Page 43 of Beauty's Monstrous Demons

Sure enough, the time states that I’m correct, and I look helplessly back at the professor.

“I know, I just got called away,” she sighs. “I really didn’t think it would be an issue. Mondays are typically a slower day and we don’t get many people in.”

“I’ll keep her company,” Professor Ferros says with a shrug. “I don’t mind.”

I want to scream in frustration, but I hold it all in. I’m annoyed by the way I started my day, and if I’m honest with myself, I hate being someone’s dirty little secret. It hasn’t been long, I know there are reasons why we’re sneaking around, and yet I’m still pissed about it.

My life makes even less sense than normal, and my skin feels itchy with anxiety as the professor who runs the lab leaves quickly and I’m suddenly alone with Dr. Ferros. There’s something wrong, but I can’t pinpoint what that could be.

Pulling on a lab coat after hanging up my chunky, soft cardigan, I gather my supplies and ignore the interloper taking up my time and space.

His heavy gaze remains on me as I work, carefully organizing my ingredients and placing my timer where I need it.

“Are you a perfectionist?” he asks casually as I move something for the third time.

“Nope,” I mutter. “It just didn’t feel right where it was before.”

I work on instinct when my life is messy or doesn’t feel ordered. The worse things are, the more I need to organizewhat I can control. My anxiety is screaming at me, my heart is pounding for absolutely no reason, and things feel fucked.

I can’t fathom why I can’t detect any kind of scent from the monster near me. I can smell the ingredients in front of me, the smell of fire from the burner, and everything else. Dr. Alecto Ferros remains an enigma.

It’s infuriating.

Continuing to make my descenting liquid, I do my best to ignore the monster who is leaning a short distance away from me. Fuck, he makes me nervous. There’s no way he could know what I’m making, yet I still feel as if I’m doing something wrong.

Setting my timer once there’s nothing else to be done except let my experiment do its thing, I step back and begin to clean my station, even though I tidy as I go. There’s nothing for me to do, but I don’t want him to know that.

“So about this stalker who may be me,” he drawls, making me roll my eyes.

“Yes?” I ask, sighing. I’m wearing safety glasses, yet he’s gazing at me as if I’m not wearing a stitch of clothing except for them.

“Why are you working in my club if you’re worried about your safety? It feels silly to me when you work such late hours,” he says.

I didn’t know it was his club. No one ever mentioned it while he was eye fucking me as he left last night. He doesn’t need to know that somehow, Samael is always in the passenger seat when I leave work, waiting for me. Even if he didn’t originally drive down with me. I’m perfectly protected.

“Who says I’m not protected?” I ask. “It seems very presumptuous of you.”

“Perhaps, but I should know if you’re going to?—”

“Do what? Is this going to be a thing where you throw my job in my face at every turn? I can drop you my resignation after my next shift if that’s what’s needed,” I tell him boldly.

Fuck, I don’t want to be pushed on this because I need the money. Bertie and I are holding on together with a wish and a prayer.

“Woah, who said that’s what I want?” he asks, shaking his head.

“I do not respond well to veiled threats, Professor Ferros,” I growl, lowering the heat a little on my experiment.

I’ll be so pissed off if I burn this and make myself seem incompetent.

“Noted,” he grunts. “Your job isn’t an issue for me. I’m a silent partner at the club, and rarely there. Instead, I want to know more about you and what you’re creating.”

“It’s hair serum,” I murmur, lying.

Professor Ferros growls under his breath, causing me to scrunch my nose. Fuck, I hate that I can’t lie.

“It’s none of your business,” I state instead. “I don’t need to explain every little detail of what I’m doing. You’re simply observing to make sure I don’t blow something up, which I won’t.”

“I am surrounded by people who are obsessed with explosions and fire it seems,” he says cryptically. “I asked Dr. Alvaro if we could meet because I was intrigued as to why a student would be working in a strip club.”

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