Chapter 51

Tessa’s POV

Ruby was right. Jordan looked anything but happy. Especially when he saw me standing in the middle of the café.

He narrowed his eyes at me and began stalking toward our direction.

“What is he some kind of bodyguard?” Ruby asked from behind me, watching as Jordan only grew angrier.

“Something like that,” I said, biting my bottom lip nervously, wondering what Jordan was about to do.

It was no secret that he already didn’t like me, though, I thought he warmed up to me a little when we went shopping together. But it seems that the bonding experience had worn off and now it was just an angry shell of a man.

“Let’s go,” he said between his teeth, keeping his eyes locked on mine.

I knew he was being careful with what he said knowing that Ruby was watching and listening. I wasn’t going to argue with him, especially considering his hand was back on his gun.

I hoped that Ruby didn’t notice that as well.

I turned to Ruby and tried to give her a confident smile to reassure her that everything was okay, but she just looked terrified.

“I’ll see you at school,” I assured her.

She couldn’t pull her eyes away from Jordan, but she managed a head nod.

I turned away from her and followed Jordan out of the café. He had his own car parked nearby, but he didn’t go to his car. He went straight to Joseph’s.

I swallowed down the lump that had formed in my throat as we reached the car.

Once we were inside, Jordan sat quietly for a long moment, trying to process his thoughts and calm himself down no doubt.

“What were you thinking?” He finally asked in a low and threatening tone that sent a chill down my spine. He didn’t give me a chance to answer before he was speaking again. “Do you have any idea how upset you’ve made him??”

“I needed to see my friend.”

“So, you sneak out and steal his car?” Jordan asked, staring directly at me with his dark gaze. “You’ve royally pissed off a vampire and when a vampire is angry, we are all in danger.”

“I didn’t mean to cause anyone to be angry. I thought I could be back before he woke up,” I tried to explain.

“He could sense something was wrong,” he said through his teeth. “As soon as he saw that you were gone, he was reaching out to the Nightwalker Police and demanding that someone went out to look for you. Our work was disturbed because of your carelessness.”

“I’m so sorry, Officer Jordan. I just—”

“You can explain it to him when you get back,” Jordan muttered. “Put your seatbelt on and shut up.”

I was taken aback by his harsh words, but I didn’t argue with him. I sat back in the seat and clipped the seatbelt on. Staring out the window as the city grew further away, I stayed silent. I worried if I spoke then Jordan might actually use that gun on me.

He already felt that we were in danger because Joseph was angry, he doesn’t have much more to lose.

As Joseph’s home appeared in the distance, a tight knot formed in my stomach. I knew Joseph was going to give me an earful, maybe even lock me in my room as a prisoner and never let me see the light of day again.

Would he ever let me attend school again?

Jordan soon pulled up to the front doors and parked the car. He glared at me with the most disturbing look that caused a tremble to course through my body.

“Get out,” he seethed.

I swallowed hard and scrambled out of the car.

I wondered how he was going to get back to the organization with his car still in the city, but I decided that now was not the time to ask questions. I turned away and went inside the dark home.

It felt even darker than when I left earlier.

My legs felt like Jelly as I walked toward the living room. I was on autopilot, and I feared if I stopped moving, then I would run away. It felt like it took forever to reach the living room entrance. For some reason, I knew that he was there, waiting for me with a vengeance.

As I stepped inside, I saw that he was standing by the window with his hands behind his back. The window shades were closed tightly, and I wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at. But he kept his back turned from me and he remained silent as I walked further into the living room.

My heart was pounding violently against my ribcage.

I paused at the couch and stood in my place, keeping my eyes fixated on the back of his head. I wouldn’t dare say a word until he spoke.

Soon, he allowed his hands to relax, and he was no longer holding them behind his back. He turned his head and I saw the dark shadow clouding his face. His eyes had gone red just as they did the night we met.

He stared at me like I was nothing more than lunch to him. There was a part of me that wanted to run away, but another part of me knew he wouldn’t hurt me. I kept my feet planted on the ground and kept my eyes on his.

I tried hard not to show him the fear that was bubbling in my chest.

“You disobeyed me,” he finally spoke in a grizzly tone. “You left without permission and put yourself and others in danger.”

“I needed to—”

“I don’t care what you needed to do,” he said, keeping his tone the same. “You shouldn’t have left without informing me. Not to mention stealing my car.”

“It was wrong of me...I admit…”

“It was incredibly stupid, Tessa.”

“I appreciate you for allowing me to stay here and protecting me. But with all due respect, Joseph, I am not your prisoner. I should be able to go and come as I please,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

It was bold of me to speak my mind like that, but I too was growing frustrated.

“Is that what you think? That I am keeping you prisoner?”

“You won’t allow me to leave. Which is exactly how you’d treat a prisoner,” I said in return.

A hint of a smile decorated his lips, but it wasn’t a smile of humor. This smile was unrecognizable and caused me to tremble in my skin.

“Trust me… how I treat a prisoner is much worse.”

I didn’t doubt that, and I felt stupid for comparing myself to one. I was only making him angrier, that much was clear. I lowered my gaze to the ground, unable to maintain that eye contact anymore.

He was quiet for a moment longer before he said, “I’m only trying to protect you.”

I lifted my gaze to meet his.

“And I appreciate it,” I said softly.

“I would have let you see your friend if you had told me.”

I was surprised by this, and my brows lifted.

“You would have?” I asked, feeling a wave of guilt.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry…”

I know you are,” he said, sighing.

His eyes were becoming their normal colors again, which caused me to relax a little. He was calming down and no longer on the verge of attack.

“I’m sorry that you have to be awake during the day for this,” I told him, feeling guilty I caused such a disturbance.

“I’m fine,” Joseph said, he finally turned all the way around and I could see how tired he truly looked.

He should be sleeping right now, not lecturing me.

Joseph went to sit on the couch, and I couldn’t bring myself to move my feet to join him.

“I think I’m just going to read for a little bit. I have a book on my desk. Would you mind grabbing it for me?”

I was surprised he was giving me permission to go into his study, but I nodded and went straight towards the office door to grab his book.

I felt a wave of relief flooding through me.

I live to see another day.

Don’t test him like that again, Tessa, I scolded myself.

I reached his office and pushed it open. He left it unlocked. When I got to his desk, I saw that the paper I wrote for his class sat on top of a stack of other papers.

In red, I saw that he had given me an A. Then he had written across the top, “Interesting read. Let’s discuss some details of this in private.”

The words caused my heart to flutter, but I shook my head of any thoughts and grabbed his book off the desk.

When I returned to the living room, I paused.

Joseph was curled up on the couch and he was completely asleep.

I couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on my lips as I watched him sleeping soundly.

Placing the book on the coffee table, I grabbed the quilt that sat on the top of the couch and placed it over him.

I touched his face gently, brushing the hair out of his eyes and feeling a wave of warmth circulating my body.

He’s cute when he’s asleep.

I would be lying if I said I felt nothing about Joseph.

However, we are just professor and student right now, and we shouldn’t do anything to cross that boundary.

But like Joseph once answered me, we will see it after my graduation.