Page 75 of Wish You Were Mine
At least it was done now, submitted with a few hours to spare. Now all I wanted was to get home, face-plant into my pillow, and sleep.
Silly me for believing that taking twelve credits thissemester would mean less homework. Apparently, Professor Walker was serious about her belief that we should have three hours of homework for every single hour we spent in her class.
Yeah. She wasn’t exactly winning the title of favorite professor right now.
And it wasn’t just because someone else had already accidentally claimed that spot. A certain professor with a ridiculously nice smile and a habit of making chemistry feel way more appealing than it had any right to be.
Speaking of Professor Heartthrob…had he texted me?
I reached for my phone in my back pocket before remembering I’d shoved it deep into the bottom of my backpack hours ago to keep myself from checking it.
Because, yeah, texting my very off-limits professor was definitely more fun than finishing a project that felt like pulling teeth.
I made my way down the steps to the main level of the library. When I stepped outside, the night air hit me—crisp, still, and a little eerie in the way late nights tend to be. The kind of quiet where every sound feels louder, and every shadow makes you wonder who or what might be watching.
It was fine, though. I lived just a few blocks off campus. I’d walked this route a hundred times. I didn’t need to ask Nora to come meet me.
But as I crossed the library parking lot, I started to feel it. That instinct that makes you wish you weren’t walking alone.
I wrapped my arms tighter around myself and picked up the pace a little.
I’ll be home in ten minutes or less. No need to worry.
Bright lights switched on and the roar of a car engine sounded from a few yards in front of me.
It’s just someone leaving the school.
But when I started walking past it, instead of pulling outonto the road quickly and going its merry way, the car crept forward slowly.
My heart thudded once as I glanced over my shoulder and my brain immediately started spinning worst-case scenarios.
Had the person in the car been waiting for me?
Was someone going to jump out and grab me?
But then, the driver suddenly floored it, making the tires squeal on the road as it sped forward and disappeared.
I let out a quiet breath.
Only a few blocks left. I could do this.
I was just trying to talk myself out of being paranoid when I spotted a figure coming from the PE building—tall, dressed in dark clothes, and heading the same direction I was.
Okay. It was probably someone who worked in the equipment cage. Or a student finishing a late-night pickup game.
Totally normal.
Still, my gut tensed.
He was big. Well over six feet—probably close to the same size as Josh.
Too big for me to take on.
I kept walking. Tried to look casual. Normal. Not like someone silently rehearsing every self-defense tip she’d ever heard on TikTok.
But when I heard footsteps closer than they’d been before and just a little too in sync with my own, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Was he closer?
