Above & Beyond ✔

42. Walking on a Thin Ice

Once my brain finally caught up with what was happening, I detached myself from Blake's hold.

"Am I interrupting something?" Dean asked while his eyes shifted back and forth on me and Blake.

"N-no," I stammered. "What are you doing here?"

Dean ignored my question and narrowed his eyes at Blake. I was hoping Dean didn't recognize him since Blake was from a different faculty and was more on the research project team, but once Dean frowned at him in disbelief, I knew the night was bound to get ugly.

Dean glared at me. "Seriously, Jen?"

"I can explain," I replied quickly before realizing that was a stupid thing to say, confirmed by Blake's eyes boring into the side of my head. "I mean, can we talk about this inside?" I retracted my keys from my bag and handed them to Dean. "Nadine is home, can you ring the bell first to make sure she's decent? I'll be right behind you."

Dean took my keys without tearing his gaze from the man in front of him, while Blake was being Blake. He stared back at Dean with his default expression: guarded and unreadable. Dean took a few steps closer to him, urging me to scoot in front of Blake, blocking Dean from getting direct access to him.

"Dean? Inside, plea–" before I finished my line, Blake's hands were on my waist, gently pushing me to the side.

"I believe we haven't officially met." Blake extended his hand to Dean. "You must be the famous Dean. It's nice to finally meet you in person. I'm Blake."

Dean didn't take his hand. "I know who you are. And what kind of game are you playing? Are you blackmailing Jen to do this?"

"What the hell, Dean?" I said.

"No," Blake replied. "At the moment, Jenny and I don't have any direct academic involvement to give me the power to blackmail her. Not that I would do it if it was the case."

"Whatever. Jen is still a student and you're a professor at our university. It's still wrong, man."

"I'm aware of our situation, yet we're also two consenting adults who made this decision together."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dean took a step closer, making me shift on my feet with anticipation. "The campus will not approve this and you're just going to drag her into trouble!"

"That's not how–"

"Maybe it's fun for you to mess around with your students, huh? But there are plenty of young girls on campus you can screw over," Dean sneered. "Leave Jen out of this. I will not let you do this to her."

Blake had been keeping his cool but from the way his jaws clenched, he was close to losing it. "I'm not messing around with Jenny. And why do I feel like I need your permission to see her?"

"Jen is my friend. You mess with her, you mess with me." Dean's green eyes blazed with anger as his hands curled into fists. At the same time, Blake straightened up his posture. The tension was getting unbearably thick.

Without thinking twice, I jumped in and stood between the two men who were now throwing daggers at each other. The testosterone level was way too high. I needed to do something.

"Stop this, you two, please!" I begged them before turning myself to Dean. "Wait for me inside. Now," I said in a low tone. "I'm not joking, Dean. Or I won't talk to you again. Ever."

Dean, who had started breathing heavier, finally glanced down at me. For a second I thought he was going to ignore me and pounce on Blake, but he gave in. "Fine."

"Thank you."

He glared back at Blake one more time. "I'm watching you, yeah?" With that, he turned on his heels and headed to his jeep.