Chapter 9

Tessa’s POV

The Nightwalker police were wildly known for their “secret” organization. Nobody has ever seen them in person, but we have all heard of them.

They handle the most dangerous and unheard-of cases that the normal police can’t handle.

Nobody knows who the members of this police organization are, and nobody knows where their headquarters are. So, for Joseph to be able to connect with them with a single text message was incredible and unbelievable.

Brian slowly hung up the phone while his mother was still talking. We all continued to stare at Joseph in awe.

“How did you do that?” Brian asked him.

“We all have our secrets,” Joseph said, and for a moment, I wondered if that was a shot at me.

“Who are you?” Brian’s voice trembled as he asked.

“Let’s just say, I’m not someone you can mess with quite as easily. But please, feel free to try again.”

Brian held up his phone to reveal the video that was sent to the Nightwalker police. I was still in shock that Joseph was able to reach the Nightwalker police so quickly. It took him under a minute.

“Professor Evergreen, this video can’t get out to the press. Do you know what something like that could do to my family?” Brian said, desperation in his tone.

“I couldn’t imagine,” Joseph said with boredom leaking out heavily.

“It will ruin them. Everything my father worked so hard to build could be destroyed. I’ll do whatever I got to in order to get you to call them back and retract your statement. How much do you want?”

Joseph was puzzled for a moment.

“That’s the problem with you rich folks, you think money is the answer to everything. But you can only buy so much.”

“Okay, then how about I’ll leave Tessa alone going forward? If I leave her alone, will you retract your statement?”

I felt warm all over. I stared up at Joseph and noticed that his jaw was now hardened.

“I’ll retract the statement,” Joseph finally said after what felt like an eternity of silence.

He took out his phone and started typing again. Brian looked more than relieved.

“Can we get out of here now?’ Amanda huffed, strolling to stand by Brian’s side. “I’m so bored and hungry.”

He gave me one last look and I knew there was more he wanted to say. But I wasn’t important enough to him. I never was. He had other priorities that were more important than me.

He finally turned away and left, just as Joseph turned back to his classroom. He didn’t even give me another look.

I looked at Ruby who motioned with her head to follow him.

I sighed and went with Joseph to his classroom. Once we were inside, he paused to look at him.

“Why are you following me?” He asked, staring down at me.

“I wanted to thank you,” I answered. “What you did out there was really cool.”

“It wasn’t much of anything,” he downplayed. “I couldn’t concentrate on my work with all that fighting. My office upstairs isn’t quite ready yet, so I’m forced to work in the classroom. I require peace.”

I looked back at the thick door behind us. Was he really able to hear everything so clearly?

“Sorry about that…” I said as my face grew incredibly warm. “We have a complicated history.”

Joseph leaned against his desk, peering over at me. His eyes no longer showed annoyance or hardness. In fact, they looked almost sincere and compassionate.

“You shouldn’t let guys like that hurt you,” he surprised me by saying. “Sometimes even a first love doesn’t end in success.”

First love?

So, he had been listening to everything from the very beginning.

We were silent for a moment longer. I kept my gaze downward, trying to figure out the right words to say to him, and he kept his eyes fixated on my face and searched for my every feature.

“Look, I know you don’t want to talk about this. But you have to know that I’m so sorry about last night,” I went on to say before I could convince myself not to say anything. “I’m not the kind of girl that goes to a ‘callboy’ bar and picks up men. It’s just that with everything that went on yesterday—”

“I understand. You don’t have to say anything more,” Joseph said, walking around his desk and to his chair.

“I wish we could have met under better circumstances. Maybe you would know that you are one of my favorite authors and I really love your work,” I said quickly.

I talk quickly when I’m nervous.

“I am one of your favorite authors?” Joseph asked, raising a brow.

“I take a lot of inspiration from you. When I found out you were coming to our school to teach, I was really excited…”

“Then, I’m sure you’ll have no problem submitting that sample to me on Wednesday,” Joseph said with a smirk. “I look forward to reading what you have written, Tessa.”

My name was like a musical note that bounced off his tongue so easily. I didn’t think it was possible, but he’s even better-looking than he was last night.

I nodded to him and turned away, but just as I reached the door, he spoke again.

“For what it’s worth if Brian really loved you, he wouldn’t have done what he did. Don’t feel bad for a loser like that and don’t blame yourself for his stupidity.”

His kind words caused my heart to wildly flutter.

I couldn’t believe how much of that conversation he had heard. He knew so much information that I was almost embarrassed. But he didn’t speak to me with judgment, only compassion and I appreciated that.

I didn’t feel the need to say anything more to him.

Ruby and I grabbed take-out from one of the food vendors in the city as we walked from school to her apartment.

“I can’t believe your one-night stand is our professor,” Ruby laughed, taking a bite of fries.

“Keep your voice down,” I said quickly. “We don’t know who can hear us and I can’t be too careful.”

“The way he stood up for you though,” Ruby chuckled. “Swoon.”

“Oh, stop. He’s our professor. Or he will be once he chooses us for his class,” I said, feeling that nervousness again.

He told me it would be a non-biased opinion. I guess now I just have to trust him and have the ability to trust my own writing.

“Do you know what fantasy story you’re going to be writing?”

“Definitely a romance,” I answered. “I’m not sure what species I want my main characters to be though.”

“How about vampires? I love a good vampire romance,” Ruby chuckled.

I have to admit, I loved a good vampire romance as well.

I put that idea on the possibility list.

…

The next day

I spent most of the day in the library with Ruby and some others from that writing class, working on my paper. However, I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with this paper. I wasn’t satisfied with any of the stories I wrote and kept deleting them.

The deadline was tomorrow at 10 AM and if I couldn’t convince other students to vote for my paper, then I’ll never get into his class.

“Maybe I’m not cut out for this class after all,” I said in a low tone as I leaned back in my seat, keeping my eyes fixated on the screen.

“Don’t say that, Tessa. You are more than cut out of this class,” Ruby said, peering over at me with a frown. “Just don’t overthink it.”

“All I do is overthink it,” I said, shaking my head slowly. “Writing is my dream, Ruby. If Joseph Evergreen doesn’t like my writing, it would destroy me.”

“He’s going to love your writing. Just have a little faith in yourself.”

She looked over at the couple of paragraphs I managed to type.

“I love that, honestly. It sounds really good.”

“Hopefully it’ll be completed by tomorrow,” I sighed. “I’m going to finish this at home. I’ll see you later, Ruby.”

“See you at home!”

I left the library without another word.

It was late in the evening and the sun had set long ago. I never really minded walking alone at night. Sometimes I enjoyed solitude.

I walked down the narrow sidewalks in the direction of Ruby’s apartment when I heard whistling coming from the other side of the street.

There were a couple of guys standing outside of a bar. They were obviously drunk as they whistled at me.

“Hey, pretty lady. How about you come over here and we can show you a good night,” one of them called.

I continued walking, keeping my head down.

“Awe, come on! Don’t be like that, beautiful!” The other one shouted after me.

I picked up my speed, still not saying anything to them.

Once I had got far enough away, I let out a breath of air, pleased that they didn’t follow me. But a loud engine nearby startled me, and I paused all the movements. I heard the engine revving and then I saw a headlight nearby.

It was coming toward me.

It was only one headlight, so it must have been a motorcycle.

I turned back around and continued walking, hoping that it would just go away.

But it didn’t.

It was following me.

There wasn’t a street camera in sight and there certainly wasn’t anybody else nearby. My heart was racing at lightning speed as I glanced over at the school that was now far in the distance.

Only a few lights were on in the teacher’s offices on the top floor.

I wondered if anyone could hear me if I screamed loud enough.