Chapter 1
The lecture hall buzzed with the low hum of students settling into their seats, notebooks flipping open and pens clicking as the clock ticked toward the start of class.
I slid into my usual spot in the third row, close enough to the front to see every detail of Professor Harlan’s broad shoulders as he stood at the podium, shuffling through his notes with those large hands that always made me wonder what they would feel like gripping my thighs.
The room was packed today, the air thick with the scent of fresh coffee from the vending machine outside and the faint body odor from the guy next to me who never seemed to shower, but none of that mattered because my eyes were locked on him, the man who taught advanced literature by day and lived right next door to me at night, his
