Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
EMMA
Ben’s freshman assistant for the shoot sets up the last lighting piece as I stand out of the way with Kamila. Meanwhile, Amelia is on her phone talking to someone at the paper.
I’d forgotten that Amelia and Kamila had met briefly at the diner when Jake paid Amelia to distract Cam, Levi, Stevie, and her.
I’d given my editor a pleading look, and she acted as if she’d never met the girl before, while Kami told me the story I already knew, which only made me feel guiltier about that day.
I shake my head, refocusing on the photo shoot.
According to the second message Grayson sent me since we ran into each other on Saturday, he should be here any minute.
“Does Cameron know you’re here?” I ask Kami.
She snorts. “Yeah, but he thinks it’s to even the score between me and Jake since he got to go to the soup kitchen, not so I can stare at the hot chef.” I laugh. “I’m Cameron’s, but it doesn’t mean we can’t talk about how this man is the hottest professor on campus.”
Shrugging, I take a sip of my peppermint tea that eases the bloating my period causes.
It’s no wonder I was like a cat in heat on Saturday.
I woke up with my period the next day, and it all made sense.
The random jealousy, the dry humping I haven’t done since I was a young teen, the intense orgasm.
It might’ve also been due to the small jolts of pain Grayson was giving me with those bites… I need to stop thinking about this.
“He’s okay,” I answer to Kamila’s previous comment.
She nudges me with her elbow. “You and your inability to talk about sex astounds me.”
I smile behind my cup. If only she knew.
“Is it wrong to want to keep my personal life personal?”
Kamila makes a sound that’s somewhere between a scoff and spitting. “When you’re curious about everyone else’s? Absolutely.”
Rolling my eyes, I face her. “I stopped being nosy after you and Levi coupled up.” Kami tilts her head to the side. “Fine, almost completely stopped—whatever. Go get some coffee or something.”
Her light laugh fills the air, and Ben’s assistant turns to us, glancing at Kamila for the fifth time.
Not that I can blame him, my best friend is stunning.
She’s a little taller than I am, curvy, with golden tawny skin and the most unique amber eyes I’ve ever seen, but this guy needs to stop looking at her like a sex doll.
I snap my fingers in his direction, and he turns his eyes to me.
“Yeah, you. Stop looking at her like that. It’s creepy, and she’s taken.
” Ben glares at the new guy on the paper.
“Turn around and finish setting up for my photo shoot.” The guy hesitates, and Ben suppresses a smile.
“Look. Away,” I repeat, and the boy’s cheeks burn as he turns.
Kamila lets out a small chuckle. “You didn’t have to do that.”
I take a sip of my tea and shake my head. “Yes, I did. He was licking his lips while looking at your boobs.”
She cringes. “Gross. Thanks for having my back. I’m going to go get some coffee now.”
“Always, and can you get me a donut, please? I brought them from that great bakery all the way across campus.”
Kami smiles excitedly and walks to the snack table. Amelia saunters toward me and
hangs up on whoever was on the other line.
“Ben, are you almost done setting up?”
He adjusts something on the camera, and says, “We’re all good to go on the tech front, now we’re just missing the man.”
Grayson’s voice fills the room a moment later. “I apologize for my tardiness. The meeting ran longer than I expected.” He comes in holding a briefcase and sports a dark gray suit with a light blue shirt and navy tie. It’s paired with black Oxfords and his glasses.
Lord, have mercy. I forgot how good he looks in a suit. And those come fuck me glasses only make him so much more gorgeous.
Fantasies start to pop into my head about him wearing those glasses in bed…
I’m blatantly staring at him when he meets my eyes for a moment, then looks away and smirks.
He knows the effect he has on me. It’s clear to me that we can’t be in the same room without thinking about kissing or touching.
I like to think I have as much impact on him as he does on me, based on how things went down on Saturday. But then again, he only texted me once on Sunday night to give me his number, and I did the typical girl thing where I didn’t answer him until twenty-four hours later.
I hate these kinds of games, and I’m really looking forward to moving past the miscommunication and jealousy after we talk.
He’s speaking to Ben when he looks at me again, and flashes of us in the bathroom come to mind—his body pressed against mine, his groans, the way he called me Princess again—
“Emma, you should’ve told me he was this good-looking.”
Amelia’s whisper knocks me out of my sex haze. “Um, I wasn’t really focusing on that when I was interviewing him.”
Yeah, like you didn’t just dry hump him in a restaurant bathroom three days ago.
