Mia
Something I hadn’t felt in a long time fluttered low in my stomach. Excitement. I was excited for this. As I stood in front of my small class, my whole body felt electric, and it had nothing to do with the static-inducing carpet.
Theo sat in the back as the class watched me with attentive eyes, their hands racing across their papers as I explained what would be expected of them.
I cracked jokes, and they laughed. I set out arguments, and they agreed. There was something gratifying about the way they slumped in their seats. They were comfortable and focused, ready to do this.
When my slides reached a series of memes about BookTok, I projected videos on the whiteboard and let them watch the influencers in action.
“I really don’t get how this works. I love reading, but I wouldn’t follow someone who talks about a book I haven’t read.” Amber gave the influencer on screen one of her classic up-down looks.
“Most of these people are looking for recs, right?” Diago asked. “Why wouldn’t they just go to a library?”
“I follow makeup gurus on YouTube,” Natasha admitted. “But that’s because I can use whatever makeup I have to create the same look. I can’t get the same feeling this person is telling me I’ll get from this book unless I read it.”
“Which is why people buy the book,” Miles muttered. “Because they want whatever feeling that person is telling them they’ll get.”
I pointed at Miles. “Exactly. It’s about the feeling you get from what you’re reading. And if you find someone whose taste aligns with yours, you’ll have a better chance of liking what they recommend. That’s why this type of marketing is so effective.”
“It’s a modern day version of word-of-mouth,” Theo said, then pursed his lips and grumbled, “Sorry.”
I gave him a smile. The big grump was actually getting into this. “No, no, that’s it. If you know, like and trust someone, you’re more likely to buy whatever it is they like. That’s how bestsellers like–” I held up Misplaced and slapped the cover “–this are made.”
Kira’s eyes lowered to her open book. Her cheeks were pink as she fidgeted with her pen. Something was off here. Was it because her father was sitting right behind her?
I had an instant urge to speak to her after class to make sure she was doing all right. It was never fun being the new kid. But I doubted Theo would let me.
I checked the time and gave my little wrap-up as the bell rang. My students left the classroom chatting about influencers. I overheard Natasha tell Amber that she tried a foundation, and it turned orange on her skin while she was at the mall.
Note to self: Do not try a new foundation before leaving home.
Kira packed slowly as Theo stood behind her. He watched his daughter with so much concern, like she was this fragile thing. Like she could’ve broken apart at the slightest gust of air. I felt myself soften as I watched them, and wanted to shake myself.
Theo could be a good father and a complete asshole at the same time. Two things could be true. He just tried to embarrass me in front of my boss less than an hour ago.
“You have math now, right?” I asked Kira, and she nodded. “You go ahead, love. I’ll have a chat with your dad.”
Her blue eyes widened as she shook her head. It made me laugh. “Either we talk, or he joins your next class.”
She made a noise, said, “No, that’s okay. You can talk,” and all but ran out of the room.
Theo palmed the back of his neck as he watched her go, and my knees momentarily turned to jelly.
Stupid, sexy, horrible man. I needed solid knees, thank you very much.
“That wasn’t… bad,” Theo admitted as his own blue stare came back to me.
I put my hands on my hips and drawled, “Oh, it wasn’t, was it? Who would’ve thought that ten years in the education industry would’ve made me–” I pretended to gasp “–good at my job?”
“You’re different outside of the classroom.”
I really wanted to roll my eyes, and I didn’t know what stopped me. Maybe that he seemed genuinely confused by what he saw just now?
“I’m human, Theo. I do all the things regular humans do. I drink, I swear, I have sex. Just like everyone else. Do I bring all that into the classroom with me? No. But do I pretend to be a saint who’s never done those things? Of course not.”
His lips flattened as he stared at me, and I wondered just what it’d take to smooth that brow of his. He looked so grumpy all the time. As if his whole world had caved in, and he didn’t know how to dig himself out of the rubble.
“I’m not going to traumatize your daughter. Even if you don’t respect me, you can at least trust me not to do that.”
His confusion deepened. “What makes you think I don’t respect you?”
I held in a laugh. “Well, telling my boss I shouldn’t teach this program was one clue–”
“But, I–”
“–But not respecting my time was another. Brent was a lanky, tattooed asshole, and I didn’t like dealing with his band, but at least he showed up when I asked him to.”
His jaw snapped shut so hard that the muscle there jumped. My panties grew just a touch tighter.
His voice was soft yet rough as he said, “I’m not with the band anymore. I was never really with them. When we first moved here, Kira found their fundraiser ad for a guitarist and she wanted to see me on stage. I couldn’t say no.”
He looked out of the classroom, as if trying to spot his daughter in the busy hallway. “I was in the middle of setting up my business after the move, and it was hard to find the time to get to the center. It wasn’t about disrespecting you.”
So they just moved here. He was starting over.
I folded my arms and waited for an apology. Seconds beat by as he brought his gaze back to mine.
Nothing. Not even a hint of regret.
I sighed. Would I have to be the bigger person here? That wasn’t fair. He was physically bigger. It should’ve been him.
Still, I had Kira to worry about now.
I gave in.
“Fine. Maybe we just got off on the wrong foot.”
“Maybe,” he agreed.
“So… truce, then?”
He nodded.
A man of very few words.
He picked up a paperback just as I was about to not-so-subtly leave and said, “I came to ask about this book.”
I rocked back on my heels and blew out a breath. This man was sucking all the air out of my classroom. I already agreed to swipe our short but problematic history under the rug. Wasn’t that enough? I had a round of boozy bingo squares to cross out, damn it.
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“It isn’t something she can read. It’s not… right for her.”
I frowned. “There’s no hanky-panky in there, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“No. It’s the grief. It’ll upset her.”
“And getting upset is a problem.”
He put the book down. “Right now, it is.”
“Then you… want me to choose something else for her?”
“If you can.”
I sighed again, frustrated. There was an… admittedly attractive man in my classroom, and unlike my deepest, darkest fantasies, he wasn’t ravaging me.
No.
Instead, he was asking me to give his daughter a different book to study. After I just spent the weekend running around Manhattan trying to find a bookstore that actually had this one in stock.
But… argh. If I took him out of the equation, what I was hearing was that this book could upset Kira. And if he was telling me that she couldn’t handle the grief in this book, then that made my decision for me.
“I can.”
The look on his face changed. It softened. And I didn’t like it. It made my stomach flutter, and those feelings were strictly reserved for non-panty-related thoughts.
He added fuel to the fire with his soft but deep, “Thank you,” and sweat prickled my skin. Well damn.
Almost as if he could sense the shift in me, Theo nodded once, awkwardly, then brushed by without another word.
Right. Well then. That was it, wasn’t it?
I took a breath and smoothed my hands down my dress, then went to collect my things. Day one was done, and I had a new book to find.
I looked down at my stack of paperbacks, glad I didn’t drop fifteen dollars on an extra copy for Kira, when–hang on. I had four books when this class started. Now there were five.
Son of a bitch.
This had to be it. The final copy of Misplaced that was sold out from under me at Wrinkled Pages. Theo bought it for his daughter, for the new class she was starting on Monday.
After all the time I spent trying to find it… now he didn’t want her to read it. This whole thing was starting to feel like some kind of mean prank. Like the universe had it in for me.
I stared at the book and grumbled, “Am I meant to be constantly fucked over by this man?”
God, I hoped not. I didn’t want to see Theo Hudson in my school again.