The Teacher: A shocking and compelling new crime thriller – NOT for the faint-hearted! by Katerina Diamond Read Free Book Online

roommate Dani’s bed, it was empty and made; the curse of the pretty girl. Dani’s bed was a deep purple and gold with saris draped from the ceiling. Even Danielle’s vibrant posters were framed and hung in a precise manner, not like the dogeared gig posters that hung on Abbey’s side of the room.
    Dani swung open the door and flopped on the bed, a grin plastered across her face as she kicked off her heels.
    ‘I’ve met the man I’m going to marry.’
    Abbey sat up. When Abbey had first laid eyes on Danielle she had subconsciously tugged at her sweater, making sure it covered as much of her as possible. It was at that point that Abbey realised her role for the rest of the academic year – the weird one who bunked with the hot girl. What made things even worse was that Dani was just about the nicest person Abbey had ever met, probably because she had no insecurities and no reason to feel threatened by anyone really. They became good friends in no time.
    ‘His name’s Christian, he’s just such a babe, I just met him over at Bar 42.’
    ‘Christian Taylor?’ Abbey knew who he was, of course she did, every girl on campus knew who he was.
    ‘Mhm, he gave me his number, we’re going out this week sometime,’ Danielle squealed.
    Christian was the boy at uni, THE boy, the one they all wanted, the trophy, the prize. He was the reason to wear a short skirt and the incentive to wear your hair up all pretty. He got in free to all the cool bars, the waitresses would slide him free drinks and the managers would turn a blind eye, knowing that where he went, the rest followed. Abbey was almost certain that Danielle had positioned herself in such a way that Christian could not help but notice her, she made sure they accidentally bumped into each other. Dani had just climbed up a few rungs on the social-status ladder.
    When Abbey awoke the next morning Danielle was in the shower. Abbey looked at the clock, she was late. She jumped out of bed and threw yesterday’s clothes on, still in a pile at her bedside. Abbey was scrambling around the room that she shared with Danielle frantically searching for her left army boot.
    ‘Hello.’ Abbey spun around to see Christian in the doorway. She froze, and her heart was thumping. She had never seen a man quite as handsome as him before, he was twenty years old and his dark blond curls fell to his shoulders like a frame for his perfect face, he invoked a feeling of sexuality in Abbey that she hadn’t felt before – pure desire. Her mouth watered just looking at him. His friend Jamie hovered behind him nervously, well aware that he paled in comparison, obviously torn between jealousy and hero worship.
    ‘Hi,’ Abbey finally managed to utter. ‘Dani’s in the shower.’
    ‘And you must be Abbey.’ He leaned forward and shook her hand, beaming a smile that made her knees weak. Even the people she considered her closest friends struggled to remember Abbey’s name.
    At that moment, Dani walked in with her perfectly tanned skin still glistening from the hot shower, her hair wet.
    ‘Oh, hi, I didn’t expect to see you so soon,’ she giggled. Abbey was unfamiliar with this side of Danielle, she usually liked to dominate a situation but this time she was letting him be the man while she played at the ditsy blonde.
    Jamie completely refused to even acknowledge Abbey’s existence. Instead he stared at Danielle as though she were an untouchable goddess. Abbey was all too familiar with the type of boy Jamie was, he was ordinary looking, not ugly, but no one ever looked twice at him and he seemed crippled with insecurity and anger. He wanted the Danielles of this world not the Abbeys and he resented the idea that he was doomed to spend the rest of his life settling for, well, himself. To him the girl you had on your arm was a statement about who you were as a person, it didn’t matter what they thought or did, it mattered what they looked like. He wanted other men to be jealous like he