Chapter 23 - Mr. Santiago
I spun my lock, trying to enter the correct combination for the hundredth time this morning, but failing once again because my hands refused to stop shaking. Ever since Jace had called me this morning to tell me that today was his parole hearing and that he'd call me later this afternoon to tell me how it went and whether to come pick him up or not, my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I was incredibly nervous, and rightfully so.
The severity of what I had done at the club yesterday hadn't quite sunk in until I had gotten back to my hotel room. I flipped out at West—the green-eyed psychopath who claimed to hold the fate of my brother's parole hearing in his cold blooded hands. To say I had reacted like a dumb-ass is an understatement, and now all I could do was hope and pray that my actions wouldn't backfire on Jace. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even hear someone approaching until AJ's voice cut through my thoughts.
"Damn Willow, did you develop a speed addiction recently?" AJ asked cupping my hands together between his larger hands to stop them from shaking.
"I'm fine, don't worry. I just had one too many cups of coffee this morning." I said looking up and giving AJ a genuine smile. Like usual he wore his chocolate brown hair gelled up in a sort of quiff and a black distressed nirvana t-shirt that made his tan and muscular arms look especially ripped.
"Am I interrupting something?" Slate asked sarcastically as he walked up beside us with Christian and Alec in tow.
"Yeah, I was actually just about to get down on one knee and propose, do you think you could come back in a few minutes?" AJ responded, rolling his eyes at Slate. "Seriously, the f*ck did you think I was doing? Willow's hands are shaking like a goddamn chihuahua and I was trying to stop them." AJ said removing his hands from around mine so everyone could see my shaky hands.
"What the hell?"
"What's wrong?"
"Are you on drugs?"
The questions flooded out of Slate, Christian and Alec's mouths like water breaking through a dam and I literally had to yell "GUYS!" to get them to be quiet. Although, I couldn't deny that their responses were hilariously adorable, who knew that all it took was some shaky hands to scare the bad boys?
It also made my heart melt that they all care so much just about my well being... my parents never worried much about it unless it affected them, and Jace has been locked up an hour away for the last few months so I've been on my own for a while now and I guess I forgot what it felt like.
"You guys are acting like I'm having a stroke or something. It's so sweet that you guys are worried about me but you don't need to be. I'm A-Okay, like I told AJ a couple seconds ago, I just drank too much coffee this morning and it makes me jumpy." I said giving them an extra wide smile to sell my words. Alec, AJ and Christian all seemed pretty convinced by my words and they all let out a small chuckle before changing the subject and talking about some basketball game that was on the night before.
When I looked at Slate I noticed he was studying me silently with an impassive expression on his face. I wasn't surprised in the least, he always sees right through me. I haven't quite decided whether I love or hate the fact that he always pays such close attention to me...If he continues to do so, it's only a matter of time until he figures out all of my secrets and then I'll be f*cked.
I turned back around trying to ignore Slate's heated gaze and after two more tries I finally managed to get my locker open. I checked my schedule and saw that I had history first period which explained why all the guys were hanging around my locker. AJ, Slate and I had all ended up in the same history class and when Christian and Alec found out they switched into our class. According to them it would be "quality bonding time" if we were all together.
Like my entire life, my locker is an unorganized mess and I was literally searching everywhere in it for my history book. Apparently the guys aren't very patient because the next thing I know, a pair of arms were wrapping around me and I was being tossed over someone's shoulder.
"Seriously Slate!? Every time." I grumbled as the guys all started to laugh. I wasn't annoyed because Slate had thrown me over his shoulder; I definitely don't mind being in his arms, however the element of surprise had nearly given me a heart attack not to mention we were attracting a ton of attention as we walked down the halls to history class.
I might not have minded the attention so much if it was just curiosity but the nasty glares and not-so-quiet whispering is a whole other story. Over the last month—since I've been hanging out with the "four hot bad boys" (as the girls at school like to call them) I'd started to realize how many jealous and just plain mean girls there are at my school. Some of them even went as far as calling me names (cough—Sasha—cough) and even spreading rumours about me.
