His Model Student: A Student-Teacher Romance

60. Weirdness

[RECAP: Sera has just spent the night with Mr Marek in his London flat...]

Sun streamed through the garret windows as Sera woke in Tarq's arms the next morning. She felt safe. She felt home.

She decided to try a little attention of her own and kissed his chest, wriggling down to try and wake him in a particular way.

Just as her mouth closed over him he woke and groaned. "Sera..."

But he let her carry out what she was doing for a while before he pulled her back up, threw her over and finished inside her.

She loved his urgency, his need for her.

Afterwards he showed her the bathroom so she could shower. Sera couldn't help having a quick glance around to see if there were any trace of Victoria. She trusted Tarq in that nothing had happened, she had seen the genuine dislike on his face when he finally got rid of the blonde woman, but maybe Victoria had stayed here? There were other bedrooms.

But there was nothing that indicated a recent female presence. A single toothbrush, male bath products only. Sera supposed Victoria could have used Tarq's but she looked like the kind of woman who would have had her own ultra-expensive brands.

Victoria was definitely someone who liked to establish her presence: Sera had noticed several feminine touches at Tarq's other house the previous evening.

There was no fresh food in the house so they went out for breakfast to a nearby café. Both of them had worked up an appetite again.

"You don't think your stuff will get trashed, do you?" Sera asked him. She had been troubled by Lois's suggestion.

"I doubt it. She'd want to do something worse than that if she did plan on revenge. But I think she knows she's beaten."

Sera hoped so but remained uneasy. She played with a couple of croissant crumbs on her plate.

Tarq tried to reassure her. "Besides, she's well aware of all the business Lionel and Maurice do. One bad word from Lionel and Maurice will play even tougher with the divorce settlement. As it stands he probably plans to be reasonably generous, if for no other reason than to see the back of her."

There was something else that niggled Sera. She wasn't sure how to phrase it. "Was she... very persistent?"

His eyes glinted with amusement as he guessed what she was trying to ask. "You mean did she try to pick the lock on my door or slip me a Mickey Finn? No, it was more about appearances for her. She's not in love with me, she just wanted the status. Then she could claim that she'd run out on her husband rather than been sent packing."

"She wasn't trying to make him jealous?" Sera asked.

Tarq tore open a packet of sugar and poured half into his coffee. He picked up a spoon and stirred the fragrant black liquid. "Have you heard the term 'lavender marriage'?"

Now Sera felt embarrassed for not guessing this before. It tallied with a couple of remarks that Lionel had made, as well explained why Maurice hadn't thrown Victoria out when she first started sleeping around. Then she had a sudden concern.

"Lionel... he isn't... as well...?"

Tarq laughed.

"Good God no. Though he's quite prepared to give any impression if he senses it will win him a business deal or a favourable review. Are you worried about Lois?"

"A little," Sera admitted.

"Don't be. He's smitten." He took her hand and looked into her eyes. "And he's not the only one."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. You're the first girl I've ever taken here. I inherited the flat after my mother died, an elderly uncle had left it to her. I planned to set up a studio in there as the light's not bad in the second south-west facing bedroom. But then I stopped painting," he told her.

Sera remembered what he had said to her when he had showed her the stormy seascape. "Until now."

"Until seeing you naked on that community centre couch awoke every single instinct within me." The heat in his eyes told her that these instincts were not solely artistic.

* * * 

The route back took them past Russell Square Underground station, just a stone's throw from Tarq's flat.

"It's only one stop to Saint Martins on the tube from here," Sera said. She had no idea where she would get student accommodation next year, probably miles out, but at least her college would be nearby.

And if he ever invited her to stay the night, something she fervently hoped, it would be a very easy commute the next morning.

Tarq didn't say anything and she wondered if he had understood. "It would make it easier to meet up." She hoped this wasn't presumptuous. "I mean when we're both in London next year."

Still he said nothing and now Sera felt slightly anxious. Maybe he didn't really have any intentions towards her. He had spoken of June and wanting to see her then, but perhaps all he had in mind was a summer romance? Or a fling?

His demeanour now didn't seem to match his words before. Or had she come on too strong? She wished she hadn't said anything. An irrational fear ran through her mind that maybe she hadn't been good enough in bed?

This fear was assuaged half an hour later when he absolutely ravished her body leaving them both exhausted and sated.

"I suppose you can put your studio in now," she said as they lay there.

"Perhaps." He sounded non-committal. He looked lost in thought.

Sera was really getting mixed signals from him and it was making her panic. But pushing for a response and getting nothing made her feel even worse. She remembered how he had seemed to find it so easy to switch off and treat her with cool detachment in class.

Could it be that he could turn off his emotions just as easily? Did "smitten" imply something intense but temporary?

When he drove them back home an hour or so later the atmosphere had grown horribly awkward between them. Sera wondered what on earth she had done.