Not wanting her to surpass me, I lifted an unimpressed eyebrow. “All weekend, hmm?” Oh, yeah, she’d definitely worked hard all weekend long. “On a paper you were supposed to be working on all semester?”
For a moment, she looked like she might strangle me, making me think that wasn’t the line I was supposed to deliver.
“Please,” she said with so much desperation I wondered if something else was going on here entirely. “Could you just give it a look?”
I nodded. “Okay, fine. But this is the last time I’ll make allowances for you.”
I reached for the essay, only for her to pull it back to her chest. “Wait. I… I need to sign my name.”
Her name was already there; I’d seen it clearly next to the A. When I watched her hands shake as she searched her bag, I swallowed, because something was wrong about this. Then she wiped at a tear, and I grew downright terrified.
“Here,” I said, giving her one of my own pens.
I tried to meet her gaze, ask her with my eyes what was going on, but she didn’t look up as she took the pen, rasping, “Thanks,” before she lifted her knee and scribbled Jer is here right below her name.
She handed the paper to me, but I’d already seen what she’d written.
“I see,” I said, trying to remain calm, even though I was freaking the fuck out. Because, what the hell? When had Patricia contacted him? Was this all my fault? And where exactly was here? In Waterford, or in this very hallway?
Then I realized he had to be pretty fucking close if she was talking in code?
Dammit. I couldn’t believe he’d found her. As soon as she pointed him out, the guy was dead. But first, I had to get her somewhere safe.
“You know,” I said, dropping the essay to my side and looking her straight in the eye. “Maybe we should go to my office and discuss this in more detail. I have an idea how you ca
n make up some extra credit points.”
“No.” She shook her head adamantly, fear making her eyes big and her lips press flat. She took a step back, probably thinking to protect me, the silly girl. “No, I need to get to my next class.”
“Reese.” I caught her arm, not about to let her deal with this by herself. “Where?” I murmured.
And that’s when some dude I’d never met before in my life came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist as if he owned her. For a moment, I could only gape at him, dumbfounded to see someone else touching my Reese.
“There’s my Reese’s Pieces,” he cooed, making her jump and flinch, another tear trailing down her face. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, baby.”
I lifted an eyebrow at him, taking a moment to figure out the most painful way to break his face.
The dickhead touching her lifted his chin my way as if we were pals. “So, you’re one of Reese’s professors, huh? You look kind of young to be a teacher.”
“That’s because I’m not,” I said dryly.
“Huh?” he said, tilting his face in confusion.
Seeing red, I whipped the strap of my bag up over my hand and threw it to the ground.
Jeremy was so busy blinking down at where it landed with a thud on the floor that he didn’t see my arm wind back before I swung it forward, punching him full in the jaw.
* * *
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. As the sterilized scent of the hospital clogged my nostrils, I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the wall, wishing this was all a bad dream.
When I heard footsteps approaching behind me, I looked up, thinking it was someone with news, but it was just a nurse walking by. She sent me an encouraging nod I wasn’t able to return. I was still trying to process what had happened in the last few hours.
After I had punched Reese’s ex in the jaw, scoring a direct hit, he’d lost his grip on her and went stumbling back in a daze until he fell flat on his ass on the floor.
Reese had been stunned. “You hit him,” she gasped. “I can’t believe you just hit him.”
“He tried to kill you,” I cried. “Hell, yes, I hit him.”