Page 4 of Blurred Boundaries

Professor Sawyer does not respond right away. He just looks at me, the pained expression of earlier is gone now, replaced by something else. In fact, he looks almost impressed.

“That’s an interesting take,” he concedes after a moment. “So, legality equals morality in your view, mister . . .?”

“Taj Badmus,” I say. Then I shrug. “And yeah. Pretty much. If society made it legal, then it must be okay and criticising it feels unfair.”

A classmate whose name I don’t know raises her hand and Professor Sawyer nods at her.

“Angelika Mendová here,” she introduces. “And I agree with Lukáš. I don’t think legality should automatically make something morally acceptable. At the end of the day, laws are created by people, and people can make flawed or biased decisions. And these laws even set minimum standards for behaviour, not ideals.”

I hear Lukáš let out a small breath beside me. When I glance at him, he’s smiling sheepishly at her. “Good point, Angelika,” he agrees, still looking at her like she just solved something important.

Professor Sawyer nods at the both of them, but his eyes stay on mine for a beat too long before he finally looks away. “So, what you’re both saying is that legality answers if something is allowed and morality questions if it is right. Excellent insights from everyone who participated.” He moves back to his laptop and taps its keyboard, the projector flickering to life on the screen behind him. “Throughout this course, we will look at the gap between what is legal and what is right by using private citizens and politicians as examples. We’ll talk about corruption, conflicts of interests, misuse of discretion, and also personal conduct.”

He starts moving through the slides, fully in teaching mode now. I know I should be listening. This is a critical year for me and I can’t afford distractions, not even small ones. Not even when the distraction is standing at the front of the room looking like that. But my brain is not cooperating, every time I try to focus on the screen, it unhelpfully takes me back to the club. Back to him with his pants down and his cock in my mouth, those deep, uncontrolled moans as I sucked him off, and especially that low growl when he blessed my throat with his cum. I can still taste him on my tongue.

Yeah, I’m in trouble.

3

TAJ

—Good Days by SZA

The rest of the lecture passes in a blur.

I try to pay attention, I really do. I write down headings, underline words that seem important, and I stare at the slides like something will magically sink in. But every few minutes, my mind goes on a journey that has me rocking a semi by the end of class.

“He’s good,” Lukáš says as he slides his notebook and pens back into his bag

“Uh-uh,” I reply absently.

My eyes are fixed on Professor Sawyer even as my classmates begin filing out. He’s gathering his notes, speaking briefly to someone near the first row—and I’m here trying to figure out how to approach him. I silently curse myself. Why did I never bother to be social with lecturers before? Now, if I suddenly start hovering around the new one, people will notice. My classmates love gossiping more than their coursework, and I don’t need them creating more theories about me. And he’s not even the first Nigerian lecturer we’ve had, so I can’t use that as an excuse either.

“You okay?” Lukáš asks.

I glance over, and he’s standing beside his chair now, one hand on his hip as he studies me.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I offer him a quick smile. “I’ll catch up with you, I have a question.”

Lukáš immediately looks suspicious, probably because I’ve never stayed behind to ask a lecturer anything in my life. But before he can say that out loud, I grab my bag and stand.

“I’ll see you later,” I tell him, moving before he can stop me.

Students continue streaming towards the door as I make my way down the steps to the front. A few are packing up their stuff slowly, but one by one they leave, until even Lukáš is disappearing with one last confused glance over his shoulder. By the time I reach the stage, the lecture hall is empty. Professor Sawyer is slipping a paper into his folder when I reach him. Up close, he’s somehow worse; he’s way hotter than he looked from a distance. I stop in front of him and smile before I can help it.

“Hi, Prof,” I say.

There is something about him that makes my mouth pull into a smile. It happened at the club too. Like the second I’m near him, I want his attention. I want him looking at me.

His eyes lift to mine, and that same mortified expression settles back over his face. “Hi, Taj.”

Even hearing my name in his voice does something silly to my insides.

“I’ve been searching everywhere for you,” I confess. “I even went back to the club in case you were there.”

“Uhm, Taj. I don’t think⁠—”

“Don’t say anything yet,” I cut in, already knowing what he’s about to say. “Where’s your office? I have more classes now, but I can come and see you when I’m done.”