Page 21

This is a stark difference from the desert landscape of Las Vegas. The concrete and rocks. The palm trees and cactuses. This is very much the opposite of a desert.
When I finally make it to Hughes, I follow some other students through the doors of the hall. I walk through the lobby of the building, looking at the signs that can point me in the direction of room one-thirteen.
Following other students, I make my way down the hall toward my physics class. The white floor and grey cinderblock walls make the hall less inviting than the outside, prompting me to wince.
Finally locating the classroom, I walk in and see some of my classmates have already found a spot at their tables. I see a vacant table in the far back and head over to it, throwing my backpack on the tabletop.
Taking my laptop out of my bag, I open it up and power up my notetaking app. As I start setting up my tabs and sections in the app, I feel a presence sit next to me.
When I look up, my mouth drops open.
Giant tattooed friend of my stepbrother. Awesomesauce.
Birch and bergamot fill my nose as I turn toward him. Goddamn, he really is good looking. I can see the tattoos peeking out of his black shirt on his neck and arms.
“There are other tables. Please find another seat,” I snap at him.
He grunts and then turns to me. “No.”
“Did you just grunt? Are you a caveman?”
He quirks a brow. “Why? Want me to throw you over my shoulder and have my way with you?” he says, his face completely blank as he looks at me.
“No.” Okay, so that’s not the answer my vagina is wanting to give him, but she can’t talk. So, since I have the vocal cords, I’m making sure the sexy caveman isn’t anywhere near the lady bits.
“Your loss, Angel.” He shrugs.
I scoff and roll my eyes, turning myself back to what I was doing before I was interrupted.
By a brute.
Lifting my head from my laptop, I take in the room and students around me. Most are chatting away with the others, I’m assuming most are underclassmen because that’s when this class is usually taken.
The classroom itself isn’t too big. It’s a regular classroom with black lab tables for desks. The walls are decorated with science posters and bookshelves filled with books.
Then there is the hot-as-fuck tattooed, brooding caveman sitting next to me.
“Why are you even in this class? Shouldn’t you have taken it like last year or something?” I turn toward the giant.
He side-eyes me. “Put it off. Is that a problem?”
“Well, yes. Because now you are in it with me and sitting right next to me being all … all …”
“Sexy? Hot as fuck? Those the words you are looking for?” He smirks.
“Ogre. I was going to say all ogre-like. Okay, Shrek?” I cross my arms in front of me as I narrow my eyes at him.
And all this savage does is chuckle at me.
This class is not going to be enjoyable because it’s physics. But even more so it’s going to be a literal hell because of this barbarian.
“Welcome to physics!” a man who looks to be in his thirties says as he enters the room. His dark hair is combed back with a crispness. He unbuttons the sleeves of his white button-up as he stares at us. “Well, don’t look so excited.”
The class laughs as he reaches into his briefcase and pulls out a stack of papers. He saunters over to the first table in front ofhis desk and drops the papers onto the tabletop. Then he claps once and walks back over to his desk.
“My name is Professor Tim Mayer. You can call me Tim. Look, I know this is a requirement, and for some it won’t be fun. My job is to try to make it fun. You will have three hours of lecture and three hours of labs. Lab time is on Fridays. We will be covering mechanics, heat, electricity, magnetism, optics, and modern physics.
“The person sitting next to you is your lab partner for the rest of the semester.”