Submitting To Her Professor

by Coleen Singer

  Suddenly, Annie's heart sank. She hadn't called Sonja. Paulie had hit her before she could press the speed dial button when she was opening the door. Then, who was the last person she had called?

  Her heart sank even lower, and she felt a wave of despair wash over her. It was Jack. Jack was the last person she had called, to tell him to pick her up at the lab before dinner instead of in front of her dorm, Jack, who was on his way back to his own house now. Jack, who was the safest driver she knew, who would never illegally answer the phone while he was driving. It would go to his voicemail, and he wouldn't get it until it was too late.

  "What are you talking about, Paulie?" Annie tried not to let the despair rob her of her reason. Think! What else could she do? "I never—"

  "Liar!" Paulie put his face close to hers and shouted, causing Annie to shriek.

  "I saw the two of you out to lunch, yesterday, and getting in his car today. I have the pictures to prove it. And now, you're going to give me everything you gave him, with interest, you lying cunt!"

  The spittle flew out of his mouth and hit Annie in the face as he hissed at her fiercely, "I will fuck you in every hole you've got, and if you try to do anything about it, I'll give those pictures to the dean. I'll get that asshole fired for fucking his student, and you'll both be out of here so fast, it'll make your head spin!"

  Annie's fear started turning to shock. He was accusing her of sleeping with Jack? Is that what he was saying? And that, because of that, she somehow owed Paulie sex, too? He was out of his mind! She had to get away from him or he was really going to hurt her.

  "Listen, Paulie, I don't know what you think happened, but you're wrong. Jack and I never—"

  "Oh, ho, it's Jack, now, is it? Of course, it is. You're on a first name basis, now. That just proves my point, you fucking slut." Paulie grabbed the collar of the coat Sonja had loaned her and pulled it open violently, sending the buttons bouncing across the room.

  The sound of the buttons clattering across the floor shocked Annie into action. She pulled the phone out in front of her so that she could see to punch the disconnect button and then push the speed dial to call Sonja. She had to get help! But before she could hit any buttons, Paulie had slapped it out of her hand. The phone went spinning across the floor until it came to rest just out of Annie's reach.

  So that was it. Her last hope for rescue was gone. All the air seemed to rush out of Annie's lungs at once. There was nothing more she could do. She felt tears prickling as she looked up at Paulie.

  Paulie's smirk widened as he watched the fight fade from her eyes. Yes, she was going to pay now. He'd teach her to pay what she owed. He was the one who had worked her all night last Saturday, talking and smiling and kissing and all that shit just to get her ready to fuck. He was the one who deserved the payoff. She had no right to fuck that asshole instead of him.

  Yeah, she was going to get what was coming to her now. And there was nothing she could do about it. Nobody fucked with Paulie!

  "Don't even think about trying to call anyone, bitch." Paulie sat on top of Annie while he tried to pull her clothing out of the way. How the hell many sweaters did the slut have on?

  "If you tell anyone about this, I'm taking those photos straight to the dean and have you thrown out of this school. You and your prick of a boyfriend will be out on your asses. You just lie back and do what you're told, and you won't get hurt. Well, not too much, anyway," Paulie laughed cruelly.

  Annie' sob caught in her throat, and she trembled with fear. She had to do something! Paulie reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.

  "I think I'll take a few photos of this, too. They'll be a lot more fun to look at than the ones of you and the asshole together. Smile for the camera, cunt."

  As he turned his attention to his phone to select the camera function, Annie saw her opening. She reached up and batted the phone out of his hand. The astonished look on his face was enough to give her courage.

  "No! You get off me, right now, Paulie! I mean it!" All weekend long, Jack had teased Annie about learning to say no when she didn't want to do something, and she sure didn't want to do this.

  "No, no, no!" Annie pushed with all her strength, and to her surprise, she was able to knock Paulie off her. Her unexpected attack caught him totally off guard, and Annie quickly scrambled out from under him.

