Teach Me (College Daze Book 2)

by Danielle Burton

  He shook his head and looked away from me. “I can’t. Those walls are the only thing keeping me from tumbling over the edge.” He dropped his legs letting them hang over the side of the roof. His fist clenched at his sides like he was fighting the urge to propel himself forward.

  That’s when it hit me. That gun, the one he was so desperate to keep a secret, its intention had never been to hurt anyone. He was planning to–oh god.

  I reached out and gripped his shoulder. “Benji–”

  A door closed beneath us and a few seconds later two people came into view.

  Benji went rigid as he watched his mother and her new family cross the street to a black jeep. He backed his way toward the window then climbed inside before holding his hand out to me.

  I accepted it and held on to his shoulder until I my feet were safely on the floor, then lifted my gaze to find him looking down at me. I know I’m short, but Benji is freakishly tall. Even in four inch heels I barely made it to his shoulder. “How tall are you?”

  Both of his brows lifted and he chuckled. “Well that’s random. I’m 6’’5’.”

  “Giant.”

  “Midget.”

  I slapped his stomach with the back of my hand. “That’s rude.”

  He chuckled again and I found myself giggling. I never thought I’d be sharing a laugh with Benji of all people. It was weird, yet...not.

  It grew silent again and I looked up at him. “Thanks.”

  He lifted a brow and scratched beneath his ear. “For what?”

  “Letting me in. I could tell that was hard for you to do. So, thanks for trusting me, I guess.”

  He nodded while shifting on his feet. Out of nowhere his arms wrapped around me and then I was against his chest. “Thank you, for listening.”

  I nodded stiffly. “You’re welcome.” His shirt smelled like the weed he’d smoked, but there was an underlying scent that I couldn’t make out. It was subtle and not pronounced enough to be cologne.

  Before I could take another whiff, there was a loud knock behind me.

  I pushed away from him quickly and turned to find both Gabi and Jay standing in the doorway.

  Gabi’s eyes shifted between me and Benji.

  Jay just smirked and stepped into the room. “What are y’all in here doing?”

  “Nothing,” I replied with a quick glance at Benji before crossing the room to sit at the desk.

  Jay lifted a brow at me then turned to Benji. “Pops said come eat.”

  Benji shook his head then flopped down on the bed. “Not hungry. Lemme know when y’all are done.”

  Jay nodded then faced me again. “You coming?”

  “Yeah.” I followed them out, stopping at the door to take one last look at Benji laying across the bed.

  I held no belief in holy entities, but for his sake I sent a quick prayer to the spiritual realm. Help him.

  ~ ♥ ~

  I sat on my bed, staring at the tiny pile of clothes Gabi had allowed me to keep. I say allowed because putting her in charge was the only way I’d be able to part ways with any of my things. I say tiny because compared to my heaping wardrobe, which included some stuff I had in storage, what remained was miniscule.

  Jaybrielle was now helping me box things up so that we could take them to Jay’s house. Jay’s dad had agreed to let me hold a yard sale there when the weather warmed up.

  I was still on the hunt for a job, but it wasn’t looking too good. I had no skills whatsoever. Well, besides spending money. But I was pretty sure I couldn’t put that on a resume.

  My mind drifted to Benji again. I hadn’t seen him since we’d gotten back to campus the night before.

  I kept turning his words over and over in my head. He hadn’t gone into any details of his life, but it couldn’t have been easy growing up with a drug addict for a mother. Whether from past or present, something was eating him up inside, devouring his soul and stealing the light from his eyes. Each time I gazed into them they seemed emptier, like he was dying inside a little more each day. I couldn’t help but wonder how close to the edge he was and what it would take to send him tumbling over it.

  “Cam, would you stop moping?” Gabi closed up box and pushed it over to Jay. “I told you we’ll take some of the money from the sale to buy you some inexpensive but still stylish clothing.”

