Chapter 4

LUCAS

One thing I’d learned about myself over the years was that I didn’t know when to quit.

I called it persistence but some people chose to call it being an asshole and not recognising boundaries.

One of my exes had called me “overbearing” and that I didn’t know “when to stop pushing.”

Whatever that meant.

The point was, once something caught my attention, letting it go wasn’t exactly my strongest skill.

I didn’t know why Adrian Frost had captured my attention. It wasn’t like there was anything particularly outstanding about him and yet…

The truth was it didn’t matter why or how. 

He was my interest and I was going to pursue him.

Until I eventually lost interest as always anyway.

Noah glanced at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

We were seated under a tree, our usual spot to relax.

“You’ve been smiling to yourself for the past five minutes,” he said.

“I have not,” I countered.

Rina looked up from her phone and tilted her head.

“He’s right. You literally are still smiling right now.”

Sure enough, the corners of my mouth were tilted up.

“I just remembered something funny.”

“You’ve had the same weird smile on your face since the lecture this morning,” Noah said.

Rina frowned. “What lecture?”

“The elective psychology course Lucas and I decided to sign up for. You know, the one that you said was ‘not suited to your taste’?”

She waved a hand. “Oh that. What can I say? I like things that excite me. Not boring and tedious stuff. And Lucas agrees with me. He only joined because you got on your knees and pleaded with him.”

Noah frowned. “I didn’t ‘get down on my knees.’ And the class was not too bad. Right, Lucas?”

They both stared at me expectantly, Noah with a pleading look on his face, as if urging me not to embarrass him in front of Rina.

I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to try so hard.

“Of course. I enjoyed every bit of it. It was… interesting.”

Noah stuck out his tongue at Rina. “See? Told you.”

Rina stared at me with raised eyebrows. “Seriously? What happened to change your mind so fast? Just yesterday, you said and I quote, ‘What does being a business major have to do with a meaningless subject like psychology?’”

I shrugged. “I’m allowed to change my mind.”

I wanted to tell her that yes, I still found Psychology boring and completely unnecessary. I’d only signed up because of Noah and because he’d reassured me it would be an easy way to get my grades up.

But I didn’t regret signing up for the class.

I had an incentive to keep going. An incentive in the form of a professor.

Not that I could admit that to my friends.

They would think I was crazy. More than they already did.

Rina didn’t look like she believed me. “Is there a girl that you’re pursuing?”

I smirked. “What makes you think it’s a girl? Could be a boy.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right. Now it all makes sense.”

Satisfied with that answer, she returned to her phone. But Noah wasn’t as easily satisfied.

He shifted closer to me with eyes wide. “Wait, what? Who do you have a crush on?”

“Crush? You say that like we’re still in middle school.”

“Stop avoiding the question. I wasn’t aware you liked anyone in our class. Who is it?” His forehead wrinkled as he tried to think. “Is it still Xavier? Or someone else? Ryan? Marcus?”

No, it’s the professor, I wanted to say.

Instead, I knocked his forehead lightly. “Stop being so nosy.”

He rubbed the spot with a frown. “Ugh. Why are you being so secretive? I’m going to find out anyway.”

“Don’t care. Still not telling you.”

Noah watched me for another few seconds. But he must have seen that I was serious because he scoffed and gave up, returning to his lunch.

Good. I wasn’t entirely sure how to explain the whole Adrian situation to them.

How to explain that I’d had a one-night stand with a man that turned out to be my professor.

Or the fact that knowing that hasn’t stopped me from wanting a repeat. From wanting him under me again.

Because to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure I understood the situation myself.

All that I knew was I was going to have Adrian Frost again.

Sooner or later.

****

Later that evening, I sat on my bed in my dorm room, my laptop balanced on my knees.

The logical thing would’ve been to finish the reading for my marketing class that I’d been putting off for three days.

Instead, I was interested in something else. Something far more important.

I typed two words into the search bar.

Adrian Frost.

Several results appeared immediately. 

The first result I clicked on was his university faculty profile.

Adrian Frost, Assistant Professor  of Psychology, Westview University.

I stared at the professional headshot that filled the screen.

Blank gray eyes. Dark hair. The exact same serious expression he wore this morning.

I laughed to myself quietly. He looked even grumpier in this picture.

As expected, his profile was painfully formal.

Education, research interests, publications, teaching awards, conference presentations.

There was even a section listing recent journal articles.

Who voluntarily wrote that many papers?

I continued to scroll but apart from his email ID, there was nothing personal on his profile. Not even a favorite hobby.

The entire page felt sterile. Yet, it also felt very Adrian.

I clicked away.

If the university page wasn’t going to tell me anything useful, maybe somewhere else would.

His social media wasn’t difficult to find. But there wasn’t much there either.

Mostly conference photos, department events, pictures with colleagues.

One photo showed him standing beside a poster presentation, holding a coffee cup.

Another showed him receiving some early-career teaching award.

He wasn’t smiling in any of them.

“Do you ever have fun?” I muttered.

As I scrolled deeper, I finally noticed something different. His older posts looked different.

Three years ago, there were vacations, beach pictures, birthday dinners, hiking trails.

Someone appeared beside him over and over again. He was tall with brown hair and an easy smile.

He was in dozens of photos.

I clicked one. It was an image of the man kissing Adrian’s cheek as they sat on the beach.

The caption underneath read: “Couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.”

I blinked. That didn’t seem innocent. Or a platonic relationship.

Anger welled in me the longer I stared at the image.

I swear, if Adrian had a boyfriend…

What was I to him then? A side distraction? An escape from a boring, unfulfilling relationship?

Curiosity won out and I tapped the man’s profile. Apparently his name was Dylan. Dylan Stone.

Unlike Adrian’s carefully curated page, his was loud.

There were pictures with lots of friends, lots of parties, lots of selfies… and far too many gym pictures.

Really? This was Adrian’s type? A narcissistic musclehead?

I kept scrolling and then I saw something that made me stop.

An engagement photo.

Adrian was smiling. Actually smiling. It didn’t look like the one I’d managed to coax out of him in the club.

This one reached his eyes and it changed his entire face. He looked different. Happy.

His arm rested comfortably around Dylan’s waist, a ring gleaming on his finger.

The caption read; “He said yes.”

The date made me pause. It was less than a year ago.

I met Adrian in the bar only a week ago.

So either they had broken up… or Adrian had slept with me despite having a fiance.

It would certainly explain why he’d sneaked out the morning after like a demon was chasing him.

Maybe he was ashamed.

I scrolled again. The last upload Dylan had with Adrian was two weeks ago.

But then again, that didn’t say anything.

Either way, I was going to get answers.

If Adrian actually used me, if he regarded me as nothing but a drunken mistake… Oh, I was absolutely going to make his life difficult.

I smiled despite myself as I pulled up his faculty profile again and clicked on his email.

Despite the situation, I had an excuse to speak to him again.

I had questions and he was going to answer all of them.

This time, I wasn’t going to allow him to escape from me.