The Monarch Room Read online

  “After this is over, I’ll swing by the bar,” I told him.

  “Cool. I want to know all about this detention.”

  “Deal,” I nodded and slapped his back.

  The hallways of Aspen Grove looked different when they weren’t bustling with students. I took note of the emptiness and moved back into my room, closing the door behind me.

  “Do you see where you went wrong with both your sketch and your attitude, Miss Okolo?” I asked sitting behind my desk, focusing on the mountain of papers I had to sift through.

  “Why don’t you call me Zuri?” She blurted. I lifted my head and squinted so that I didn’t focus on anything but those eyes of hers. They were still haunting me, only now it wasn’t in the middle of the night anymore. Now, they haunted me during the day and in real life. I couldn’t tell where I preferred them, in my dreams or in my reality.

  “You’re a student. I call all my students by their last names. Do you have a problem with that?” I clicked my red pen over and over. The noise gave me something else to focus on. Maybe holding her for detention was a bad idea.

  “I do. Aspen Grove is about creating an organic learning environment but you make it stiff when you call everyone by their last names.”

  “Well, get over it, princess.” I flipped through sketches and marked grades on the back but I still felt her staring at me no matter what I did. We didn’t say another word to each other for the entire hour.

  When the timer sounded, she gathered her things in a quiet rush then stood near me at the door. I could smell her brown sugar and vanilla. Dirty thoughts rushed through my mind and it was getting harder to fight them the closer she stood to me.

  “What is it, Miss Okolo?” I finally asked before our middles touched.

  “You’re rude,” she said. Her nostrils flared like she was fighting to keep herself calm. I opened my mouth to offer her more detention but she didn’t give me the chance to. “You didn’t treat me like this when we bumped into each other in the hall before school started.” Her words continued to render me silent. “You were different then.” Her eyes looked exactly like they did in my dreams.

  I got lost in them for a moment. They were beautiful and I saw a sliver of fear swimming around behind her mighty confidence. I flattened my back against the door as if it would give me more space. I needed space.

  She was too close to me and my palms were starting to itch. How was it that in all my twenty-six years of life, I’d never seen anyone as beautiful as the girl standing in front of me? Seconds trickled by as I searched my brain for words.

  “You weren’t a student then,” I confessed, letting my head hang a bit. My voice was hushed as if there were a million ears around us. In reality, we were alone in the Monarch Room.

  “Just…tell me why you’re being so mean to me,” her voice was quiet too.

  “I’m not being mean. I’m teaching. I’m not letting you or any other student slide. The only way you’re going to make it through this class is by working.”

  “I’ve already failed two assignments, Mr. Clermont. How am I supposed to make it through the class like that?”

  “Pass every other assignment,” I told her. The space between us was stuffed to the brim with silence. Her pulse was still thumping rapidly. I couldn’t stop watching the hollow dip between her collarbones.

  Her eyes traveled along my face, stopping at my lips before she looked down at her loafers. “I wish I could go back to that day in the hallway. I liked you a lot, Roman.” Hearing my name roll off her lips unraveled me.

  She wrapped her hand around the doorknob and I wrapped my hand around her wrist. “So do I, Zuri.” My chest was tight knowing I was talking to a student in a way I shouldn’t have been. She was off limits. My body didn’t know that though. My body reacted to touching her buttery smooth skin. My heart sped up and my dick jerked in her direction.

  I dropped her wrist immediately, rubbing my forehead with the heel of my hand. “I’m sorry,” I sighed.

  “For what?” She creaked out like her throat was dry.

  “I shouldn’t have grabbed you like that.” Her hand fell away from the doorknob and she swallowed. I really wish her throat wouldn’t do that little dip. I couldn’t stop honing in on it.

  “I didn’t mind.” She took a step forward, and my sick mind thanked God that she was further from the door and closer to me. What was wrong with me? I knew she was a student. I met her father. She was in my class. I graded her paper hours ago for fuck’s sake.