  I sighed and leaned forward with my chin in on my fist. “It’s not that. It’s just...Have either if you talked to Benji today?”

  Gabi frowned at me from her spot on the floor and crossed her arms. “Is there something going on between you two? Because if there is and you didn’t tell me–”

  “No Gabi, there’s nothing going on. It’s Benji, so eww. I’m just worried about him is all.”

  She raised a brow and pursed her lips. “And since when do you worry about Benji?”

  “Since…” I looked between the two of them, knowing I couldn’t keep this secret a second longer. “He has a gun.”

  Chapter Nine

  ~ Benji ~

  I double checked the address on the business card and looked up at the building that housed the office of Nathan Creed. I’d parked outside an hour before it was set to close and waited for the piece of shit to make an appearance.

  During the dinner I’d excluded myself from the night before, curiosity had clawed its way inside of me and I’d decided to do a quick Google search. I honestly didn’t think it’d return many results. Boy was I wrong. Page after page of his accomplishments and accolades had sickened my stomach, but not as much as the articles that boasted about the many cases he had won. According to one author, Nathan Creed always got his man.

  My father was a prosecutor all right. His specialty, drug dealers. The bastard had a lot of fucking nerve.

  At this point, Nathan Creed could welcome me with open arms and I’d still tell him to go fuck himself. He was a rat. Lower than one in fact. He was a parasite on the excrement of a rat. And I planned to tell him just that.

  Thirty minutes after the office closed, a man in a designer suit emerged from the building. His hair was gelled back and he walked with a stride that told the world he was the shit and they better fall in line.

  I looked at the picture on my phone to confirm that I was indeed watching my father stroll down the walkway while talking on his phone.

  For the briefest moment I hesitated, wondering if my mother’s word could be trusted. Thinking back to the first photo of him I’d seen, when I’d stared into the eyes that were a reflection of my own, I knew there was no denying it. We even had similar features, which added to the disdain I held every time I looked in the mirror.

  Without another thought, I climbed out of my car. It was now or never.

  I strolled down the sidewalk, feeling out of place. Bridge Pointe, where the office was located, was a neighborhood for the affluent. The homes here dwarfed those in River Crest. Hell the houses in River Crest could be used as garages compared to the mini mansions I’d passed on the way here.

  “Nathan Creed?”

  He stopped talking to size me up, and then ended his phone call. “Can I help you?”

  I plastered on a smile and held out my left hand. “How are doing? I’m Benjamin...Creed.”

  There was a slight knit in his brow before he painted on a smile as fake as mine and shook my hand. “Nice to meet you...Benjamin, was it? I’d love to stay and chat but I’m actually running late for a really important meeting.” He straightened his tie then turned back to the building he’d just exited.

  “Too busy for your own son?” I held my hand to my heart and faltered on my feet a bit. “That really hurts...dad.”

  He stopped and his body stiffened. His hand flexed at his side, opening and closing a couple times before he faced me again with yet another forced smile. “I beg your pardon?”

  I had to admit, the guy knew how to play it cool.

  “Does the name Sasha Adams ring any bells?”

  His smile finally faltered and he cleared his throat
. “Why don’t we discuss this in my office?”

  “Why?” I looked up and down the tree lined street. “It’s such a beautiful day. Who wants to spend it in a stuffy office?”

  He looked me over and smirked, a small chuckle escaping his lips. “Let me save you some time here, Benjamin. Whatever it is you’re after–”

  “I ain’t after shit.”

  He moved toward me while brushing invisible lint from his suit jacket. “You expect to believe you came all the way up here just to say hello and leave?”

  “Guess I just wanted to look in the eye of the man who ruined my mother’s life.”

  His scoff made my fist clench involuntarily. “Anything that happened to Sasha was her own doing.”

  It was my turn to scoff now, which I followed up by crossing my arms. “You think I don’t know the story?”

  “You mean the one your junkie mother told you?”

