“Eight-hundred-and-seventy dollars a day, sir.”
“Bingo.” I didn’t take my eyes away from Andi; couldn’t if I tried. “So you tell me, Andi, would it be in your best interest to throw away that type of money?”
“No.” Her lower lip trembled. “No, sir.”
“Good answer,” I said in a low tone. “Now, any more questions about the syllabus?”
“But…” Andi raised her hand again, still standing; the rest of the class groaned.
Surprised, I arched my eyebrows as I stared at her. “But what?”
“Um…” She twisted her hands in front of her. “I, um, I have a condition, and sometimes I need to skip class because of it.”
Her cheeks turned a dull shade of red.
The class burst out into hushed laughter while I continued to stare her down. “Condition?”
She nodded.
“See me after class, Andi.”
With a quick nod, she finally took her seat, and I was free to discuss expectations to the rest of the class. While I talked and they listened, or pretended to listen, I did a mental checklist of each individual: none of them posed a threat, but two of the guys sitting in the front row liked to hang around Pike and his friends, which meant they were officially on my radar, a place nobody should want to be, if they wanted to live to see graduation day.
An hour later, I was dismissing class, and Andi was making her way toward my desk. I studied her movements: the light airy way she walked, the sway of her hips, and the closed-off expression on her face. Her eyes really were huge; a guy could get lost in those eyes.
A guy much younger.
Much more available and not currently pretending to be a teacher in order to possibly order a hit on a drug family.
“Sir…” Andi stopped walking and crossed her arms. “I’m sorry for interrupting your class and asking silly questions. It’s just my condition.”
“Yes.” I gave a curt nod. “Your condition? Do you have a doctor’s note?”
“Well, the doctor doesn’t know I’m a vampire, and that may be weird so…”
“Huh?” I blinked.
She grinned. “I was kidding… making a joke.”
“Ha,” I said dryly. “Now, your condition?”
Andi heaved out a sigh. “Sometimes I get sick and can’t make it to class. I’ve already spoken to the campus nurse. I’ll be sure to get you a note explaining the details.”
“Why don’t you explain the details?”
“Talking about your own death is kind of a mood killer for the second day of school.” She shrugged. “But if you’re asking about my terminal condition…”
“No.” I held up my hand, feeling sick to my stomach. What kind of monster had I turned into that I couldn’t be sensitive to something so serious? “Don’t worry about a thing.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she whispered.
“Do what?” I stood and started packing the extra pieces of paper into my briefcase.
“Pity me,” she said softly. “I get that enough from my dad. Pity just makes it worse… but feel free to be grumpy like you were before. Makes me feel more normal.”
Chink. Was that the sound of my armor breaking?
With a gulp, I turned to face her again. “So you want normal treatment?”
Her shoulders sagged with relief.
I fought a smile. “Then get the hell out of my class. I have more important things to do.”
Her grin damn near brought me to my knees. “Thanks, sir.”
“Anytime,” I croaked and stared as she bounced out the door. I continued staring at that same door for at least five minutes and tried to figure out why I suddenly felt off-balance, like the world was tilting and I was standing still.
Low blood sugar.
Not interest.
And definitely not attraction.
After all, she was as good as dead.
And so was I.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Squirrels piss Phoenix off — note to self.
Bee
THE ONLY BRIGHT SPOT in my day was when Chuck, the woodland creature I’d befriended, followed me to class or at least tried to until Phoenix told it to screw off.
He didn’t just rain on parades; he freaking hurricaned them, and then when that didn’t work, he stomped around and made obscene gestures with his gun. It seemed no matter what I did that morning, it pissed him off.
I tried giving him a granola bar as a peace offering, and he threw it in the trash.
When I tripped over my own feet, trying to get into the building on time for my morning classes, he told me to watch where I was walking, and that if I tripped again, he was going to put me in a wheelchair and push me down a hill.
My last class of the day was a human anatomy and physiology lab that had me ready to puke into my brand new boots and take off running in the other direction.
But it was a Gen-Ed, so if I wanted to please my brother and not make Phoenix want to strangle me, I had to walk into the classroom.
My feet froze as I stepped through the doorway.
“It’s just another class, Bee.” Phoenix sighed. “A few more steps and you can find your seat. A few more steps after that and you can sit down.”
“I don’t like blood,” I whispered, feeling my face go pale just thinking about it. Would I have to dissect things? Holy crap, was the room swaying? And why in the heck were there pictures of parts on the wall? Human parts. A pair of lungs, a stomach, a heart. Dear God, I was going to lose my breakfast, lunch, and possibly not be able to eat dinner.