She was my student.

Callan and Gideon knew she went to my school and didn't tell me.

I wasn't talking to my friends, and Emma wasn't talking to me.

It was a mess all around, and I was too much of a mess myself to do anything about it. I'd never been this angry with the guys before, and I couldn't help but feel betrayed by them.

Strange to think that only yesterday morning, I'd woken up with excitement humming underneath my skin and been so ready for the day to start. Teaching was my passion, and fuck if I hadn't missed it these past couple of months.

My first class teaching corporate finance had felt amazing. It was good being back. If this would be my last semester for a couple of years, I had plans to savor it. Of course, needless to say, it all went downhill from there.

The second I saw Emma, my heart practically stopped beating. Before I registered that she was actually there in my class, all I could think about what how beautiful she looked. My gorgeous girl. But then, the moment was up, and my heart started beating again, so fucking fast I almost thought I was having a heart attack.

Usually, I could sense Emma the second she was nearby–it was almost impossible not to when she outshined even the sun–but this time, I'd been too distracted to notice that she was sitting only a couple of feet away from me.

I had taken in her tense form, and willed her to look up at me, but she wouldn't move her gaze from the notebook in front of her.

A second turned into two, and then three until I had to force my focus to the girl behind her whose turn it was to introduce herself. I couldn't concentrate on what any of the students said; my mind too tuned in to our girl.

When it was finally Emma's turn to present herself to the class, I froze. Her eyes met mine as she rose from her seat, and I had to quickly shut down my emotions, or else the other people would see just how deeply I'd fallen for their fellow student.

It broke a piece of me that I had to pretend she meant nothing to me when in reality, she meant the whole fucking world. In a matter of weeks, she became my most important person. The absolute worst part about yesterday, though, was the heartbreak clearly written across her face. I could tell that her overactive mind was hard at work. She didn't even realize I'd already fallen, and there was no way for me to undo it now–not that I wanted to.

It was crazy how well I'd gotten to know Emma in such a short amount of time. She was just so easy to read, and I loved that about her. Most people, including me, hid behind fake smiles–or in Gideon's case, a very real scowl–because showing our true feelings left us feeling vulnerable. But Emma, she hid nothing. And in that class, I could read her every thought and emotion. I could read her heartbreak and her resignation, just like I'd read her love and adoration two days prior. She already thought we were over, and a part of me knew it was because she cared about me enough to let me go–I couldn't let that happen.

It hurt watching her like that when I couldn't do anything to put her at ease. It had taken everything in me to not haul her into my arms and wipe away her sad expression with kisses until her beautiful smile once again resurfaced.

Then, she'd spoken with a strong, steady voice so at odds with her broken gaze, it made my breath hitch. Fucking hell, I'd wanted to tell the class to get the hell out of there so I could be alone with our girl. I'd longed to hold her and tell her everything would be okay because we would find a way to make it work. I loved being a professor, but at the risk of losing her, I'd choose to risk my job in a heartbeat.

As the class went on, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I went on autopilot. My mind wasn't thinking about the other students or the material we would cover throughout the course. No, my mind was focused entirely on the girl I couldn't even look at because my gaze would surely soften if I did.

The kettle on the stove whistled, bringing me out of my thoughts, but only momentarily while I got my tea ready. My eyes felt itchy and dry from the lack of sleep. Luckily, I didn't have any classes to teach today because I looked and felt like pure shit.

I was tired, and I was hurt, and I was fucking pissed.

Looking at my watch, I sighed, like I'd done every five minutes, wondering how much time was enough time to give Emma. I'd told her I would be waiting for her call, but the call still hadn't come, and I was afraid she would use that overactive brain of hers to talk herself into leaving us. Again, I couldn't let that happen.

How much was enough time? I was getting sick with worry, just sitting around waiting for her. Part of being a dominant was knowing what your submissive needed, and sometimes we knew even better what they needed than they did themselves. I'd learned how Emma's brain worked, and we needed to talk things out before too much damage was done. So, why the hell was I simply just sitting here? Decision made, I grabbed my phone and the car keys and went straight for the car.

My phone rang just as I backed out of the driveway. One look at the car stereo, I saw that it was Callan calling. I hit decline.

Fucking idiots. The both of them.

I'd known the guys since college, and never once had they lied to me. Edna Buchanan said it best: Friends are the family we choose for ourselves. That was precisely what we had done; we'd chosen each other. They were the ones I trusted the most, and they ended up letting me the fuck down.

If they'd told this to me before Emma had become my student, we could've been more prepared for this. Instead, it blindsided us.

After I'd called Emma yesterday, I went straight to Callan. He was our go-to guy if we needed to talk shit out. I figured I'd just vent about the messy situation Emma and I had found us in. What I hadn't expected to happen was him and Gideon already knowing she was a student at my school. He tried to explain, but fuck, I was so pissed his words didn't even register, and yeah, I might've called him a bastard, and yes, I might've regretted it the second it was out, but fucking hell. These were the guys who'd had my back for years, and I'd had theirs, so to say I was hurt was an understatement. Gideon hadn't tried to find excuses when I'd called on him next to tear him a new asshole. Instead, he'd let me yell, not even trying to defend his actions–that just made me angrier.

The thing was, I wasn't just pissed at them for keeping it from me, but also Emma. If we'd known what we were walking into on the first day of class, it would've ended differently. She wouldn't have been heartbroken because by then, I would've already eased her worries. She would've known she mattered more to me than that job–no matter how much I loved it, I cared about her even more.

We would've ended yesterday differently because we would have known that we would still be okay.

I drove to Emma's place in record time. Now that I'd decided to see her, it couldn't happen soon enough.

Standing outside her building door, I pushed the button to her intercom and hoped she wouldn't turn me away.

"Who's this?" a man asked, making me tense.

"Mateo, who are you?" Why was there another man in her apartment?

The intercom went silent for so long, I was about ready to call the asswipe who owned the building to come and lock me in. Turned out I didn't need to because the door to the building opened up, revealing Emma's friend, Kevin, and he looked seriously annoyed. I wondered what his deal was.

"Should I expect Gideon to come running down Emma's door, too?" he muttered with a heavy dose of annoyance.

"What does that mean?" I asked but then shook my head. "You know what, it doesn't matter." What mattered was seeing Emma.

I pushed my way past him and ran up the steps until I got to her floor, pausing only when I saw blood on the floor right by her door. "What the hell happened here? Is she okay?" I questioned Kevin that followed along behind me.

"That's not her blood," he simply said.

"That wasn't what I asked. Is she okay?" I demanded to know, which surprisingly made him look even angrier.

"Is she okay?" he echoed. "What do you think?"

I didn't actually think she was okay, but that was why I was here in the first place. "Look, I know she got hurt when she found out I was her professor, but–"

"Of course, she's hurt by that, but she's even more hurt by you guys lying to her since you fucking met her. That is why she cried herself to sleep last night, not because she found out she was your student."

Wait...what? I must've looked confused because he continued talking.

"The Private investigator. Does that ring a bell?"

Oh. Fuck.

"I know how much she cares about you guys, so I'll say to you what I said to Callan–" Huh, Callan? "–You better fucking fight for her because if you don't, you damn well don't deserve her."

Kevin didn't wait for a reply as he went into her apartment and slung a bag over his shoulder before coming back out. "Oh, and one more thing," he said, stopping in front of me. I didn't even have time to react as his fist connected with my nose. I cursed at the sharp pain of his punch.

"That was for Emma."

We're nearing the ending of the first book. I figured I would make a chapter at the very end to inform you a bit about the sequel, so if you have any questions, please comment them here. I'll take the most asked questions and answer them in that chapter