“If I wasn’t taken…”
I gasp. “Amelia!” I whisper-yell.
“Same here,” Kamila responds, handing me a donut.
“And those glasses.” Amelia sighs.
They both laugh when my mouth drops.
“You guys are bad.” But they’re not wrong. I bite into the glazed donut and shake my head.
A flash goes off. “Okay, you can just stand there while I do some test shots.” Ben points to the white tape on the floor in front of Grayson.
The professor fixes his suit. “Got it.”
As he tightens his tie and looks down, all three of us ladies tilt our heads to the side, admiring the view like we’re in the cafeteria watching the best-looking jock talk to his friends.
A snort comes from our right, and I notice Ben’s assistant quietly laughing as he catches us. I know it’s because he thinks we’re being hypocrites, which in a way we are, but one thing is admiring, and another is eye fucking someone while getting hard across the room.
I take a step toward him. “Is there something you want to say?” The guy’s smile falls, and now he looks nervous and embarrassed because everyone’s eyes are on him. When he shakes his head, I say, “Good. Then turn to the screen and don’t waste Professor Hayes’s time.”
The freshman looks forward and fiddles with the mouse as I roll my eyes and stand between Kamila and Amelia again.
I can feel both of them looking at me, and Ben briefly meets my eyes as he laughs silently before shaking his head and turning back to take pictures of Grayson, who I don’t dare to look at.
“I like you, Haywood,” Amelia says from my left. “You don’t take anyone’s bullshit.”
Smiling, I turn to see her typing a message. “Thanks, boss.”
“If everything goes well for the rest of the semester, you should consider running for editor in chief next spring.”
Kamila chokes on her coffee, and I halt my chewing.
“What?” I ask with a full mouth. I’d thought about becoming the features editor, which is my dream position, but this would look better on my résumé.
Amelia locks her phone screen. “There’s still a couple of months left until we vote, but think about it.
Anyone who’s been there for at least one semester can add their name to the list, and you’ve been submitting articles to the paper since the spring before becoming an official reporter.
If you do well the rest of the semester, having the previous editor’s endorsement would bump you to the top. ”
I swallow and feel Kamila squeezing my shoulder with excitement.
“Yeah, yes. I’ll definitely think about it,” I stammer.
“Good.” Amelia nods and turns to where Ben is. “Since it looks like you’ve got everything handled, I’ll head back to the paper to get some work done. It was nice seeing you again, Kamila.”
She sticks her hand out, and Kami takes it. “You too, Amelia.”
And with that, she walks away. The moment she’s out the door, Kamila and I turn to each other and jump in excitement for a second before realizing how loud we’re being. We tone it down to a small, excited dance.
“Emma, you’re going to be an editor.” She wipes a nonexistent tear off her face. “They grow up so fast.”
I cover my ears with the back of my hands. “La la la la la. Don’t jinx it.”
“Hey!” Ben yells. Our heads swivel toward the photo shoot, where I find an annoyed-looking photographer and a serious-looking Grayson.
His lips twitch upward when his blue-green eyes meet mine, and I look away before I blush and focus all my attention on Ben.
“Would you mind checking the pictures to see if they work with your article?”
“Yes, sorry.” I put my empty cup on the table nearby and stuff the last bit of the donut into my mouth.
“I’m coming.” I stand next to the creepy freshman who’s smart enough to lean away from me as he flips through the pictures on the laptop.
Most of them are businesslike, which is great, but he looks too serious in all of them.
It’d be nice to get some candid shots, but the whole point of a candid is for it to be spontaneous.
If I ask Grayson to do them, he’ll either say no or feel out of place.
“Some of them came out a little blurry,” I lie.
“Can you fix it while I ask the professor a question for the article?” Ben looks at me, confused, until I motion him over.
“Come look.” He jogs over to us. “The pictures look fine,” I whisper, not looking away from the screen.
“But a few candids would be good, and if I ask him—”
“He’ll do the exact opposite of what we want him to,” Ben finishes, and I nod. He runs back to the camera. “Okay, Professor Hayes, I’m going to fix the camera and take a few more test shots.”
Grayson dips his chin and turns to me with his hands in his pockets. “What did you want to ask me, Ms. Haywood?”
Clearing my throat, I try to think of something appropriate that will make him smile. “Why don’t you tell me a bit more about the dynamic in the soup kitchen? Just elaborate on what I saw with Marina and the others.”
As soon as I mention Marina, a small smile appears. Click.