DREARY UNDERTONE

Chapter 14

He dips his head, angling closer. “I’m looking for marks on your inner thighs.”

Oliver has left marks there, along with numerous other guys. The mean ones always do, grinding and bucking and lasting too long. But Mr. De la Croix doesn’t know about those other guys.

“My brother would never—”

“I’m not suggesting he would.”

My throat closes up. Has he already heard about my reputation? Is he checking for evidence of my behavior?

“You have a fairly dark complexion.” He looks up, studying my expression, too steadily, too deeply. “Easier to hide bruises.”

I choke on a nervous laugh. “My mom tells me I’m too pale. Hell, she complains she’s too pale, and she’s half-Black.”

“Lower your skirt.” He stands, hands anchored on his hips. “Tell me about your mother.”

I straighten the fabric around my legs. “Everyone says she looks like Halle Berry but—”

“I don’t care what she looks like. What does she do?”

Drugs. Men. When she doesn’t have both of those, she sits in her room and cries.

If I share that with him, he’ll probably smile at my misfortune. “She’s between jobs.”

“What was her position on your father selling his business for you?”

She hates me for it, so much so her lip curls whenever she looks at me.

“They argued about it.” I adjust the pin and buttons on my shirt. “She’s not happy about losing that fight, so don’t expect her to show up for parent-teacher conferences.”

“Human beings are miserable disasters. They make mistakes. Do the wrong things.” He rubs the back of his head. “If she doesn’t come around, that’s on her.”

Wow, that was…unexpected. Surprisingly thoughtful and really quite profound. Though now I wonder what kind of mistakes he makes. Hopefully none that will affect my goals.

He lowers his hand and makes a swirling motion. “Turn around and show me your back.”

My pulse spikes. More examinations? Only this time, I won’t be able to see his hands.

I open my mouth to argue, but the hard look in his eyes changes my mind.

With a deep inhale, I give him my back, hook shaky fingers under the shirt, and drag it from hips to armpits.

The creak of his leather shoes, the whisper of his breaths, the heat of his body, everything about him feels like a violation of privacy. I wish I could see his expression, because he’s likely abandoned his search of bruises to stare at the tattoo on my back. The faded scrollwork wraps from one side of my waist, up my spine, and curls around the opposite shoulder.

I brace myself for one of his sharp-voiced reprimands. I’m too young. Tats are too trashy. But I don’t care what his opinion is about this. The tattoo is personal and treasured and mine.

Without warning, his hands land on my back, not on my skin but on the folds of my shirt. He yanks the material from my grasp and shoves it to my waist.

Startled, I spin around. “What’s wrong?”

He’s farther away than I expected, several feet between us, with his hands clasped behind his back and his attention on the doorway.

I follow his gaze just as Ms. Perez walks in.

She pauses on the threshold, clutching the strap of her purse against her shoulder. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were with a student.” She flicks furtive glances between Mr. De la Croix and me, back and forth, up and down, and stops on me. “Hi, Noemi. Did you have a good summer?

I curl my toes against the marble, longing for my damn shoes. “Sure.”

“Awesome.” She returns her attention to my teacher, her hand lifting to trail up her neck, sweeping up and combing through a tendril of blonde hair. “Mr. De la Croix, will you be…uh…heading out soon?”

She stares at him the way my mom looks at her boyfriends, with over-bright eyes filled with adoration and stupidity.

Of all the music teachers, Ms. Perez is the youngest and prettiest. She’s also annoyingly nosy, but Leah raves about her, so I guess she’s a good strings teacher.

Mr. De la Croix c***s his head. “Miss Carter has private lessons until seven every night.”

I do?

A sudden lightness lifts my chest. Mrs. Wilson kept late hours to tutor me, but I hadn’t worked up the courage to ask him for extra time.

He stands so tall and confident beside me, feet planted wide, every inch of his posture sculpted with authority as he studies Ms. Perez. “I won’t be heading home soon. Tonight or any other night.”

“Oh.” Her face falls, and her whole body seems to deflate. “Okay. Well…”

The only thing she moves is a long slender leg as she drags the toe of her high-heel backward and rocks it on the floor behind her, lingering. Waiting for him to say something else?

