Ruined Vows Read Online Stasia Black

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Dark, Suspense Tags Authors: Stasia Black Advertisement1

Advertisement2


THIRTY-EIGHT

KIRA

I skim through the first paragraph of the next paper I’m grading while I sit at my crowded office desk.

Isaak’s sleeping on a wooden chair in the corner, and I’m trying, and mostly failing, to focus on work. Students were allowed to turn them in electronically or in my office dropbox, a choice more students took because they inadvertently got nine more hours if they took the physical paper route.

Jungian psychology, while influential and widely respected in some circles, faces several major critiques. These critiques center around its scientific rigor, accessibility, and applicability. Here are some of the most common criticisms: lack of empirical evidence, overemphasis on mysticism and spirituality⁠—

I sigh. Another paper written by ChatGPT.

They really all start to have a familiar rhythm after a while. Wordy intro, then a list of numbered points that some kids forget to remove. I mean, at least show a little effort to hide the copy and paste.

I bite my bottom lip, distracted again by Isaak. He’s got the wooden chair he’s sitting on tipped backward, one leg crossed over the other, and his head against the wall. Snoring away. How he can sleep like that is beyond me.

But it’s not like he’s getting much sleep at night.

Not since four weeks ago when he had the nightmare that startled us both so much I ended up on the floor. Isaak has refused to sleep in the same bed as me since, but he wouldn’t go to another room either, citing his stupid rules.

Domhnall ordered a double bed for him once he learned he was sleeping on the couch, and the huge guest room we’re in fits the two beds without any problem.

But the nightmares are still keeping him up.

I don’t know if I was just sleeping through them at first and they were always this bad, or if they’ve gotten worse.

Every morning, though, the shadows underneath his eyes get deeper. His nighttime shouting has woken me at least twice more. Other times, when I woke up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I found him tossing and turning or already awake, sitting up in bed and staring into the darkness.

He won’t talk about it, either, the stubborn ass. He totally shuts down every time I try to bring it up. But that’s generally been the extent of our relationship ever since that night.

Shut down.

He was weird and distant the whole next day. Then he totally lost it the following night, when I confronted him about being ridiculous after he started settling in on the couch again.

“Get it through your head! I’m not sleeping with you anymore.” Emphatic arm motions accompanied each word. “It’s done. Over. No more cuddling. No more fucking. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m here to do a job, and that’s it. You’re not paying me to fucking cuddle you at night.”

His words lit me right up. “I never said I was! You were the one who insisted on climbing in my bed, asshole. Don’t get shit twisted.”

I got right up in his face. I’d already been so emotional, going back and forth in my head all day—Isaak or Drew, Drew or Isaak, or neither?—and here he was, proving what an idiot I was for even thinking about a future with him.

“If you’re done, fine with me. Good riddance.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Then we retreated to our respective corners and have stayed there ever since.

Burying myself in my students and research for my dissertation the past few weeks has kept me from thinking about the rollercoaster tracks I’m speeding down so quickly. But we’ve somehow roared through November, halfway into December, and now the wedding is next week right before Christmas. Drew’s father picked the date because everyone would already be in town for the holidays.

I force myself to breathe out. First things first. The students took their final and handed in their last essays today. The essays are a bust, but I thought I’d give it one last try to see if my last few lectures on ethics had any significant impact.

That’s a big nope burger.

At least the in-class final will tell me if they actually learned anything this semester. I’ll never be the kind of professor who fails a lot of kids. I was basically just in their shoes and know they’re trying to balance actual lives and relationships and the holy shit of suddenly being in college.

Really, Isaak did me a favor by clearing things up without me even having to ask any embarrassing questions.

God, I was such an idiot to think he might have wanted to change anything in his life for me. Or that I was any different than any of the other girls he’s had. Older doesn’t mean different, just more stuck in his ways. I was a fun fuck for a while. That’s all.


Advertisement3

Advertisement4