  "I don't know what pictures you have or what you think they're going to prove, but they are not going to prove I had sex with Jack, because I didn't." Annie eyed her phone, but now Paulie was between her and it. There was a lab phone on the wall behind her. She wondered if she could get to it in time to call the police before Paulie reached her.

  Paulie stared at Annie in shock. She couldn't know that his photos didn't prove anything. She was just trying to call his bluff. He had to convince her that he had photos of them actually fucking.

  Paulie pasted a sly look on his face and snarled at Annie, "Oh, I've got the evidence, all right. Pictures of you and him doing it. You are going down, bitch!"

  That ought to do it, he thought smugly. She'll start groveling now. She was going to have to do a lot of groveling to make up for this. Paulie smiled, just thinking about it.

  "No, no, no!" roared Annie. All that practice saying no was really paying off. Not only was she able to do it, but it felt great!

  "You have no evidence. You have no pictures of us doing it. I know you don't, because you couldn't. You couldn't, because we never did." Annie was on her feet now, and Paulie was still on the floor where Annie had pushed him off her.

  Paulie's confidence faltered for a moment. She had to be bluffing, right? He'd seen them together, acting all friendly. A dude didn't act like that with a bitch unless he was doing her, right?

  "And, unlike you, I can prove it!" Annie was torn between trying to move toward the wall phone, which was closer but would take a moment to dial, or toward the door, which was farther but might offer her a greater chance of escape. In the middle of all this, she was suddenly struck with relief that she wasn't wearing Sonja's heels. She'd never be able to run in those.

  "I can prove it because I've never done it with anyone. I'm still a virgin and that's the proof that you're the liar!" Annie took off toward the door. She had almost made it, when Paulie lunged for her and grabbed her by the foot.

  His tackle knocked Annie down hard on her knee, and her cry of pain seemed to reenergize Paulie's sense of entitlement.

  "You're mine, cunt! I will take you, when I want you, where I want you," Paulie roared as he grabbed Annie's throat.

  Annie screamed, and neither of them heard the sound of the lock opening. Suddenly, Sam bounded into the room, barking loudly. Jack was right behind him.

  Jack grabbed Paulie by his jacket and threw him across the room and into the wall. Sam ran over to guard Paulie, growling fiercely. Paulie covered his head with his arms and swore at the dog.

  Jack turned to Annie and scooped her up off the floor. He set her on top of the closest desk and his eyes scanned her whole body frantically.

  "Annie, are you okay? Where are you hurt?" His voice cracked with fear for her.

  "I'm all right. Just bruised, I think. I—"

  A lour crash cut her off. They both turned to see Paulie throw a second chair at Sam. Then, quick as a wink, he pulled a knife out of his coat!

  "Call your fucking mutt off, asshole, before I slit its throat." Paulie waved the knife wildly at Jack and Annie.

  Jack stepped in front of Annie and took a deep breath. Why hadn't he taken those martial arts classes his sister always tried to talk him into? He steeled himself to keep his voice level as he spoke.

  "Calm down. Just put the knife down. No one has to get hurt."

  "Fuck you," Paulie replied shakily. Damage control! Damage control is what he needed now. Okay, what to do? How could he come out of this looking righteous? Think, dude, think! It was going to be his word against theirs. How was that going to play for him?

  Suddenly, Paulie ha
d an inspiration. If he killed both of them, the cops would have only his story. It would be his word against no one. He could tell them he and the bitch had been in here doing it, when the asshole broke in and pulled a knife on them for messing up his lab. He'd claim he'd tried to save the bitch but had been too late, had only been able to save himself by killing the crazy asshole.

  But which one to kill first? The asshole – if he killed him first, the bitch would never put up a fight. He held the knife out in front of him and lunged toward the couple at the desk. No fear!

  As Paulie moved to attack Jack, four policemen suddenly burst through the door.