  I tightened my fist to stop its tingling from the urge to lay this fucker out. “Fuck you. You got my mom strung out on drugs, then dumped her. If that wasn’t bad enough, you continued to sell her drugs, and when she couldn’t pay, you let her fuck you as payment. Hence how I was conceived. Any of this sounding familiar to you? Her life spiraled out of control and she was forced to birth a drug addicted son she didn’t give a damn about, while you went on your merry way and became some hot shot fucking lawyer. Tell me, how many young black men have you sent to prison for same crimes you committed yourself?”

  His calm demeanor was starting to piss me off. He hadn’t even flinched as I yelled the accusations in his face.

  “So what am I supposed to do? Feel guilty for bettering myself? I didn’t force the needle into your mother’s arm. She asked for it.” His speech pattern changed as he continued. Gone was the well-spoken Harvard graduate, replaced with a vernacular that almost mirrored mine. “And hell yeah I dumped her. I was moving on to bigger and better things while she preferred to suck dick for a living. As for you,” he paused and let his gaze roam over me. “I gave her money for an abortion. It’s her own fault for spending it on drugs instead of ridding the world of another bastard child.”

  I drew my fist back and knocked the cocky smirk off his face.

  He stumbled back but didn’t fall.

  Before I could go after him again I heard the distinct click of safety being removed from a gun.

  “Stop right there.”

  I held up my hands and gave a quick glance to my left where the voice had come from.

  Standing under the awning attached to the office was a security guard with a gun trained on my head.

  I kept my hands where they were but a chuckle made its way out of me. “Yeah, point the gun at the black guy. Clearly he’s the criminal here.”

  The guard kept his eyes on me while speaking to the now bleeding rat of a lawyer. “Are you alright Mr. Creed?”

  I smirked and looked at the guard. “I’m just fine, sir.”

  The guard’s brows knitted together and his eyes darted over to Nathan.

  Nathan glared at me and wiped at his mouth. “Everything is fine, Aaron. You can holster your weapon.”

  The guard did as he was told, still not taking his eyes off me. “Do you need me to alert the authorities?”

  “No, that won’t be necessary. Mr. Adams was just leaving.”

  I looked dear old dad up and down and shook my head. “And here I thought my mom was the biggest piece of shit I knew.”

  After leaving the office I drove aimlessly for a while. Jay kept blowing up my phone and texting that we needed to talk. I was a little surprised to receive a text from Cam. Her message of ‘I’m sorry’ confused me at first. Until I put two and two together. Of course she’d told him.

  When I made it back to the dorms I texted Jay and told him to meet me at Angelo’s, then waited in my car until he left. Luckily it was dark so he didn’t spot me.

  I counted out my money while walking back to my car. I had no intentions of meeting Jay. Instead I was headed to the closest store for some liquid courage.

  I’d just tossed my bottle on the passenger seat and was about to climb in when someone tapped my shoulder.

  Before I could even make a full one eighty there was a throbbing pain in my head and then something hot and wet ran down my face.

  I had no time to react let alone fight back before I was being dragged.

  Less than a minute later I was thrown to the ground. Standing was damn near impossible with my head spinning the way it was. As I made it to my feet I was struck again, this time in the ribs.

  “Arghh.” I dropped to the ground again. Whatever I was being hit with damn sure wasn’t a fist, it was too hard.

  I tried to stand again but my arm was kicked out from under me. The hard object came down on my shin and then my back.

  Something clanked against the ground near my head and someone grabbed my shirt collar then slammed their fist into my jaw, twice, before dropping me again.

  I turned on my side sputtering and choking on blood and what I was pretty sure was a tooth. “Please, just take my money.”

  A familiar chuckle filled the air followed by the click of shoes against the pavement. “I don’t want...or need your money, Benjamin.”

  I pried my eyes open and after a few seconds my vision cleared enough to make out the face of the devil. Nathan Creed stood over me in a crisp tailored suit. He stooped down and then held his hand out to a large man who stood holding an aluminum bat.