Finally, she straightens. “I’m headed home.” She points down the hallway, laughing softly, smiling, and acting really f*****g weird. “So, I guess, have a good evening?”

The question in her voice bugs the piss out of me. He already told her he’s staying for my private lesson. She should go.

But then I would be alone with him again. How is it possible that I feel both possessive and terrified of him?

He ends her embarrassing shuffle with a firm, “Good night, Ms. Perez.”

As she vanishes into the hallway, I replay their conversation with subtext. “She just asked you out, didn’t she?”

He turns toward me with an irritated frown on his face. “That’s none of your business.”

Probably so, but I feel wonderfully dizzy about the whole exchange. I mean, he told her no. Not tonight or any night. Because he would be with me, helping me.

Maybe I didn’t screw things up as badly as I thought. “We’re doing piano lessons tonight?”

Cords twang in his neck. “No.”

“But you just said—”

“Here’s tonight’s lesson.” He erases the distance between us and leans into my space. “Don’t question me. Don’t lie to me. And never look away from me.” He straightens. “Sit down.”

Those are ridiculous demands, but I find myself falling into the chair and locking my eyes on his.

He scratches a finger down his whiskered throat and yanks on the collar behind his tie. Giving up on his attempt to loosen it, he crouches before me. “When did you get the ink?”

There’s no way I can answer his questions about it without lying, but I can give him this. “I was thirteen.”

Something flickers in his eyes. Comprehension? He knows how old I was when I lost Daddy— My dad. My father. God, even in my thoughts, I’m trying to please Mr. De la Croix. But maybe he’s right about my immaturity. If my dad were alive today, would I still be calling him Daddy?

Instead of asking questions about the tattoo, Mr. De la Croix reaches under my chair and drags my shoes toward his feet. His bend puts his face inches from my lap, but he keeps his eyes on mine as his arms move around my calves.

With his knees on either side of my legs, I don’t feel trapped, but my stomach squirms all the same. I don’t understand why he’s holding my beaten up ballet flat, why he’s examining the inside, or what he has planned for me next.

With my shoe in one hand, he reaches for my foot. The moment his fingers graze the back of my ankle, I jump in the seat.

He pins me with a flinty glare, his scowl at odds with the tender stroke of his hand. Unhurried, he caresses along my ankle, traces the bony knobs on the sides, and cups the heel of my foot, lifting it.

I’m tongue-tied, confused by the gentleness, lost in the sensation. The entire world narrows to the warmth of his palm, the careful way he slides my toes into the shoe, and the absolute concentration he gives the task.

He lowers my foot to the floor, and I exhale a chestful of air. Then he shifts toward my other leg.

Why is he doing this? What does he get out of it? Will he expect me to show him my boobs? Give him a blow job? s*x?

I jerk my foot out of his reach. “I can do this.”

He fists his hands on his legs and imprisons me with those frigid cobalt eyes. “What’s tonight’s lesson?”

“Don’t question you?”

Maybe this is a small thing to him, but it’s not to me. Men don’t touch me unless they want something, and his touch is freaking me out. It’s too nice. Too intimate. Way too intimate for a student and teacher.

He holds his palm out, waiting. I want to ask him what he wants from me, but that would be failing the lesson.

I move my foot toward his hand, and he gives it the same attention as before. Fragile strokes. Fingers like velvet wrapping around my breakable bones. Taking? Giving? I don’t know what this is. Every brush of his fingertips shoots tingles up my legs, making my heart flutter and my whole body hyper-aware. It scares me. He scares me.

When he slides the other shoe on, I tuck my feet beneath the chair, knees pinched together, dreading what he’ll demand next.

He rises, his expression dark beneath black brows and his breathing noisier than it should be. I know that needful look, that hungry sound. My blood runs cold.

Now is the time to run, but my feet aren’t moving. Why? I need his permission, I think.

I want his permission.

Turning toward the desk, he presses his hands against the surface. “Go home, Miss Carter.”

Relief shimmies down my spine, but it gets cut off by my next thought.

I can take any one of the exits out of Crescent Hall, race through the parking lot or the park, zigzag along the streets to the bus stop. Doesn’t matter which way I go. Harry will catch up. He’ll find me. He always does.

Then home. Where Oliver might be waiting. Where Jeremy might be f*****g on my bed.