Free Devil's Kiss (Sunset Cove #2) by Ella Frank Page A

the issue here.”
    “Are you sure?”
    No. “Of course I’m sure. One of my students is…in some trouble, I think. But he’s also a total smartass. Hard to talk to. A real handful.”
    “How would you know he’s a handful , if it’s not like that?”
    Realizing what he’d said and what August was implying, Jordan screwed his nose up and whacked him on the arm. “Shut up. I’m being serious here.”
    August flashed his killer grin and shrugged. “Okay, but if we’re really going to sit here and talk about work, I need another drink,” August said, and Jordan wanted to slap himself on the back of the head.  
    What is wrong with me? August didn’t care about his work issues. He was there for a good time, not to hear about Jordan’s concerns that one of his students had home problems. The same student he couldn’t stop imagining getting naked with.  
    Shit. Maybe he’d talk about this on Monday with Brantley. Someone who could sympathize with him and understand where he was coming from. Minus the whole “I want to sleep with my student” part.
    Mentally shoving aside any thoughts of work, Jordan pushed up onto his knee and moved until he was straddling August’s lap, catching him off guard. He placed his hands on August’s shoulders and whispered against his lips.
    “Forget it. It’s nothing. Maybe I just need some help unwinding.”
    August’s hands stroked up his spine, but the frown he’d adopted earlier remained. “That’s not what I meant. I was gonna suggest after this we head out and go somewhere a little quieter. There’s obviously something on your mind.”
    Or someone. How inconvenient.
    Jordan shook his head. “Nope. You’re here for one night, right?”
    “Mhmm,” August agreed, and Jordan rolled his hips forward and brushed his hardening cock over his friend’s obvious erection. “Hell, J. Stop it unless you’re going to—”
    Pleased he’d finally gotten August’s mind back on the night’s activities, Jordan climbed off his lap.
    “Oh, I’m going to,” he assured him, and held out a hand. “Now get your hot ass out of that booth. We’re going back to my place.”  
    Somewhere Derek Pearson was certainly not allowed.

CHAPTER SIX

    Three Months Later

    “WHERE DO YOU think you’re goin’?”
    At the sound of his father’s voice, Derek stopped in the kitchen and clutched the strap of his gym bag. He was dressed for his weekly night shift over at the local twenty-four-hour gym. He’d been doing that on the weekdays the past couple of months and had somehow managed to talk Finn into applying for, and getting , a “dancer” position down at club Boyz on the weekends. A shitty home life could make a person very motivated, and no one was more determined than him to make as much cash as humanly possible so he could move the fuck out.
    Of course, that now meant he had zero social life, but then again, he hadn’t really had one to begin with, so that didn’t matter much. Finn was practically missing these days since he’d started sleeping with his professor—who knew he had that in him?—and every other hour Derek had available to him, he’d spent it writing papers and studying for his final exams. He had to maintain a certain grade to keep his scholarship.
    The last few weeks had turned into endless hours of switching between one job and another, until this week, when he’d had to scale back so he could be at school for the start of his spring semester. He couldn’t find it in him to complain, however, because it had kept him out of the house and, for the most part, away from his father—until now.
    His sneakers made the cracked linoleum protest underfoot, and as he faced the man who’d addressed him, Derek braced himself for whatever might follow. His father was standing by the ancient television set holding the shit antenna he was trying to get to work in one hand, and a cigarette in the other.  
    “I’m going to work.”
    “You work?”
    Ignore him.