Her Heart

Chapter 9

Riley's POV

Something is wrong. Usually in class Carter is always talking and interrupting me a lot but today her head has just been down. Her friend keeps eyeing her every few seconds with a worried look.

She looks sick. Not a normal kinda sick though it seems to be more than that.

"Class you're dismissed early today." Everyone looks up with happy smiles. They all start packing up and quickly leave the room but not Carter or her friend.

Her friend is whispering in her ear but Carter seems way too out of it. She can't even stand.

"Ms. Keller you can leave I need to talk to Ms.Woods for a second."

She looks up at me, "Umm professor today isn't a good day."

I point at the door, "I wasn't asking."

She looks at Carter and then whispers something else in her ear before she starts walking and goes out the door. I lock the door behind her and look at Carter.

"Are you drunk?" I ask.

She looks at me and smiles. She slowly walks to a desk closer to me and sits on top of the desk.

"Of course not. I would not come to school drunk."

I sit on my chair, "Then what's wrong with you?"

Carter opens her mouth but immediately closes it. She quickly reaches for my trash can and empties her stomach.

In a blink of an eye I get off my chair and run to her, "Are you okay? Are you sick?"

She wipes her mouth, "It's the new medication. I'll be fine."

"Medication for what?" I ask and take a step away from her, realizing I got way too close to her.

"Oh you know vitamins and stuff."

Well she's bad at lying. Something more is going on but I guess she doesn't want to talk about it.

I grab my purse from my desk, "Okay come on we're gonna go somewhere."

"You expect me to just come with you?"

I raise one of my eyebrows, "Well aren't you?"

She gets up from the desk, "Yeah just give me a second I need to go to the bathroom."

"Use the one in here."

Her eyes brighten up, "Whoa you have a bathroom in here. Cool." I hold the smile that almost creeps up on my face.

I point at it, "It's over there don't take long."

She nods and goes towards the bathroom. As soon as she closes the door I fall back against my desk.

Damn it I'm getting involved. But I can't stop myself she's so intriguing. Like Nadia said I'm just gonna follow my heart. Hopefully that familiarity is just because we've slept together before.

I don't know how I'm supposed to go about this though. Carter has a reputation and I honestly don't think she's the type to be with someone for a long period of time. Plus I don't even know what she thinks of me. I've been pretending that I don't even know her.

The door to the bathroom opening snaps me out of my thoughts, "Okay I'm ready to go. You should bring a bag with you though incase I throw up in the car."

I start walking out my classroom and she runs a little to catch up to me, "There's throw up bags in the car already Maya sometimes gets car sick."

Carter hums, "So where are we going? I still have classes."

I keep walking, "Don't lie, I checked your schedule this is your last class today."

She laughs and the sound of it calls my name.

"Okay yes I lied but I would advise against kidnapping me professor."

I give in and smile, "And why is that?"

"My family loves me too much."

"So they'll come looking for you?"

She smiles, "They'll do more than that." Interesting. I guess every family would do anything for their loved ones.

We walk up to my car and she goes to my side and opens the door for me.

"Stop doing this." I tell her but sit in the car anyway.

"Nope never." She replies and closes the door.

Carter comes around and she sits in the car and silence falls around us. She's usually never this quiet.

I start driving and clear my throat, "Tell me a secret. Something you've never told anyone."

Carter takes a deep breath in and from the corner of my eye I can see that she's looking out the window.

"I'm incredibly naive." She whispers but it's loud enough for me to hear.

"Naivety? Boring. Dig deeper," I reply.

"I'm naive because I see the good in everyone. Put a monster in front of me and I'll wonder what the world did to then to make them that way. I'll let them get close and I'll get too comfortable. Because when I'll look at them I'll see all the ways the world has failed them."

My mouth slightly falls open, "Carter I-"

"I also use sex as a distraction to get away from reality but it never really works. Reality always ends up catching up to me."

Wow she dug in deep right away. Now I feel the need to share something about me.

I sigh, "I'm scared that I'll be a bad mom to Maya."

I glance at her and she's looking at me with wide eyes but she doesn't say anything and I'm glad for it. I wasn't really looking for sympathy I just wanted to be honest since she was.

The rest of the car ride is silent until I pull up to the building. I park the car and turn it off.

"What are we doing here?" She asks and looks around.

I angle my body towards her, "Thought this would take your mind off of your sickness."

She still looks confused until I point to the building right by the car. Maya is coming out with her daycare instructor.

Carter smiles and gets out of the car immediately, "La migliore sorpresa di sempre." She mumbles in Italian.

I stare at her in shock. She can speak Italian?

I watch as Maya runs up to her and Carter picks her up. I'm still stuck over the fact that she knows Italian.

She opens the back door and puts Maya in her car seat, "Are you hanging out with us today Carter?"

"Of course. We can go get Ice cream if your mom is okay with it?"

Maya's eyes immediately land on mine. Gosh she has her eyes. I miss her everyday.

"Mommy ice cream?"

I smile, "Of course sweetie."

Carter finished buckling her in and closes her door, getting back in herself. Maya starts mumbling to herself watching cartoons on her iPad as I start driving.

I glance at Carter, "You speak Italian?"

She nods, "And French."

My heart skips a beat, "Have you been to Italy?"

Usually she's fast to answer my questions but this time she pauses which makes me even more curious.

"Nope I've never been to Italy. I just like the language." She answers.

Mmm for some reason I don't believe her but I nod anyway. I like her there is no doubt in that but I can't get too close. Not until I know more about her.

But the question is am I going to be able to hold myself off? She's like a magnet that keeps pulling me towards her.

Damn it what is she doing to me? I'm usually more careful with strangers. She isn't really a stranger though, I guess one night can really change everything.