Free Now & Forever 3 - Blind love by Jean C. Joachim Page B

together. Then Cal
Dexter had arrived. Alan thought he was a brash young man, a know-it-all. But
he spent a lot of time with Beth, discussing students, teaching methods and
experiments. Beth never mentioned Cal at home, so Alan didn’t worry.
    Alan checked with Jonesy, the administrative secretary and
discovered Cal Dexter was gone too. He finished his Master’s degree and left,
telling no one where he was going, which Jonesy thought odd. Alan knew then it
was part of their plan.
    Shock turned to anger. Anger turned to cold-blooded rage. He
hated Beth. He hated Cal. It was three years since Beth left him, since the
divorce papers arrived with still no word from Beth, since Alan’s life came
apart but he hadn’t moved on. Alan was out for revenge, revenge on women and
the young women in his freshman English class became his targets.
    Helpless girls who had no knack for English were ripe for
Alan’s cruelty and sexual advances. He spared no one, after all, neither Beth
nor Cal spared him. Had they given him a chance to change? Even a reason? For
three years he kept guessing what it was that went wrong, but he’d never know
for sure and not knowing drove him crazy. He never heard from Beth again.
    So Alan looked over his list of potential victims and decided
this would be a good year with more girls than ever taking his English class.
Who would it be this year? He couldn’t wait to find out.
    Alan reminded himself there was a suicide he was responsible
for last year. Margaret Jason took an overdose and died. The administration
attributed it to some break-up with a boyfriend, but Alan knew it was because he
failed her in English and dashed her hopes of ever getting into veterinary
school. As soon as Alan became aware of Margaret’s death, he changed her grade
to a B. He didn’t want that F, the only failing grade on her entire record, to
be discovered because he knew an investigation would put him in the spotlight
and he’d have to answer some uncomfortable questions.
    Alan looked up the fifty-three girls in the database to check
out their majors. He was looking for serious science majors and phys. Ed.
majors…the ones most likely to have trouble in his English class. You had to
watch out for those phys. Ed. majors, though, sometimes they turned out to be
lesbians. His favorites were the pre-med majors who couldn’t write an English
paper. Every time he had sex with one of them, he thought of Beth and her gift
for chemistry. She could barely write an intelligible sentence, he scoffed to
himself.
    Rex moving into his house didn’t deter Alan. He had sex with
his students in the evening, but in his office, not at home, so Rex would never
know. Still, Alan worried about having him around. Rex didn’t miss much. But he
paid rent, so Alan couldn’t complain. He was careful around Rex, kept his mouth
shut, or Rex would move in on him like a vulture and tear him apart.
     
    * * * *
     
    At the neat little house on James Street
     
    Peter had fallen in love with Lara, but she didn’t love him
back and it was killing him, eating him up. He needed to go back to his
position of strength, an environment where he could be in control…a bar. He called
Mac.
    “Hey, Mac. Where does a single guy go here for some action?”
    “How the hell would I know? I’ve been married for five
years.”
    “Come on, Mac. Even in a town this small there’s a place.”
    “There’s the Juke Box, and a topless bar.”
    “Topless sounds good. Where?”
    “It’s called The Wet Tee Shirt. It’s on Malone outside of
town, past Monty’s Liquor Store and The Tire Factory.”
    “I think I know where that is.”
    “Call me if you need a ride home, Pete, okay?”
    “Don’t worry about me.”
    After dinner with Sam, Peter got dressed for a night of
tomcatting at The Wet Tee Shirt.
    “Where you headed tonight, Pete?” Sam said, picking up a book
and settling down in an easy chair. He watched his son carefully combing his
hair in the mirror by