Free Mr Malloy: A BWWM Teacher-Student Romance by Cherry Kay Page B

house.
    *
    When Amara opened the door and saw Matthieu standing there, she first wondered what on earth he was doing there, and then how he had ever found her. She recognized him from the few times that she had met him at her father's company events. He had short black hair and dark skin. He was slim with arrogant eyes and an air about him that said he thought he was God's gift to women. He was more than annoyed.
    "Amara!" he announced boldly. "You and I must speak!" There was no doubting his insistence.
    "Matthieu! What are you doing here?!" she gasped, stunned to see him.
    "You will not ask the questions!" he demanded haughtily, "I will ask the questions! What are you doing staying in America with an American man? We are engaged to be married! You are my woman! No one else's!"
    Amara gaped at him in disbelief and stood firmly at the door to stop him from entering the house. "I am not your woman, and we are not engaged to be married,” she said emphatically. "You proposed and I declined. That means that there is nothing between us! You are a stranger and I have no idea what you are doing in this country or on my doorstep!"
    "Your father called us to tell us that you are not returning to South Africa. That is not your choice to make! You never should have left your home! Your family is not happy, my family is not happy and so I am here fix the mess you have made and to set things right!" he lifted his chin, lording himself and his opinions over her in a misogynistic manner.
    "Things are already set right, Matthieu." Amara insisted. "I am married now to a kind man and I am very happy. You can tell my family and yours that there is no chance of marriage between us. Go home, Matthieu. We're done!"
    Jason heard the commotion and came to the door. By the color of Mathieu’s skin and the sight of his angry expression, Jason could only assume that this was someone that Amara knew from her home in South Africa. Judging by the age of this man, which more or less matched his own, Jason assumed that he was either a brother or the irked fiancé that Amara had refused to marry.
    "Is this the supposed husband?" Matthieu demanded, eyeing Jason up and down with contempt and jutting his chin out at him aggressively. "You have left me, your family, your commitments, and your country for this pathetic man?"
    The professor put his arm around Amara protectively. "There is nothing for you here. Amara wants to be with me and to stay in America. This is her home now and I am her family."
    "Go home, Matthieu." Amara repeated. "It was a waste of time for you to come after me at all."
    "I will go for now, but I am not returning until we speak properly," he told her, and then he leaned in toward her and looked down his nose at her with a nasty glare. "and, I am not leaving to go back home without having you right behind me, where you belong." He turned to leave and it was when his body had moved from the doorframe that the couple noticed the agents lingering right beside the gate.
    "Escaping an arranged marriage, is it?" Harold sneered. "Well," he almost chuckled, "you can be sure that I'll be reporting on this. Sam, keep an eye on these lovebirds while I follow her real fiancé for a while. Let's get to the bottom of this."
    Amara watched the older agent as he followed after Matthieu in a hurry, and she ran her hands through her hair in a panic. "Why is my family trying to ruin my life?" she asked exasperatedly. "They know my decision! They know I've ended their attempts to run my life!"
    "It's alright." Jason promised her, pulling her into his arms to comfort her. "You're married to me. There's nothing he can do."
    Sam, who was still lingering by the gate at the command of his senior, timidly stepped through it and up to the front step to reassure them. "I haven't been on the job very long," he told them. "But I have already seen enough couples who truly are faking their marriages. You have obviously rushed things along for a number of reasons, but