Page 51 of The Gargoyle in the College

I force a smile, even though I’m probably failing at that. “Look... I don’t know. It doesn’t feel important.”

“She’s not the only female out there.”

I sneer at him. Maybe he’s not wrong, but it doesn’t feel that way. I don’t know why a woman like Laura hit me so hard that it feels like I can’t think straight when she’s around. When I took her into my arms, so she didn’t end up on the floor, it was tempting to never let go again. Her soft body was a bit too tempting, and it felt right for me to be there with her, except she didn’t want that.

I clench a fist, slowly letting it loose. “Maybe something’s wrong with me.”

Mckur muses. “It can be the case. You fought hard.”

“Stop talking about the fight that is so far back in time. That has little to nothing to do with the present time.”

“Hey, I think that’s still very important.”

My phone buzzes, yanking me out of my thoughts. It can’t be anything important, though. I pull it out to check anyway, just in case.

I turn the screen to face the ground as soon as I glance at the sender.

My heart races and hammers in my chest.

Mckur smirks and watches for my reaction. I look at him before I stare at the dorm building. There are lit-up rooms scattered throughout the building. Laura’s in one of those rooms. Is she looking out of the window?

The woods are too dense for anyone from there to spot Mckur and me, so there’s no way she can see me from afar. Yet...

Mckur asks, “Who’s that? I think it’s not a scamming message.”

I shake my head. “I haven’t read it.”

“Why don’t you? Getting jittery?”

I take a deep breath. “I don’t know. Should I?”

“It’s her, huh? I think she figured out you helped her.”

“I think so.”

“And how bad can it be, anyway? That she’s mad you helped her?”

“I think she may have said that we shouldn’t be seeing each other.”

“If that’s the case, it means that we’re still in the same situation and nothing’s changed.”

I don’t understand where the ‘we’ comes from, as if Mckur thinks that he’s somehow involved in this. He is the gargoyle who always wants to help everyone and invites himself everywhere.

He flaps his wings. “Just check the message.”

“Are you cold? You don’t have to be here with me.”

“I’m not cold. I’m a gargoyle, come on.”

I lift my brows at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I may be a bit older than most, but I’m not weak.”

I shrug. “Whatever you want to say.”

I run my finger along the edge of my phone. Maybe I really should check it. How bad can it be? She can be mad at how I tried to help her, but it isn’t going to make things worse when it can’t be worse.

It’s just a message, but it takes effort to flip my phone over to read the text.

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