Instant Regret by Hazel Parker

Chapter 4

Luke

The minty taste of Carly remained in my mouth the rest of the day, and I barely made it through the next two classes without stumbling over my words. In fact, I ended both of them early, letting all the students go fifteen minutes early. My head just couldn’t focus on anything other than the blonde woman who had come into my office and kissed me—the student who did that.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do about it. Should I report it? Would Carly tell anyone what happened? Was I at fault? The thoughts left my head swirling with worry, though my body thought completely the opposite. My body wanted to hunt her down and fuck her the way I knew I could.

But that’s not going to happen.

Leaning back in my chair, I glanced over to the red chair that Carly was sitting in only hours before. I took a deep breath, pushing away the picture of her tan legs, and turned back to my computer. I pulled up my browser, opening up my Facebook page. Clicking on the search bar, I quickly typed in Carly’s full name, and sure enough, the first of the search results were those bright blue eyes looking right back at me.

Fuck, she’s gorgeous.

I could hardly breathe as I scrolled through her pictures—how had I missed this woman walking into my classroom? She had a lot of friends, but at the same time, she didn’t appear to be quite the party girl that I had imagined she would be. The TikTok video had left me thinking that she was the kind of girl who was going out every night, but her Facebook showed a different picture...

And she was very much a grown woman—sophisticated and graceful.

“Why’re you still here?” Carson’s voice grabbed my attention as I looked up from the computer, quickly exiting out of the browser.

“I don’t know,” I said to him, not sure what the right answer was. “I guess I just got distracted. I really need to be grading papers.”

“Yeah, are you still on to grab some drinks tonight? I thought we could go out to that new bar on the other side of town—you know, where we don’t have to worry about running into our students,” he chuckled, rubbing the reddish blonde stubble on his chin. “There’s nothing worse than seeing your top student drunkenly professing their love to you.”

“Ah, I see what you did there,” I laughed, though it was forced. “I hope that doesn’t ever happen to me in person.”

“I kind of hope it does happen to me,” Carson said with a shrug. “But I think I’m out of their age bracket—and I damn sure don’t have the Calvin Klein thing you got going on there.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I waved him off, pulling up my email. There were a few emails from some of my students, but none that required immediate response. “Let’s go grab those drinks.”

“Sounds good, mate,” Carson said with a nod as I grabbed my bag and stood up from my desk chair. “I’m just glad it’s the fucking weekend. I swear, sometimes I’m not sure if I’m teaching twenty-year-olds or two-year-olds. I had a kid shooting spitballs at one of the girls—I don’t remember being that stupid in college.”

“I definitely wasn’t throwing spitballs,” I laughed, shaking my head as we headed out to the staff parking lot. For some reason I kept my eyes peeled—like I might run into Carly on the short walk from the business building to my Mercedes parking in the lot. I hadn’t ever been one for luxury cars, but these days I found myself enjoying the finer things in life.

“I bet you were sleeping with all the sorority girls in college,” Carson joked as he opened the door to his black Toyota Tacoma.

“Nah,” I shook my head. “I didn’t even have a girlfriend until I was twenty-one. I didn’t get in shape until my senior year of college—you should’ve seen me. Probably wouldn’t even recognize me. I’ll meet ya over there,” I added before sliding into my car and starting the engine. I followed Carson’s truck out of the parking lot, gazing up at the apartment complexes just off campus.

I wonder where Carly lives.

“Damnit,” I grumbled, reaching for the radio and turning it up. I really needed to get her off my mind—and I was hoping a few drinks would fix the problem. Part of me blamed the attraction on the fact that I hadn’t been laid since I had broken up with Harley, my most recent relationship.

And that had ended months ago.

I had hooked up with women plenty of times, but it wasn’t really my style. I preferred to actually be with the woman I was sleeping with. That was never a good combination with one-night stands. In fact, it usually led to me getting attached to something that I shouldn’t.

Yuck.

I shuddered at the bad experiences—all of which had made me emotionally unavailable. I maneuvered my car across town, inwardly cursing all of the young college-aged drivers. They always made the town a clusterfuck, and by the time I parked next to Carson, I was damn near ready to just call it a night and go home.

“I’m surprised this place is so crowded at eight,” Carson mentioned as he gazed around the full parking lot. “I guess everyone wants to try it out.”

I glanced around, finding relief that most of the people heading into the bar were much older than the students in my class. “Everyone had the same idea we did. Let’s hurry up and get in there so we can get a table. I’m starving.”

“You know this is a bar, right?” Carson laughed as we headed into the little dive bar. Well, it looked like a dive bar. According to the internet, it was like some sort of modern urban-themed establishment—which was the polar opposite of this town.