  The goon’s hand disappeared behind his back and came out holding a silver gun which he placed in the hand of my sperm donor.

  Nathan checked the clip then snapped it back in place. His demeanor was eerily calm as he spoke. “Did you really think there’d be no consequences for your actions? That’s the problem with today’s youth. You’re cocky and disrespectful.” He placed the barrel of the gun beneath my chin and continued. “You come to my place of business yelling accusations and assault me? You wanna expose me? Is that what it is, Benjamin?”

  I swallowed some blood and fixed him with a hard glare. I wasn’t gonna beg for my life, not from him. “You’re so afraid of your past coming back to bite you that you’d kill your own son?”

  He moved the gun and actually smiled. “I’m not going to kill you, Benjamin. You’re gonna be a good boy and keep this little meeting just between us. If I see or hear a peep out of you anywhere within a ten-mile radius of Bridge Pointe, you’ll wish I’d done something as nice as kill you.” He stood and shook the wrinkles from his pants. “I’d get to the hospital if I were you. Gary here gets a little carried away.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to their retreating footsteps. Once they were gone I dragged myself from the alley and back to my car.

  ~ ♥ ~

  I woke to the sound of hushed voices, which was weird because I didn’t recall falling asleep. My gaze swept over the room, taking in the floral curtain and the three forms standing next to me.

  “He’s awake.” Cam’s eyes scrutinized me and there was a frown on her lips.

  I looked to my left to find identical frowns on Jay and Gabi’s faces as well.

  Jay leaned over me and scowled. “What the hell happened, Benj? And don’t tell me nothing. They found you passed out by your car.”

  I looked away and shrugged. “Got mugged.”

  “You know, somehow I don’t believe that.” He was silent for a beat, and then shoved my shoulder. “And what’s this I hear about a gun?”

  Glancing at Cam, I shrugged again. “I don’t know anything about a gun.”

  He crossed his arms and glared down at me. “So you’re calling Cam a liar?”

  I turned my gaze to her expectant face. “Yup.” I set my jaw hard, trying to ignore her glistening brown eyes.

  A second later they hardened and she was glaring at me too. “Seriously, Benji?”

  Another shrug.

  She rolled her eyes at me and faced Jay. “I’m not lying. It was in his glove box.”


  “I know you’re not, he is. My question is why. What the hell is going on, Benj? Do I need to call Pops down here?”

  “Do what you want, Jay. I honestly don’t give a fuck.”

  Gabi, who’d yet to say a word, stood at the end of my bed. “What is wrong with you, Benji? We’re all here clearly worried about you and you’re being a jerk.”

  “Nobody asked you to be here. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you just left me the fuck alone.”

  Jay moved to stand in front of Gabi and glared at me. “I’m gonna let that go because of whatever you’re going through right now, but don’t you ever speak to her like that again.” He took Gabi’s hand and turned to leave. Before he exited the curtain he looked back at me again. “The doctor said you’ll be released tonight so we’ll be in the waiting room.”

  After they left, Cam stood next to my bed with her arms folded. “Really, Benji? So I’m a liar now?”

  I spoke without looking at her. “I trusted you.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry I broke my promise but it was for your own good.”

  I finally faced her and frowned. “How the hell would you know what’s for my own good? I tell you one thing from my past and all of a sudden you’re an expert?”

  She blew out a heavy breath and shook her head. “God, Benji. Why do you make it so damn difficult for people to care about you? I was just trying to help.”

  “I didn’t ask for your help, Cam, and I don’t fucking want it! The man you’re trying to save ain’t worth it. Find yourself some rich guy to screw and go back to not giving a damn about me.” I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth.

  Her eyes filled with tears but knowing Cam, she’d never let them fall. I didn’t want to yell at her that way and I didn’t mean any of it, but it was the only way she’d leave. The only way she’d go back to hating me. I needed her to hate me so when I was gone she wouldn’t have to hurt.