Page 44 of The Biker and the Professor
Lighting up a cig, I watch from the outside as the professor climbs out of his car and demands, “Can I help you?” His head whips between Onyx and Kendra. “Do you even live here?”
Onyx cracks his knuckles, and without warning, punches him straight in the face.
As his head snaps back, blood spurting from his nose, Kendra gets to work on his tires, slashing them with her knife.
Onyx lands another punch to his gut. As the man doubles over, Onyx grabs his hair and growls in his ear, telling him exactly what I told him to.
If you value your life, then you’ll stay the hell away from Toni Blume.
As Kendra scrapes her key along the side of his car, I feel a sudden pang of guilt. It’s been over two years since I’ve done anything like this, determined to get on a positive, meaningful path.
Professor Fitzpatrick is actually one of my favorites. He's positive and funny, a tough geek, and a damn good instructor. Unfortunately, we both want the same thing, and there can be only one winner.
No, I’ll never force Toni to choose me. The choice would ultimately be hers. But that doesn’t mean I won’t do everything in my power—and that includes ruining my two-year positive, mature, violent-free streak—to make damn sure I’m the only option on the table.
Dick move on my behalf, but I never said I was a good man. The rotten in me was bound to show itself at some point.
She broke me. Ruined me, made me bad again.
And I almost,almostresent her for it.
Chapter 16
Toni
I’m driving toThe Metal House with steam whistling from my ears.
I'm so angry I can't see straight.
When Professor Fitzpatrick failed to show up on campus for three consecutive days, it raised eyebrows. Fitzpatrick saw the campus as his second home. He’s one of the few instructors who wholeheartedly enjoys what he does, and is known for his reliability, accountability, and consistency. For him tonotshow up to work three days in a row meant he was either dead or in the hospital.
On top of that, he hadn’t contacted me at all—not that I wanted him to. But considering how eager and invested he’d been in me, I found it strange.
When hefinallyshowed up to work this morning, we were all relieved to see that he was alive and well, but we also had more questions than answers. He had a fading shiner and a bruised chin. But the strangest thing of all was that he spoke to everyone else except me.
It left me befuddled. There was never a moment when professor Fitzpatrick would pass up the opportunity to speak to me. Something was wrong.
Like he'd done to me countless times, I stalked him in the hall after one of his classes then cornered him when the time was right, demanding he tells me what was up.
When he grudgingly did, my jaw dropped. He didn't know who the people were who roughed him up and warned him to stay away from me. ButIdid. Not that I could admit that. That would be big-time trouble for all of us.
Despite Fitzpatrick’s determination to avoid me at all costs for fear of another life-threatening encounter, I tended to him. Cajoled him into having lunch with me at a nice restaurant off-campus, my treat. It was like the last supper, as I knew he’d be done with me after that. But it’s the nicest, sweetest, and most attentive I’ve ever been to him. All driven by myguilt.
That said, the demise of our embryonic relationship doesn’t bother me much, because after our date on Saturday, I knew there was no chance. I’d gone out with him to chase Nero out of my system, but it had been counterproductive, seeing as I thought about Nero the entire time.
Apparently,hehad been thinking about me, too. Enough toattackan innocent man and warn him off me.
It’s almost impossible to believe that Nero,my Nero,would stoop to this level. What gave him the right? Who the hell does he think he is?
I swerve my SUV into The Metal House’s lot and jump out, not even bothering to check that my door is locked. The chimes sing over my head when I burst in.
Kendra is behind the counter. She starts to speak, but I have nothing to say to her or anyone else. Heading straight to the door that I know will lead me out to the back, I rent it open and storm down the hall, bursting through the final door.
I search for Nero among the cars, machines, tools, and bulky men, knowing that he would be the only one with his overalls half-on.
As usual, the men wolf-whistle as I pass, giving zero damns about my pissed off demeanor.
“Where is he?” I demand from no one in particular. By now, they all know who I am and who I supposedly belong to.
