Page 4 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

Am I being too tough?

No. She needs to hear this.

Do not back down.

“I’m thirty-eight years old. If you can’t handle the truth, then you should stick to boys your own age, because I’m not sugarcoating anything with you. You lied, and you got caught. You got caught in the worst possible way, and nowIhave to deal with a situation I didn’t even know I was in to begin with. You are far past ten seconds, so again I ask you to remove yourself from my office.”

“You have every right to be upset, but I won’t tell anyone…” She purses her lips. “Else,”she whispers, and my heart that had just gotten back to a normal rhythm begins to beat wildly in my chest.

“What the fuck, Sloane? Who did you tell?”

“My cousin, Delaney. She knows I slept with an older man who’s a high school football coach, and she goes here also. I’ve only told her your first name, so she probably hasn’t put it together, but there’s a chance she might. If she does, she won’t say anything, I promise.”

“Your word isn’t exactly credible right now, is it?” I sigh, praying this Delaney isn’t in one of my classes. Visions of her having the realization while I’m in the middle of teaching unfold in front of me, followed by a very dramatic:

“OH MY GOD ARE YOU THE OLDER MAN FUCKING MY COUSIN?”In front of the entire class.

Cut to the next vision of me being walked out in handcuffs.

I let out a sigh. “I want you out of my class. Tell them you want a transfer. I don’t want to see you. I want to pretend you don’t exist.”

She takes in a deep breath, and a shaky one comes out. “That’s… fair. I’ll talk to my counselor.”

“Today, Sloane,”I grit out harsher than I intended, but I don’t care.

“Okay.” She nods. “I really am sorry. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It was supposed to be just a fun fling and then somewhere along the way, things shifted, and I didn’t know how to tell you, and then it was too late.”

“So you were going to just let this go on forever? What was going to happen when you had high school things to do that you couldn’t explain?”

“No, I planned to tell you this past weekend, but everything was just so perfect, and I didn’t want to ruin it. I just kept putting it off because I was scared of your reaction. I panicked.”

“And this was better?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “Hell no.” She takes a step back toward the door and reaches for the knob and turns it slowly. “I didn’t mean for things to get this far. I’m sorry we’re here, and Itake full responsibility.” The tears are back in her eyes, and a sad smile finds her face. “I had a lot of fun the past two weeks, and I’m sorry it had to end this way.”

And then she’s gone without another word.

CHAPTER 1

RIVER

Two Weeks Prior

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY,” is cheered just to the right of me, pulling my attention away from the brunette I’d just met earlier that night, who had practically climbed into my lap after the last shot of tequila we just took. I mentally chastise myself for looking just as a gorgeous redhead with a crown on her head leans her head over the bar and takes a shot into her mouth without using her hands. Thoughts of tangling my hands in those red strands while she does the same to my dick come at me hard and fast, and suddenly, I can’t get the woman I’ve been talking to for the past thirty minutes out of my lap fast enough.

The mystery birthday girl raises her hands and cheers when she finishes, and wipes the corners of her mouth before her eyes land on mine. Her eyes are a bright green, big with long lashes that I’m instantly picturing her bat at me while she deepthroats my cock. I lean forward slightly to make out the sash she’s wearing, praying that it gives me an inkling about her age. A part of me hopes she’s not here celebrating her twenty-first, but it wouldn’t be the end of the worldor my first time celebrating a woman’s first legal drink. But my older brother, Rowan, andhis new fiancée Ellie’s words are ringing in my ear for the thousandth time.

“Don’t you want to settle down?”

“Maybe you should start dating women who are closer to your age?”

This also makes my brother a hypocrite, given that Ellie is almost twenty years younger than him, even though she acts likemymother most days. I roll my eyes inwardly, thinking about the last conversation I had with my future sister-in-law after a few too many beers, when I broke down and told her that I did want to meet someone. Now she’s made it her mission to press me about it every time I fuck someone.

Yes, I want to meet someone, but can’t a guy have fun in the meantime?

My eyes look toward the brunette leaning against me, who is scrolling through Instagram, and I take the moment to look back at the redhead, who now has her back to me, and I trail my eyes down her frame. It’s the end of July in North Carolina, so it’s unbearably hot, and the lack of clothes she’s wearing sends a spark of lightning down to my dick.

She’s wearing a black mini skirt that highlights toned, gorgeous legs that look like the result of some kind of sport. A tight, cropped T-shirt shows off her trim waist, and all I want to do is wrap my hands around it while she rides me. I pull my beer to my lips when my eyes drift to her ass, and I think about dragging my tongue along the skin where it meets her thigh, a space I’ve learned women love to feel my teeth. I shift uncomfortably, trying to relieve the tension mounting in my dick and tap the brunette gently. “I have to use the restroom,” I tell her, and she nods before staring up at me dreamily, but I think it’s more that the tequila shots are starting to hit her.