Always You (Love Hurts 1)

“I was saying I don’t know what I’m going to do for the rest of the year without you here. I’m going to miss you when you graduate.”

“I’m going to miss you too. You’ll be finished before know it, and we’ll still see each other like all the time,” I said, smiling.

She nodded and sniffed. I reached over and squeezed her hand. Kass was such a good friend, and I was so lucky to have her in my life.

***

After the final bell rang, Kass and I walked out of class, past Dalton’s desk. I could feel him staring at me. Sure enough, when I turned, his eyes were on me—all over me. I smiled, and winked at him, which made him chuckle. He turned back to his desk, a smile still on his lips, and I knew he was thinking about me.

The longer this went on, the harder it was getting for both of us. When you feel so strongly for someone, you don’t want to keep it a secret. You want to shout it from the rooftops. You want everyone to know what you’re feeling. Hiding it feels so wrong. How can falling in love ever be a bad thing?

But it was. At least, that’s what society wanted us to think. We could have the most exceptional circumstances in the world and it wouldn’t make a damn difference.

He would always be my teacher, and me, his student. I just prayed he could get past that.

Chapter Fifteen

Dalton

The more time I spent with Wrenn, the more I liked her the more I liked her. Every moment I spent with her, she cemented herself a little bit more in my life. Slowly, she was beginning to unravel the walls I’d built around myself.

And that made me nervous.

I laughed to myself. The funny thing was that she could sense my anxiety about our relationship, and she thought it was all to do with the fact that I was her teacher. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Honestly? The risk of losing my job—I’d risk it all in a second for her. How bad was that?

No, this ran much deeper. It killed me that it was always in the back of my mind. One test, and I’d know. One way or the other I’

d know for sure. But I didn’t want to know. Hell, I was angry at my own mother. Why couldn’t she have lied to me? I wouldn’t have known the difference. I could have lived my life not caring.

Sometimes it was best not knowing.

***

The realization hit me late one afternoon after Mom texted me, reminding me it was coming up to the anniversary of Dad’s death. I couldn’t do this. It had to stop. I had to think of Wrenn before this went any further. I could end it now. I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength if I left it much longer.

Picking up my phone, I texted her, asking her to meet me down by the river. A deserted space, the river was a favorite place for us to meet, because it was so far out of the way there was no chance of us getting caught.

Sure. Give me twenty minutes xx

I grabbed my jacket and headed to my car. I couldn’t think straight. All I wanted was to take her in my arms, and feel her skin against mine, and taste those sweet little lips. Fuck, she was intoxicating. Even the thought of her being close to me got me hard. Hell, thinking about her in class last week had gotten me aroused.

That’s a good look.

How the hell was I going to end this and still be around her for the next few weeks? And then what? She’d made it clear she would wait for me. What excuse would I have when she was no longer my student?

I thought about telling her everything, but I didn’t want pity. I didn’t want her to confuse her feelings of sympathy with desire for me. Yet I hated the thought of her not wanting me at all.

The thought of her kissing some teenage boy who knew nothing about pleasing her made me want to punch the shit out of someone. The kinds of emotions I was feeling were completely new to me, and honestly, they scared me.

The drive to the river was ten minutes. She was there already. Waiting for me. Her face lit up when she saw me, her lips parting into a smile that reached those stunning green eyes. I breathed in hard as she stepped out of her car. She looked so fucking sexy. Her boots came up to her mid-calf over her tight jeans, which showed all her curves. She wore a fitted blue sweater under her jacket.

My heart raced as I stepped out of my car. She leaned in to kiss me, and I let her. I was here to break up with her, yet all I wanted to do was explore every inch of that body with my hands, my mouth, and my tongue. I laughed. Oh, the irony.

God, all I could smell was the sweet floral scent of her perfume. And the freshness of her skin. She waited for me to say something, her brow furrowing as she studied my face. She knew something was wrong.

“Wrenn. I can’t do this to you. We need to stop this before it goes any further.” There, I said it. Did I feel any better?

No. I felt like shit.