Patrick Ch. 01

Kevyn Morris sighed as she looked at the stack of books that she needed for school.

"Damned rip off!" She muttered as she looked at the anatomy and physiology book that had a sticker price of $150 and that didn't include the cost of the syllabus that cost an additional $30.00. She could've bought the book and syllabus used but she didn't want a book that had other people's markings or highlights.

At 33 years old she was going to school for nursing. She had been a nursing assistant for the past 10 years and it was time to make a change. She had thought about going to school before but money was always an issue. Her job at the nursing home had offered to pay all of her tuition and if she agreed to stay for two years when she was finished with school, she wouldn't have to pay it back Kevyn really didn't want to work in a nursing home as a nurse but it was a means to an end and so she accepted the offer.

Kevin was a pretty woman her skin dark, her eyes so dark brown they could have been black. Her hair fell just to her shoulders and had never been processed in any way something that she was very proud of. She was about 5'9" tall and while plump, she didn't consider herself fat. She enjoyed sports was a member of the softball team, enjoyed basketball and was an avid football fan.

She had been married and divorced by the time she was 30. She had made up her mind IF there was ever someone else, he would have to fill out an application and give three personal references, undergo a lie detector test and a personality test.

Lonnie her ex had been a sweet talker with big plans and goals but little ambition to make anything happen.

"Come on baby, stick with me and we'll go places!" He would tell her time and time again.

Kevyn had been 21 at the time. She had been young, naïve and fell for Lonnie and everything he was selling hook, line and sinker. What ended up happening was that they lived with his parents for the first two years of their marriage and then they found a cheap apartment and moved into it. She thought she was happy because Lonnie kept making promise after promise and he really seemed to be trying. It didn't take long for her to realize that they weren't going anywhere fast and that Lonnie was one of those people who looked like they were doing a lot when in reality he was doing nothing. She stayed until she was 30 and then initiated the divorce proceedings. Lonnie had tried to talk her out of it but she couldn't be persuaded to stay, she wanted much more out of life than living from paycheck to paycheck. She found a job at a nursing home and made enough to afford a cheap efficiency apartment and that's where she lived since the divorce that she had to pay for. It wasn't much but it met her needs and it was home.

The nine years that she had spent with Lonnie were a painful lesson that she had no intentions of repeating, men were not a part of her future and the only thing she concerned herself with was getting through school. That she would be thirty-seven by the time she graduated because she had so many prerequisites to take and she had to work but that didn't concern her, the anatomy and physiology classes, the math and the chemistry did; she was awful at science and math had to take high school chemistry twice.

Kevyn lugged the heavy book and syllabus up the three flights of stairs to her tiny efficiency and tossed them on the couch that doubled as her bed. She turned on the 13' color television which only had basic cable and headed toward the fridge. There wasn't much there other than left over Chinese food from the night before. It wasn't what she wanted but since she bought the books for her class and paid for the class, she didn't have any spare cash and it would be another week before she was reimbursed for the book and the class.

She ate the left over Chinese food not really enjoying it, cleaned up the dishes and was going to watch television but decided to get started on reading the first chapter of the textbook, it couldn't hurt and hopefully it would help.

*******

Patrick Sinclaire looked at his lesson plans, he hated the first day of class, he always had. The class would be full of people who were there only because they had to be and not because they wanted to be. He predicted that after the first night, he would lose about ten students because they would figure out that they had to work. By the second class he would lose another ten for the same reason. Of the thirty that he would start with, several of them would come unprepared meaning no text book or syllabus because they either couldn't afford one or both of them.

To help those students out, Patrick always purchased ten of the textbooks and syllabi and passed them out to those who needed them. It was something that he had always done much to the ire of his fellow professors.

"You make us look like we don't care." was a popular complaint or "not all of us are independently wealthy." was another. On more than one occasion he was asked why he taught if he was wealthy. The reality of it was that he enjoyed it and it was a way for him to face his fear of public speaking. After that first night, he was fine; it was just the initial meeting of thirty strangers that always made his heart pound and his palms sweat.

