More Than a Teacher - Ashton Irwin

46

He glares at me bewildered and I'm suddenly conscious of the fact I'm standing on the bed in lingerie. I jump down and brush past him, the awkwardness making me jitter as he also realizes I'm half naked.

I throw on my big gray hoodie packed in my duffle and regretfully turn back around to see the unpleasant look on his features.

"How fucking many are there! You haven't told me about this? Who are they from?" He raises his voice in fury and honestly, as much as I wish this wasn't happening, I can't blame him. It's my fault. I deserve this. I should have seen this coming. All I had to do was tell him and I didn't.

I struggle to swallow from the dryness of my mouth and I stand shy and small, twiddling my fingers in a massive hoodie.

"I-I don't know."

This just gets worse with every question.

"You don't know? You're telling me you're being sent weird messages from someone you don't know and you haven't said anything?" He throws his arms out and his forehead crinkles like he can't possibly understand why I haven't said anything about this.

It doesn't make sense really. Why wouldn't I tell someone about weird messages from someone I don't know?

Oh that's right, silly me thought I could fix it on my own.

"It's probably nothing. Don't overthink it." I sound desperate, pleading for him to calm down.

Those words are a bad idea because they only aggravate him further.

"Nothing?! What if it's a dangerous code Ava! We don't know what this could mean." He spits, clenching my tiny phone in his hand.

His other hand drags over his face, trying to come to terms with what's going on. It's like he doesn't want to believe it and fuck, neither do I.

He peers back down to the phone, scrolling again and I really don't know how much he's seen now.

"Ash plea—" I hesitantly step closer to him in hopes of getting my phone back.

His jaw drops open and I internally shiver, bracing myself for whatever he's come across now.

"Tell me you're fucking joking right now." He lowly says through gritted teeth and tears immediately want to pour from my eyes.

I'm in deep shit, I've made a big mistake and there's nothing I can do at this point to make it seem like it's ok. Nothing I can say or do will make this any better and honestly trying to justify my actions will only make it worse

"'Next time put some clothes on or I'll do it myself slut.' You're telling me that's nothing!?" He reads a message out and I cringe, my face burning bright red at such degrading words.

"'You can't stay hiding for long slut. I'd watch your back if I were you'. 'Fucking cunt, looks like you've got yourself a death wish huh?'" He continues to read the first two messages I'd received and listening to them being said out loud has me feeling so dumb and stupid.

Those words are so disgusting and I let them go like they were nothing.

"You haven't told me about any of this! It's been happening for how long?" He belts out as a question to himself as I see him check the dates of the first message.

My lip wobbles as I know just how long it's been, the time I've had and the countless opportunities to speak out.

Fuck what is wrong with me? Why couldn't I just speak up?

"Over two months! That's a long fucking time to promise you were going to tell me." His enraged words sear my heart.

I've never seen him so flushed with anger before. I'm coursing with fear because this isn't the man I know.