"You were taking too long." Slate teased in that not-even-purposely seductive voice of his and I felt myself becoming uncomfortably hot. When we finally arrived at the entrance of our history class Slate finally put me back on the ground, but not before purposely brushing his lips against the side of my neck. He's been doing little things like that for the last week to try and seduce me into breaking the pact I made against kissing him.
We all walked in and sat at the back of the class, me directly in the middle of everyone. Our history teacher wasn't in the class yet, which I was grateful for because much like every other girl in our school, she is unashamedly smitten with the guys. (I can't exactly blame her, but that doesn't mean I don't hate the way she eye-f*cks Slate every class.)
"Willow, are you coming to—" AJ started, only to be cut off by Christian punching him in the arm and shaking his head at him. I stared at Christian with an eyebrow raised in question.
"Am I coming where...?" I asked looking around at all the guys who had suddenly become uncharacteristically quiet. My mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario...had they been planning on going somewhere all together and not wanted me to come?
It felt like freezing cold water was being poured over me as I finally realized what was going on... Had I basically forced my way into their group? Slate and I made out one time at a club and Christian and I talked a lot for one week and suddenly I showed up at their apartment when my parents kicked me out... who does that?
Was that why they'd let me stick around since then, because they felt bad that I have no one who cares about me? Had I become a sort of pity project? I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being irrational but as I sat there in the middle of all the guys who were sitting silently with guilty expressions on their faces, I felt my heart sinking lower and lower. The feeling of being unwanted was all too familiar and I felt my breathing becoming more laboured.
"I actually have to go to the bathroom, I'll be back." I said getting up from my chair as I tried to act as unaffected as possible. I didn't want to see there reactions, I just wanted to get out of there and that's exactly what I did. I passed Ms. Vixen on my way out of the class and she called after me asking where I was going. I turned back towards her and wanted to cringe when I saw the extremely low cut shirt she was wearing that showed off her obviously fake boobs.
Somehow, I still managed to say that I wasn't feeling well and she gave me a pitied look before saying she'd mark me as present, although in the moment I couldn't have cared less. I made my way to the girls bathroom and after I made sure it was completely empty I released the breath I'd been holding.
I stared at myself in the mirror and sighed realizing I may or may not have overreacted and that there was probably a valid explanation. Maybe it's because they're going to a strip club? Either way, I hate the way I reacted but the whole situation just hit a little too close to home. As I exited the girls bathroom to go back to class, Mr. Santiago exited the men's bathroom at the exact same time.
"Mr. Santiago." I greeted, sending him what I hoped was a flirty smile and by the look he was giving me I could only assume it was.
"It's always a pleasure Ms. Woods. Are you free right now? I actually have something I'd like to show you in my classroom that I think you'll like. Only if you have a couple minutes to spare, of course." Mr. Santiago said sending me his million dollar smile. I nodded in response and began to follow him down the hallway and towards his classroom in silence.
We entered his empty classroom and hesitantly I shut the door behind me praying I was reading his signals right. When he sat down at the large black leather chair behind his desk and stared at me as he rubbed the back of his hand over his light stubble, not making a move to find anything that he might wanna show me, I immediately released a breath of relief realizing I definitely had not been imagining all the signs.
I made my way over to him, purposely swaying my hips more than usual in an attempt to look seductive. I could only assume it was working by the way his eyes followed my every move. I kept a cool, alluring smile on my face as I made my way over to him but internally I was freaking out. I was literally debating pinching myself to see if this was a dream.
I, Willow Woods, am about to hookup with the sex god that is Mr. Santiago. Quite frankly, the fact that the entire situation is very illegal was the last thing I was thinking about as I stepped into the space between Mr. Santiago's legs. His arms wrapped around my waist and soon I was being pulled down to the chair so that I was straddling his lap, his hands resting on my ass to keep me from falling backwards.
He removed one of his strong calloused hands from my behind and brought it up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. He took my chin between his thumb and index finger and I found myself wondering how such rough hands could feel so f*cking soft.
