Her Collateral Bride: A Lesbian Age Gap Romance

tongue lashing. She leaned into the door and listened, but she

heard nothing on the other side. No voice calling to enter, no

footsteps coming to the door.

She’d sent Snake up to bed and had come here to discuss

what happened with Claire. Snake was sick. The kind of sick

that meant puking into the garbage can in the auditorium while

her already nonplussed music theory professor watched. He’d

shaken and shivered all the way home, pulling over twice to

puke again, and by the second time, Haley’d had enough.

The drive back to Claire’s house wasn’t a short one. Snake

had been willing to get in the passenger seat and let her take

over. He was probably going to be in no condition to take her

to class for the next two days.

Despite bracing for impact, Haley had to admit that no

matter what kind of storm she faced on the other side of the

door, she wanted to know more. There was something strange

and sad lurking in the older woman’s eyes when she’d sat on

her bed and chewed her out, and Haley couldn’t help herself.

She was drawn to Claire through some strange, magnetic force

that she couldn’t explain.

She knocked again, harder and louder, but still there was no

answer. She found herself trying the handle just because she

knew the office was supposed to be unlocked even if Claire

wasn’t there. And Claire wasn’t inside when Haley pushed the

door open. She didn’t even hesitate before she ended up in

Claire’s personal space, the door closed behind her.

Her heart pounded. The office felt bare without Claire in it,

even though it was filled with shelves of books, a fireplace

that looked functional, a big desk stacked with ledgers and

papers and files. There were cabinets in there that probably