Page 44 of Killing Me Softly

Aaron clutched his arm. “Shh. Just fuckingshh.”

The other students all clambered out of their seats, thudding as they banged back, and stalked toward the door, at least drowning out some of Mel’s outburst.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Mel picked up her notepad and slapped him again and again.

“Would you fucking stop that!”

Mel gave him another glare, but thankfully those in their row of seats needed them to move to get out. So Aaron shoved everything in his bag, stumbling out from his seat, and headed to the door. Mel raced after him, grabbing his arm.

“Oh, no you don’t.” She then dragged him out of the lecture theatre, past all those milling in the corridor, toward the revolving doors at the end where she shoved him through, down the concrete steps to the main quad.

Mel ensured no one was within earshot, then leaned in, her whisper sharp and insistent. “O M actual G.”

“Mel, please. Not here.”

“Okay. Over there!” She grabbed his arm again and marched him along the quad to the grass where they hid under a massive oak tree away from the crowds. “Are you shaggingDr Lyons?”

Aaron gritted his teeth. “Walls have ears,Melanie.”

“Oh myGod,” she gasped, voice pitching somewhere between scandalised and thrilled. “You’re not denying it. Are you?Are you actually?How long?Oh my God!”

Aaron groaned, dragging a hand down his face, already cursing every life choice that had led to this exact moment. Starting with getting out of bed. This was not how his twenty-first was supposed to go. He should’ve known better than to tempt fate with even a scrap of peace.

He opened his mouth to respond, something halfway between a lie and a damage control joke forming on his tongue, when movement caught the corner of his eye. A figure emerged from the trees. Not hurried. Nor hesitant.Purposeful.

His stomach dropped.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Another person he recognised. Another face from a chapter he’d never wanted to reread, let alone relive in front of an audience.

Christ.Did this happen to everyone on their twenty-first birthday, or was he just cosmically cursed?

He didn’t need to be told the answer to that one.

“Aaron Jones…” That familiar voice carried across the clearing, calm and confident, wrapped in that unsettling blend of warmth and authority that had always made his skin crawl. It sounded like concern dressed up as control. As if they already knew why they were here, and he didn’t.

Which was worse.

Because nothing good came from a personal visit fromthem. Not back then. Especially not now.

He turned slowly, breath caught somewhere in his throat, bracing for whatever fresh hell was about to drop.

Because whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be good.

Jervine hadn’t changed much. Her dark brown skin glowed in the dappled light, and her cornrows still had those distinct shells at the ends. The pressed black trousers and white shirt she wore made her look ready for business. As always. She might as well have an ID hanging from her neck to declare she was agovernment official. Still, Jervine had been a constant in his life since the day they pulled him out of his mother’s cupboard, and her presence now felt like both a lifeline and a harbinger of bad news.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Torn between throwing his arms around her and bolting for the nearest exit, Aaron held his ground.

“What? I can’t stop by to wish you a happy birthday?”

Aaron narrowed his eyes. “No.”

Jervine chuckled. “Can we… go somewhere a little more private?” She angled her head to Mel. “No offense. But I’ve been waiting for your lecture to finish all hour and then you get dragged here and I’m on a clock.”

Mel folded her arms. “Looks like I don’t know shit about fuck, anyway.”

“Mel…”

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