Enemies with Benefits

Chapter Sixteen

She turned for another section of the store, but my attention was already back on the garment in my hands. Skimming my thumb over the skimpy thong paired with the sexy top, I felt my lip pull up at the corner in anticipation. And sheer dumb hope that she'd even wear it for me.

When my phone began to buzz in my pocket, I rolled my eyes with a growl at the interruption of my second daydream and jerked it out.

"What?"

Sobs sniffled in from the other end. "C-Caleb? Can you come over?"

A moment of panic gripped me, and I pulled the screen from my cheek to check the name of the caller. Audrey Pierce.

"What is it, Ms. Pierce?"

"Daddy, he—" sniffle, "he—" sniffle and near choke, "he's gone. He left, and I don't think he's coming back."

My head dropped back on my shoulders. Give me strength.

_

"Are you kidding me? I needed you and you just...ignored that? What kind of man are you, Caleb?"

Audrey spat the words at me, and I had to hold back my eyeroll at her dramatics. She'd stomped into my office in a fitting flare of attitude with her heels clacking against the tile the entire way down the hallway. I could spot her moods without even seeing her, and I didn't like it. She'd started giving me chills in the worst of ways, and I had a feeling it would only get worse if I didn't nip it in the ass.

Tenure was a hellacious thing when it wasn't even supposed to be offered at the school anymore, but since she'd started here and fucked Dean Williams to secure her safety as a shitty professor, the lines were blurring on how to get rid of her.

"Caleb! Stop fucking ignoring me!"

When Audrey stepped forward and snapped her pale little fingers a mere inch from my face, my teeth ground together. And when that reaction wasn't enough for her and she wrenched her arm back and started it towards my face with an opened hand, my instant recoil had me striking out and wrapping my fingers around her wrist. I gripped her hard enough to hold her in place from doing it again.

"I highly suggest you rethink your actions and attitude, Ms. Pierce. I don't take kindly to threats, and I'm not afraid to remind you of your place. Try that again and I guarantee your daddy leaving your spoiled ass behind will be the least of your issues. Are we clear?"

Her lips smacked together, and she sucked in a deep breath through her surgeon-made nose. With a grimace and a growl, she nodded and fought to free her wrist of my hold. Only when her hand fell limp from its open-palm position did I release her wrist, all but throwing it back down towards her side.

"As fun as that was to witness, I need to have a chat with the dean here."

My eyes snapped over to the new voice in the room just in time to watch Rachel waltz in. She held my gaze while she made her way over towards the desk, propping her hip on the corner, a move that had Audrey stepping back a foot under the embarrassment and scrutiny she didn't want more of.

Audrey forced a scoff of indifference. "Whatever."

"Don't forget to close the door when you leave!" Rachel called at the blonde's back, her shoulders shaking with following laughter.

When the door slammed, I raised a brow and waited for the feisty brunette all but sitting on my desk to speak. She stared at me another few moments, her breathing even though her eyes were on a rampage I wasn't sure I was ready for.

Her arms uncrossed, revealing a bundled ball of the lingerie tucked into her chest that I'd set in the drawer of her room's desk. "What the hell is this?"