Chapter 36
Chapter
Thirty-Six
ROSE
Past
“See you later.” Amelie waved at me, rushing off to her next class. She knew waiting for me was futile; I was always the last to leave.
I lifted my hand in return, simultaneously wiping down the counters and putting away the beakers. By the time I packed my tote bag, the lab was eerily quiet.
Weird.
The research assistants were generally around, but it seemed they had snuck out with the rest of the students. Why did Professor Maxwell dismiss them so early? Whatever the reason, I was suddenly alone in a big lab, and it was too quiet for comfort.
I slung the handles of my bag over my shoulders and turned to leave. I gasped when I found Professor Maxwell blocking the entrance.
Things had been immensely awkward since our big blowout. Like a coward, I faked sickness to skip the previous class. I needed the reprieve, but cutting class was a one-time luxury. Attendance was mandatory if I wanted to graduate, and I eventually dragged my ass back to the lab.
Despite the devastating memories of what happened here, I had managed to distract myself by keeping busy.
For a horrifying moment, I thought he might summon me to his office again.
Other students stuck to their lab groups, while he dragged me away from mine at every chance.
I never looked too deeply into it until our fallout.
At first, I believed Professor Maxwell had singled me out as his mentee because we had connected in a way he rarely did with others.
I was wrong. I now realize he had deliberately chosen to only let me in, brushing off the attempts of like-minded people to bond with him.
His motivations for it remained a mystery.
Only one thing was crystal clear: he was possessive.
He was unwilling to share my time and couldn’t stand it when others competed for my attention.
I had seen it in the way he glared whenever I giggled with Amelie, as if all my laughs belonged exclusively to him.
Or when Sean gossiped with me, and Professor Maxwell insisted I share every trivial detail with him.
But nothing triggered his possessiveness like when I shared notes—or anything at all—with Matt.
That always got me pulled from my group and isolated for the remainder of the lab.
I had arrived at class with trepidation, wondering what awaited me today.
To my shock, Professor Maxwell didn’t so much as glance my way.
There hadn’t been any need to be alone with him, either.
He didn’t pull me from the group to serve as his personal assistant, and I thought he had finally gotten the hint.
Until now.
It didn’t cross my mind that he had only pretended to drop the topic so I would let my defenses down and stay behind like always.
This was planned.
Professor Maxwell’s arms were crossed over his chest as he watched me. There was no way to skirt past him.
“Hello, Professor Maxwell.”
He didn’t respond. It seemed he was still bitter.
“Are you all right?” I asked into the charged silence.
“Are you concerned about me, Little Rose?” he asked testily.
I hated being at odds with him, a person I had come to deeply respect. But there was bound to be tension between us. I felt the overwhelming urge to apologize again, though I knew it would fall on deaf ears. He didn’t want my apology; he wanted a better explanation than the one I had provided.
“We need to talk.”
“About what?”
His gaze hardened. “About how I fucked you on my boat and then again in my lab. Or did you forget about losing your virginity?”
My pulse faltered. Before that godforsaken party, Professor Maxwell would’ve never spoken such crass words to me. I froze, unable to form the words that had once come so easily in front of him.
He shifted closer, those ice-blue eyes suddenly sharp. “You can’t pretend it never happened, Rose.”
I glanced around at the empty classroom. It had been recently painted in beautiful shades of ivory. “I told you,” I murmured. “I-I made a mistake on the boat. It was a lapse in judgment.”
“No, it wasn’t. There has been something between us all semester. You’re deliberately acting obtuse.” His voice carried the kind of certainty that slithered up my spine like ice water.
“I don’t know what else to say.” My voice sounded hollow. “I just want things to go back to how they used to be.”
His jaw tightened. “Too bad. You started this, so it’s only fair that I decide when to end it. And I’m not done with you. Far from it.”
Why was he resisting this so vehemently?
He was the one who hated being a sex symbol to college girls and went to great lengths to discourage them.
Perhaps it had something to do with rejection.
A girl had never turned him down before, and that must have dredged up memories of his own mother rejecting him throughout his childhood.
