008: The Brothers—Niccolo Amoretti PT 2

~~Abigail Darlington~~

It’s official, I’m annoyed. I know I’m not the most seductive, but Professor Niccolo cannot be a person. His disinterest is so frustrating. He’s literally a blank shell.

I sat behind one of the desks and watched him. He was humming and writing in his notes. Unlike Romeo, who must live in the gym, Niccolo is different. He has this striking, classically handsome face with defined features, and a kind of masculine elegance that makes me think chivalry still exists.

But his eyes are brooding. They’re a piercing deep brown framed by thick lashes and strong eyebrows. There’s a glint of steel in his eyes that makes me think he’s calculating and cold, but hiding it behind his indifference.

His face literally gives off ‘touch me and die’ energy that’s also quite intriguing.

He has broad shoulders, he’s muscular— he’s more sleek than bulky. He has the type of build that is elegant, athletic, and powerful. He has on a tight black polo. I can see his defined abs through it. That’s the one thing Romeo didn’t have. His stocky build didn’t come with abs. It was attractive. He also looked like he had quite some body hair, but Niccolo wasn’t the same.

His arm hair was light, and the only other full hair was on his face. A nicely groomed beard. Shorter than his brother’s.

He also has tattoos. Prominent and black. There’s a bold text I can’t read across his throat. There are symbols and gothic-style lettering around the rest of his neck, and small tatts trailing down his forearms and knuckles. I bet his chest is tatted, too.

His hair is dark and slicked back. It’s longer than Romeo’s but not long enough to touch his shoulders; it just hovers at the back. It’s streaked with sliver and I love the look it gives him. There’s a small black hoop earring on one ear and a nose ring. It adds a rebellious touch to his otherwise composed, gentlemanly look. He has on gold-rimmed glasses that tie everything together.

Xevier wolves have great eyesight. I doubt he needs them.

The perfect man to teach wolf history.

He looked up after a while and tilted his head like he was analyzing me back. His eyes go under the desk, and widen. I frown for a second, then realize I hadn’t bothered to cross my legs.

He looked away quickly, coughing, and I said nothing. Pretending I didn’t notice.

The class started moments later as students piled in. Like with Romeo’s class, students seemed to arrive at the exact time. It was almost as if they wanted to spend less time being around him.

Forty chairs, only fifteen showed up. That’s excluding me. I wondered why for just a minute until he started talking.

He went from indifferent to completely cold and stern. He started with an introduction.

“Hello, everyone, I am Professor Niccolo Amoretti. This might be a history class, but I do not take any slackers. I will punish you, yes, punish you, if you so much as breathe weird in my class. I will fail you if you score less than a B, and that is me being generous. If you think you can withstand the class, then be my guest, but to excel, you need to let go of personal feelings. Am I understood?” His tone left no room for argument.

I shuddered. So that’s the angle. Get punished.

I beamed, my eyes lighting up even though my heart was scrambling. I have to get over the good girl behaviour I’ve had my whole life.

No one said anything, so he kick-started the class. He gave us a brief overview of topics, then got right into the first one.

I learned right away that he wasn’t the type to explain…. More than he needs to. He taught like we should have been seasoned in his subject. I placed my arms on the table and lay my head to rest on them.

I stayed like that for fifteen minutes until I felt someone tapping my arms.

I looked up, yawning slightly. That was real. I was a bit tired.

“Did you not hear me?” His eyes had this murderous look to them.

I pressed my lips together. “I thought you were kidding. Who pays attention on the first day?”

The class got really quiet. No one was talking before I did this, but now I suspected they weren’t even breathing.

“Stay after class. I will make an example out of you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Professor,” I added a wink, and watched his jaw work. He was tense all over, but emptied his expression once again and went back to teaching. I returned to my fake nap.

But I was listening to him talk. Adding pieces when he glossed over things that he should have elaborated on. I reminded myself to also tutor myself for his class because this man… god, do any of them even like to teach?

No wonder people are leaving. Imagine scoring a B and getting an F because your teacher decided that wasn’t good enough.

The class was three hours long. I pretended to sleep through it until I actually dozed off. I woke up to the door being slammed loudly. I pulled my head up and noticed everyone had left.

I stretched. Niccolo looked unimpressed.

I reached into my bag, ignoring his glare, and picked out a pack of strawberry mint gum. I popped it into my mouth.

“You understand what this class is supposed to be about, right? If you sleep through the whole semester, I can kick you out.”

I rolled my eyes. “You sound like Prof. Romeo,” I said quietly, but he heard me.

He clicked his tongue. “Is that so? Get up. What’s your name?”

“Abigail Darlington Ricci. But you can call me Darling.”

I expected him to act like Romeo, but he nodded. “Darling. Get. Up.”

I stood slowly and watched him. I was nervous now. What exactly did he mean by punishment? Is that allowed?

I mean, they basically ran the school. Despite still having rules to follow, they held a significant say on what happened. They were the kings of the school. S-class, feared, and almost worshipped at the same time. Before Elio dumped me, I used to hear about them through people. I ignored them at the time, but now those words are coming back.

I overheard a girl once say that they made her heart race from fear and excitement. It’s like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to run to them or run away. Like true Xevier’s, they kept to themselves, but there are rumors that some students disappeared for crossing them.

That could be an over exaggeration or the truth, depending on what happens next.

I went around my desk, walking up to Niccolo as he reached for something under his desk. When he pulled out a black long cane, my jaw lowered slowly until it was fully open.

His name was written across it.

I couldn’t stop staring in disbelief. What the actual fuck?

“Over the table, please.”

“W-what?” I spoke before I could stop myself. I sounded scared.

I saw the brief glow of satisfaction cross his face before it disappeared.

“Punishment. You slept through your first class. Do you know how disrespectful that is? Either get on your knees and apologize until I feel like forgiving you. Or bend over my desk and spell out the name of this class.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to hide my shock this time. This man is insane. Because what the hell? He wants to flog my ass?

I glanced around the room for the cameras.

I thought about this carefully, and decided I’d rather just thug out the cane to my ass than beg him on my knees. I scoffed and brushed past him.

I shrugged off my jacket. “I mean, you could have taken me out to dinner before bringing out this kinky side, but I don’t really mind.”

I heard the cane hit the board and held my body before it could flinch.

“Your earlier reaction tells me a lot about you.”

I reached my shaky hands for my skirt, and he snapped his fingers around my wrist.

“What are you doing?”

I looked at him strangely. “I’m wearing a denim skirt. The cane’s not going to have the full effect.”

Now it was his turn to look surprised.

“So you’re just going to pull up your skirt? That’s indecent. I’m a teacher.”

This is where he draws the line? I wanted to ask if he was crazy.

“Don’t you flog students all the time?”

“They choose other options, or usually cower in fear. Not this…”

I found myself smiling. A sense of pride replaced the fear, not entirely, though.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything. So give me what you’ve got. I did sleep through your class. That can’t go unpunished.” I sounded like I was egging him up, and I was. But internally, I was hoping he’d continue to refuse.

I could see his mind working; he was considering the ethical side of things. He’s my professor. No matter how scared people are, this would look bad.

He let go of my wrist, and I almost breathed out a sigh of pure relief when he said the words that sealed my fate.

“Okay, up with the skirt. You do need to learn.”

I stared ahead at the empty class. Oh fuck.