Play Dirty (21 page)

“I feel like I need brain bleach.” Dana packed her things and stretched. “That was … painful.”

“Not all of it.” Lynn didn’t move. She and Matthew were going to have some words once everyone cleared out. Screw whoever was following him. This needed to be handled immediately. If she went home like this, she’d probably burn the whole house down. “I mean, there were a lot of good ones.”

“True. And then a lot of … not.” Dana shrugged. “Let’s go get cheese fries.”

“I’ll meet you there. I need to talk to Mr. Flint first.” Dana pursed her lips to make an
oooo
sound. Lynn shook her head. “Not like that.”

“No?” Dana pouted. “I mean, you haven’t said anything, but I was hoping you were just holding out on me, because wow, can he rock a slouchy beanie …”

“Shh!” Lynn swatted at her. “And no. I have some time commitments tomorrow, so I need more information about the callbacks.”

“Ah, because you will totally have one.” Dana nodded and trudged through the rows of seats. “I’ll save you a seat!”

Lynn waved and collected her things, trying to wait patiently as everyone meandered around the auditorium, talking. It at least gave her a chance to work out what exactly she was going to say, because she didn’t want to scare Matthew off with her crazy. But she did want to scare him off Aria Levens.

Because, apparently, he had a type. That type may have been her, but Aria took it and ran.

Aria was the last of them to leave, spending ridiculous amounts of time fawning over their director. The bitch knew exactly what she was doing, because she kept throwing shade in Lynn’s general direction. Finally, he sent her away, with a promise to have the callback list out the second the lunch bells started ringing.

Lynn didn’t even bother watching her leave, just waited until the doors slammed shut. Once everything was completely quiet, she stood in front of her lover, who was dutifully sorting through his notes, like he had no idea what had just transpired before him.

Never before in her life, not even with her horrible parents and rivalry with Aria, had she felt this angry and out of control. She tried to be kind to herself; things were really stressful and there was someone out there stalking her and Matthew, threatening to ruin her life. But. But. There was an anger so profound within her, she was actually terrified.

“So.”

He smiled brightly at her, and it hurt her heart. “You were incredible. That high C! Lynn, I had no idea you could hit notes like that. You blew everyone out of the water.”

“Everyone but Aria, it seems.” She fought to keep her voice level, but it wasn’t working. “That was interesting.”

“A tad inappropriate.”

“A tad? Seriously?”

Matthew looked up at her, face scrunched up. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” She hissed.

“Okay,” he smiled. “You’re repeating everything I say, so I’m going to go with no.”

“Yeah. Go with no.”

He paused and laughed quietly until she scowled so intensely he shut his mouth. “Look, it was incredibly inappropriate. She knew exactly what she was doing, everyone could see that. But, it was also topical to the play. I can’t tell her what to audition with.”

Lynn bit her lip and instantly hated herself for the tears welling in her eyes. “You looked like you enjoyed it.”

“Oh, oh Lynn.” He cupped her face and kissed her lightly. “No. Nothing like that, I swear. She isn’t even my type, and I have you. Remember? I love you. She’s a very talented girl. The end. I have to very visibly not play favorites, remember? I swear, that’s all I was doing.”

Inside, she crumbled and the tears breeched her lids. “It’s just so shitty to sit back and watch, and know that she’s practically eye-fucking you while humping the stage and she’s so goddamn conceited and I just don’t think I can handle her for an entire show, Matthew.”

He kissed her tears as they fell. “I’m so sorry, Lynn. I hate this, too. I hate seeing the stress it has you under. I’d strangle this asshole in a minute if I knew who it was.”

“I just hate it so much. I miss you. I hate hiding. How am I supposed to deal with her for an entire rehearsal?”

His kiss was warm and tender. “I’m always here. I know we can’t physically be together like we want, but know that everything I do in this theater is for
you
. Aria can slut it up as much as she likes. You, not anyone else, are my girl.”

The jealousy monster retreated to its cave, but for how long, Lynn wasn’t sure.

