Page 27 of Love Bleeds

I would need to seethateven more.

Jared would never let me go, though.

"I have a class I need to go to," I tried.

"Collin said you didn't have any classes today."

Since when was Collin keeping track of my schedule? "It's... um....an extra class to make up for when the professor was sick... last week?" Why was I such a bad liar?

Jared looked completely unimpressed. He wasn't the most socially adept person, but even he saw right through me.

"Look, I really need to go to the library," I barreled on. "I'm behind on this paper that I need to hand in."

"Really?"

In a flash of inspiration, I pulled out my laptop, which sat under the coffee table. I flipped it open. "Here, you can read the first couple of pages if you want to."

Jared took the laptop from me, but his eyes glazed over after the opening lines of the essay I'd pulled up, just as I'd thought they would. I wouldn't have gotten away with this if they'd picked Elena to babysit me, but luckily, my sister couldn't get off work as easily. "See here," I pointed at a line in the essay, "I just realized I might have misquoted this book and I need to double check the citation but I already returned the book. I can't let vampires keep me from getting my degree."

Jared thought for a moment, handing the laptop back to me. "I can go to the library with you."

"All right." I figured he'd tag along, but there was nothing I could do about that. Sooner or later, he'd get bored while I checked book after book. Sooner or later, it would get dark outside, and I could claim to hit the restrooms...

From there, I'd be no more than a short Uber ride away from the place I used to call home.