Page 13 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

I sighed. I wanted this conversation to be over. "There isn't much to tell. We dated last semester. He didn't speak to me all summer. He made me feel worthless."

"So you broke up with him?"

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"You can't really break up with someone who you never officially went out with."

He took my hand in his. "Penny Taylor, I promise not to make you feel worthless. And I'll try not to act like an asshole." He smiled. His fingers intertwined with mine.

"I don't know, Professor Hunter. From what I've found out about you, it seems like I'm just going to end up as another notch on your bedpost."

He laughed. "That's not who I am anymore."

"I thought it was impossible for people to change?"

"I came here for a change. And I think I'm better off because of it." He pulled me toward him so that my head was resting on his chest again. I let my leg cross over him.

I felt so safe in his arms. I knew why I had gotten so upset tonight. Because I wasn't just fucking my professor. I was in deep. I loved him. I'm in love with my Comm professor. I breathed in his sweet scent. This moment could last forever and it wouldn't be long enough.

***

“Penny. Penny.” He was lightly tapping the side of my face. “Penny, wake up. Please wake up.”

I felt my smile stretch to meet his palm. I remembered. I remembered pieces at least. All the dreams I had been having, they weren’t dreams at all. They were memories. Memories of us. The book I had written confirmed it. While I was reading, I could so clearly picture the scenes unfolding. I remembered. I think.

The side of my face felt wet, like I was crying tears of joy. I slowly opened my eyes. They felt heavy. It was as if my eyelids weighed a pound each. Ouch, my head. I lifted my hand and felt more wetness everywhere. Rain. Oh, I do love the rain. I remember now. I remember!

“Penny.”

Rain was falling down on my face. I blinked as the man in front of me came into focus. It wasn’t James. It was…Tyler? The dirty blonde hair. His crystal clear blue eyes. Who else could it be? “Tyler?” My voice came out hoarse.

“Oh, thank God.” It looked like he was crying. But maybe it was just the rain on his face. He leaned down and hugged me.

The side of his neck felt hot against my cheek. My heart started racing. This was Tyler. The Tyler. The one I turned down to be with James? His arms felt nice around me. I took a deep breath and smiled. He smelled like grass and sunshine, even though it was raining. My head ached, like memories were trying to escape. Memories of him and me.

“Everything’s okay, Penny. I’ve got you.”

I was about to ask where we were, but when I looked up at Tyler I saw blood dripping down the side of his chin. There were splotches of it on his shirt. He was completely soaked from the rain, but it didn’t wash away the blood.

“You’re bleeding.” I reached up and lightly touched the side of his jaw.

He flinched.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“I’m fine,” he used a soothing voice like he would with a child. “The police are on their way. You’re safe.”

I realized I was cradled in his arms. Like he was holding my body together, lest I fall apart and wash away in the rain.

Safe from what? There was a light flickering above us. And sirens wailing in the distance. It did not look like we were in a good part of town. There was a man standing next to a cab talking animatedly on his cell phone. He kept pointing to the left. I tilted my head and saw a body lying in a pile of black trash bags on the side of a curb.

It came back in a rush. The man claiming to be my father-in-law’s friend. My memories were colliding. Scarlett was afraid of snakes. And I didn’t just learn that from the zoo the other day. I knew it. I remembered! I remembered her before I was in the hospital! My sweet, baby girl. And she called them snapes instead of snakes. Like Professor Snape from Harry Potter. That man lying unconscious in the pile of garbage had looked just like Professor Snape. He had said I was supposed to die. That I was supposed to fix his life, not ruin it. “Dr. Nelson.” My voice sounded weird. “Is that Dr. Nelson?”

“Don’t worry,” Tyler said. “He’s unconscious and the police are on the way. Sayem called them.” He nodded toward the cab driver.

“What happened? How’d we get here?” I shifted in his arms, but didn’t push him away. Him being close to me was so comforting.

“I was on a run and saw that bastard shoving you into his car. I couldn’t catch up but luckily I hailed down the world’s best taxi driver. He broke all sorts of traffic laws tailing Dr. Nelson. Probably got caught by at least 10 traffic cameras. Think James could help him get out of a few tickets?” He smiled.

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