Otherworldly Bad Boys: Three Complete Novels (43 page)

“Hi Professor,” she called back. To me, quietly. “He’s really formal. Some of the professors let you call them by their first name, but not Professor Alexander.”

He stepped off his porch. “Is that Miss Moss with you?”

How did he know me?

He was coming closer.

My heart thudded. Sweat began to bead up on the back of my neck.

Nell nudged me. “Say hi.”

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. No way could I talk.

Professor Carter Alexander was the dark man from my dream.

CHAPTER TWO

Carter

Teagan Moss was even prettier than I remembered. And she was staring at me like I was the devil incarnate. So much accusation on her face. I almost stopped walking under the heat of her stare. She didn’t know what we had planned for her, did she?

No. She couldn’t know.

I forced myself to walk all the way to the sidewalk, where she and Nell Sutton were standing together. The two had been placed together as roommates at my suggestion. I knew we intended to tap Miss Sutton in this class of Scales and Fangs. Miss Moss would be tapped also, so that we could keep an eye on her and prepare her for the ritual. It seemed natural to have the two girls close, since they would have so much in common. And Miss Sutton could be useful, if need be.

Miss Sutton didn’t know a thing about the ritual yet. But once she was part of Scales and Fangs, she would do as we asked her to do without question. They always did. Miss Moss might not be quite so cooperative. That was why it was important she never figure out why she was really here.

Teagan’s face was white. She took a step away from me.

I gave the two of them my most charming smile. “Hi there. I’m Professor Alexander.” I offered Miss Moss my hand.

She clasped her hands together, shaking her head.

I looked down at my proffered hand, then back up at her. She wasn’t going to take it, was she? She was afraid of me? What did she know? I swallowed. “I was on the committee that decided on the scholarship competition. We’re pleased to have you here with us.”

“Oh.” Flustered, she suddenly thrust her hand into mine. “Nice to meet you.”

Her palm was sweating.

She yanked it back after only the briefest of touches.

What was wrong with her? “Your work is impressive.” Flattery was always a good option, wasn’t it? Truthfully, Teagan
was
a talented actress. I wasn’t sure if she’d really been more talented than the rest of the applicants for the scholarship, of course. However, she was nice to look at. It was a sad fact of show business. Pretty people were more fun to watch than ugly ones. And Miss Moss was pretty.

I found myself eyeing the way her white t-shirt clung to the swell of her bust. The sharp dip of her small waist.

Realizing that I was essentially undressing a student with my eyes, I snapped my gaze back up to her face.

Only to see that her eyes were snapping back up guiltily to mine.

My lips curved into a smile. If I was reading that right, Teagan had been checking me out too.

“Um, thanks,” she said.

Why was she thanking me? Oh, right, I had complimented her acting talents. I gazed into her eyes. I’d assumed they were brown. I’d seen her from the stage, of course, and she was a dark beauty. But now that I was closer to her, I could see that the color of her eyes was closer to hazel—flecks of green and blue shot through them.

She held my gaze, her lips slightly parted. She still looked frightened.

I wanted to soothe her.

Which was silly. She
should
be frightened of me. When I was done with her, there wouldn’t be much left. I was going to suck her dry.

“Well,” said Miss Sutton. “I was, um, showing Teagan around the campus.”

Miss Moss and I both broke our gaze at the same time, turning to Miss Sutton.

“Of course,” I said.

At the same time, Teagan said, “Yeah, you were.”

I cleared my throat, feeling embarrassed. I’d been ogling her, hadn’t I? It had been obvious, hadn’t it? “I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

“We’re not in a rush or anything,” said Miss Sutton. “But we don’t want to get in your way. You’re probably busy, getting ready for classes.”

“Oh, no, I’m ready. I’ve been preparing all summer.” I shoved my hands in my pockets.

There was an awkward moment. Were they leaving or weren’t they? I stole a glance back at Teagan. God, her shirt was tight, wasn’t it?

“Um...” I looked up at the willow tree in my yard. “So, I don’t think you’re in any of my classes this semester, Miss Sutton?”

“No,” she said, smiling. “Too bad.”

“You aren’t taking the senior directing seminar? Isn’t it a requirement for the major?”

“Oh, I’m not a senior yet,” she said. “Just a junior still. But maybe I’ll audition for one the seminar plays again this year.” She turned to Miss Moss. “Every semester, the senior directing students each put on a play, and it’s a really good chance to get cast in something, you know, if you don’t have much chance of getting a part in the department productions.”

“Well, I’d love to work with you again,” I said. “But don’t sell yourself short, Miss Sutton. You’re a junior. You’ve got a good chance of being cast in the big fall show.” She didn’t know she was being tapped for Scales and Fangs yet. She’d get a juicy role. Initiates always did.

She blushed in pleasure. “Really? Coming from you, that means a lot.” To Teagan, “Professor Alexander does not give compliments lightly.”

“I’m honest,” I said. “I don’t think anyone is helped by lies, however well intentioned they may seem.”

“I get that,” said Miss Sutton. “But Teagan should audition, right?

“Absolutely.” I turned back to Teagan. “I’ll be working closely with the student directors, and I’d love the chance to work with you.” Of course, I was pretty sure I was going to make it a requirement for her class, but I’d wait to decide that.

“Oh,” she said. “Well...” Her gaze swept my body again. “I’ll think about that. I will.” She tried to smile at me, but she still looked afraid. She looked at Miss Sutton. “I don’t know if I’m feeling too well. I think maybe I need to... go back to the dorm.” She turned away from both of us and started back up the sidewalk, hurrying away.

I watched her go. Damn. She might have the most perfect ass I’d ever seen.

“I guess I should go after her,” said Miss Sutton.

I looked back at her. “Hmm? Oh. Well, of course, you do. Good to see you, Miss Sutton.”

