Page 77 of The Professor
“You…you shot him?” Vince’s eyebrows flew upward. “You killed him?”
She nodded. “I had to. He was an asshole, he’d killed before, and raped before, and I was going to be his next victim.”
“Where the fuck were you if you took her there?” He spun to me.
“Right behind her. I actually had a gun on him when she shot him. The situation was under control.”
“Like fuck it was.” He bared his teeth, and a flash of fury sliced over his eyes. “You’ve turned my sister into a killer. She’ll be looking over her shoulder forever, the nightmares, and…fuck, you bastard.”
The asshole took another swing for me. I grabbed his arm and shoved it into his back, used his forward momentum and his bulk to slam him against the wall. I dug my knees into the backs of his so he was barely standing.
He swore and twisted his head, his cheek squashed on the wall. “Get the hell off me.”
“When you get your damn fists under control. I’ve had enough of them for one day.”
“Vince. Stop. Please, Andrew, leave him alone. Let him go, you’re hurting him.”
“Not until he’s calmed down.” I shoved into him a bit harder and heard a satisfying grunt of discomfort. “Your sister and I are together, and you’re going to have to get used to that.”
He closed his eyes. “You’re sick, she’s half your age. You’re her fucking professor, Ness told me.”
“There’s barely a decade between us, and this is not sudden, we waited until she graduated, you and no one else gets a say in it.”
“I don’t want her with you, or here. Have you seen where she grew up? Have you any idea about her world? This is not a place for my sister.”
“I love him and I want to be where he is,” Chelsea said, flitting around from one side of us to the other. “We’re in love, Vince, you have to understand that.”
He said nothing and remained as tense as a slab of concrete.
“But I will do one thing,” I said. “I’ll take her to my place while you go and speak to your father. You don’t want her here and I respect that, we’ll go.”
He huffed and then shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
“Can I let you go now?”
“Yeah, for fuck’s sake.”
I stepped back, and he spun to face me. I would have put a hefty bet on his blood pressure being high.
“Where you gonna take her?”
“To my place, it’s round the corner.”
“Now.” He hadn’t said it as a question.
I glanced at the screens. All was okay. “Yeah, now, come on, babe.” I took her hand and gestured to the back door. “After you, Vince.”
* * * *
Chelsea
Andrew’s apartment was on the next street to Rose Cottage. I could see how he’d come to house the sex workers so close to where he lived. It made sense if he was going to protect them.
“Nice.” I stepped in and kicked off my sandals. “Tidier than I’d thought it would be.”
He chuckled and set his phone, gun, and wallet on a dresser.
The place was open plan with a gleaming kitchen, shiny leather sofas, and a polished dining table. The view of the park gave the place an even airier feel.
