Office Hours |h.s|

seventy one

Harry

Grabbing Niall from the hall by his collar, I pull him back into my office and slam the door shut, pushing him up against it. "Shut up." I mutter through gritted teeth.

He looks alarmed at my sudden outburst, "Harry-"

"No. Stop calling after her, let her go."

Shaking his head in disbelief, he stays leaning against the door as I finally let him go. His eyes study my face, not sure what to say. I walk back to my desk, running my hand over my mouth as I move shit around in my desk to find my phone. The second I find it I'm messaging Maude, trying to get her to call me.

"Harry, please tell me I'm having a nightmare or I got drugged and I'm on some weird ass trip and I didn't just walk in on you and Maude Sterling. Tell me I didn't just see what I saw."

I glance over at him for a second but focus back on my phone, unable to tell him what he wants to hear. Because he did walk in on Maude and I, and now I might have lost her for good. Why didn't we lock the fucking door?

"Fine. Then tell me you're not giving her good grades because you're sleeping with her. Tell me you're not sleeping with her, that she forced you to do that because her last name is Sterling."

Biting my lips, I look up at him again, waiting for any little response from Maude but I know she's not going to text me back right now. "I'm not giving her good grades because I'm sleeping with her. And she's not like that, Niall."

He scoffs, "I think she's exactly like that. She's a Sterling, need I remind you what her brother fucking did to you? Or did Gia not remind you enough?"

"Niall, you don't know anything about this so just leave it alone, forget you saw anything and move on."

"Forget I saw you with a student on your desk? Absolutely not. Did you give her the answers to the finals, too?"

It takes everything in me not to punch him for insinuating Maude is anything like her brother. "You know nothing about Maude, leave it alone. She doesn't have the answers to any final and she's never asked for them, not that she would. She's a good student."

"A good student that helps you get off in your office?"

I cross the room, pushing him against the door again as I'm unable to hold back my anger. "Don't fucking talk about her like that!"

"Fuck man, what's your fucking problem?" He raises his voice, looking at me in disbelief. Then I can see it all click for him. "No. Don't tell me it's true, H. Don't fucking tell me she's the one you've been seeing."

My heart pounds as he puts the pieces together in his head. This day just has to be some nightmare that I'm stuck in. I'll wake up from it and Maude and I will be back in Maine and everything will be okay again. She'll love me, we'll be happy, nothing will be wrong.

"The Sterling gala, taking trips out of state, not telling anyone you're dating, you wouldn't let us meet her. Fuck, H, does Mitch know you're fucking the Sterlings' daughter? You're such a fucking idiot!" He shoves me back, shaking his head.

I shove him, "You don't control me, you don't get to tell me what I can and can't do and who I can and can't see-"

"Does she have something on you? And are you fucking forgetting the rules set by the university that say relationships between students and their professors are strictly prohibited? So yeah, I think they can tell you what you can and can't do!"

Shaking my head, I pace back to my desk, checking my phone again and leaving another message for her. "Fucking answe me, Maude..." I mumble under my breath, groaning when I see the text doesn't even go through anymore.