Same went for the faculty. None of them would divulge the information stating student privacy. I said they are trying to cover their asses for the people who sign their paychecks.
So here I sat in the library for the last hour, hoping Jack would wander in and I could “accidentally” run into her.
I sighed and tugged on my ear. My former self would laugh at how low I’d fallen to get the attention of a singular woman.
I’d always had the mindset that there were plenty of fish in the sea. If someone wasn’t interested, that’s no skin off my nose. Someone else would be.
My ability to not let rejection get me down had always been a strong part of my personality, and yet here I am, chasing after a woman who has clearly told me she wasn’t interested.
Except... while her mouth was telling me no, her scent had changed drastically. Jack might have had hang-ups because of the drama with Kyren, but she still wanted me.
And I wanted her. Not just that, I loved her. There were very few people who I could claim to love as wholeheartedly as I did Jack. Kyren was one of the other ones, and he hadn’t been this hard to convince to let me love him.
“She’s not coming.”
My head jerked up. The tiny Asian woman stood next to my table, eyes full of pity. I grunted, flipping the page of my book mechanically.
“You don’t know that.”
Xinyi sighed and slid into the chair across from me. “Yes, I do.”
I ignored her, still flipping pages. I refused to give up hope that I’d get to see Jack again today.
“Hey!” Her hand slapped down on my book, forcing me to glare at her, “I do know. I just ran into her. Her hair was wet.” She wrinkled her nose. “And she smelled of blood.”
“Blood?” I jerked to my feet, panic shooting through my veins like a shot of silver nitrate. “Whose blood? Her blood?” I rounded the table, grabbing her shoulder. “Do you know where her room is? Where was she coming from?”
“Hey, hey, dog boy.” Xinyi shifted her shoulder out of my grip. “Take a breath. Breath. She’s fine. Pissed to all hell but otherwise unharmed.”
Relief had me sinking against the side of the table, leaning my weight onto the surface. I focused on my breathing, trying to slow the racing of my heart.
“You said she was pissed?”
Xinyi’s eyes slid off to the side, chewing on her lower lip. I’d never seen her be closed lipped about anything ever which meant what she knew she wasn’t sure about telling me.
“Come on, Xinyi,” I urged, bumping her arm with my fist. “We’re all friends here. You know I’m just as worried about her as you. I just want to protect Jack.”
Xinyi winced. “I don’t know if this is something you can protect her from.”
My brow rose. “What do you mean?”
She didn’t answer me right away, making a sinking feeling to twist my stomach into knots.
“Xinyi,” I prodded, shifting on the table. “What is it?”
Xinyi yanked on the long black and colorful lengths of her low pig tails. “It’s more about where she was coming from that’s concerning, not the blood.”
She licked her lips and then pressed her hands to the top of the table, leaning forward her eyes wide. “You can’t tell anyone. I don’t want Jack to get into trouble.”
“Why would Jack get in trouble?” I huffed a laugh. “Her parents own the school.”
Xinyi’s eyes slid off to the side. “Yeah. I don’t know if this would go over well with her parents.”
All her evasion was starting to worry me.
“Xinyi,” I said my voice restrained, “where was she coming from?”
Xinyi’s eyes slowly lifted to mine, her eyes looking larger as she blinked up at me. “The teachers’ apartments.”
