The Instructor
Authors: Terry Towers
The Instructor
By
Terry Towers
The Instructor
Copyright 2014 by Terry Towers
Cover By: Erin Dameron-Hill
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All rights reserved. With the exception of brief quotes used for critical reviews and articles no part of this book may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author Terry Towers. Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Terry Towers can be contacted via her website at www.elixaeverett.com
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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.
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Prologue
"I'm sorry, Miss Veates. There is nothing we can do for you."
"There
has
to be something," Faith protested, falling back into the small black office chair. She eyed the woman across the desk from her. The woman's name was Wendy; she was a fifty-something, dark-haired woman who wore way too much makeup and held Faith's future in her hands. She was the admissions clerk at the local college.
"Your grades are excellent, Miss Veates. Perhaps you should try the university?" the woman suggested.
Wendy was trying her best to be helpful, but what she was offering made Faith a little uneasy. No, a lot uneasy. Faith had decided that morning that she wanted to go to college. It was a last-second decision; classes began the following week. Virtually every seat in every program was full. All they had left was one seat in the machining program and one seat in the welding program. Faith had no clue what either of them involved and wasn't entirely sure she wanted to find out.
She considered her current job for a moment. As soon as she graduated high school she took a waitressing job at one of the steakhouses in the city. Down Home Eating, it was called. For the past three years she had worked as a waitress, but she wanted something more than minimum wage at a dead-end job.
She wanted an actual
career
, not just a job.
"I'm really sorry dear." The woman looked at her sympathetically.
Well maybe I'm here for a reason. These are my choices, for a reason
. Relying on divine intervention was a long shot, but... the alternative was another year as a waitress.
Faith sighed as she looked down at the two brochures in front of her, one marked welder, one marked machinist. She had no knowledge of either field and didn't even know a soul in either field. She looked at the bottom of each brochure. The occupation of welder had a higher projected employment rate and higher starting salary.
The woman’s mood suddenly brightened and hope flourished within Faith – she had something. The college administrator got up from her seat and hurried over to a bulletin board that had virtually every space covered in announcements and ads. Wendy searched a moment and with a soft exclaim of triumph she pulled a white sheet from the board and hurried back to her desk.
“Is there something?” Faith wiggled to the edge of the chair, craning her head, attempting to see what was on the sheet of paper.
“Well, not exactly.” Wendy’s eyes scanned the paper a moment and she nodded, passing it to Faith. “But, there’s a full scholarship available to any female wanting to take a male trade. And I know for a fact it isn’t taken yet. With school starting next week, you’re guaranteed to receive it. All it’ll cost you is your time, not too many people get a free education – tuition, books, supplies are all included. The organization that is granting the scholarship is a women’s group and all they require is when you finish the course you do an interview encouraging other young women to consider a job in the trades.”
With this new information it seemed crazy to refuse. She had everything to gain and nothing to lose. She looked at both brochures outlining the courses and made her decision. "This one," Faith said, reaching over the counter and passing the brochure to the woman.
The woman looked down at the brochure. "Are you sure? Women usually don't take this course. It's extremely dirty. We do get some women machinists from time to time." She reached over and tapped her finger on the machinist brochure Faith was still clutching onto. “It’ll qualify for the scholarship.”
Faith shook her head. "No, welding." Her mind was made up. She was smart, and she was determined. Faith was confident she could do virtually anything she put her mind to.
What was that saying?
Faith chewed at her lower lip in thought.
A person is only limited to what they think they can do.
Chapter 1
The college was bustling with students rushing to find their classrooms. Faith was pretty certain she had never been as nervous as she was at that moment. She made her way across the main lobby and headed for student registration.
The young man behind the booth announcing itself as
student information
gave her a broad toothy smile as she approached. He was so full of energy he reminded her of an out-of-uniform male cheerleader.
"Your name please, and are you in the business or arts department?" he asked, flipping through his sheets to find her name.
"Faith Veates and I believe trades. Welding," she replied, leaning forward to see if she could assist in finding her name on the papers.
He looked up at her, the generic toothy grin fading slightly. "Welding?"
"Yup," she shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. She motioned to the oxyfuel cutting manual she had just gotten at the bookstore.
He gave a half laugh, turned to the correct sheet and found her name. "Well, what do you know, here you are." He pointed to the long corridor behind him. "Head all the way to the back, it's the final room on the right. Room 549A. Good luck."
"Thanks." She gave him a final nod and headed off down the seemingly endless corridor to her classroom.
Walking in the direction she’d been instructed to go, she worried about fitting in. Being the only female in an all-male class was rather intimidating. The deeper she walked into the college, the types of student changed. She strolled past the business students whose wardrobes consisted of suits and business casual attire. Next to come were the liberal arts students wearing various styles of trendy clothing, very similar to what she was currently wearing.
