Loving Teacher (3 page)

Well
, Nikki thought,
I certainly don’t have to worry about not having any unsatisfied needs or wants
. Just for a moment embracing the heat that was still pulsing between her legs, she dared to reach down with her hand. Briefly clamping down on her pussy through her skirt and panties, she thought,
I’ve got plenty of those
. Then, taking her hand away before she could get herself into real trouble and forcing herself to shake loose of the insanity her body was promoting (
That would be the values part of Mark’s commentary
, she reminded herself pointedly), she took up her red pen and wrote at the bottom of the page,
Very well written — I’m in complete agreement
.
 

She took her time reading the rest of it, a full two pages altogether, before writing
Another beautiful essay
at the very end.
 

Working through the last bell, she stayed in her room grading more papers during her customary extra hour in case anyone had anything they wanted to bring up. Few students did, although Jerry and his two minions often used it as an excuse to come pester her. She didn’t care and even welcomed the distraction on occasion, except that as time went on she’d come to like Jerry less and less. He seemed like a great kid on the outside, but she couldn’t get past the feeling that something cold and slimy was on the inside.

Looking at her watch, she decided it was time to go. Gathering up the papers, she slid them into her rather battered leather satchel, grabbed her purse, and headed outside. With a frown, she saw that the weather forecasters might actually be right for a change: they’d predicted afternoon rain, and the dark clouds overhead certainly looked like they might open up, although so far a drop had yet to fall.

Getting in her car, she started it up. The V8 rumble of the old Monte Carlo, which her father had given her as a college graduation present, never failed to please her. After pulling out of her spot, she drove through the parking lot, which was nearly empty. A major bonus of staying a little late was avoiding the mass exodus of cars at the end of school.
 

But today, instead of heading out the north entrance as she usually did, she headed out the west entrance. She had to head across town before she went home, and this would take her directly to the street she needed.

As she turned the corner near the tennis courts, she saw a solitary figure walking alongside the road ahead of her, and immediately knew who it was: Mark. He had changed out of his regular jeans and t-shirt and was wearing nothing but a pair of black compression shorts and gym shoes. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, a tank top hanging from one of the loops. Sweat glistened on his back, legs, and shoulders like his skin had been oiled, and his body was even more attractive than she’d guessed. His hair was an unruly damp mop of dark brown, and she wanted nothing more than to run her hands through it.

“You’re insane,” she breathed, a blaze of heat again igniting between her thighs. She knew from checking his schedule that he didn’t have any PE classes, so he must’ve been in the gym on his own, working out. While Nikki had done her share of wild things when she had been younger, she’d never done anything outright stupid. But she was afraid she was about to.

Mark had his headphones on and didn’t hear her car until she was just a few yards behind him. Startled, he whipped around, then — seeing it was her — smiled and waved. She swallowed, forcing her eyes away from his well defined chest and abs.
 

Don’t do it
, the voice of reason desperately pleaded.
Just wave and keep going!

Ignoring the voice, she pulled up beside him and stopped. Leaning over, she rolled down the window (one thing she didn’t like about the old car was that it had the old manual window cranks). “Hey, need a ride?”

“Well, ahhh…” Mark stammered.

“It’s going to rain soon and you’re going to get soaked! Come on, get in. I’ll give you a ride home.”

Mark gestured at his body. “I’m kind of a mess, you know. I don’t think you want to get your car all sweaty.”

She laughed, and she hoped he didn’t notice the edge of nervousness in her voice. “It’s seen lots worse than that, and sorry for all the junk in here. I’m a slob. Get in, buster.”

“Okay,” he said, wearing a look on his face like he’d won the lottery. He opened the heavy door and plopped down on the seat, which was the original seat that spanned the width of the interior and was the same maroon color as the car’s exterior. “Thanks, but you really don’t have to. I don’t mind the rain.”

