She nodded, her smile full of empathy. “You look great. New fitness routine?”
No, I’m currently fucking a werewolf and sex is phenomenal.“No, just trying to take care of myself.”
“Good to hear. Anyway, I won’t keep you waiting. Let’s go over your test results.”
“Okay.” I sat calmly through everything, nodding when appropriate to do so, trying to glean every scrap of information. But I’d been through this before. I knew exactly what to expect.
When she was finished, she leaned forward, even pushing a box of tissue close.
Tissue I didn’t need because I didn’t feel anything.
Nothing.
“Do you have any questions?”
“None,” I told her.
“I think this has been a lot for you to process. My suggestion is that you take a day or two to digest and we’ll talk again about where we go from here.”
Yes, I was numb but not in a bad way. It was justification for the ugliness from yesterday. Now I didn’t need to feel so bad about the way I’d handled breaking up with Steven.
I’d done the right thing after all.
“Thank you.” There was something refreshing about being numb.
I remember leaving her office, but ten minutes later, I honestly didn’t realize how I’d made any of the right turns. The school was just ahead.
There was no music playing, no sound of any kind. When I noticed the Channel Five people out front standing beside a big white van, I pulled into the back. I’d come prepared with a big ole hat and sunglasses, which I donned before exiting my vehicle. And just like some femme fatale, I observed the exterior while walking toward the entrance.
Only when I was safely inside did I finally manage to take a break.
I tossed my things and was almost to my classroom door when Tawny found me.
“There you are. I’ve been calling you,” she said.
“I was a little busy.”
She moved in front of me. “I know. What did you learn this morning?”
After unlocking my door, I lifted my head, nodding.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t. No, it wasn’t at all. As she squeezed my hand, I allowed my emotions to take control.
With tears forming in my eyes.
* * *
Steven
For the first time in months, I’d shifted.
I’d found a forest close to Tony’s house and I’d let go. From there, I’d chased a few rabbits for fun, but they weren’t edible to me. And why? Because I might be considered a beast to everyone in the world, but I wasn’t a monster. I was a man who was aching so badly he couldn’t think straight.
Then I’d gone to Christine’s house where I’d crouched outside her back door watching for any sign of her through her window.