  Yet I couldn’t stop wondering if she tasted as good as she smelled and looked. “Zuri, you should go.” My voice was raw and ragged. The primal part of me was bleeding through and starting to take over.

  “I don’t want to,” she said. “Whatever this energy is between us…I like it. I like this version of you. I can see through you like clear water in the sun.” Her eyes soaked in every part of my face. Her words weren’t helping my willpower. She spoke like a painting. Like colors on a canvas. Everything she said painted a picture.

  “You’re my student. You shouldn’t be seeing through anything .”

  “But I do . Especially now.” My heart pounded so hard I could hear it in my ears and feel it in my fingertips. I looked toward the closed door and thanked the heavens that tissue paper monarch wings covered the glass panes, and then I gripped Zuri’s delicate jaw in my strong fingers.

  “We’re playing with fire right now. Both of us. We’re touching and speaking inappropriately. If we stop now, there won’t be a problem,” I said. I was too close to her lips. I could smell the gloss coating them. It smelled like frosting.

  “Then we’re going to have a big fucking problem, Roman.” She breathed against my lips and I lost it. Every ounce of self-control was gone. Her eyes fell shut and I dipped my head low to kiss her lips.

  Her tongue was like honey. She was so goddamn sweet. I backed her against the door and put my hands on her slender hips. Her arms locked around my neck like she never wanted to let me move.

  Kissing her felt like something I was meant to do. Like a necessary step on a quest. I had to do it. Everything in the entire universe wanted me to kiss Zuri Okolo at that moment.

  She let out a soft whimper and I swallowed it whole before crushing her beneath my weight. When she raked her nails over my hair and down my neck, I groaned against her warm, wet mouth.

  My dick begged for her. I needed to put her essence in a champagne flute and drink it until I couldn’t move.

  I sucked on her lips one at a time until she trembled under me, nibbling on my tongue like it was her favorite thing to savor. Her sweet pussy perfumed the air and it made me ravenous.

  I pulled away from her mouth and looked down into the eyes of my dreams. “Did you cum, Zuri?” I skimmed my knuckles across her cheek.

  “I—I think so.” Her voice shook as hard as the rest of her. I knew for a fact that if I put my hand between her thighs and felt how slippery she was, I would fuck her relentlessly on my desk.

  I couldn’t. It didn’t matter how much I tingled with the need to slide her juices between my fingerprints. I had to hold on to some thread of sanity.

  “Shit. We can’t do this again. You have to go home, okay?” I stared down at her and saw confusion and hurt washing over her face. It clouded her eyes. I had to turn my head.

  “Right. Of course,” her laugh was bitter and cold.

  “It’s not you, Zuri. I let my judgment slip. I’m the adult. I know better.”

  “Whatever, Mr. Clermont. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

  I cringed at the sound of the door closing behind her. Everything about that was fucked up. How did I let myself slip so quickly?

  I watched her in class for the past two days and every time I looked at her I kept wondering how the fuck someone could be so beautiful. How could she be a student? She didn’t carry herself like a student. She carried herself like a woman that was sure of herself but only because she’d been through so much.

/>   I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her legs and the way her uniform shirt stretched across the swell of her breasts or the way her lips pursed when she concentrated on something. Just because I wasn’t dreaming about her anymore didn’t mean she wasn’t still surrounding my thoughts.

  I figured I could control myself around her. I was a grown man and I didn’t lose my morals because there was a beautiful girl in front of me.

  Zuri wasn’t just a beautiful girl though.

  I wanted to stare at every curve of her body and commit it to my pad of paper. I wanted to remember her in lines of charcoal and strokes of paint. I wanted to do everything I had no business doing to my student.

  I slipped when I wasn’t supposed to. Now Zuri was confused and if I was being honest, I was confused too. I couldn’t think straight. Monarch wings and vanilla frosting would forever be burned into my mind as memories of when I tasted the sweetest, forbidden fruit.

  I rushed out of my classroom after the last paper was graded and hit the bar with Matt. I needed a drink more than anything else in the world right then.