“You’re crazy, you know that?” She shook her head, smiling, as she tossed her attache in the back seat. As she did so, she inwardly cringed when she caught sight of the
Encyclopedia of Sex
and her panties in the back seat. He couldn’t not have seen them, and part of her was glad. She breathed in the scent of his sweat, which also carried an undertone of musk that stoked the heat between her legs.
You’re a fucking idiot
, her conscience chastised her.
He’s a fucking dream
, the voice that she always though of as the pitchfork-wielding devil crowed in reply. “So,” she asked after clearing her throat, “where to?”

“My place is pretty close. Just turn left onto the main road, then make another left in a mile. Half a mile after that and we’re there.”

“No problem.” When the light changed green, she accelerated smoothly, if a bit faster than normal, through the turn, unable to help herself from showing off the big V-8’s power.

Mark giggled.
 

“What?”

“I could just imagine Mr. O’Neil complaining about women drivers.”

They both had a good laugh at that.
 

She drove on, wishing that he lived farther away, that they might have more time like this, even if just a few extra minutes. “So what do your parents do?” she asked, unsure of what else she could say that wouldn’t be dangerous.

“They’re off in Africa doing humanitarian work,” he said.
 

That shocked her. “Seriously? Wow, that’s amazing!” She paused. “But wait a minute: they just left you home?”

He shrugged. “Sure, it’s no big deal. I’m fine on my own. They had an opportunity to do something really great and I told them to go for it. I’ll probably do something like that next year, depending on where I am with college. Assuming I decide to go.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“I want to get out in the world and see what I can see,” he said as she pulled up at a red light. “I’m not sure I want to go to school for another four years yet. I might want to later. I don’t know.”

On an impulse, she reached over and put her hand on his arm, luxuriating in the feel of his skin beneath her fingertips. “I’m sure you’ll be great at whatever you do.”

“Thanks,” he said. But this time, instead of a shy smile and lowering his eyes, he held her gaze steady. Her insides seemed to melt and flow like molten steel, and she couldn’t seem to look away. Her throat began to constrict and her pulse thundered in her ears.
 

A horn honking behind her jarred her from her reverie, and with a nervous laugh she pulled her hand away from him, gripped the wheel as if she were hanging on to it for dear life, and hit the gas.
 

They rode in silence the rest of the short distance to his house, where Nikki pulled up to the sidewalk and stopped.
 

Turning to face her, Mark said, “Thanks for the ride.”
 

Meeting his gaze only for a moment, she replied, a bit breathless, “Sure. Any time.”

He opened the door and got out, closing it behind him. With a wave, he headed toward the house as she pulled away from the curb, cursing herself for being a fool even as her cunt tortured her with the wet heat of desire.

CHAPTER FIVE

Mark spent the rest of the week in stealth mode during Nikki’s class. Giving him a ride home, which in any other situation would have been an innocuous act of kindness, had lit a fire inside him that he knew was ridiculously dangerous. Had he been the one facing the danger, he might not have been so concerned, but Nikki would be the one facing the firing squad: she would lose her job if the merest hint, so much as a rumor, got out that there was anything at all between them. Hers was a position of the highest trust and responsibility, and the school board and the district’s parents wouldn’t give a damn if he was a consenting adult or not. She’d be fired and, worse, blacklisted from ever teaching again. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, do that to her.
 

Of course, he also knew that his worries might be totally unfounded, that the moment they’d shared as they stared into one another’s eyes, Nikki’s hand on his arm, was only a “moment” in his imagination, and that Nikki felt nothing more toward him than she did for any of her other students. But he didn’t think so. He could feel the electricity crackling between them, which was something he’d never experienced before, and from her reaction, her nervous laughter that was so out of character for her, he knew she’d felt it, too.

“It doesn’t matter,” he muttered to himself as he slammed his locker shut and locked it. Hefting his backpack, he trudged across the lower level of the circular classroom building, heading home. It was Friday, and he’d decided to skip the gym. He knew he should go and blow off some steam on the pommel horse, but he couldn’t stand the likely possibility of encountering Mr. Parsons, who was both chair of the PE department and the head football coach. Mark loathed the man, and Parsons made no bones about loathing him in return.

