This year is too important to me. Everything has to go the way I’ve planned it.
If he wants a war, I will give him one. Keller must feel protected by the school’s stupid Peace Treaty. Sure, I can’t get him killed legally.
But some things are worse than dying.
I’ll make sure he’s intimately acquainted with each one.
THIRTEEN
ALEXANDER
My eyes are gluedto Lecture Hall 0918.
The class should have ended a few minutes ago, but Holmes has never understood the concept of time. It’s like he gets off on the shit he teaches.
I had to take one of his classes during my junior year, and italwayswent overtime. Any other faculty member would have had their ass handed to them by the board by now.
But it’s Holmes, so he gets away with it.
From my vantage point on the second floor of the building overlooking the classroom, I can see him talking animatedly through the floor to ceiling windows.
I’m not here for him, though.
A few minutes later, the double doors finally swing open.
I don’t expect her to be one of the first people to leave, but I scan the stream of students for her face anyway. This class is right before lunch hour, so there’s a rush to exit the room.
When I don’t see her, I glance through the windows again.
Thereshe is.
Allie’s chatting it up with Holmes, unsurprisingly.
She comes off as a real bookworm, the kind to try her hardest in these stupid classes, as if we’ll use these degrees. I only do what’s required of me, because everyone knows that nobody comes to this place for education.
I push off the railing and head to the lecture hall.
When I enter, she’s standing by his desk, the two of them looking at a sheet of paper and discussing it. He notices my presence before she does.
“You’re quite the unlikely guest, Mr. Duke,” he says, a smug smile on his face.
Allie turns at his words, and terror flashes in her eyes when she recognizes me.
My cock twitches at her fear. Just a look, and her eyes are already darting towards the door behind me. Holmes looks curiously between the two of us.
I know he’s conjuring up some story about us in his mind, but I find that I don’t care. It’s a good thing for Allie if everyone thinks I’m fucking her.
They’ll leave her alone.
Well, a good thing for everyonebutme.
“I would like a moment alone with Miss Clarke,” I say. I stop in the center aisle, with my hands in my pockets.
Her hazel eyes widen and those soft, plump lips part, but she doesn’t speak. I’m still a few feet away from her but I can see the trepidation in her body—her full bosom rises and falls quickly, and her legs are restless.
She looks to Holmes desperately, thinking he’ll save her.
Her naivety is cute. There’s nobody on this campus who can save her from me, but especially not Holmes.