Expectations glimmered in Eliza's eyes as she looked at her father and his were fixed on her.
"Eliza," he said again but she ignored him.
This was new.
He wondered why she was so late in returning from college. She should have been there by evening. It was almost nine. Where had she been?
When he understood that she didn't care about his existence, he went back to observing the floor, tucking his hands into his pockets.
"Honey..." Harvey Scott began. "This is William Ray. You must have met him. He is your new English teacher at college."
Hearing this, Eliza looked at him and he met her eyes. He could feel the air between them growing thicker by each second. There was something different about being with this Eliza. He didn't know how to explain it. He knew every curve of her body, every scar, every pleasure point but he knew nothing of her mind or her heart. This Eliza was a stranger to him. He had stared at her in class just to see if there would be another miracle and she would recognize him. But then again, how could she remember him when she didn't even know him?
"Hello," he finally managed to let out.
Eliza didn't answer and turned back to her father.
"What were you talking about? Why did you say that he should go before I am home?" she questioned her father.
Harvey Scott looked nervous as he hesitated to answer. William was afraid that he might blurt out the truth so he intervened.
"He said that because I was told that you don't like seeing strangers in the house," William said and Eliza turned her attention back to him. "I just shifted into the house opposite yours. Sir...Mr. Scott here helped me. I'm new in town and he offered to show me around,"
"Oh..." Eliza said softly and then she turned to her father. "I'm sorry Papa. I will go to my room."
William didn't understand what made him smile - that she believed him or that she was too easy with the matter.
He felt proud of himself but then, as Eliza was leaving the room, he saw her look at him and after taking care that her father was not looking at either of them, she signalled William by pointing towards the kitchen to follow her out the back door. William felt goosebumps rush through his body at that gesture. He gave a slight nod and she was gone.
"You should go. I'll arrange for some furniture for your convenience until I can start with the necessary arrangements." Harvey's voice was steel-like and urgent.
William nodded but his mind was with Eliza. He thought he would die with the excitement and anxiety that he felt about meeting her...alone.
"Yes...Sir," William said, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Don't call me that!"
"Huh?"
"Don't call me 'Sir'. It's embarrassing. Call me Mr Scott," Harvey uttered.
To this, William smiled. "I called you Dad once," he confessed. "It was Eliza's birthday and I called you 'Dad'. You froze for a moment but then you didn't say anything back. I thought you were offended and went back to calling you 'Sir'."
Harvey looked at William with a different kind of emotion this time. His features were calm and his eyes were more gentle which made William feel comfortable for the first time in Harvey Scott's gaze.
"Don't say shit like that to me." Harvey covered his emotions with his rude words. "Go to sleep."
"Yes, Dad!" William said with a small laugh and before Harvey could say anything, he turned to walk out of the room.
"Wait!" Harvey called out behind William and he turned back.
The man was standing in the middle of the room, his hands clasped behind his back.
"Well...goodnight," he hesitated before continuing. "Son."
William smiled and then stepped out of Harvey's view.
***
William waited for the lights of the house to go off. He stood outside the gate, shivering in the cold all because he wanted to talk to Eliza. When the lights went off, he jumped over the fence and went to the backyard of Harvey's house.
Sure enough, Eliza was standing there, just near the workshop. When he stepped into her view, she quickly pulled him by his shirt and before he could comprehend what was happening, he found himself pressed against the workshop door with a knife pressed to his throat.
He stared at her, amused. She looked at him with her eyes filled with scrutinizing eyes. He raised his hands just like a victim when she pressed the knife a little harder but making sure she didn't accidentally cut him.
"Who are you?" she bellowed, raising her voice but still keeping it low enough so that Harvey didn't hear.
Your husband, the father of your child — those were the words he wanted to say to her but he didn't.
"I'm William Ray," he said instead.
"I know your name," she said, removing the knife from his throat, just an inch. "It can't be a coincidence that on your first day as a teacher, you know my name and then you stare at me in the class making me feel embarrassed and then...I come to know that you have magically rented the house across my own and not only that...you are also having secret conversations with my father. So, what's your game, William Ray?"
(What's your game, Little Witch? Killing me with kindness?)
(Maybe)
"I have no game and you better take that knife away before I end up doing something you won't appreciate," he warned her.
He hated sharp objects, those were a nice way to accidentally kill yourself.
"What will you do?" she raised her voice again, refusing to follow his command.
When she didn't move, he grabbed her hand that was holding the knife and very swiftly got it out of her grip, throwing it to the ground.
Eliza quickly bent down to pick it up, but he turned her around by her waist and pinned her against the door where he was pressed some time ago. He trapped her between his arms, making her gasp. One of his knees pressed between her legs to prevent her movement. His pulse drummed in his throat and he could feel his brain chemistry going wrong with her closeness.
She looked up at him. He was a good inches taller than her and the only reason she reached his face was her high heeled black boots.
When he first saw her in the classroom, he was pretty amused to find that of all the things, his wife was a sight for goth eyes in her teens. He was impressed but he knew that something was wrong. Her clothes seemed like she was trying too hard and he wanted to know - for what?
This close against her, he could almost hear the sound of her heartbeat and saw the rise and fall of her chest as their breaths grew hotter by each passing second.
She put her hands on his chest but didn't push him away. William knew why.
She wanted to hear him speak.
"I did warn you that you won't like it," he said to her, in a low voice.
"Who said I'm not liking it?" she replied and he raised an eyebrow at her.
Impressive
She raised herself a little bit more as she stood on her toes, before whispering in William's ear, "You can fool my father, William Ray but I know something is up with you."
William put a hand on the small of her back as he felt a familiar sensation visiting him. A sensation he had a hard time getting rid of the previous morning in the shower. Her hot lips brushed against his ear and that delicious scent was reminding him of his wife. Her hands travelled up until her fingers were brushing against the nape of his neck, sending shivers through his body.
Eliza looked at him, their faces inches away from each other, their breaths ragged and William didn't feel cold anymore for the heat of the moment was enough to make him sweat. He saw the evil glint in her eyes, and he stilled when she brushed her knee against his thigh.
That evil little witch
When she felt him between her legs, she grinned. "And when I find it out, you are gonna regret coming to this town," she smirked and with that, she stomped on his shoe, making him bite his tongue to stop himself from screaming. He put a fist to his mouth as the pain rushed all over his body. He released her and she stepped away from him.
He saw her smirk before she showed him the finger and then rushed inside her house through the back door and slammed it shut.
"Fuck!" William cursed himself as the pain slowly started to cease and then a smile claimed his lips. He saw the knife that was still lying on the ground and picked it up. He twirled it between his fingers then looked at the door from where she had just disappeared. The memory made him grin stupidly and the conclusion that he made about Eliza was one of a kind.
Eliza Scott was fascinating.