  “Are you okay? You look like shit,” Matt ordered me a beer but I needed something stronger. I needed something to wash away the taste of Zuri’s lips. I don’t think they made a drink that strong.

  “Yeah. I’m just…ready to go home.” I was lying but nobody could know what happened behind the closed doors of the Monarch Room.

  “That kid in detention really drained you, huh?” Matt chuckled.

  “Something like that. She’s a brat,” I muttered.

  “All of them are. Hey, Rome, have you gotten girls looking at you with heart eyes yet? I’m starting to notice a couple of girls in my class staring and giggling.”

  I’d noticed the same thing. All the girls in all of my classes stared and giggled, especially when I smiled. Zuri was the only one who looked at me like she had a purpose. I didn’t know what that purpose was but the thought of finding out made me thrum with desire.

  “They probably think you’re funny looking,” I joked. Matt scowled at me a bit.

  “Ha ha, Clermont. I’m staying as far away as possible from those little girls. They might be pretty to look at but they’ll get you in hot water every fucking time.”

  My ears grew warm listening to him talk. He was right and that’s why Zuri and I had to stay away from each other. It was bad for both of us. “Trouble is the last thing I need,” I stared at the bottom of my beer mug and rested my elbows on the wooden bar.

  “You and me both. Honestly, none of those girls tempt me anyway. The kid in your class for detention…she might be trouble though.” He tipped his head to the side like he was imagining Zuri right then.

  I flexed my fingers, making a fist then releasing it. I couldn’t get jealous over someone that didn’t belong to me. Zuri wasn’t mine. One kiss didn’t make her mine.

  “Why would you say that? She’s just another kid…right?” I lifted an eyebrow at him and he chuckled.

  “Yeah, she looks mature though. Can’t quite put my finger on it.” She looked like she lived a lifetime of problems already. She looked like she had stories to tell but she still looked like she had lessons to learn.

  I shook my head and laughed a little. “I haven’t noticed.” It was a lie. It was the biggest lie of the fucking century. I noticed everything about Zuri Okolo.

  “Good, Rome. Don’t notice anything about the students beyond their grades.” He paused to sip his beer then slapped his palm on the bar. “Hey, I heard Palmer is having a faculty dinner next month. You coming?”

  “I haven’t heard a damn thing about this dinner. How did you hear about it?” I turned my lips down and faced him. The beer was taking some of the edge off kissing my student against the door of my classroom but not all of it.

  “I heard his secretary talking about setting it up when I was in there. Evidently, invitations will go out in a couple of weeks. I’ll go if you go,” Matt gave a lopsided grin.

  “I guess. Let’s see what kind of bullshit we’re in for,” I slapped hands with him and we ordered another round of beers. Conversations with Matt were getting easier and easier. I just wished I could tell him about my dilemma with Zuri. That was a secret I had to keep until I died though.

  **

  Zuri didn’t even bother looking my way in class unless I asked her a direct question. I felt like shit for playing with her head like that. I kissed her and gave her all the passion I had pent up inside of me from weeks of dreaming about her eyes and finally seeing her in person then watching her in my classroom. I made her cum.

  I wondered if she ever came with anyone else before. I wondered how many other men she’d been with or maybe she’d only been with boys her age. They wouldn’t know what to do with someone like Zuri. She deserved to be worshipped. She was a walking goddess.

  I went back and forth in my mind every day between staring at her and ignoring her. She turned in her work then left without so much as a glance in my direction so I had to do the same. It didn’t matter how she crossed and uncrossed her legs in class or how she made sure to always be the first student in and the last student out. I was focused on her classwork.

  It was pretty mediocre too. She gave nothing above a C and I was starting to worry that she didn’t care. I hoped it wasn’t because of me.

  When the time came around for the extra credit art exhibit, I wanted to see her there. Not because I liked looking at her but because she needed the education and the extra points.