He also had another problem; at least he considered it a problem. Patrick was tall, blue eyed and blond like his brothers Ethan and Martin and the object of many attempted seductions and crushes. Ever since he stopped raping, he had chosen to remain celibate, it was hard at times but he stayed true to his oath. When and if he finally found his mate, he wanted to be able to tell her that he hadn't touched a woman since his last rape which had been several years ago, by his calculations, more than twenty five years ago. The twins, Veronica and Vanessa had been babies and they were now in their twenties.

He gave his lesson plan a final look over and was satisfied. The first night of class would be in two days and he was already sweating.

********

Kevyn read the first three pages of the text and she was already frustrated.

"Cells and nuclei?" she grumbled as she continued to read the chapter. The more she read, the more nervous she became. This was a "failure is not an option." situation. She had to maintain a "C" in order to have her classes paid for and just by judging from the first few pages, it was going to be hard to do.

She closed the book and changed into her night clothes and did her bedtime routine just in case she fell asleep watching television which was usually what happened. Kevyn checked her alarm clock and decided not to set it, she didn't have to be at work until eleven the next night and then she would be off for the next two nights. As she fell asleep she tried to remember what the nucleus of a cell did.

*******

First day of class. Kevyn was nervous and excited at the same time. She was finally on her way to making a major change in her life. She made sure that she had her supply of pens, pencils and highlighters and at the spur of the moment; she bought a small tape recorder thinking that it might help if she could listen to the lectures later. She glanced at the clock, she would be early but then she would be able to get a good seat.

She was an hour early and chose a seat toward the front of the room but off to the side so that she would have a good view of the whiteboard and that the microphone of her recorder wouldn't be blocked. While she waited, she organized herself and glanced over the first chapter of the book. Over the last two days she had managed to read the first chapter and answer the questions at the end of the chapter and the questions in the syllabus as well. She found herself wishing that she had started with an easier class like English comp first but she had wanted to get the hard ones out of the way and take the easier ones as a break. She wondered it was too late to drop this class and to sign up for an easier one.

*******

Patrick loaded his car with the extra textbooks and syllabi and headed toward the school. His heart was pounding and his hands slick with sweat as he thought about meeting thirty new people. He forced himself to take a deep breath and reminded himself that after the first half hour he would be fine.

He parked as near the entrance as he could even though he didn't need to, the textbooks and syllabi weighed next to nothing as far as he was concerned but it was all about appearances. A male student happened by and offered to help and Patrick put on a good show of being grateful for the help. The student as it turned out was going to be taking his class.

"I'm Josh Phillips, I'm in your class." he said as he took the stack of syllabi from Patrick's car."

"Good to meet you." Patrick said meaning it. Josh had just made things a little easier for him; he now only had to face twenty-nine new faces. "Ands again thanks for the help."

"No problem." Josh said as they walked to the entrance.

*******

Kevyn was soon joined by three other students all female who were dressed as if they were going clubbing instead of to class, she soon found out why.

"I heard that he is totally hot." one of the girls said.

"Not only that, he's as rich as hell, he's a brother to Ethan Sinclaire you do know who he is don't you?" the second girl asked the first girl.

"Oh shit! Really? Well damn, I should have worn a shorter skirt." she replied.

Kevyn rolled her eyes but made no comment. She knew who Ethan Sinclaire was, who didn't? And if his brother looked anything like him, then the girls were right but she wasn't here to gawk at Dr. Sinclaire, she was here to learn and to pass this damned class.

She went back to looking at her book and only knew that someone had come in by the titters of the girls sitting up front. Kevyn looked up and gasped. "Holy shit!" she thought as she looked at Patrick, "He's gorgeous!" the thought that this class might not be so bad after all crossed her mind as she watched him effortlessly set the stack of books on the table.

The girls in the front were trying to attract Patrick's attention by shuffling around in their chairs and became frustrated when he paid them no attention but drew the attention of Josh whom they all except for one ignored. One of the girls finally got up and walked over to Patrick.