  Twenty minutes later, Jack took off his jacket and put it around Annie's shoulders. She said she wasn't cold, but she was shaking so hard, her teeth chattered. Now that she was safe, the shock of what had almost happened was setting in. The paramedics were on their way and the police had finished taking their statements, for the moment.

  "I d-didn't think you would answer your ph-phone," Annie spoke through her chattering teeth. It was the first chance they'd had to talk together since the police had arrived and separated them to take their statements. "I didn't th-think you would p-pick up while you were dr-driving."

  It took Jack a moment to answer her; there was so much he wanted to say. "I only left you here and started toward home because I promised you I would listen to you when you said no," he finally replied quietly. "I started driving across campus, but I just couldn't do it. I just couldn't leave you here to walk home alone, despite my promise.

  "Sam didn't like it, either. He was whining and whimpering after you left, and by the time I got to the edge of campus, I decided to turn around and come back. I thought I would just wait in the car with Sam until you came back out, then I would give you a lift home. I was prepared for you to be angry with me for breaking my promise." He started to smile sheepishly at her, but it was hard to smile past the gauze the policeman had given him to stop the bleeding on his neck. It was just a scratch, really, but it bled like the dickens.

  "I'm glad you d-did." Annie pulled his coat more tightly around her but still didn't look at him.

  "I had just pulled into an empty parking lot on the edge of campus to turn around and head back here when the phone rang. I stopped and answered it, and as soon as I did, I heard you scream. I started to pull out and rush back to you, but I was afraid I'd be too late. So I got out of the car and ran over to the campus phone at the entrance to the parking lot and called the police.

  "I told them there was a crime taking place in my lab, and I left my phone there, next to the campus phone, so they could hear what was happening. I didn't want to take the time to explain. I got back in the car and got here as fast as I could. Oh, Annie…" Jack couldn't keep his voice from breaking.

  Annie looked up, suddenly. "We should go back and get your phone. Someone might steal it."

  "Annie, sweetheart, I don't care about the phone. I was worried about you." Jack's voice was tired. The situation had taken its toll on him, too.

  "But..." Annie began.

  "One of the policemen went back for it. They're going to take it down to the station with them. I think it might be evidence or something."

  Just then, the paramedics burst in and Jack and Annie were separated again. It took a while, but Jack was finally able to convince them he didn't need medical attention. It really was just a scratch, and he was able to pull out a card, proving he'd had a recent tetanus shot. By the time he got away from the medics attending him, the others were already taking Annie out to the ambulance.

  "I'll meet you at the hospital, Annie," he called after her.

  "No, you don't have to. Sonja and Tyler are meeting me there. The police called them." Annie's voice became fainter as the medics put her into the ambulance.

  "But—" Jack tried to object as they closed the doors.

  "No, let her go, Professor." The policeman who had taken his statement came over and patted Sam as he spoke. "We need to finish getting her statement, and it's better for us if the two of you don't talk any more until we've finished. We want to do everything completely by the book on this one. Cross every t and dot every i. We want to make sure we can get a solid conviction on this guy, this time."

  "This time? You mean he's done this before?"

  "We arrested him last semester for date rape, but the arrogant prick called his daddy, and for a couple of days, his expensive lawyers did everything they could to make our department look bad. The next week, the girl recanted and dropped all charges. No one knows what really happened, but my guess is the father paid her off.

  "This time, we have evidence. Thanks to you setting your phone next to the campus phone, we could hear everything that was going on. And all 911 calls are recorded."

  "I just did that so I wouldn't have to stay and explain what was happening." Jack rubbed his temples tiredly. "I wanted to get over to the lab as fast as I could."

  "Yeah, well, for whatever reason, now we have enough evidence to prosecute, no matter what his high priced lawyers do." Jack watched as the policeman gave Sam one more rub under between his ears, then stood back up.

  "You go on home, Professor. The girl's friends will take good care of her. She was already looking better, even before the paramedics took her. I doubt they'll keep her overnight at the hospital.

