Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

spoke loud enough to startle them. “I’m going to count to ten, and the clothes better be back on and you’d better be out of there by then, or I’m calling security.” For at least two seconds silence reigned, then the hasty scramble was easy to hear.
    She leaned back against the wall just outside the door and waited for them to show themselves.
    When they did, the cocky, unapologetic smile on Robert Hoag’s face sparked her anger. He was a junior, an honor student, and the apple of Dean Jackson’s eye. His blonde Adonis looks assured he had more than his fair share of female attention, and his place on the tennis team did as well. That in itself wasn’t enough to dislike him. It was his arrogant, uncaring behavior toward the girls that troubled her.
    Miranda snapped, “Wipe that grin off your face. This isn’t funny.”
    His face turned sullen.
    As soon as Miranda saw the girl, her heart sank. Nora Donavan was an A+ student too, but didn’t have the protection Dean Jackson afforded the boy she’d hooked up with. Her cheeks were flushed a bright pink, and she kept her eyes lowered in embarrassment while rubbing her hands up and down her crossed arms.
    “Let me tell you what’s going to happen because of this situation,” Miranda said, her tone quiet.
    “You,” she pointed at Robert, “Mr. Hoag, have put Miss Donavan in a precarious position, and from the smirk you were wearing as you came out of the bathroom, I doubt very much that you give a damn. I also know that if you had any real affection or respect for the woman you’re with, you would be more interested in protecting her, cherishing her, and finding a more appropriate place to show your affection than a bathroom stall. A deduction you should have reached quite easily with your well-known IQ.”
    Robert did have the grace to flush, although Miranda detected more anger than embarrassment.
    Nora glanced in his direction and started to speak, but Miranda raised a hand. “I know your grades are just as good as his. But you’re a year younger, and haven’t cemented your ties to any particular instructor who might lend you their support.
    “What will happen, Nora, if disciplinary action is taken, is you’ll bear the brunt of it all. The rumors will certainly get around, and the jokes will start, which will enhance Mr. Hoag’s reputation while it splinters yours.
    “I realize this is the twenty-first century, and things are supposed to be equal despite your genders, but this is still rural Kentucky, and things aren’t equal or fair when it comes to life in academia. Right or wrong, that’s just the way it is. This is unacceptable behavior, and grounds for expulsion.”
    “Are you going to write us up?” Robert asked, and while he hid his agitation very well, it was still there.
    Miranda raised a brow and gave him her best Librarian Stare until he looked away. “It is college procedure that I do just that, Mr. Hoag.”
    The situation was finally beginning to sink in with him, and more than a hint of worry crimped his blonde brows. “I do care about Nora, Ms. Templeton. I don’t want to see her get into trouble or be embarrassed. It was just a spur of the moment thing. And we didn’t—there was just kissing going on.”
    Sly devil. He’d keyed in on her protectiveness toward Nora and was using it to try and get off the hook.
    Just kissing. With their clothes down around their ankles? She narrowed her eyes at him, then turned her attention to Nora. “Was that all that was happening, Nora?”
    The girl barely lifted her eyes. “Yes, Ms. Templeton.”
    “If anything like this happens again—”
    “It won’t, Ms. Templeton,” Nora said with a sideways look in Robert’s direction.
    “Good. I’d hate to have to suspend use of the library for both of you for four or five weeks. It might be detrimental to your grades. The midnight tone has already gone, and I suggest you leave. Be sure to walk Nora to her dorm, Mr. Hoag. It’s