PART THREE

MATTHEW

He came back from taking a piss and found another slip of paper on his desk. Matthew froze in his doorway for a moment while his mind tried to process what he was looking at. This wasn’t an episode of
Punk’d
(did they even make that show anymore? He never had a chance to watch television) and there were no whispers of camera crews wandering around campus. So this had to be another note from the asshole. He forced his legs to carry him to his desk like nothing was out of the ordinary just in case someone was watching. Because, if he was a betting man, he’d bet someone was indeed watching.

And if losing half his savings in Vegas three years ago taught him anything, it was that he was very much a betting man.

He sat down and tugged at his beard. The paper was folded neatly into a square and completely blank on the outside, but it wasn’t the outside he was afraid of. Surging through his veins was the thick desire to crumple it up and hurl it in the trash without ever reading it, without giving whatever asshole this came from the satisfaction of knowing they got to him.

At the same time, he needed to know. Not just for his peace of mind, but for Lynn.

At least the note was too small to contain photographs … unless it was a promise of photographs. He couldn’t omit the chances this person was psychotic enough to lead him on a scavenger hunt through the school to find photos or video of him and Lynn fucking.

Matthew made a mental note to ask her how she felt about being filmed. For research.

He looked around for any scrap of evidence left behind, but all this mystery asshole left was the note. They had to know his schedule to drop it off when he wasn’t in the room. This was one of his work periods, the one he usually spent hiding in the teacher’s lounge, which meant the stalker either got lucky, or knew his routine. Knowing his routine was creepy as fuck.

Matthew folded the paper into a triangle and kicked it around his emptied desk, paper football style, contemplating.

Rehearsals for
Spring Awakening
, though in the beginning stages with the complications of merging the choir cliques with the theater cliques, weren’t going terribly. For him. Aria was slurping the spotlight up with eighty-seven straws, but he’d worked with plenty of divas before and dealing with a melodramatic teenage girl was nothing compared to some of the actors in his companies past. Lynn, however, was not handling it well. The incredible actress she was, she kept a brave front, but he could see her breaking down between the lines.

His beautiful ray of sunshine was slowly burning out. And now he couldn’t go to the goddamn pisser without fear of being ambushed.

Fuck it.
Matthew smoothed out the creases and centered it on his desk.

You call yourself a teacher.
Is this what a teacher does?

When was the appropriate time to start bringing flasks to work? Jesus Christ. He slumped in his seat and scrubbed his face with his hands. These notes were making him feel dirty, like that creep with aviators and binoculars in a VW van by a playground. He wanted a hot shower and a nail file to take to his skin.

What infuriated him was the insinuation. Lynn was an adult, a grown-ass woman capable of making her own decisions. Their activities may not have exactly been school appropriate, but it was always after hours and never in plain sight. It’s not like they fucked in the middle of the hallway, flipping off the security cameras.

This beautiful thing in his life was being tarnished to shit. And for what? So someone else could attempt to date Lynn? So he would abandon the theater department and go crawling back to his mom’s house until he was able to finally get back on his own two feet? So some teenage girl with half the class of his Juliet could try to unsuccessfully woo him?

He balled up the note and threw it in the trash. Today, he was taking an early lunch, off campus, with something alcoholic. After he took on the job, friends from all over messaged him privately about their own experiences with shit like this, but all of them swore they were innocent, and to watch out. Here he was, guilty as flan was wobbly, and in eighty-seven feet of shit.

But more importantly, what to tell Lynn? Matthew stressed about it for hours. His lunch was unsatisfying, the rest of the school day inched along until he was certain he would hurl himself from the second-floor windows, and the subway was so crowded he missed his train. He had several choice words for today, and not one of them was pleasant.

Instead of waiting around for the next train, he sent Lynn a message over the latest messenger app they had downloaded, to help avoid paper trails.
Meet me at the park in ten?

He fidgeted while waiting for a response. Crowds began to push him and the air around him was too hot, entirely too hot. Without waiting for her to message him back, he jogged out of the subway. If she couldn’t meet him there, he could at least drown himself in the fountains.

