm)___ 45(@300wpm)
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.
6
GRACE
Gabriel sits on the couch while I pace back and forth, running my fingers through my hair, distraught about what to do. I'm angry at Maise for taking the video and sharing it, but I'm even more angry that she tried seducing Gabriel.
On top of that, I realize that Gabriel could very likely lose his job over what we did, and I can't help but feel guilty about it. Both of us knew before we began anything that there might be risks involved, but I was too hopeful we could avoid them.
“What are we going to do?” I ask, calming down enough to take a seat next to him.
Gabriel drapes an arm over my shoulder, and I lean into him, sinking into his warmth as he tries to comfort me. “Whatever happens, we'll get through it.”
“You can't lose your job because of me,” I continue, wincing away the stress forming between my eyes. “There has to be something we can do to help you before the investigation.”