"Hi, my name is Melissa, I've heard so much about your class." she cooed.

Kevyn almost laughed out loud until she realized that Patrick wasn't paying attention to Melissa but was staring directly at her.

"Dr. Sinclaire?" Melissa cooed.

"What? Oh I'm sorry." Patrick said absently pulling his gaze away from Kevyn. "What were you saying?"

"I said that I heard a lot about your class and I'm looking forward to learning from you." Melissa said.

"Umm thank you and welcome." Patrick said looking up at Kevyn again this time Melissa's eyes followed where his gaze went and frowned.

"So what are we going to talk about tonight?" she asked trying to regain his attention.

"What?" Patrick asked wishing that Melissa would go away. He wanted to look at the beautiful black woman sitting off to the side of the room- this was her, he had finally found her, his mate.

One of the other girls stood up and went to the desk; it was her turn since Patrick wasn't showing any interest in her friend.

"Hello Dr. Sinclaire, I'm Lacy and I'm so happy to be in your class, I registered as soon as I saw it posted." she said offering her hand.

Lacy had only marginally more success in holding Patrick's attention, his eyes kept flitting over to Kevyn.

"Nice to meet you both now if you will excuse me, I need to get set up for class." Patrick said politely.

"Do you need some help?" Melissa asked eagerly.

"Oh, sure why don't you put a syllabus with each text book?" Patrick said absently his nerves about the first night of class forgotten as he felt more grounded than he had in years. "It's because of her." he thought to himself as he looked at Kevyn again.

Kevyn kept her head down, she didn't know why Patrick kept looking at her but she wished that he would stop, he was making her nervous and not in a bad way. While the girls got the books and syllabi ready, Patrick looked over the list of student names and tried to figure out which was one belonged to her. He was already beginning to feel the excitement at the prospect of the pursuit of his mate and wondered what she was feeling if anything.

He could tell that she was tall, how tall he couldn't tell and.... She was nervous, she was feeling something but it could be because she was an older student returning back to school he thought. Patrick wondered just how old she was, surely not more than thirty he thought. He was always bad at guessing ages but she really didn't look more than thirty. From where he stood, he could see her worrying her lower lip and wished that she would look up again so that he could see her face.

Patrick knew that she knew that she was being watched and that's why she wouldn't look up at him and he wondered what she was thinking about, was she wondering why he was looking at her so intently instead of the two scantily dressed girls and that's what they were to him girls, in front of him?

All too soon, it was time for class to start.

"Good evening and welcome to anatomy and physiology I, my name is Dr. Sinclaire" Patrick said with a voice minus the usual nervousness on the first day of class, "and my goal is for each and every one of you is to pass this class with a good understanding of how the human body works. Before we start, I'm going to call out names, please raise your hand so that I can put a face to the name."

Patrick deliberately went through all of the female names first becoming perplexed when all that was left were male names. Was she in the wrong class? He wondered as he looked at the list of male names.

"Kevyn Morris?" he called out and was shocked to see her raise her hand. He hesitated for just a second before continuing with roll call wondering why someone would give a female what he considered to be a male name.

"Alright, once again welcome and please allow me to explain a few things. This is not an easy class so if any of you start having problems, my office hours are listed in the syllabus and it is by appointment only. My email address is also listed so feel free to use it; I do check my email several times a day. Most times any confusion can be cleared up by email, any class cancellations will be posted on the school's website so please don't email me to ask if there will be class on a given night. I have several students that I use as tutors for those of you who feel that you need extra help, so don't hesitate to ask for help. Is there anyone here who doesn't have the textbook and or syllabus?" Patrick asked.

There were five students who had neither and three who were missing one or the other.

"Come up front here and take what you need and they're yours to keep." Patrick said.

When the students were back to their seats, he asked, "How many of you aside from those who didn't have the textbook have read the first chapter?"

There was only one other student other than Kevyn who had read ahead.