She looked down at herself. She had on a pair of designer jeans and a red button-down blouse that hugged her curvy frame. The spiked heels of her black leather heeled boots clinked as she walked, drawing some attention. She had been told when she had registered the first day that it all going to be classroom work for the first week or so, so she figured her attire would be appropriate, at least for now.
Drawing closer to her classroom, the amount of females she saw dwindled to zero. All she now saw were men of varying ages with one thing in common... Beat-up blue jeans, scuffed steel-toed boots and t-shirts that by all rights should have been thrown away months ago, at least in her opinion.
She kept her head down and quickened her pace until she reached her destination.
"Room 549A. Finally," she muttered under her breath as she strolled inside.
There had been a symphony of male voices chattering as she walked into the room. Nearly all the voices immediately quieted as twenty sets of eyes turned to look at the newcomer. They seemed more curious than anything else as they watched her. While there were a few men who appeared to be over the age of thirty, the majority looked to be directly out of high school.
As she looked around the room she noticed all the seats full, with the exception of one. Front row center.
So much for blending into the background
, she thought, hurrying over to the chair and sliding behind the desk.
Several of the guys within her vicinity nodded or said their hellos, but for the most part all she received were blank stares as if she were some sort of rare animal they’d never seen in real life until just then. Taking a deep breath she opened up her backpack and pulled out a ringed notebook and a couple of pens. If she kept herself busy then perhaps she could ignore the fact she was the momentary attraction.
The talking around her finally began again, but this time the voices were more hushed. She looked over at the man to her left, a blond-haired man she would guess to be about her age, perhaps twenty-one or twenty-two. He caught her eye and smiled.
"Hey there, I'm Mike." He gave Faith a friendly, easygoing smile as he extended his hand to her.
Before she had an opportunity to reply the instructors came parading into the classroom. There were four men in all. She later learned that each one was there to help with certain areas of the students' studies. However, all were trained welders and would be helping with the practical part of the course.
They all took turns taking up center stage, but there was one in particular that she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of. She was too occupied with her inspection of the final instructor to catch the others’ introductions of themselves. If she had been asked after class the names of the other three instructors she would have failed that test horribly.
She couldn't help but notice that his attention was also being distracted. She caught him glancing over at her a number of times during the introductions. Each time his grey eyes captured hers, she found her face flushing as she quickly looked away. The whole situation reminded her of high school, trying to sneak a peek at the boy you liked without him realizing.
This is college Veates, not a time for schoolgirl crushes
, she coached herself silently.
Finally, it was his turn to introduce himself. Faith sat up a little straighter in her chair, watching him intently.
"I'm Tony Moir. I've been a welder for fifteen years now. Took up welding as soon as I graduated from high school..." He spoke with a strong and sure voice, which made her feel confident in him and his abilities.
The first thing she noticed was he had no wedding ring – she wasn't sure why she was so interested in that, but she was. He was her instructor, so off limits. Period. But still, the idea that he may be single piqued her interest in him all the more.
He was tall, at least a foot taller than her; of course with her being only 5'2 that wasn't too hard to do. He wore faded blue jeans that were just tight enough that she could admire his thick powerful thighs. Her gaze travelled upward, taking in his broad chest and well defined, muscular arms, which were folded over his chest as he spoke.
Until that point she had always had a thing for the pretty-boy types. Seeing Tony Moir standing there in front of her, powerful and confident, made her change her mind on the pretty boys. There was something extra about him. Perhaps it was what people referred to as the alpha male attraction. He seemed to have the type of magnetism that made her want to fall into his arms and feel his large, callused hands caressing her. He was the type of man a woman could feel safe and secure with. Protected.
She wanted him, it was undeniable.
Faith shifted uneasily in her chair, thankful he couldn't read her thoughts.
Once he finished his own introduction the other three instructors left the room, but he stayed. Tony sat down at the desk that was at the front of the room, perhaps only four feet from her, if not less.
He started to check attendance.
Faith wasn't hearing the names that were being called, she was too busy attempting to distract herself from staring at him.
He came to her name.
"Faith Veates." He didn't have to look around the class to know who that was. His stormy grey eyes locked onto her dark brown ones. The look they shared, that moment, was unmistakable. Worse yet, many of the men around them also noticed it. An invisible, yet undeniable electricity seemed to pulsate between them, closing the short distance.
She smiled and nodded, running a hand through her long chocolate hair as she chewed subconsciously on her lower lip. Her hand shook ever so slightly as she tried to redirect her attention to doodling mindless images on the lined paper sitting on her desk.
"Welcome to the class Miss Veates."