Trying to forget about Parsons, about Nikki, about Jerry and the other assholes he had to deal with, he picked up his pace, bobbing and weaving through the sea of teenagers rushing to make good their escape for the weekend.
 

It was only when he’d reached the parking lot and saw her car that he realized he’d forgotten to give Nikki the final draft of the current essay the class had been working on, which had been due today. He’d been so intent on being invisible that he’d completely forgotten it. He didn’t remember her reminding everyone to turn it in, but she must have; she always did. He must have just tuned her out.
You’re such a dumbass
. He stopped in his tracks, his mind trapped in a loop of indecision. He knew she would cut him some slack if he turned it in on Monday. Even if she didn’t, his average for the class was ninety-eight percent and a few points marked off on a single assignment would hardly hurt his grade.
 

On the other hand, he hated to disappoint her, even in such a minor way. And, despite his vow not to do the slightest thing to explore what had happened between them the other day, he couldn’t deny the intense desire to see her without the rest of the class around.

“Fuck,” he cursed. Despite his better judgement, he turned around and headed back into the circle and Nikki’s classroom.

By the time he got there, the circle had completely emptied out. The only person in sight was Mrs. Tyler, who did double duty between the cafeteria serving line and after hours on the janitorial staff. Mentally girding his loins, he reached for the doorknob of Nikki’s room and tried to turn it.

It was locked.
 

“Crap,” he said. She must have gone to the office. He probably should’ve just hung out by her car, but…no. On reflection, that wouldn’t have been such a good idea. Figuring that she probably went to the office before heading home, he decided to check there. If he couldn’t find her after that, he’d just wait until Monday.

He was just turning away from the door when he heard a noise from inside the classroom that sounded like a chair scraping the floor. With a frown, he leaned close to the door and put his ear against it. A cold chill ran through him as he heard male voices speaking in quiet tones. One of them, he was positive, belonged to Jerry Kennedy.

Dropping his backpack to the floor, he raced over to where Mrs. Tyler, who stood all of four foot eight and might’ve weighed eighty pounds, was just entering another classroom to clean.

“Mrs. Tyler!”

She looked up at him, her eyes blinking rapidly. “Yes?”

“Can you open Ms. Baumann’s room?”

“I can,” she gestured to the set of keys on a huge ring that hung from her cleaning cart, “but I haven’t gotten to it yet.”

“I’m sorry,” he told her, snatching the key ring. “I’ll explain later!”

“Hey, come back here with those!” While she might have been petite and forty years older than Mark, Mrs. Tyler was no pushover: she charged right after him.

As Mark ran, he flipped through the keys. Fortunately, Mrs. Tyler was a stickler for orderliness, and all the keys were on the ring in order, the room numbers stamped into each one.

He grabbed the one for Nikki’s room and, skidding to a stop in front of the door, rammed it into the deadbolt and turned it before flinging the door open.

Stepping inside, he saw exactly what he’d feared: Jerry’s two goons were holding Nikki down over her desk. They’d taped a gag over her mouth, and she looked up at Mark with wide, terrified eyes. Behind her stood Jerry, face flushed with lust, his hand frozen in the act of unzipping his pants.
 

Everyone froze.

“You little shit!” Mrs. Tyler cursed as she came huffing up beside Mark, snatching her keys from his hand. “I should…” She looked at what was happening at the front of the classroom and blinked. “…call security!” Turning, she pumped her arms and legs as she ran back to her cart and her walkie-talkie.

With a metallic rip, Jerry zipped up his pants and stepped around the desk. “I’m going to kill you, you little fuck.”

“How the hell did you think you could get away with this?” Mark asked. “Parsons won’t be able to cover for you this time like he did when you raped Cynthia Torres.”

 
The larger of Jerry’s companions, who played center for the football team and outweighed Mark by at least eighty pounds, left Nikki in the tender care of the third boy, who held her arms painfully twisted behind her back. Her eyes widened further and she shook her head, her voice muffled by the gag.