Putting on Airs

Freudians Lip

**Chapter 6 was actually longer. I split it into two. This is the second half...so calllllm, readers. Thank you all for reading, voting, commenting, what-have-you. You don't know how much it means to me. Also, this is my Sunday posting, so read up, lovelies!**

My nervous shaking almost makes an appearance, but snapping my spine straight and clasping my hands together tightly under the table disallows Owen from seeing. My eyes never leave his, and a false sense of pride wells up within me. I'm feeling rather proud of myself until my stomach lets out a pleading growl. I refuse to break first in this staring contest even with tomato-red cheeks!

Owen flashes a minuscule smile and reaches into his coat pocket all while holding my stare. To my surprise, he slides a full Hershey's bar across the table to me.

"Remind me to thank Mr. Taylor for that," he says. At my tilted head, he explains, "I lifted it off of him on his way out of the room."

I make a valiant effort, but I succumb to laughing at how I picture Luke reacting when he goes to eat the chocolate but only finds...

"Did you replace it with anything?" I ask as I break off a piece and pass the rest back to Owen, still in its wrapper.

The corners of his lips curl up slightly before he forces a look of calm back onto his face. He chews and swallows a square before answering.

"A pamphlet on diabetes. It's a small shout-out to Mr. North Taylor. Although, I do wonder if Mr. Luke Taylor will now blame his brother." Owen's words drift off as he contemplates this possibility.

Nice. Owen is lowering my defenses through humor and chocolate. Too bad for him I'm aware of his tricksy mind games.

"Why are we still here, Owen? I could have just as easily heard my results elsewhere. This is obviously Sean's office, and likely your unofficial headquarters. Oh, don't look so surprised," I say even though his expression hasn't altered one bit. "This room has all of you written all over it."

I watch with humor as he straightens his glasses and presses his tie down his perfectly shaped chest and abdomen. I looked. Sue me. He may be mister alpha, but he's still extremely attractive, much to my dismay.

"Blackbourne," he says while the corners of his eyes tighten.

"Nope. I'm not going to be relegated into the same category as Jade, that sociopath. So, if it means that much to you to avoid the use of Owen, you'll have to think of something else for me to call you," I state firmly.

The half smile he gives me is downright dangerous. I usually can't stand this alpha bullspit, but on this guy, it really works for him.

"I'll give it some consideration. Now, back to why I've asked to speak with you. Our current assignment is to assess the hows and whys of the schools we are temporarily attending having such dreadful graduation rates for dually enrolled students. It is counterintuitive that students that have otherwise excelled in academia suddenly fail out almost 100 percent of the time," Owen tells me, and my stomach sinks.

My eyes drift to the couch visible beyond his shoulder. This may complicate things. Or I can ask for his help; ask for all of their help.

"That is what I wanted to know," I murmur, deciding then and there that ten sets of eyes are better than one. "I looked into dual enrollment shortly after moving here, at the end of term last year. I only had about a month at school to become acclimated and figure out the best way to survive. You've probably seen the high school. It's a joke. With my previous school's credits, I was beyond all offered courses in the English department, and exceeded the necessary credits for math.