She gathered the resolve to look back up and meet his eyes once more. "Thank you," she replied, her voice breaking. She cleared her throat. It seemed to be getting very dry in the room all of a sudden.
That was the last she saw of Tony for the first day of classes. She was both disappointed and relieved. She had never felt such an attraction with someone she had never met before; it was both foreign and frightening to her. Worst yet she was certain he felt that same sizzle. And even worse even than that, she was certain many of the guys in the class also felt the tension.
The first thing she did once she entered her apartment after classes was to run to the living room, flop herself on the sofa and call her closest friend and former co-worker at the restaurant, Vicki. Vicki could talk some sense into her so she could put this crush nonsense to rest once and for all. Tomorrow she would go to class, calm, cool and collected.
Vicki picked up on the third ring. "Hello."
"I just got back from my first day as a welding student."
"So... how was it? Better yet, any interesting men?"
"Well, I think most of them were taking bets on how long I'd go before quitting." Faith propped her left foot on the wooden coffee table and unzipped the side of her boot, slipping it off.
Vicki laughed. "Ahhh, give them a month or so and you'll be one of them. It's not every day a hot goddess like yourself wanders into their neck of the woods." There was an unmistakable clang of pots and pans in the background as she spoke.
Faith laughed.
"There was one instructor. He was about thirty-five. Tall, short blond hair, sexy grey eyes and the body of a god if I ever saw one, Vicki. Very dreamy." Faith thrust her other foot onto the coffee table and began to remove the second boot.
"What was his name?" The bang of clang of pots stopped on Vicki's end of the telephone. Faith had her full attention now.
"Tony –" she didn't get a chance to finish before she was interrupted.
"Moir. Oh my god!" Vicki squealed on the other end of the telephone.
Faith pulled the phone a couple of inches from her ear and winced, unsure as to why her friend was causing such a commotion. Finally, she asked, "You know him? And how in the hell did you know his last name with that description?"
Vicki's laughter quieted then she whispered, "One second, I'm going to the other room so hubby and the kids won't hear this."
"All right." Slightly confused as to the reason for the sudden cloak-and-dagger treatment of their conversation, Faith anxiously waited for Vicki to relocate.
She heard a door opening and closing. Then Vicki was back.
"Remember a few months ago. We were talking about old boyfriends and I had told you about the guy who I was with six or seven years back, before I got married. I think I would have been mid-twenties at the time."
Faith was drawing a blank. There were a slew of men it could have been; Vicki was wilder than she could have ever dreamed of being. She needed a little more information than that. "Gotta be more specific, not sure who you're talking about."
"Oh, you remember. The one that got away. The dreamy one. The one I still masturbate to thoughts of. The best sex I've ever had guy. Remember?" Her voice was hushed but still held a hint of excitement in it.
"Fuck off. No way. Him?" Faith flopped herself back against the sofa and closed her eyes. "Also, I really don't need to know about your masturbation imagery."
"He was a welder, right out of high school. Is he still married?" Vicki asked.
"I didn't see a ring."
"You are one lucky little bitch to have him, and divorced at that, wish I was in your shoes right now."
Faith crinkled her nose up, still slightly perplexed. “But how did you know who it was?”
“Oh come on, dreamy, mid-thirties, welder named Tony… Plus, I’d heard he had taken a job at the college. Totally forgotten until you mentioned his name. Damn, I wish I was you.”
Faith's eyes sprang open and she sat up straight again. "Okay. First off, he's my instructor, making him officially off limits. Second off, who's to say he's even interested? Third off, just because he's no longer married doesn't mean he's not involved with someone."
Vicki left her hanging in silence for a few moments. "You are a cute, short curvy brunette who's gutsy enough to try her hand at welding. You
are
his type, I promise you that." She paused for another moment. "Did he give you the look?"
"The look? Are you off your meds or something? What look?" Faith was playing stupid, but she knew the look Vicki was referring to. It was the look she shared with him when he called her name. The look that passed between them when their eyes made that contact, which was so intense that she was certain some of the guys in the class had picked up on it. Boy, did she ever know the look.
Vicki gave a loud sigh. "Don't play dumb with me. I could tell in your voice when you called. You two shared the look."
"Okay. So say there was
a look
, so what?"
"So what? So what is this. If he is single then you need to grab your chance at him while you can. He's the full package so he won't be on the market long. He's an all-around good man in addition to being amazingly hot and a stallion in the sack."
"I don't know..." The conversation wasn't going anywhere near the way Faith had expected it to go. “I think you keep forgetting… HE’S. MY. INSTRUCTOR.”
"Look. Worse comes to worse, he'll ensure you become the best welder of the bunch and you'll get to benefit from the most mind-blowing sex you'll ever experience. I promise you that. It's a win-win situation."