“Professor Maxwell.” My throat tightened, and I had to pause before continuing. “Your guidance has meant everything to me. I don’t want to lose that in my life. But I’m sure you’ll agree that someone of a similar caliber would be a more appropriate choice for you than a student.”
Even as I stared at my feet, I caught the intensity of his gaze burning a hole in me in my peripheral vision. My words didn’t move him. Instead, they had pissed him off. Silence hung heavily between us, and I felt the blade of his stare trace across my skin.
Dormant fear ramped up as he slowly walked toward me. “W-what are you doing?”
I forced my gaze to his face. His expression gave nothing away, but a flicker behind his eyes sent a chill crawling up my spine. My body tensed, instincts screaming danger .
I started to back away, but he wrapped his hand around my elbow to stop me. “I don’t want anyone appropriate.” He leaned in and smelled my hair. “I only want you.” His cold voice was absolute.
I couldn’t hold back a sharp inhale. “Please let go of me.” I yanked away from him and was only successful because he decided to let go.
Neither of us spoke as he glared at me. Professor Maxwell broke the silence with an unexpected admission.
“I’ve lived a quiet and lonely existence, and I was content.
The only thing that piqued my interest was my work.
” He watched me for a moment. “But then you disrupted my monotone life.” He ran a finger down my cheek, and I stepped back to disconnect the contact.
He moved with me until we were close enough for our breaths to fuse together. “You have no idea what you’ve started.”
Dark eyes flickered.
“Suddenly, work was the last thing on my mind because there was something better. Something I have never experienced. Life was finally exciting.” Stormy eyes glared at me. “But then you changed your mind and took it all away.” The ominous threat in his voice sent a chill down my spine.
His hand landed in my hair, tunneling through my locks in comforting strokes. This time, I didn’t pull away.
“I still don’t understand your reasons, try as I might.
” His fingers suddenly closed in my hair to make a fist. I held back a yelp when his grip tightened on my hair.
“I have no choice but to stick to my original assumption. You’re worried about your family’s opinion, even though they abandoned you.
I already told you I’d deal with your father.
You should’ve trusted me to take care of it.
” He sounded irritated, wondering why I was harping on about this even after he had declared my family a non-issue.
My stomach plummeted at his cavalier tone. “What did you do?”
“It’s not what I did, but rather what I found out.” He loosened the hold on my hair. His thumb brushed the hollow of my cheek, a strange counterpoint to my burning scalp. “That family doesn’t deserve you. You’ve been covering for your father, and instead of being grateful, he cut you off.”
My lips parted to object, but nothing came out. Fear washed over me as the allegation hovered just beyond my grasp.
His laugh was cold in the face of my uncertainty. “Don’t tell me no one else noticed you could be Rayyan’s twin,” he said, his voice dropping to that dangerous register.
My heart careened, graceless and arrhythmic. The air felt thick with the implication regarding my late cousin. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, trying to keep my voice even.
“I think you do. You know very well that Rayyan was both your brother and your cousin.”
My stomach rocked. It turned out Professor Maxwell hadn’t been bluffing about knowing my father’s secret.
Papa had an affair with his sister-in-law, and she fell pregnant with Rayyan.
It was a well-kept secret only Rayyan, Poppy, and I were privy to.
The fallout would be devastating if the word got out, even though Rayyan was long dead.
He tsked, leaning forward until I could smell his minty breath. “I wonder how your uncle would feel about Rayyan being the product of his wife’s infidelity and his brother’s betrayal.”
“I don’t know what you think you know, but this sounds like a baseless rumor.”
“Is that why you look so rattled?”
“Who wouldn’t be at these filthy accusations?”
There was a satisfied glint behind his eyes. “Hmm. Would it still be just a baseless rumor if I ran your dead brother’s DNA against your father’s?”
I glared at the floor, wishing I had the guts to glare at him instead. “How?” I whispered at last.
The corners of his mouth curled upward, a predator who’d cornered his prey. I hadn’t asked the question, but he understood. How did he find out?
“The resemblance between you two is uncanny. I had my suspicions when I was investigating him, and you just confirmed it.”
Of course I had walked right into his trap.