The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

I didn’t look back as I walked away, and it felt really shitty and lonely. She was such an unusual girl, a breath of fresh air; I wanted to turn around and go back to sit in her company longer.

But I remembered I needed to see a teacher about a girl.

I wandered the halls for about fifteen minutes before finally winding my way down a back corridor and glancing inside an open doorway before I found her.

Dr. Janison sat at a desk in an office that was roughly the size of a cardboard box and didn’t even have windows. Watching her studiously read the screen of the computer in front of her, I shook my head. How could a woman from Willowbrook Terrace be a teacher at a community college? Granted, Waterford was well funded and probably one of the nicest schools in the area, but still… The two didn’t add up.

She had said she’d married her husband for the money. Then again, in that case, there was no reason for her to work at all. Unless she just liked her job. I scratched my head. Community college English professor didn’t exactly scream dream job to me. But what did I know? To each their own. I didn’t care about her whys; I just wanted her out of my life and out of Reese’s firing range.

“I told you I wasn’t available next Thursday,” I said, making her jump and snap her attention up.

She blinked at me a moment before running her gaze down my jeans and shirt and smiling in pleasure.

“Mason,” she finally said, her voice full of ownership.

I narrowed my eyes.

Letting out an amused chuckle, she waved me forward. “Come in. Shut the door.” She sounded like a freaking professor who actually wanted to talk to a student about their homework.

I glanced down the hall both ways, unease creeping up the back of my neck. Maybe I shouldn’t have confronted her here. But I hadn’t wanted to wait too long or she might contact Patricia. And I’d already wasted precious minutes talking outside with Reese.

It was time I did some damage control.

Feeling like every other clueless idiot out there who’d made a deal with the devil, I stepped into her den and sat stiffly in the chair on the other side of the desk. Then I forced myself to slump back so I wouldn’t look as uneasy as I felt.

With a low laugh, she watched me, shifting her gaze around my face before letting it travel south and land on my jean-clad knee that was slowly swaying back and forth. “You look like every other student who comes in here to be advised.”

“I am a student,” I said.

She shook her head. “I don’t see why. You’re already quite prolific at the trade you’re in. Why change?”

Like I was going to open up to this woman?

When hell froze over.

“Look.” I sat forward, resting my elbows on my knees and meeting her gaze. “I told you I couldn’t do next Thursday, and yet you asked me again outside just now like you thought you suddenly had something on me that would force me to change my mind. But you don’t, okay? So… We don’t have any kind of deal.”

I started to stand, ready to leave it at that. But I should’ve known better. There was no way she was going to let her opportunity to get what she wanted slip by.

And she didn’t.

Typical.

“Then why did you tell me yes?” she challenged.

I glared. “You know why.”

It

irritated the hell out of me how smugly she smiled. “Because you didn’t want your little Reese to realize we were talking about sex?”

My molars ground together so hard I’m surprised they didn’t fuse.

She met my glower with a smile. “Sit back down, Mason.”

I sat.

Why the fuck did I sit? I could’ve just called her bluff and walked. But dammit, I was too afraid of what she might do to Reese. Reese didn’t deserve any repercussions because of my stupidity.