Page 11 of Unforgivable

But if I was being completely and unfortunately honest with myself, I most likely would have fallen for Ted's charms, started imagining I could be the one to change him, fantasized about being Rhys Bundy, and then tragically ended up on the wrong end of his crowbar. But that wasnothappening here!

“Look, you parasitic buttworm, I have no interest in playing this game with you. I'm here to learn and this is an important class for my major, so begone before someone drops a house on you,” I snapped.

Hawk dramatically gasped and clutched at his chest, gaping at me like I slapped his grandma. “Rhys, I am scandalized. I had you pegged as being too sweet to be so cruel…I have to say I'm a little disillusioned. You surprised me. You really did.”

“Yeah, well I hate to be predictable,” I snarked under my breath. I pleaded with all Heavenly forces above for this class to start and for Hawk to be sucked into another dimension or something. I chose to believe anything was possible.

“Okay, seriously though. I came to apologize,” Hawk said quietly. I whipped my head in his direction, convinced I heard him wrong.

“I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I must have had a small stroke because it sounded like you said 'apologize',” I said slowly. A giant, neon “danger” sign was flashing continually in my head, but as with all good warnings and red flags, I simply ignored it for curiosity's sake.

Hawk leveled me with a hard stare. I was beginning to wonder if they pumped hallucinogens into the air like they did at Vegas nightclubs because he almost looked…sincere.

“I wanted to apologize. I'm sorry I came on a little strong, but I really want to start over and see if we could maybe be friends.”

My brain shorted out and I couldn't stop from blinking incessantly. It was like my eyes were trying to hit the reboot button to get me back to normal functioning. Somewhere in my conscious mind, I was aware that this was a trap. I knew it, I felt it. I should have told him to take a long walk off a very short cliff. I should have been outraged and cursed his miserable existence. I should have saidno.

That's not what came out of my mouth.

“Okay?” The word slipped out without my permission, and even though it sounded more like a question, Hawk took it and ran with it. Ran real far with it. He probably took it to Canada for all I knew.

His face morphed into a grin that would have knocked me on my butt if I hadn't been sitting down. Without a second of hesitation, he grabbed my phone from my hand and opened my texts.

“Hey! Give me that!” I blurted out involuntarily, lunging for my phone. He lifted it in his left hand, holding it far out of my reach as I saw him type in a number and shoot off a text to someone. He then tossed my phone back to me with a smile as I fumbled and tried not to drop it.

“What is wrong with you? What did you do? Do you even have friends? I mean, your blatant klepto tendencies can't be doing you any favors in that department!” I rushed out as I swiped back to my text screen to see the potential damage.

Out of my periphery, I saw Hawk pull out his phone and unlock it. “Thanks for the concern, but I do indeed have friends. And now you're one of them. See?” Hawk wiggled his phone in front of me to show a text that said “Sup hottie?” that came from my number.

“You stole my phone to get my number? Did simply asking politely for it go out of style or something?”

“Yeah, that's so mid-2000's,” Hawk shuddered. “This was way more memorable. And I was guaranteed your number this way. I like it when the odds are in my favor.”

“I bet your 'pretty privilege' ensures the odds are freaking stacked in your favor. Effie Trinket would be so proud,” I grumbled, fighting the urge to move seats.

“Aww Rhys, you think I'm pretty? That's so sweet of you,” he grinned at me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep steadying breath.I will not snap, I will not snap, I Will. Not. Snap.

“Fine. Congratu-freaking-lations. You got my number. Your business here is concluded and you can be on your way,” I said shortly. Just as I said it, Professor Graham strolled into the room and up to the podium.

Oh sweet and sour sauce, thank you! Someone up there loves me!

“I'm so sorry I'm a little late, class. Forgive me. My meeting ran late,” Professor Graham projected across the cavernous room. “Don't forget we have a quiz coming up on psychopharmaceuticals and their effects on the body, so be sure to go over your notes before Friday. Last time, we looked at the various neurotransmitters and how they contribute to mental health imbalances, so that's where we'll pick up today.” The lights dimmed in the room as the projector powered up on the screen at the front of the room.

Hawk leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “Jesus, this sounds boring as shit. What major are you exactly?” He asked, but I was having a hard time concentrating as his scent washed over me. It was spicy and warm, like bergamot and amber…or something equally annoying that smelled good. I don't know why I expected him to smell disgusting. I was nowhere near that lucky.

I let out a frustrated breath. “I'm a nursing major, and you are distracting me. Also you're not even in this class! Why are you still here?” I whisper-shouted under my breath, very conscious of my noise level so I didn't draw the professor's attention.

“Eh, a tiny technicality. So where did you get the contacts, Sweetness?” he inquired, still speaking close to my ear.

“Contacts? My eyes are all natural, thank you.”

“Nope. Call a foul on that one. There's no way your eyes can legit be purple. Never heard of that before in my life.”

I was beginning to take so many steadying breaths that I wasactually beginning to feel lightheaded. “Well, they do exist. It's a rare blue-gray combo that makes them appear violet. Elizabeth Taylor was famous for having violet eyes.”

“Ah. Who's Elizabeth Taylor? Is she on OnlyFans or something?”

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