“Then, Thursday, after the humiliating elf gig at the pep rally—”
Lauren sighed sympathetically. “That really was too much. Your mother took that whole thing too far. I’m sorry. I feel like I should have done more to put a stop to it. Volunteered myself or something.”
Aaron waved the thought away. “I think she wanted to avoid any sort of ‘sexy elf’ issues that may have come up by having one of the women teachers dressed up in front of the boys.” Aaron knew he really should admit that it wasn’t his mother’s fault that he’d stood up in front of all of his students in an elf costume, that it was his own damn idiocy, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Lauren looked pleased that Aaron thought she was hot enough to bring the threat of “sexy elf” to the middle school pep rally.
Aaron added, “So I was having a rough day.”
“You should have called me.”
“I know, but he texted me before I could.”
Lauren tilted her head and gave him a narrow-eyed once-over. “Why’d you even give him your number?”’
“Christ. I’m allowed to give the men I fuck my number, Lauren.”
“I know, I know, this is just…” She grabbed her coffee, closed her eyes, and sipped it again, seeming to get herself together. “Go on. I’m sorry. I’m listening.”
“So we texted Thursday. That’s all.”
“Sexted?”
“Maybe.”
Lauren moaned. “He’s a former student, Aaron! What were you thinking? After everything before? With Coach McAllister? That was such a close call for you. And now this?”
Aaron rubbed hand over his face again, his cheeks even hotter, and leaned back. “For God’s sake, he’s a grown man who’s fucked his way across half of Europe and all of America from what I can tell. He can make up his own mind whether or not to fuck a former teacher. I have no power to lord over him now. He received his entirely well-deserved C-minus from me ages ago. There’s no changing it and I wouldn’t even if I could.”
Lauren moved from his desk to the chair again, crossed her legs, and glanced over her shoulder to make sure the door to Aaron’s classroom was still firmly closed. “I know all that, and it’s all true. But Aaron it just isn’t done. Former students are…off limits. Taboo. It’s just…hinky.”
“Normally, I’d agree. But this is different.”
“How?”
“He’s more experienced than I am. He’s a man.”
“He’s the man?”
“Don’t even go there. Not even as a joke.”
Lauren held her hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. Sorry. We’ve been close for how long now? Since grad school, right? I just don’t want to see you make your life harder than it already is. You struggle so much dealing with your mom, and not being out at school, and all the rest. The McAllister mess just made everything worse. You have that ding against you and…Aaron, I just want you to be happy.”
“My life is good. I am happy,” Aaron said. “I’m a homeowner, my cat loves me, and I have you as my friend.” And RJ in the sack, for however long that lasts.
“And I’m just trying to watch your back. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I know. But you don’t need to worry about that.”
Lauren cocked a brow skeptically.
“RJ’s just in town for the holidays. There’s an expiration date on this affair, Lauren.” Not exactly true anymore, after what they’d agreed to the day before, but he didn’t know how to explain that. RJ would leave and it would likely end anyway. This explanation was easier.
Plus, he wasn’t sure there was an expiration date on his dissatisfaction with staying in the closet at school to soothe his mother’s sensibilities. If this weekend had proven anything, it was that by denying himself what he most wanted in life in order to keep from losing his job and his mom, he wasn’t actually saving anything. Much less himself.
“So, he’s bored and you’re just a bit of fun for him? Meaningless sex? That’s all?” Lauren asked.
Aaron blinked up at her in shock. “Is that what you think of me? That the only thing someone would want from me is meaningless sex?”
