Chapter 1
Too. Damn. Perfect. He hated her for that. But at the same time, that was what made her so irresistible. Unattainable. Unexpected. He pushed her from his mind. He didn't even know her name for Christ's sake. He shouldn't be thinking about her. He sighed slightly and got back to work.
Fifty multiple choice essays later, he got up, stretched, and grabbed his jacket and headed out. Funny how things worked out, wasn't it? If anyone had asked him three years ago what he thought he'd be doing by now it sure as hell wouldn't have been this shit. Being an assistant professor had its good points, but in general it wasn't all that exciting, not compared to what his life had been like. It wasn't even who he really was, he didn't have the personality for it. But it was a way to get by, until he figured out what he was going to do.
Three years ago Holden had had his sights set on working for the force, but had realized halfway through training that he was no one's drone, and that what he was doing didn't make up for what he had done. He was a different person now. He missed some of it though. Some of the guys, the stories, the crazy adrenaline rushes. His body had become a ripped machine. He worked hard to keep it in the exact condition he left in. That was the biggest perk. Jackasses didn't fuck with him, girls checked him out.
Holden walked to his car, got in, and drove to the gym. He had to go, it was more than just keeping himself in shape though, it was a way for him to release, get his anger, aggression, frustration out. It kept the darkness at bay. Two hours later he was in the shower, soaping off his sweat. When he got out he called Matt, who had become his best friend over the past couple years. This was unusual for Holden, who didn't generally have "best friends." Matt and he had clicked though, and was important in his life now, and before he knew it he was back in his car, on the way over to one of Matt's football parties. Holden wasn't even that into football, but going to the party was a good excuse to kick back and chill, to be social. Hell, he might even meet some girls there. The prospect of getting some didn't excite him that much though. It had been a long time since he had last gotten laid, and it hadn't been all that great. He hated that. If it wasn't going to be good sex, he would almost rather just take care of himself at home watching porn . When was the last time that he had had good sex? At least a year....
He pulled up at Matt's house, and was surprised by how many cars were there. Nice cars too, he saw a new Beemer, an Escalade, and a Range Rover. Walking up he was somewhat relieved to see a Civic or two and some more "normal" cars. Matt knew some high-end people, and Holden didn't want this to be some spoiled-rich kid gambling party. He never would fit in with that sort of crowd, they didn't understand him, couldn't. That was the other thing, Holden didn't get along with people who's lives had been easy, effortless. People who had never been through anything. Even though Matt was not some prime example of hardship in life, he seemed to... understand it, in some way.
He walked in to a decently full house, a couple of kegs were out, and there were people in different rooms, not just the one with the game on. That was good, it meant he wasn't obligated to act like a bro cheering and hollering and throwing shit at the screen. He said hi to Matt and a couple of guys he knew. There were some pretty cute girls there, and some okay girls.... He grabbed a beer and started talking to some people, when something caught his attention. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something down the hall, but as soon as he saw it, it was gone. He turned his attention back to the guy he was talking to.
Later, going to get another beer, the same thing happened. But it didn't disappear this time. She was blonde, with long hair that was straight for the occasion. She was wearing little tiny daisy duke type shorts, and one of those girly shirts that's supposed to look like a jersey but shows way to much midriff and is way to tight to actually do anything in. Those killer legs were tan and taught, the best legs he had ever seen. Her stomach was flat and toned, with those little vertical lines that run down on either side of the bellybutton, which was little more that a tiny slit on her. From what he could see of her ass, from the way she was turned, it looked good. Her breasts were full-she had to be at least a C cup, probably more. The tiny shirt stretched over them. He looked up at that face- pouty nude lips, green eyes framed in long lashes, and arched brows. She had painted black underneath both eyes, and the effect was that she looked like some powder-puff pinup.
What was her name? He hadn't matched names to faces yet, it was only a month into the semester, and he had mostly just done a lot of grading the minor stuff and helping to prep lectures.... He realized that she had caught him blatantly checking her out. Fuck. Luck saved him, he knew the girl that she was talking to, so he came up with some lame "Hey, Sarah how's it going?" or otherwise somewhat civilly generic form of greeting and excused himself.
