Page 28 of Beauty's Monstrous Demons

We ignore any stares as we walk through the busy lobby and out into the world, each taking a different route to start our day. Damn, I could really get used to this.

CHAPTER 7

BAST

Idespise the new girl who moved into our apartment. The guys aren’t too bad, and I try to be gone most of the time while I’m teaching or offering office hours. Soon, the production I’ve been working on will start in full swing, and I will be even busier. I will be working with the orchestra section of the theatrical production and they have to be perfect.

Maybe then, I’ll be able to avoid this obsession I feel. I strain my ears to hear her come into the dorm room when I’m home, and I’m flooded with the scent of cherries and cream when she showers.

I don’t want to be this in tune to her, I don’t even know what she looks like. This is all highly inappropriate, and I fisted my cock to the sound of her showering three days ago. I fucking hate myself. She’s practically a fucking child.

Walking out of my room to the new coffee machine that Thorley picked up, I sigh as I prepare it to run. Water, a coffee pod, the usual. Turning, I gaze out around the space, seeing that Adares is on the couch on his laptop and Thorley is getting readyto leave. My eyes land on the bedroom door that belongs toher, which is closed.

I can’t hear any sound coming from it, and I ask myself if I can remember hearing Lorelei last night or the night before.

“Have you seen her?” I ask Thorley, jutting my chin in the direction of our female roommate’s door.

“Nah,” he says. “I don’t think she’s been home for the last couple of days. Think we should be worried about it?”

“She could be shacking up with someone,” Adares grunts from the couch. “A girl like that seems like she’d be easy.”

Thorley rolls his eyes at me while I glare at Adares. I don’t really want to think about Lorelei like that. I can’t afford to have an erection during class. I have important people auditing it to see if they want to come to the university. Talented people.

No time to worry about the girl living with us. None.

Fuck, I can feel my blood pressure rising. I’m high strung as it is on a normal day, but it’s been worse recently, and I know exactly who to blame.

“Should we be worried?” Thorley asks instead. “I don’t want her disappearance on my conscience.”

“I’m the dramatic one,” I remind him. “I doubt anyone knows her schedule, yes?”

“No, but I have a feeling the little sneak knows ours,” Adares says. “She’s been avoiding us, and now she hasn’t been back at all.”

“I don’t think she expected to room with a bunch of guys,” Thorley says, wincing. “Lorelei has been cleaning up after us here and there. However, there are dishes in the sink and a couple of things out of place in the living room. That’s how I can tell she’s not been back.”

So she’s avoiding us. Wonderful. While I would love to be able to say that she can do what she wants, if I get a call abouther from the housing department, I want to be able to answer whatever questions they have to volley me.

The other thing I’ll never admit to anyone other than myself is that I like knowing where my roommates are. I haven’t lived with anyone in centuries, so I’ll complain bitterly about it, but Adares and Thorley check in or chat with me as I pass through.

I kind of want that with Lorelei as well, even though her very existence confuses me.

“Let’s wait on reporting it,” I decide. “She could have started dating someone or made a friend.”

“Kind of fast if you ask me,” Adares grumbles. “She’s very standoffish with us so this surprises me. She acts like she’s better than us.”

I haven’t been the kindest to her, so I shrug and doctor my coffee before drinking it.

“Should we check to see if her things are still here?” I ask. A part of me really wants to see the inside of her room, see what’s inside.

“Go for it,” Thorley says with a shrug. “I gotta run.”

“I don’t care either way,” Adares says, putting his things away and standing with his bag. He’s wearing sweats and appears to be bumming it today. “I have a quiz in twenty minutes. I’m out too.”

There’s a chill in the air today, winter finally deciding to grace us with her presence. The semester is barely a week in, and I already know it’s going to be a rough one.

Drinking my coffee slowly, I watch as they leave, my tail swishing in irritation. It’s unfortunate, but my body gives away my emotions. There’s no real way to hide it.

Once I’m done with my drink, I wash the mug, listening for any sign that one of my roommates is coming back in. Placing it on the drying rack, I pick up the towel to methodically dry my hands. Fuck, I’m procrastinating at this point.

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