Addiction - Chapter 7
Saturday
I slowly opened my eyes. Professor Hunter was lying next to me in bed.
His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and steady.
There was a dark bruise around his eye. I sat up.
My head hurt. I reached up and felt the bandage.
I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom.
I flipped on the light switch and stared at my reflection in the mirror.
A bruise was peeping out from under the bandage.
Everything came back in a rush. I gulped, remembering the feeling of getting the wind knocked out of me. Shit. Tyler.
I ran back into the bedroom. I needed to call Tyler.
I needed to see if he was okay. My Poison Ivy costume was in a heap on the floor.
But my phone wasn't there. I looked around the bedroom.
Professor Hunter stirred in his bed. I went back into the bathroom and locked the door.
I put my back against the door and sighed.
What had I done? I swallowed hard. My mouth still tasted like vomit.
I looked over at the sink. There was a toothbrush still in its plastic wrapping.
I walked over, opened it up, and brushed my teeth.
When I was done I held the brush in my hand and stared at the toothbrush holder.
Professor Hunter's toothbrush sat there alone.
I thought about Tyler's hands on my waist. I gulped and tossed the toothbrush into the trash.
I leaned down and put my face in my hands.
I had turned into a slut in one day. I kissed a stranger.
I fucked Tyler. And I slept over at Professor Hunter's apartment all within a day.
I slid my hands down and looked at my reflection in the mirror.
I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and pulled Professor Hunter's t-shirt off.
There was a large bruise on my stomach and a small one on my elbow.
I moved away from the mirror and turned on the shower.
I felt disgusting. I needed to wash yesterday off of me.
The water only took a second to get warm.
I stepped in, trying carefully not to get my bandage wet.
I put my hands on the wall and let the water fall on my back.
The image of Professor Hunter in here with me popped into my head.
I tried to shake it away. I poured some of his body wash onto my hands, trying to ignore the intoxicating smell.
I imagined his hands on me, washing me. Fuck.
I quickly rinsed and turned the water off.
I needed to get a grip. My stomach was in knots.
How had things escalated so quickly last night?
Tyler and Professor Hunter had had a fist fight over me, or because of me.
This whole situation seemed surreal. I needed to get back to my dorm room.
Melissa would know what to do. She always knew what to do.
I wrapped my towel around myself and opened up the bathroom door.
Professor Hunter was no longer in bed. There was a pile of clothes by the bathroom door.
I picked them up and quickly dressed. A pair of yoga pants and a tank top.
No underwear. I didn't dwell on it. I walked into the main room and over toward Professor Hunter.
He was in the kitchen. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants and no shirt.
Stop being so sexy. I took a deep breath and walked toward him.
When I reached the counter he turned toward me.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine," I lied. My head pounded, either from the concussion, or too much to drink, or a combination of the two. And I felt guilty for being here. "I'm going to get going."
He pushed a plate of waffles in front of me. Instead of responding to me, he just arched his eyebrow.
"I thought you didn't cook."
"I don't. They were frozen."
I looked down at my plate. It felt like I was going to throw up again. "I'm not hungry."
"You've lost weight. You need to eat."
"So now you suddenly care about me again?"
"I never stopped caring about you." His eyebrows lowered slightly. "I see that you have your memory back."
I pushed the plate away.
Professor Hunter walked over and placed two pills down on the counter. "You need to eat with these." He pushed the plate back toward me.
"I'm not taking those."
"Dr. Ridge left them for you. They're for the pain."
"I'm okay. Actually, I'm used to dealing with pain now." I took a deep breath. "Where is my phone?"
"Penny, take the pills. Eat the waffles. I'll give you your phone when you're done."
"I need to tell Melissa where I am."
"Your friends know where you are." He emphasized the word friends. Is he referring to Tyler too?
He had no right to boss me around. But if this was the only way he'd let me leave, then so be it. I took the two pills and downed them with water. "How do you know Dr. Ridge?" I cut up the waffles and poured syrup over them.
"He's an old friend."
"A friend of Isabella's too?" I took a bite and swallowed. Why was he doing this to me?
