“You can go now, Stringer,” I say. What I fail to add is I don’t want her to. What the hell is wrong with me?
She lifts her face from her hands finally and smiles.
“I’ve been thinking about you this week.”
Oh, fuck no. I get up and gather my things. Laptop, notebook, wallet, and keys.
“You’re excused, Miss Stringer. Don’t test my patience. Not again.”
“Do you like my shoes?” she asks, parting her legs open a few inches. Not a lot. Enough to make me want to peek and see what’s between them—the way her stepbrother did the other day—and that thought makes me feel like a scumbag.
I don’t know why she’s still wearing her old shoes, and she’s obviously baiting me, but I don’t give anything away.
“Not particularly,” I say shortly. “If you don’t evacuate my room in ten seconds, I will take it as a sign you would like to join your good friend, Stephens, in detention.”
“I don’t mind.” She shrugs. “It’s not like I have a ride home today. My stepbrother is out of town.”
I swallow.
“Stringer,” I warn.
“Pierce,” she retorts.
Reluctantly, I move my eyes to look at her. My desk is clean, and it’s time for me to move my feet and go. Her legs are wide open, and all I have to do is scroll down and see her panties. She smiles. She knows what she is doing to me, and it makes me want to break all the rules and show her that she’s not the only one who can be brazen. Fuck, I invented brazen, sweetheart.
“Close your legs.” I blink away, fast. “If you pull this kind of shit on me one more time, I’m telling Headmaster Charles. You claim to want out of your situation, but you know what I think? I think you’re scared.” On the surface, she appears unfazed, cocking a sardonic brow. But I know my words are getting to her if the pursing of her lips is any indication. Her lower lip trembles just a tad. I show no mercy. She needs to hear it.
“You’re scared,” I repeat. “You have a chance here, and now that it’s a real possibility, you have no idea how to handle it. So, here you are, seducing your teacher. Sabotaging your opportunity because this life, in this city, is all you know.”
“Is that what I’m trying to do?” Her red lips curve into a smile, her walls rising back up, higher than ever before. God, this woman. Yes, woman. Little girls are not my type. Never have been. But Remington Stringer is only technically a teenager. She is so much older than her years.
“I don’t care what you’re trying to do.” I take a step toward the door, tilting my head, signaling her to join me. “I just want you out of here.”
“Why can’t I stay? Maybe you’re the one who’s afraid?”
“I’m locking the door behind you.”
“Maybe you should lock it with us inside.” She grins.
Blood rushes to my dick, and I really need to get out of here.
“You just earned yourself a week of detention.”
“
Fine.” She pouts her pretty lips in a way that makes me think she just got exactly what she wanted. When she stands, I allow myself a quick fix, checking out her creamy, long legs and hourglass figure. I need to blow off steam tonight. This girl is trouble of the worst variety.
I hold the door open for her, and she finally leaves, swaying her hips exaggeratedly. Fuck. Me.
I watch her leave, resisting the urge to offer her a ride once school is out.
We’re not even going in the same direction.
Not only geographically, but in life.
I sit, dangling my feet from the bench at the bus station with my camera on my lap, still stuck on my exchange with Mr. James. Part of me finds his attempt at psychoanalyzing me annoying, but the way he looks at me—like I’m every rule he’s ever wanted to break—gives me a high like no other.
I check my phone for the time. I don’t even know when the bus hits this part of town, and I’m just hoping I’ll get home in time before it’s too dark to walk the streets. Ryan is not around today—said he was going to check out a toy hauler a few hours away from home—and I really should have thought this one through. Maybe I should get some mace. Or pepper spray. Something to make me feel a tad safer. Even though, I argue inwardly, most of the people I should stay away from are the ones that usually hang out on my front lawn.