Page 4 of Reed

Now, in the light of day, I’m a professor at the university, but at night, I’m the hunter stalking the shadows, ready to rip their souls from their bodies. That is a promise. A vow. One I made to an empty casket, and I plan on keeping. No matter what. This should have been an open and closed vendetta, but the ring of people was much larger than anticipated. I’m almost at the head of the beast. I’m so close I can practically smell his fear. His weakness. His blood. I’m so focused on this need to avenge Tara that I can’t lose sight of it now.

But that’s all about to change because ofher.It’s the first day of the fall semester. Everything has gone according to plan. I spent the whole summer putting my plan into action. Making friends with the right teachers and becoming a ‘friend’ to the students. The girls fall all over themselves to get my attention, and the guys hate that they want to be me. I don’t care, not in the slightest. I just need them to keep talking around me. Gossiping, especially the girls, because they are the ones who have the information I need. But I don’t let the way they look, or the looks they give me, deter me from my end game. I can’t afford to.

My whole world shifts on its axis while I’m standing out in the hallway, waiting to go into my classroom, reading another text from Gabe. The air around me shifts. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. I look around for danger because that is the only thing that makes my body feel like this. Like I’m standing in the pouring rain, holding onto an electric fence that is turned all the way up.

That’s when I see her coming down the hall toward me. Straight toward me. I have plenty of time to move out of the way before she collides with me, but I simply choose not to. Why? Like, I have a fucking clue. I can’t blame it on something as simple as her eyes because I can’t see them. Because they areglued to some paper in her hand. But there is something about this girl that holds my attention. She holds captive not only my attention but the air in my lungs, blood in my body, and every thought in my head.

I let my eyes devour her. Unbeknownst to her. Starting with her hair, which is blonde almost to the point of being white and thick by the size of the ponytail it is pulled into. Down to a thin, definitely loved, Guns-n-Roses t-shirt that hugs her chest. A chest that looks like more than a handful, and I have big hands. She has a belly, one that she isn’t currently trying to hide in a loose shirt or by sucking in. Then, I continue down to an equally worn pair of dark wash jeans—that encase thick thighs that will feel amazing clamped around my head—to a beat-up pair of Chuck Taylors.

It is like God crafted her from my dreams and plopped her down right in front of me. The perfect woman for me. My dick turns to a steel rod within seconds as I watch her, and I haven’t even seen her face. A small, sinister smile forms on my face when her body touches mine.

“Fuck,” I say as my arms shoot out, circling her waist, hands splayed out on her back, acting like the gentleman I am not.

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” she rushes out.

Finally, her eyes lift from what I can now see is a map of the school, and fuck me, all the air in my lungs gets sucked out by the sight of them. Her body might be turning me on, leaving me speechless, but her angelic face leaves me breathless. Her eyes fascinate me, pulling me in and threatening to pull out every secret I have in my body. I have never seen a pair of eyes so beautiful before; they are the color of metal. Her round, pale cheeks start to turn an attractive shade of red as she notices for the first time what she has run into. Me.

“I wasn’t watching where I was going,” she says breathlessly.

I pull myself back, bringing her back to her feet, and unfortunately, remove my hands from her body. But not without running them across her side, feeling the intake of breath in the form of her stomach sucking in. Her body feels like heaven, soft, warm, and something to hold onto when I’m sinking balls deep in her sweet cunt from behind.

I clear my throat, straighten my black shirt and adjust my cock discreetly. “No harm done.” The map she was intently studying has fallen to the floor, but she doesn’t notice it because her eyes are stuck to mine. Without breaking eye contact, I bend down and pick up the map. “What class are you looking for?”

At the mention of a class, she finally pulls her eyes off me and looks down. Her hands go to the front of her shirt, pulling at the material as if she just now noticed how tight it is. “Um…”

Reaching out, I pull her hands away. “Stop. Don’t want to stretch the material of such a perfect shirt.” Her gray eyes widen, and the pink color on her cheeks darken.

“Perfect?” She cocks her head to the side and looks down. “Oh, the band. I get it. I’ve never listened–”

“No. The band is good, but I was talking about how it hugs your beautiful body.” She narrows her eyes and stares at me like she is searching for a lie or something hurtful in my words, but she won’t find anything of the sort. Don’t get me wrong, I can be an asshole, but that’s not what I’m doing right now.

“O… okay.”

“So, class?” I ask, raising the map.

“Oh, right. College writing with Professor Black,” she answers and tries to take the map out of my hands. But I pull it back at the last second, folding it in quarters and sticking it into my back pocket. “Hey, I need that,” she says, stepping forward.

“Not anymore.” I point to the door to our right. “Room one-oh-four.” I don’t wait for her to say anything. Instead, I grab her hand, open the door, and pull her into the room. The feel of hersmall hand in mine sends something fluttering in my stomach but I force myself to not think too much about what that means. The room is a hive of talking and laughing as most of the desks are filled with students. I lower my head, trying to look like another student, because I don’t want this game to end. I feel her hand tremble lightly and give a little squeeze that I hope helps. “So, where do you want to sit?”

I look over my shoulder to see her eyes sweep the room, taking in the empty seats. “Depends. Do you know anything about the teacher?”

I laugh lightly, pulling her to the four desks in the empty front row. “Yeah, a little. I’ve heard that he can be a stickler for rules. Kind of a hard ass for people who misbehave in class. But he never calls on the people who sit in the front row.” I sit down and point to the empty seats to my left and right. “That’s why no one ever sits in the front row. They want him to call on them so they can show off.”

She looks at the desk, her head cocked to the side before she lowers herself beside me and pulls out the textbook and a notebook. I take a peek in her bag and see a small plastic frog. I can’t help myself. I reach over and pick it up.

“I thought I got them all out,” she says, blushing again. She reaches for the toy, but I hold it out of her reach.

“Good luck charm?” I set the frog on the desk in front of me. Batting her hand away every time she reaches for it.

“Sort of,” she says, giving up on trying to take it back, and starts looking for something else in her bag. “Shit, of course, I would forget a pen.”

“What’s your name?” I keep my body facing forward so none of the students behind us can see my face. I don’t dress like the other teachers here and I really don’t want someone to end this game before I’m ready for it to be over.

“Ali Thornton, what’s yours?”

“Reed,” I say as someone sitting in the back row starts speaking loudly.

“Dude, where the fuck is this guy? It’s not like him to be late. Maybe the arrogant ass fucking left. It’s five past eight. I heard that the school made a rule that if the teachers aren’t here ten minutes after class is supposed to start, we can leave.” I don’t have to turn around to know who is speaking. A couple of people laugh but I ignore him and focus on Ali.

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