BARE SOULS: A STEAMY TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE

CHAPTER 66 | HARPER

It had been an amazing weekend! Just him and I, lost in our own time, far away from our daily lives and anything that came between us. Free. Another glimpse at how life beside him could taste if he was not my teacher, if I was not 18 and if my uncle basically didn't rule the whole county.

Whenever he said he loved me, I felt like crying. Why? Because it was all I ever wanted. Because I knew he meant it. Because he knew what it meant to me. Because it was hard to accept that despite that strong feeling we shared and all the time it took to build, it was still going to come to an end very soon.

What I could not admit to him was that I was not as excited about Columbia anymore. If he ever asked me to chose, I would have chosen to stay, even if it meant throwing an extraordinary chance away. But I knew he would have never asked. Just like I knew I could not ask him to come to New York. There were too many what ifs that were better left in the air than answered. So in the end, it was better to just live in the moment and avoid thinking about the hardship that was to come.

As we reached Oxnard, I felt a lump in my throat. I knew we were about to spend much less time together and I didn't feel like cutting short to our perfect weekend. As if he read my mind, he turned to me, squeezing my hand a little tighter in his. "You think it would be too much if you stay a little before heading homeas?" he asked with that irrisistible grin on his lips.

Mark and Lorie had been on my back for a while, asking more and more questions about the guy who I was spending all my time with and why I never introduced him to them. They did not know that they had already met him more than necessary. I told them that it was not that serious and that it was going to come anyway since I was about to move across the country, which was true. They left me off the hook since I had been accepted at Columbia and that the school year was coming to an end but insisted on me spending less nights out and more time with them as I wouldn't get to see them as often soon enough.

But they were family and I knew that distance wouldn't change that. But I knew that Zane would meet other women after I leave and would soon forget about me. And despite what he thought about me, I knew I was not going to move on that easily. I was not even sure I would ever get over the heartbreak that was waiting for me.

I brought his hand to my lips and dropped a kiss on his knuckle. "Did you seriously think I wanted to go home right away?"

He bit his lower lip before saying "That's my girl!".

We parked in his lot next to my car that had not moved since I got there on Friday and headed to his apartment.

I sat on the couch while he dropped his phone on the coffee table before heading to the bathroom. As soon as he left the living room, his phone started vibrating with the name of Rick flashin on the screen. Rick called again and I hesitated to answer before reminding myself that I had no right to do so.

When Zane came back, I notified Zane about the two missed call from Rick.

   "Yeah, I was supposed to stop by sometime over the weekend. Sorry bro, I was too busy to think about calling" he smiled as he picked up his phone to go over the call log. "8 missed calls from him?" he frowned, now a bit worried.

He pressed the call button but it landed straight to voicemail. "I hope nothing bad happened" he sighed as he dropped his phone back on the table and slouche in the couch, grabbing my hand to make me straddle him.

   "Aren't you gonna try to call back?" I asked as I tied my hands behind his neck.

   "Nah... Pretty sure that can wait... I just have a few more hours with you and I want to make sure we catch up on what we didn't have time to do this morning" he grined as he dropped his flattened his hands on my ass.