He pulled my face down to his slowly, as if we had all the time in the world. It was so different from every other kiss I'd ever had, Mr. Santiago's lips moved slowly, almost teasingly slow. I kept trying to speed the kiss up, more out of habit than anything else, but he wouldn't give in. I meant to let out an annoyed groan at his teasing, but his tongue entered my mouth, and it ended up sounding more like a moan. The anticipation made the kiss a thousand times more hot, not to mention the idea that someone could walk through the door at any second made it a hundred times more intense.
As the kiss sped up and our tongues fought for dominance, I felt Mr. Santiago's hands grab the hem of my knitted sweater. I separated my lips from his just long enough for him to get the sweater over my head and off. I pushed my hips against his accidentally as I deepened the kiss, and he let out a loud moan that I prayed no one heard. Just as I was pushing his white t-shirt up so I could feel his defined abs and muscular chest, my phone started ringing. I pulled away causing Mr. Santiago to release a sigh and took my phone out of my back pocket. I pressed decline call when I saw Slate's name, only to see that I had two missed text messages from him, asking where I was.
"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck." I mumbled as I hurriedly got off of Mr. Santiago, grabbed my sweater off the ground and quickly pulled it over my head.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Santiago asked as he got off the chair and fussed with his jeans (for obvious reasons).
"I have to go, but this was fun, we should do it again sometime. Bye Mr. Santiago." I said sending him one last wink as I fixed my now messy hair and made my way over to the door. Just as I was about to exit his classroom I heard him call out to me.
"You can call me Nathan, Ms. Woods." He said and I turned back just enough to see him with a playful smirk on his face.
"Bye Nathan." I said already feeling a blush making it's way to my cheeks as I pulled the door open and left. My phone started to ring again and this time I answered it.
"Hello?" I asked, already knowing it was Slate but playing dumb just for the hell of it.
"Where are you?" He asked in his typical fashion, completely disregarding any pleasantries.
"Near the library." I responded, keeping my voice monotone.
"Do you think I know where the f*ck the library is?" Slate said, clearly becoming annoyed with my antics.
"Obviously not." I responded sassily and I heard him grumble at my response.
"Baby, just stop being stubborn and meet me at your locker." He said and I rolled my eyes at his words.
"Whatever." I mumbled into the phone before hanging up and making my way to my locker that was just in the next hall. Slate was already leaning against my locker when I got there. I mirrored his position and leaned on the locker next to mine so that we were both facing each other.
"We're going to the tracks tonight and I told everyone not to say anything to you, because Rage is supposed to be there. Not because we don't want you there. AJ is just a f*cking dumbass who can't keep his mouth shut." Slate said and as cheesy as it sounds, I honestly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders at his words.
"Well that's not very nice." AJ said from behind me, causing me to turn around in surprise. Christian, AJ and Alec were all standing behind me with culpable smiles on their face. I hadn't even heard them approach us.
"We're sorry, we'll never listen to what that idiot tells us to do ever again." Christian said nodding his head in Slate's direction as he said 'idiot', causing Slate to glare at him in return.
"You guys don't have to apologize, I wasn't mad at you." I was mad at myself, I wanted to say.
"Group hug!" Christian announced and all the guys except Slate came and wrapped their arms around me causing me to laugh.
"AJ get your hand off my ass." I said causing Christian and Alec to laugh their asses off as we all pulled away.
"Sorry Willow, I thought it was Christian's ass I was touching." AJ said smirking and even Slate was laughing this time.
A/N
VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE, SUPPORT <3
I feel like there was a lot of dialogue in this chapter but it was more to develop the characters more and show their relationships with each other :D Anyways I hope you enjoyed it! If you are one of the people who loves the action/plot twists than get ready for the next chapter because there is going to be plenty of that :D
Also, I just wanted to share my thoughts about something I see on other stories and it bothers me soooooo much. I absolutely hate when people leave comments saying something like "this would never happen in real life" or anything along those lines... Like books are an outlet for creativity, IT'S A BOOK, IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC. (obviously to a certain extent, like it should make sense, but you get my drift) LOL anyways I just needed to rant about that for a second.
Once again, THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO IS READING MY STORY <3 I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S AT 2.5K READS!!!!!!!!!!
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-SlytherinAfff<3