In the other room one of Matt's friends walked through, "Damn man, did you see some of those girls? They sure are ready for some kind of tackling... especially that blonde! Did you see that ass? Fuck me!" Of course Holden had seen. Although this was the first time he had seen her outside of class, and in so little clothing. He had definitely noticed her though, it would take a blind man not to. Even at that, they could probably smell her or hear her or something and know that she must be hot. He stayed away from her the rest of the party, he didn't quite trust the combination of alcohol and being in her presence, he could get fired for sexual harassment for just flirting with her. He didn't need to be affected by a girl, anyways. It didn't matter that he wasn't a full on professor. Anyone hired by the University could
not
fraternize with a student.
Chapter 2
The next week, Holden had to teach class, the class that
she
was in. Dr. Martin had asked him to hand out the test and go over it, as he was going to be late due to some political theory conference. Holden would be finding her name out... Students filed in, the eager ones coming in first and sitting in the front, then the average students or quiet ones in the middle and back. She came in, and for the first time, she looked more sexy than usual for class. Nothing outlandish, just tight white track pants and a tiny white tank that bordered on being see-through. He could see the color of her bra, and it was either a very bright red or pink. A couple of other guys checked out the four or five inches of exposed midriff too, but that was different. They were students. They didn't have to worry about what would happen if they exposed their more primal urges. Holden did. So if they looked at the way those low rise white pants clung to her ass, or those two little dimples on her lower back... They weren't risking their job. Or their reputation as being a serious, smart, graduate. Or their hold on their self-control... something that was very, very important to Holden.
He shook his head. "Alright, let's get started here. Doc Martin is at a political conference, he's going to be late. So I get the pleasure of passing out tests and going over them with you. You guys did okay, but only a few got A's and a bunch of you got C's and there were too many D's and F's. We're going to look at why." He walked around the room, handing the tests out. "Jacob Barnes."
Some clean cut prepster raised his hand. "Over here."
"Carlos Hernandez," Holden called out. A wannabe ghetto kid nodded his head. He kept calling out names, wondering which one was going to result in the blonde. "Brittney Jones." He was actually relieved when a slightly thick girl with a ponytail in overly trendy clothes answered. She had failed the test miserably, and he didn't like the idea of "Miss Perfect" being a bimbo- there were enough dumb blondes in the world. Not too mention his seething intolerance for blind stupidity.
"Vera Madison."
"Over here," a female voice said, with the slightest hint of amusement. He turned. Green eyes stared back at him, almost challenging. He swallowed hard, and felt his jaw tighten. He passed her the paper. A hot pink strap slipped off her shoulder. She had actually gotten an 'A' on the test, second highest grade in the class in fact. So she wasn't an idiot... interesting.
Class went by uneventfully. The professor showed up halfway through, and Holden took off to the little room he used as a pseudo-office/storage for Dr. Martin's materials. Almost an hour later there was a knock on the door. "Come in, h said, not looking up from his laptop, annoyed at being disturbed.
"Am I interrupting?" a voice purred. Startled, Holden looked up. Leaning against the door frame, the hot blonde, or apparently, Vera Madison, stood.
"Um, yeah, can I help you?" Holden said, turning in his chair.
"Depends. I think you graded my test incorrectly," she walked over to him. "You see?" she pointed to one of the essay questions. "You wrote that I didn't answer the question. But I did, I explained it entirely," she stood in front of him, leaning against his desk.
"The question asks what your thought on the proposed reform of the Electoral College is, and which Senator you agree with. You gave an alternate proposal, which is not what it asked for," Holden replied.
"That's because I don't agree with either Senator! I don't agree with the Electoral College, at all. So I did say what my thoughts on it were. My thoughts were that it needed to not only be reformed, but done away with completely. I explain that." She stared at him, her face serious.