  "Besides, you need to be up early and back here in the morning. I talked to the chief security officer for the university, and he wants to meet with you first thing, to talk about adding a new layer of security to your lab. The administration wants to make sure nothing like this can ever happen again."

  * * *

  Jack loaded Sam back into the car and headed for home. On an impulse, he turned, heading over to the hospital. He parked where he had full view of the emergency room entrance and waited in his car, for over an hour, before he saw her come out, surrounded by friends. He watched her get into the car with them and drive off.

  "If I had told her how I feel about her, maybe I could have been the one taking care of her right now," he thought grimly. "Hell, maybe I could have prevented this whole mess."

  He looked over at Sam and sighed. "Well, buddy, I think I'm just going to have to find a way to let her know how I feel. And hope she's willing to give me a chance."

  Chapter 12

  Annie shivered as the bus slipped and skidded on the snowy dark streets. Now that she was finally on the bus, she shook the snow out of her hair. With mittened hands, she pulled her phone out of the pocket of her parka and looked again at the text message her roommate, Sonja, had sent her, telling her they made it safely to Quebec and that Sonja's Mamie was sorry Annie hadn't been able to come to her eightieth birthday party.

  Annie stared at the screen on her phone forlornly and felt a little sorry for herself for missing the party. She had been looking forward to it for weeks but when the weather advisory last night had warned of a monster snowfall, her friends had decided to leave first thing this morning, to beat the storm.

  Annie had thought seriously about going with them, even though it meant missing today's classes. But she was supposed to meet with Jack, tonight, and she didn't want to ask him to postpone their meeting. She chewed her lip as she thought back on the events leading up to tonight's meeting with Jack.

  Almost two weeks ago, she had let a boy she barely knew talk her into letting him into the lab where she worked so they could be alone together. She had known she was violating university policy by allowing an unauthorized person into the highly secured animal lab, but she had let herself be talked into it because she was so pleased a boy had shown any interest in her. Professor Jack Davis had come down to his lab unexpectedly and caught them there.

  Annie had been terrified of arrest and expulsion, for breaking the law, but instead of reporting her and firing her, Jack had given her a very hard spanking. And because she had violated four different sets of rules and standards, he had told her she was going to have four more spankings over the next four weeks.
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br />   She had taken this very same bus to his house a week ago and he had spanked her again then. But he had also held her while she cried, cooked dinner for her, and made her hot chocolate. Annie had always had a secret crush on her handsome advisor, and the fact that he had rescued her last Sunday when she had been attacked just made her feelings for him all the stronger.

  If only she'd had a chance to talk to him alone, she might have gotten up the courage to ask him to postpone her spanking so she could go to Sonja's grandmother's birthday party. But ever since she'd been attacked last Sunday night in Jack's lab, they hadn't been alone for a minute. Her brother, Toby, had driven all night, after she'd called him from the hospital, and had been waiting in his car outside her dorm when she had gotten up the next morning. He had accompanied her everywhere for two days, to her classes and meals and work, until she had finally convinced him she was safer than ever and he should go back home, before he lost his job. Even after her brother left, the construction crews had been in the lab from early morning until late at night, reinforcing the security. Annie knew she was too much of a coward to call Jack and ask him over the phone to defer her punishment, so she had reluctantly told her friends to go on to Canada without her.

  Ah, well, Annie thought, sighing. I probably couldn't afford to miss my biochem class again, anyway. I worried for a week when I missed last Monday.

  Annie took one last look at Sonja's text before putting her phone back into her pocket and curling her hands into fists inside her mittens in an attempt to warm her frozen fingers. The snow that had fallen so heavily on her while she waited for the bus was melting and soaking through the wool, now that she was safely ensconced in the warm vehicle.

  Just then, the loud crackling of the bus intercom startled her out of her reverie. Although it was difficult to decipher what the driver was saying over the hiss and sputter of the public address system, Annie gathered he was telling them they were suspending further bus service, due to inclement weather. As busses finished their routes, the company was taking them off the road as a safety precaution.