Lover (Court University 4)

Taking her face, I kissed the top of her head before hugging her completely around it. Something I always did since I got taller than her, and it annoyed her.

“Oh, Ramses.” She shoved at me, but knew she loved it, laughing before tapping her cheek and making me kiss her there. “Be safe.”

“I will.”

“And look into what I mentioned,” she said, eyeing me. “You know about talking to…”

“Got it.” A nod as I backed down the hallway and refused to make eye contact with a certain professor. Mom was right. I probably should talk to someone and maybe I would once I got the time.

Yeah, maybe.

For now, a drive sounded just like the trick to get my head right while at the same time giving Brielle just what she wanted.

A night so obviously away from me.

Chapter Eleven

Bri

“My son’s nice, isn’t he?”

My feet caught on a chunk of ice, and I went flying, sliding across the sidewalk like a figure skater. Evie basically had to grab hold of my jacket just to keep me from falling on my ass.

“Oh my God, Bri.”

Embarrassed to hell as she stabilized me back on my running shoes. For the most part, the sidewalks of Maywood Heights were cleared and sprinkled with salt for our early morning runs, but one still had to stay vigilant, i.e. pay attention.

Hard to do when your friend mentions the son you slept with.

A reality between both Evie and me, but definitely not mentioned to said friend who currently had a hand on me. We’d jogged downtown this morning before work, the air crisp and our Lycra tight. I typically liked jogging through varied seasonal elements, gave me a challenge, but Evie couldn’t always make it and did prefer the gym. Sometimes we met after work at the Maywood Heights community center, something I preferred due to my schedule, but mornings worked out best due to hers. We tried to sync up as much as we could, but there were many days I was off on my own and she herself the same. I also preferred outdoor runs, so today we compromised. I got up early to run with her downtown, and she agreed to a sprint outside.

This felt like a mistake now as my friend had to stabilize me. Her cheeks red from the chill, her eyes twitching wide in her North Face jacket. “You okay?”

“Fine. Fine.” Though not playing that off very well. I’d done just as well at dinner the other night.

And how hadn’t I realized that was her son?

Mallick… freaking Mallick. God.

Evie had been married when I met her but had gone by Mallick-Pierce back then. Pierce was her maiden name, and now that she was divorced just like me, she went by simply Pierce. I honestly hadn’t put two and two together and definitely not that her twenty-two-year-old kid had been the one making me moan for hours on end and well into the morning.

God, had I kept that on the down low, necessary. Though, clearly Ramses himself had felt different. I thought he might say something during taco night, and it’d only been my quick thinking to keep that from Evelyn.

I didn’t know how she’d react, but she obviously wouldn’t be, well, happy. Why would she? Her son was younger than me.

And you’re his professor.

I wasn’t touching that one with a ten-foot pole, catching my breath as Evie urged us to sit on a bench by the street. This allowed me to get things together a little, take a breath. Standing, she placed her sneaker on the bench. “You okay, hun?”

No. “Yes.” I suppose I had to be, watching as she took a seat. She started to give me some of the water she carried, but I turned it away. “Sorry. Feet just slipped from under me.”

She nodded like she knew, like she cared, and I knew she did. I mean, she was the reason I was here in the first place and not back in Jersey. She did care, listened to me, which made me feel completely shitty. I was keeping a secret from her, a big one.

God, you’re a terrible person.

It wasn’t often I felt evil. That wedding and all my sadness during had been an example and right now in this moment another, my friend smiling down at me. Evelyn Pierce was nearly over six feet in height, well above my five foot six.

She definitely was his mother.