She wrinkled her brow. “Are you okay, Professor Alexander?”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You seem a little distracted.”

“Do I?” I took a deep breath. “Well, I’m not. Not at all.”

* * *

Teagan

“Teagan, calm down,” said Aunt Kate.

I had my phone jammed against my ear, and I was sitting on a stone wall that ran around one of the buildings at Thornfield. I didn’t know exactly where I was. After leaving Professor Alexander and Nell, I’d started running, and I’d gotten myself a little lost. The building loomed over me, covered in hanging vines. I sat in its shadow. I was afraid.

“Now, start over,” said my aunt.

I took a deep breath. “I saw the dark man, Aunt Kate. The man from my dream. He’s here at Thornfield.”

“Well, why do you think we told you there was danger there, my dear?” said Kate. “He’s a servant of the Evil Ones. He wants to steal your light. Now that you know we’re not crazy, you’ll come right home.”

“What?” I said. I didn’t want to go home.

Okay, so it was terrifying to think that a man that I’d dreamed up, a figment of my imagination, could come to life like this. And maybe it did tend to support some of what my aunts said, that the Moss women were sensitive and that we had power that was otherworldly.

I squeezed my eyes shut. All my life, my aunts had told me that I was heir to the power of the sky goddess, the serpent Innarra, and I had ignored them. What if they were right? What if that was why I’d been having those dreams?

“I said that you’ll come home now,” said my aunt from the phone. “It’s the only place you’re safe.”

“But...” I gripped the phone. “In my dream, Aunt Kate, he doesn’t seem evil.” In my dream, he seemed perfect. I was always right on the edge of a mind-bending orgasm in the dream.

“No man seems evil while he’s seducing you,” she said. “It’s only after, when he’s left you without your senses and heavy with his child that you realize that he was only using you. You can’t give into the temptations of the flesh, Teagan. Coupling with men only leads to pain and suffering.”

I rolled my eyes. Not this again. My aunts were celibate, and they were convinced that I should remain so as well. A long time ago, I’d tested out their theory to see if sex was really so bad. It wasn’t like I was a virgin or something. There had been three co-stars in my community theater productions that had been willing to experiment with me backstage or in the parking lot behind the theater.

The guy who’d played Rolf in
The Sound of Music
had even made me come. Sort of. I thought so. I honestly wasn’t sure if it counted if you had doubts.

The point was, sex wasn’t evil like my aunts thought. It maybe never quite reached the ecstatic heights of my dream with the dark man, but if sex itself had faults, it was only that it was messy and embarrassing and clumsy. Men didn’t try it out of an attempt to hurt women either. I was convinced that most of them genuinely wanted to make women happy. If they weren’t particularly good at making me feel happy, well... Maybe I was abnormal.

Of course, if I told my aunts that I’d had sex, they’d freak out.

“You know, Aunt Kate,” I said. “Um, I don’t think he’s the guy from my dream after all.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I think was confused.”

“Listen, Teagan—”

“Um, give my love to Libby and Sarah,” I said. “And Mom. Bye.” I hung up the phone.

Maybe my aunts did serve some weird sky goddess. Maybe I did have prophetic dreams. But that didn’t mean that the dark man was evil. My aunts thought sex was evil.

And I...

I stood up.

Oh, God. What was I thinking? I couldn’t have sex with Professor Alexander. He was a professor. I was a student. It was completely forbidden.

But I mean, he couldn’t really be
that
much older than me, could he?

I’d had sex with the guy who played Harold in
The Music Man
(oh, his voice was divine) and he was at least thirty-three. There was no way that Professor Alexander was that old.

So, I mean, it wasn’t really that gross, was it?

Didn’t matter. It was forbidden. He’d probably lose his job or something. There was no way...

He sure was gorgeous though. Even more gorgeous in real life than he had been in my dream. He had very broad shoulders, and his eyes were even more blue than I’d thought. And his lips were full, and I knew the way they felt against mine in the dream. Would they feel like that in real life?

I started walking away from the building. I had to stop thinking about this.

I was gratified to discover that I hadn’t gotten myself as lost as I’d thought. I managed to find my way back to the dorms, where Nell was waiting for me, worried.

I made her believe that I was overwhelmed by my new surroundings.

But she did finish giving me a tour of the campus after we went to the dining hall for supper. And having seen Thornfield in its entirety, I could describe it. Stately. Ancient.

And gloomy. Somehow, there was an undercurrent here. Something sad. Something frightening.

* * *

“Well,” I said, “I guess I like acting because I like pretending.” I was sitting in one of the black box theaters that Nell had told me about, attending my first day of my freshman acting class. The black box theater was exactly that—a large black box. There were risers on three sides, looking down on a stage area. Professor Alexander was standing there, his arms folded over his chest. He was staring at me like he could see through my clothes, and it was making me feel tingly and nervous. “Um, because when you’re an actor, you get to be different people.”

I genuinely wished I had something original to say, something to impress him with. But under his gaze, I found myself parroting back a feeble imitation of what everyone else in the class had said in response to the question, “Why do you want to be an actor?”

I bit my lip. “And it’s exciting because you get to be part of places and people that you never would have otherwise.”

Professor Alexander raised his eyebrows. “Are you finished, Miss Moss?”

“Um...” I nodded, feeling like an idiot. Why did he have to look at me like that? He should stop. I wondered if he’d dreamed about me too.

No. That was ridiculous.

“That’s everyone, then?” He was addressing the whole class now. We’d gone around the room, and everyone had spoken. I was the last person to give my opinion. He rubbed his hands together in front of him. “It’s interesting to me that so many of you give a response quite like what Miss Moss said.” He gestured to me. “Miss Moss, I wonder if you’d join me on stage.”