One Night With My Alpha Professor by Eve Above Story

Chapter 35 Audrey

It was nearly midnight by the time I stumbled down the hallway toward my room; the other dorms were raucous and lively, music thumping through the walls. A typical noisy Friday night, meaning that sleep would elude me.

Although, if I was being honest, I didn't think that sleep would have come easily even if the dorms had been utterly silent. I kept replaying the incident in Edwin's office over and over again in my mind, going over every little thing he had said and done. The pizza. The whiskey. Two truths. My virginity. Sexual pointers. An engagement. And a lie.

The thought of it all made me shudder, and in that moment, I made a pact with myself: I would not put myself in a position with him like that again. We were professor and student, nothing more, and it was inappropriate. I should have just refused the day off and taken a stack of papers back to my dorm to grade over the weekend.

It would have been better for both of us that way.

When I finally reached my door, I fumbled with my keys for a moment before managing to unlock it. As I swung it open, however, something large and hairy suddenly dropped from the top of the doorframe. I looked up just in time to see a massive tarantula hanging right in front of my face.

"Oh my god!" I shrieked, stumbling backwards. The spider landed on my shoulder, its spindly legs scratching at my skin, and I frantically brushed it away. "Get off me, get off!"

Tears were already streaming down my cheeks as I staggered into the hallway, swatting at my hair and clothes. I was in such a frenzy that I fell straight to my butt on the floor, still shrieking and batting at myself.

My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else. I could feel spiders everywhere now, all over me, and I

couldn't breathe-

"Oh. My. God!"

The sound of laughter made me whip my head up. Through my panic, I could make out the blurry forms of two all-too-familiar girls: Linda's new friends, both of them holding up their phones as they cackled at my agony. "Are you getting this?" one of the girls snickered. "She's totally freaking out!"

cooed at me, clicking her tongue. "It's just a tarantula. They're

Harmless? Harmless?

into my room without a word, slamming the door

swallowed hard, my back pressed against the door. Even with my light off, I felt utterly exposed and naked-the video they took would likely circulate all around campus within an hour at the

Only once I was certain that they were gone did

checked my entire room with a flashlight, too. Of

buried my face in my pillow.

I hated Linda and her stupid friends for doing that to me. How did they even find out how deathly afraid I was of spiders? It was a secret

I used to jump out of bed in the middle of the night as a kid and run screaming to my mom's room, crying that

would be; surely they just thought it would be a funny prank, something to record

would

of the tarantula from my mind, along with Linda's friends' jeering laughter. Instead, I focused on something else... anything else. Suddenly, a face floated through my

his lips curved up when he

I could practically feel his arms wrapping around me, his breath fanning across my ear as he murmured instructions on

course...

my chin and let myself

myself back in Edwin's dimly lit office. I was sitting at his desk, but as I looked down, I saw spiders scurrying across the wooden surface toward me. I gasped and

I cried out in

was there, stepping out from the darkness and into the dim glow of his desk lamp. He didn't even flinch at the sight of