His phone beeped.
See you in five.<3

Now was the time to calm the fuck down, then. No intentional drownings in his second favorite fountain art installation of NYC. He would ask her to meet him at the rooftop, where their messy love affair first began, but risking visibility in a bar with a student would be the final loop around his neck.

The rope was tight enough already. Too tight. Lynn was almost everything bright and bold and beautiful in his life, but this was no way to live. He was afraid to go anywhere, do anything, for fear someone would misinterpret it or snap a photo of it, and ruin him completely. His reputation was already iffy enough in the theater world, thanks to that bitch, Nadia, but this would follow him forever.

It was a small community. People talked.

If Lynn really went straight into Broadway, like she wanted, she, too, would be fighting that same battle. Everyone would know it was her. Best case, she’d be typecast as a slut forever and struggle to make it out of the choral ranks. He didn’t want that for her. She didn’t deserve to have her own future career tank just because she was susceptible to his manly, rugged charms and huge cock.

Two points for Flint.

But could he really walk away from her? Anything was possible in theoreticals, anything. Was he strong enough to end the best thing to ever happen to him, for preservation of self and honor? He wanted to say yes. Desperately, he wanted to be able to say yes.

“Well, I do declare.” That familiar voice, honey and sunshine, washed over him. “Fancy the odds of seeing us together here.”

He tried to smile, but she saw right through him. Teaching knocked him off his game.

“What’s the matter?”

“I got another note.”

Down went the dimples and the bright demeanor of a girl who didn’t have a care in the world. He knew better, knew she was a deep soul, but she had enough innocence to save her. How much more did she have to give? He felt like a selfish bastard for asking this of her.

“What did it say this time?” She tried not to look rattled, his brave Juliet. “There wasn’t any photographic evidence, was there?”

Matthew shook his head, and recited it from the memory it burnt across his retinas. “You call yourself a teacher. Is that what a teacher does?”

Her eyes widened. “Damn. That’s just rude.”

“Tell me about it.”

She sidled up next to him and rested her head against his shoulder. “Is there anything else, anything else at all, that it could mean?”

“Nope.”

Lynn grabbed his hands and pulled, so he’d look at her. “There’s nothing at all you need to tell me?”

Warning shots fired in his brain, but he slowly shook his head. “I told you, I don’t do anything except work and rehearsals. You know this.”

“I know. I just had to ask.”

Ah, now she was being cheeky. He nudged her over and scooped her into a big hug so he could feel her on him. Her touch had an incredible calming effect. “Ass.”

“I learned from the best, you know.”

“I’ll remember to send Dana a thank you card.”

Moments ticked by. Neither moved. Neither wanted to. But the pit continued to swallow Matthew whole. She slowly moved from rocking in the wind with him to kissing along his collar bone, and he couldn’t shake it. Lynn slipped his shirt buttons open and his hands instinctively went for her hair, and still, he couldn’t shake it.

His greed was going to ruin her.

Next to him, she was a child with her whole life ahead of her. Robbing her of that was one of the worst possible things he could ever imagine doing. How did that make him any different than the fucker blackmailing him? It didn’t. He fell into the same shitty trap, but this time he was directly responsible for ruining someone beautiful.

“Lynn.”

“You know what’s unfair?” She ran her hands down his exposed chest. Her touch was light and sort of tickled, but the kind of tickle that made his balls draw up. “All the notes insinuate we did something dirty, and it’s been forever since we’ve given them something to talk about.” Her hands went straight down his pants, between the waistband, and grabbed hold of his cock.

Matthew grunted and buried his face in her hair. He wanted to say no to her. Their dance began because he fought the urge to want her, but Lynn didn’t play by anybody else’s rules, and certainly never his. It was part of what drew him into her, so undeniably erotic and powerful, bundled up in a cocoon of tender youth.

Fuck. It was hot.

“Right now,” she breathed, her desire for him ripe and potent. “I don’t give a shit about that note or who may be walking by or what we’re going to do about it. The only thing I care about is this cock and how it hasn’t been in my mouth in a long, long time.”