"No." He put his elbows on the counter and ran his hands through his hair.
I took another bite of the waffles and then pushed them away. "I can't eat anymore."
Professor Hunter walked over and sat down on the stool beside mine.
"Look, thank you for taking care of me last night. You didn't need to do that..."
"I did need to." He put his hand on my thigh. I swiveled my chair to remove it. I didn't need his tantalizing touch clouding my judgment. I was still so mad at him. Taking care of me for one night didn't erase how he had made me feel for weeks.
"You didn't. But I do appreciate it. I'm fine now, though. And I need to go. Please give me my phone."
"I can't let you leave. You have a concussion."
"I can take care of myself."
"You certainly didn't take care of yourself last night."
"I was fine before you showed up," I snapped. I was starting to lose my temper.
"You haven't been taking care of yourself these past few weeks either."
I stood up from my stool. "How dare you throw that in my face?
" I took a deep breath. "I tried. How can you sit there and judge me for feeling?
I loved you. I loved you so much. And it meant nothing to you.
I meant nothing to you. You're completely fine.
It's so hard to see you that way when I'm falling apart. "
"Penny..." he reached out for me.
"Don't touch me. Don't you dare touch me." I felt so weak. "I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. Because of you! Because you left me!"
The words seem to echo in his apartment. "That's not fair, Penny. You can't put all the blame on me."
"Yes I can. You're the one that left. You're the one that refused to talk to me. You shut me out. You didn't even give me a chance. I made one mistake and you left. You left me."
"Only because you lied to me!"
"Yes. Because I wanted to be with you. I didn't think you'd want me if you knew how young I was. And I hate that I lied to you."
"I know."
"No. Not because it made you leave me. But because it made us get together in the first place."
"You wish we had never started fucking?"
His words were chilling. I had told him I loved him. "And that's it, isn't it? Just fucking? See, that's the problem. I thought it was more than that. I want someone to love me. Unconditionally."
"And that's what Tyler does? Because last time I checked, taking advantage of someone when they're drunk isn't love."
"And what do you know about love? You're fucking married to a woman that you don't love. You didn't even love her when you got married. And instead of facing it and getting divorced, you just go around screwing students like it means nothing."
"I don't go around screwing students. You're the exception. You know that."
"Do I? Because I don't think I know you at all."
"You know me." He stood up. His fingers were gripping the side of the counter. "You'll never forget what it feels like to have my rock hard cock deep inside of you. You'll never be able to stop screaming my name."
I swallowed hard. Why was I suddenly aroused? Fuck him. "I was already forgetting you. Tyler didn't take advantage of me. I told him that I wanted him. I asked him to fuck me."
"Because you were drunk."
"No! It was because you left me! Because I was numb! You ruined me." My voice cracked. I turned around. I didn't want to look at him. "You ruined me."
He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. "So it's my fault that you're loose?"
"I'm not loose." I shoved his chest so he'd let go of me. "You broke up with me. I was trying to get over you."
"I never broke up with you. I said I needed time."
"I gave you time. Weeks! In order to work things out, normal people usually talk. What was I supposed to think?"
"That's not how I work through things."
"That's not an excuse. Keep my phone. I'm leaving. I don't want to hear anything else you have to say." I stormed off toward the elevator doors.
"What is wrong with you?" He sounded so angry.
I turned back around. "What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?!" He had no right to be angry with me. He was the one that had left me. Why did he even care that I was leaving? We were done.
"Stop acting like a child." He walked toward me.
"I'm not acting like a child. Get over yourself."
"I'm trying to talk to you now. Which is exactly what you wanted. You're being immature."
"And you're being an asshole!"
We both stood still, staring at each other. He lowered his eyebrows. He was looking at me in that hungry way. I gulped.
"You're infuriating, Penny."
Everything below my waistline clenched. He had said the same thing to me in his office the first time we had ever had sex. I was so mad at him. But somehow that made me want him even more. "Then punish me, Professor Hunter." I repeated the words that had started our tryst in the first place.