My feet hurried through the academy toward Julian’s office, the most likely place he would be at this time of day. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized he might have gone home for the day or somewhere else in the building. Maybe I should have texted him first?
A feminine giggle sounded from inside.
I froze my hand on the handle of the doorknob. Was there a woman in there? A student maybe?
My brows furrowed, irritation flaring in me. He’d given me crap about getting involved with Tate, and yet here he was, flirting with someone in his very office. Hypocrite.
I was about to throw the door open when the handle twisted. Jumping back, I released it, but my feet froze to the spot. I told myself it was because I had to report what I’d heard to Julian, while shoving down the part of me that wanted to see who would draw Julian’s attention.
A woman stepped out, auburn hair twisted up in an elegant updo and dressed in a fashionable dress that hugged her curves but was professional enough that she could get away with it at the school. Another professor? She surely didn’t look like a student.
Her eyes locked on me, making her pause in the doorway.
“Abigail,” Julian’s voice called out, and then he appeared at her side, a smile on his face that I thought only I had been privy to. His blonde hair looked tousled like someone had been running their fingers through it. “Oh, Miss Billings, did you need something?”
“I wanted to discuss that paper with you?” I jerked my bag up my shoulder a bit harder than necessary, hoping my words didn’t come out as terse as I felt them.
The professor inclined her head to Julian. “We can talk more later. At dinner?” She placed a hand on his chest, her eyelashes fluttering.
Completely unprofessional actions for a professor in front of a student.
Julian blinked down at her. “Yes, of course. Thank you, Professor Campbell.”
Professor Campbell shifted past me and into the hallway, glancing back at me briefly with a quizzical frown before sauntering away on her short heels.
“Miss Billings?”
I jerked my head back to Julian. With a huff, I pushed past him into the office and threw my bag down on the ground before taking his seat at his desk.
Julian closed the door behind him and sighed. “Get out of my seat, Billings.”
Swiveling from side to side in the seat, I laced my fingers over my stomach. “Actually, I think I like it here. Maybe I’ll be the one telling you what to do from now on, since you apparently can’t keep your focus on the mission.” I arched a brow at him, holding back the bite in my voice.
Julian sat on the edge of the desk near me. “You’re acting like a child. I have to interact with the other teachers, just like you have to with the students. Professor Campbell was simply educating me of the clubs she knew about around the academy.”
“Sure sounds like it,” I snorted. “And if only the rebels would be so brazen.”
“What are you doing here, Jack?” Julian drew his glasses off, cleaning them with a cloth from the pocket of his dress shirt.“Wasn’t it you who told me to only contact you when I had information to share?”
I stared up at him, wondering how we’d come to this point.
We used to be so close. Fighting back-to-back, only relying on each other as we fought against the supernaturals. Now we could hardly stand to be in the same room as one another. Somehow, one night of passion destroyed every bit of our previous friendship. Why was I being punished for following my heart?
I shook the thought away. It didn’t matter now, in any case, I was with Tate now.
“I did say that.” I leaned back in the chair, moving his pens out of the neatly lined up pattern he’d organized them. “Which is why I’m here.”
“Would you stop that?” Julian’s hand slapped down on mine, not trapping it but effectively kept me from messing with his things. “What did you find out?”
I dragged my hand out from under his grasp, resisting the urge to wipe it on my pants to get the tingly feeling his touch always caused to go away. “I overheard some students talking about a meeting on Wednesday at four a.m. in the third-floor chemistry classroom.”
“So?” Julian arched a brow. “It could be a meeting about anything. You could be walking into an orgy the way these students are partying every other night of the week.”
My head ducked, cheeks heating at his words since just earlier this morning I had been one of those students getting felt up in the woods at a party.
“Billings?”
I whipped my gaze back up to him. “What?”