"I know that there's a lot of reading but it's really important that you try to keep up with it. The two who read ahead, Kevyn and .... Curtis are already ahead of the game so good job."

Suddenly class was over and Patrick didn't want it to be. He hoped that Kevyn would stop by and say something to him but she didn't. He watched her pack up her things and hurry out of the room like she had some place to be, he fought the urge to follow her and turned his attention to the students who had questions.

******

Kevyn couldn't get out the room soon enough, all through the class she was keenly aware of Patrick looking at her but trying not to, what was that all about she wondered. "Maybe because I'm the oldest one in there other than him" she mumbled as she made her way to the bus stop.

The bus arrived a few minutes later. Kevyn got on and made her way to the back and sat down heavily, she had bitten off more than she could chew with this class but she was stuck, the nursing home scheduler had already arranged her schedule to accommodate the class unless there was another class that met on the same night. She decided to check online when she got home.

Her laptop and internet was the one pleasure that she allowed herself, the laptop wasn't brand new but it suited her needs and she justified the purchase by telling herself that she would need if for school. Forty five minutes later, Kevyn was on the school's website checking for other classes that she needed that met on Tuesday nights-there were but either they were full or they were classes that she didn't need. She was stuck.

*******

Patrick packed up after the class was over as he thought about Kevyn, he wanted to know more about her, and it would help as he planned his next move.

"Dr. Sinclaire?"

Patrick looked up to see Melissa standing in front of him.

"Yes?"

"Some of us are going out for dr...."

"Thank you but no." Patrick said interrupting her. It was time to stop this before it went any further. "I would suggest that you skip the drink and start preparing for the next class and I don't go drinking with teenagers." He added as he picked up the remaining books and his briefcase before walking away.

Melissa stood with her mouth open, no one had ever shut her down like that and it wasn't about to start now. She didn't give a shit about who Patrick was, she wasn't about to be treated like some little girl never mind the fact that she was only nineteen.

Patrick frowned as he loaded his car, he would have to watch that one, she was trouble in more ways than one. As soon as he got home, he went online to find out about Kevyn Morris. He read the report out loud.

"Thirty-three years old, I was off by a few years." he murmured and then continued reading. "nursing student or planned to be, so she needed to take this class at some point, but why now?" he asked himself thinking the same thing that she had thought earlier, she should have started with a much easier class to get her feet wet but no matter, he would do what he could to help her except for just passing her. That, he wouldn't do no matter who or what she was. His laptop dinged telling him that he had gotten a message, he checked it already knowing what it was, his school email account would be busy almost non-stop for the next hour or so with questions from anxious students, it would calm down within an hour or so.

Patrick clicked onto the first email and answered it and then answered the rest in the order that they came in. He wasn't surprised that he got one from Melissa and that he got none from Kevyn. He tapped his desk with his fingers and thought about what he should do and decided to do nothing for the time being, the fates or opportunity would give him a chance to talk to her.

*******

Kevyn fell asleep reading chapter 2 of the textbook. One thing was clear, she couldn't study here, she'd be asleep in no time and that just wouldn't do. She got up, made a cup of strong tea and tried to read what she considered to be boring material. Even with the tea, she fell asleep not waking until well after two am stiff and uncomfortable. She took a hot shower and changed into her pajamas planning to head to the library later in the morning.

She took the tape recorder out of her bag and turned it on. Kevyn found Patrick's soft baritone oddly soothing as she drifted off to sleep.

*******

The week passed quickly for Kevyn and too slowly for Patrick, he couldn't wait until Tuesday to see her again. She struck him as an early bird and decided to show up early himself in the hope of having a word alone with her. Kevyn worked her shifts at the nursing home and was grateful for the refund for the class and for the books, her cupboard was getting bare and her bus pass was about to expire, the money came right on time. Class was tomorrow night and she had read only part of the chapter, the problem was that she worked at night and she just didn't see how she was going to be able to stay awake to read it. It was too early to go to the library and she really didn't have the money to go to breakfast unless she went to the bank first.