  I stood on the steps of the Meadowbrook Center dressed in a charcoal gray suit looking at my watch. I guess no students were going to show. After waiting for twenty minutes, I went inside and grabbed a flute of champagne from a young lady passing by with a tray of them.

  If no students were going to show, I was going to drink and enjoy the exhibit by myself. Four glasses of champagne in, I decided to go outside and get fresh air during the break where they switched out the paintings for the sculptures.

  My eyes zeroed in on a black Escalade with windows so deeply tinted that I couldn’t see who was inside. I figured it was someone important. Maybe a senator or something.

  I never expected Zuri to get out. Her white dress was simple but it was dangerous. Especially around me. I was tipsy and she looked like an angel. The kind of angel it would be hard to keep my hands and lips off of.

  I did a quick sweep of the front steps before jogging down to meet her. The driver eyed me for a second. He looked like he didn’t know if he should leave her in my presence. “I’m Mr. Clermont, her art teacher,” I introduced myself and shook his hand.

  “This is over in about an hour. I’ll text you,” Zuri smiled politely and walked toward me. She stared at me and I felt the heat from her gaze again. It was something I hadn’t felt in weeks since she pretended I didn’t exist. I didn’t realize I was so hungry for it.

  “I told you the exhibit started at eight, Miss Okolo. You’re late.”

  Her teeth found her glossy bottom lip and nibbled. It was hard not to pull her against me and nibble on that lip too. We were inches away from each other but that didn’t stop the crackle of electricity in the air from whipping around us.

  “I didn’t know if I wanted to come or not because I didn’t want to see you.” Yet she looked at me and she wouldn’t stop looking. I looked around once more before holding my arm out.

  Zuri looked down and reluctantly locked her arm with mine. “This doesn’t mean I like you. These heels are hell to walk in,” she said as we made our way inside. I smiled a little and nodded.

  “You don’t have to like me. Come to take in the art. That’s all I ask. Get inspired.”

  “I don’t need art to get inspired,” she whispered as we stood on the steps to the entrance.

  “Everything that inspires us is art in some form, Miss Okolo.” I found myself wishing she’d picked a different outfit. From my vantage point, I could see straight down her dress and the view was amazing. It was making my dick stiffen in
my pants.

  I tried to think of anything to will away the impending erection. Nothing worked. Not with Zuri on my arm smelling sweet and looking absolutely breathtaking. “Mr. Clermont!” A panicked voice sliced through the fog and simultaneously my erection. I dropped Zuri’s arm once Brittany Sawyer came into view.

  “Miss Sawyer, you’re late as well,” I scolded.

  “I’m so sorry. I had to catch two buses to get here. Everyone can’t have a driver,” she looked at Zuri who seemed unbothered by the comment.

  “Very well,” I sighed and held open the door for both ladies. I lingered on Zuri’s perfect ass as she stepped through and hoped neither of them noticed. The champagne reduced my normal filters to mush and I had to fight to put myself back in a teaching mindset. I had to pretend we were all back at Aspen Grove in the Monarch Room.

  **

  Zuri

  “I didn’t know you were coming, Zuri,” Brittany eyed me and turned her nose up slightly. I hadn’t planned to come but while I sat alone in my room trying to sketch a butterfly that looked like it was flapping its wings instead of floating in the air, I realized I sucked at drawing. I tossed my pencil to the side and pulled out my small blue leather journal.

  My fingers itched.

  They wouldn’t stop itching because I’d been ignoring them. They wanted me to write about him. I wet my dry lips with my tongue and held a pen firmly in my left hand. The words flowed like river water and I obeyed them.

  Deep

  He makes me feel

  He makes me feel things I’ve never felt

  Things I never want to stop feeling.

  He rolls over my heat like water.

  He cools my core but ignites something deeper.

  It’s an itch that can’t be scratched by rubbing fingers over skin.

  I need him.

  I need him deep…deeper.

  I need him in the deepest ways.

  I hope I didn’t push him away.

  The deepest parts of me hope he stays.