Everything: A Singed Wings Novel by Erin Noelle Page A

busy checking me out to notice my awkwardness. “It’ll take you a while to get used to locking and unlocking the door,” he continued, with his focus directed straight at me. “I still forget sometimes. They say it makes us safer, but it’s just a pain in the arse if you ask me.”
    “Hey, Mr. Carroll.” Everett strolled up next to us appearing casual as ever, exchanging some guy handshake thing with Liam. I glowered over at him, silently warning him to keep his mouth shut.
    “Everett! Already at tutoring on the second day of the semester?” he teased, playfully jabbing his elbow into Everett’s arm.
    Everett grinned his charming grin and shook his head. “Nah, just clearing up a misunderstanding from yesterday.” He cut his eyes over to me and chuckled softly. “But all’s good now. We worked it out. Right, Ms. Sloan?”
    “Yep, sure did. Everything is A-Okay,” I agreed, making a mental note if I ever did see his dick again to cut it off.
    “Perfect,” Everett said, then shifted his attention from me to Liam. “Mr. Carroll, I also planned to stop by and ask you something about the Poetry syllabus. Do you mind walking with me down to your class so I can pull it out?”
    Liam glanced over at me and offered an apologetic smile. “We’ll catch up later, okay? If you need me, you know where my room is.”
    “Yeah, sure,” I replied with a stunned nod as the two of them strolled out of my classroom, Everett asking Liam some bullshit question just to get him away from me. I wasn’t stupid. I knew exactly what he was doing. And if he continued to do it, Liam would catch on too. Which was exactly why nothing else could happen between us, even if he wasn’t the unfaithful piece of shit I’d thought he was. Or that he’d admitted that he felt that same pull when we met.
    That just made it harder. At least the other way I could hate him. Now, I’d just have to be strong.
    And be the adult I was supposed to be.

 
    THE TALK HADN’T gone as planned. But it wasn’t necessarily a failure either. We’d cleared up the Jayla-issue — well, sort of — and I managed to steal a quick kiss from her pink pouty lips. It wasn’t the toe-curling, dick-swelling kind of kiss from Friday night, but it served as a reminder to her of what we’d shared. And for a fleeting moment, she’d done just that — remembered . A fleeting moment that told me I still had a chance.
    In all honesty, I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. Belle Sloan was so far out of my league it wasn’t even funny, but for whatever reason, I just couldn’t let it go. I didn’t know much about her other than her name, the car she drove, where she worked, and how her body fit perfectly pressed up against mine, despite the vast height difference. But she did something to me, stirred up emotions I wasn’t used to, feelings I refused to ignore.
    A firm believer that everything happened for a reason, I wouldn’t accept our first meeting at Empty’s and then her turning out to be my teacher as pure coincidence. She showed up in my life for a reason, and I was determined to figure out what it was. Hopefully, it involved her being naked. A lot.
    “Hey, man, you off the rag yet or what?” Billy laughed as he caught up with me in the lunch line. “I thought for sure you were gonna pop Scott in the face yesterday. What in the hell happened?”
    I shrugged, paid for my cheeseburger and fries, and then strode across the cafeteria to the table I always sat at by the windows, all with Billy hot on my heels. Claiming my usual seat on the end, Billy did the same and plopped down across from me, still waiting for my answer.
    “Just had a shitty afternoon yesterday dealing with Jayla’s typical drama, acting like we’re together and pouting if I’m not up her ass, and I wasn’t in the mood to listen to him spout off a bunch of bullshit,” I finally replied.
    “Yeah, but that’s just Scott.” He snickered. “You know that. He’s always been that