Page 8

LORA

T rapped in the back of a convenience store with a deranged lunatic is not how I expected to spend my night.

“Professor…” I pause to gather my thoughts. I spent an hour in his lecture hall earlier this afternoon, and he seemed fine. Normal even. Like Knight’s message actually came across, and he understood that I was off limits.

So, I can’t for the life of me understand what’s gotten into him. If I weren’t shaking to the bone, I could’ve put my studies into practice. Use everything I’ve learned in my degree and figure out a reason behind the lunacy.

But my gut tells me that even if I managed to find the words to say, they’d fall on deaf ears. As if the moon rearing up in the sky transformed him from a man into a beast, like in some fairytale fiction.

“We can’t be doing this.” I finally find enough of my backbone to say it straight.

“Can’t be doing this?” He chuckles, as if I just told a bad joke. “Doing what, exactly?”

“You can’t keep approaching me. I’m not interested.” If it weren’t for Knight’s claim in the bedroom, I might not have had the strength to speak out at all. Too afraid to go against him, out of fear for what it would mean for my safety and my studies.

But with my Knight Rider in command, I don’t need to cower to someone like Professor Callahan. He only has as much control as I give him, and I’m not going to give any more than he deserves.

“You haven’t even given me a chance.” His lackluster chortle comes to a stop, and his eyes narrow in fury.

“And I’m not going to,” I utter with as much confidence as my quickly slipping bravado will allow.

“You aren’t, huh?” The professor takes a step forward, making me recoil deeper into the corner.

Between him, the fridges, and the dog food, I’m walled off in a triangle of despair.

My heart starts thumping in my throat as he leans in closer, almost close enough for me to feel his breath against my cheeks.

“Well, that puts me in a bit of a strange predicament, doesn’t it? ”

I gulp down. This is slipping out of my control. He’s pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that my mind goes blank, and the sound of my pounding heart in my eardrums is all I can focus on.

“Wh—” I can’t even form a word, let alone the rest of that question.

“You want something, I want something. It’s quid pro quo,” Professor Callahan says, leading me down a road I hoped he’d never stoop to. “It wouldn’t be the first time one of the brightest students at Winchester University had a sudden fall from grace.”

Screaming for help is the smart thing to do, but my lungs won’t allow it.

The air is trapped inside. Choked down by his looming presence.

Shallow breaths aren’t helping me find the courage, either.

They’re making me lightheaded, on the verge of collapse, and I’m doing everything in my power to stop myself from falling into his arms.

“You can’t?—”

“I can, and I will,” he cuts me off. “No sweat off my brow.”

He slams a flat palm against the wall next to my head, and I jump at the loud bang it makes.

His face twists from narrow-eyed aggression into a twisted, devilish grin.

“You’re just another nobody in an endless stream of faces as far as they’re concerned.

One bad word from me, and you’ll fall far into the deepest pits of obscurity. So, I'll give you a choice.”

He pauses, expecting me to ask what it is. Wanting me to play into his hand and relinquish control in full. But if being frozen in fear wasn’t enough reason to stay completely still, my urge to fight this prick tooth and nail until the end will be.

Noticing I’m not going to give in, his grin twists into a sneer. “Either give me a shot,” he starts, and I’m sure it doesn’t mean go out on a nice date and see how things play out, “or I’m going to make your life hell.”

A long, dark shadow engulfs us as his ultimatum is delivered, as though the lights themselves dimmed to reflect my darkening mood. Professor Callahan pulls his hand away, and the annoyance on his face washes away to an emotion I can’t quite place.

But it’s with his newfound terror that I realize the shadow can’t be some figment of my imagination. And try as he might to get away from me, Professor Callahan is as trapped in the corner as I am now.

“You picked the wrong girl to fuck with.” My man’s voice pierces through the thumping in my ears. “And I’m gonna make you regret it.”

Before I can fully realize what’s happening, Knight has Professor Callahan by the scruff of the neck.

He lifts him into the air effortlessly before yanking his arm backward and sending the professor flying into a snack shelf behind.

The sound of chip packets pop open like gunshots as Callahan’s body smashes into them.

My Knight in shining armor, swooping in to save the day - again. With it, my fears melt away, and my heart’s quick to follow.

Deeper in lust and love.