Page 51 of Rejected By My Shifter Billionaire
He cracked his knuckles, reminding himself that for the sake of appearances, he shouldn’t indulge his need to beat the boy into a bloody pulp. All he could afford to do now was to speak to Kassia, make her see—-
Alessandro’s head snapped up.
It was that scent again.
Their eyes clashed once more. She looked away just as quickly, but it was too late. He had already seen her tears.
He had made her cry again.
Before Alessandro could even think about it, he was already slowing down. The distance between him and Kassia stretched. He watched Jacob assist her as she stepped aboard the bus, and he stopped walking completely. He could still smell her tears, and the knowledge that he was the reason for it pierced him.
Kassia found herself embarrassingly clumsy as she made it to her seat. Jacob took the seat next to her, and his nearness made her unconsciously stick closer to the side of the bus. Without thinking, she looked out of the window, and of course the firstthing she saw was the professor. He was gazing at her, his handsome face unreadable.
Her heart ached.He was so beautiful, she thought miserably. Wasn’t that a clue in itself? That someone like him could never really be serious with someone like her, an ordinary girl from the country, someone whose own mother hadn’t cared about her?
The professor suddenly turned his back to her.
This was for the best,she told herself fiercely. She had to be strong. Even if he begged her to come back, she wouldn’t—-
In the distance, the professor started walking away, and her thoughts came to a halt. Her heart stopped beating, her mind stopped working – there was just so much pain as the inescapable truth hit her.
See, Kassia?
Now, do you understand?
Your mother didn’t want you. So why did you think the professor would?
She squeezed her eyes shut before the tears could fall.
Stupid Kassia.
This was how little she meant to the professor.
YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHTthing.
Five damn words, and he had been repeating them endlessly in his mind. Minutes turned into hours, but still he couldn’t make the truth in those words sink in, couldn’t shake off his last sightof Kassia. Her eyes squeezed shut, her body tense in the bus seat, and sitting so damn close to Jacob he was fucking sure that the human boy had to be shaking in excitement at how soft her body felt against his.
But even as jealousy threatened to drive him insane, Alessandro knew that wasn’t what was causing his restlessness, wasn’t the reason why he had been prowling inside his office in his Lyccan form since Kassia had left.
No, what was bothering him the most was the scent of her tears.
He had made her cry again, and even though he told himself it was for her own good that he was getting out of her life, he just couldn’t make himself forget.
He and Kassia were from different worlds, and his was fraught with danger and death. She trusted too easily and felt too much while he had learned to forbid himself to love. She deserved someone uncomplicated, not someone like him, a man incapable of trust.
Those were the facts.
Those were the reasons why walking away from her made it the right thing to do.
So why the hell did he still think he had just acted like a goddamn idiot?
His phone buzzed, and he couldn’t snatch it off the desk quickly enough, his heart thudding against his chest at the thought that it could be Kassia.
And it was.
Kassia:Thank you for everything, Professor.
Alessandro’s face whitened.