“They have some food,” I answered him. “I already saw it on their website, and honestly, even nuts would do at this point.”

“What kind of nuts?” Carson burst into laughter, and I rolled my eyes at his childish humor. He was one of my best friends, though we hadn’t known each other until I had taken the job a few years ago. I had disassociated with most of my prior friends. It wasn’t anything personal, I had just grown to abhor the luxurious, high-demand lifestyle they led.

The whole bar was dimly lit, and I blinked my eyes to adjust as we headed toward one of the back tables. It was a lot vaster on the inside than it looked from the outside. The walls were covered in black and white artwork, and while I loved grayscale, I struggled to understand the concept of them. They were way too abstract for my taste.

“So, did you see the student that was in that TikTok today?” Carson asked me as he slid into the chair across from me. “I figured the whole campus would’ve been on the lookout for her—you know how wild they are over shit like that.”

“You mean the famous drunk dial TikTok?” I asked, chuckling as the waitress headed over to us. She looked young, probably a student, honestly.

“What can I get ya?” she asked, her brown eyes bouncing from Carson’s to mine before her brows furrowed. “Dr. Dean and Dr. Bradley!”

Shit.

We both smiled—the same way we always did when we ran into students or previous students that we didn’t recognize. My eyes flickered to the name badge on her shirt, and my heart stumbled.

Paige.

Is this the Paige that posted the video of Carly?

“I’m in both of your classes,” she goes on to say. “I missed today, though, I had a bit of a wild night,” she added, giving us an unashamed smile, her dark waves bouncing on her shoulders.

“Ah, yeah,” Carson answered. “We’ve all had those kinds of times. The key is to not tell your professor about them, though,” he laughed, his deep laughter making me smile. “But either way, I’ll have a Corona, no lime.”

“Perfect, what about you, Dr. Dean?” her voice dropped off when she said my name, and the way her eyebrow raised at me made my stomach flip—it wasn’t like a seductive tone...

It was like a knowing tone—the kind your mom uses when she knows you did something bad.

“Just a Jack and Coke,” I answered her, trying to keep my tone cool, like I wasn’t mentally freaking out over the prospect of this young woman knowing I kissed her friend.

“I saw the video of that drunk girl on TikTok proclaiming she loved you,” she said, looking up from the notepad in her hand.

“Everyone has seen it,” Carson spoke up, chuckling. “But it isn’t the first time some student has done something like that—and it won’t be the last.”

“Hmm,” Paige nodded, her eyes flickering back to mine. “Is she in one of your classes?”

She’s trying to trip me up.

Letting out a sigh, I nodded, leveling my gaze with hers. “She’s in one of my classes, yes. I think the same one you’re in, actually—only she was there for the lecture, and you weren’t.”

Her eyebrows raised in a way that made me nearly laugh. “Well, good to know that you know who your students are, Dr. Dean. I’ll make sure that I don’t miss any more classes.”

“I’ll let it go if you take the video down,” I offered as she started to walk away from the table.

She spun around, narrowing her eyes. “I already did, but thanks for the offer.” With that, she flipped her hair and continued back toward the bar.

“Whoa,” Carson drew out, followed by a slight laugh. “I did not see that coming. How in the hell did you know that girl posted the video?”

“I talked to the student in the video today,” I explained, trying to choose my words carefully. Carson was a good friend, but I wasn’t sure what he’d think if I told him about what happened—though part of me thought it might be a good idea.

It just might be what I needed to set me straight since she had come onto me.

“And how did that go? My guess is the poor girl was absolutely humiliated by the whole thing,” Carson said, a sympathetic smile crossing his face. “Carly Williams is one of my top students. I’ve never seen her step out of line once in her life. She had perfect attendance last semester, and I’ve known her since her freshman year.”

I nodded, my mouth growing dry. “It went fine, I guess. She was pretty embarrassed about it all.” I was wishing more than ever that my drink was in front of me. “But other than that, there’s not much to say, really. I just asked her about it, and she said her friend had posted it—and I assumed that was her friend since her name tag said ‘Paige.’”

“Ballsy, but alright,” Carson laughed. “Carly got an internship with CBI this last summer and killed it.”

“In New York City?” I asked, thinking of the big billion-dollar company that I had applied for when I had graduated.

“Yeah, that’s the one. I talked with Chuck over there, too. He’s gonna offer her a job. I told her she ought to take it—and I recommended her for it with him.”

How does Carson know so much about this woman and I don’t?

“Yeah, that’s great,” I said with a nod, just as Paige sat our drinks down on the table.

“She’s got a good head on her shoulders.” Carson grabbed up his beer and took a swig.

I nodded but stayed quiet. If she’s got a good head on her shoulders...

Then why the hell did she kiss me?