Chapter Eighteen

Snow

S trapping my backpack over my shoulders, I leave the classroom and head to her professor's office, which is on the other side of campus. I need to make sure Lyrical is graduating on time.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I grab it and read the text message from her.

Blue: What am I supposed to do with your "gift"?

Me: Keep it as a reminder of what I would do to a person if they were to touch you.

Blue: You're insane. I'm the one who came on to him and I'm the one who had intentions of sleeping with him.

Me: Don't piss me off, Lyrical.

Blue: It's true. I feel responsible.

As she should, because no one should be touching her and I'll kill every guy she flirts with just to prove a point. She sends me another text.

Blue: Did you… you know?

Me: Yes.

I chopped off his hands and lips and told Keanu to do whatever he wanted to do to him. Keanu tied him to cinder blocks, then used his father's yacht to dump the body in the middle of the ocean. I didn't have time to do what I wanted to do with Melvin. I wanted to keep him around in my basement, torture him a little bit more, but I was too consumed with rage, so I made his death quick and easy.

I tuck my phone back into my pocket and head straight to her professor's office, because he didn't respond to my email about Lyrical's diagnosis. I had Jameson hack into her medical records to retrieve them. She has every right to graduate on time and make her dreams come true. I also realize I'm going soft and reverting back to my old ways before I stopped being friends with her, cleaning up her messes.

She has no idea what she does to me.

If the car accident never happened, would I be fucking her? Would we even be where we are now?

If I had known what I know now, I wouldn't have fucked her. I would have forced her to be my girlfriend, because she's the only woman I saw myself with. Though the love I had for her was unrequited.

Once I make it to Professor Jesse's office, I knock three times. He opens the door wide, inviting me in, and I lean against his oak desk.

"What brings you to my office, Mr. Williams?" he asks.

"I sent you an email about Lyrical, my fiancée. She has a learning disability, and I haven't received a response. She needs to graduate because she wants to open up her own gallery. You wouldn't want to stop a gorgeous girl from pursuing her dreams now, would you?"

"Like I told Ms. Haynes. It will be a while to get her documents approved, and if she can't pass my class, then that's on her."

The devilish smile I give him makes him wipe the smirk from his face. Sighing, I reach into my bag, pull out a folder, and set it down on the desk. The one thing I love about North Haven? It's so easy to find dirt on people.

"This is what's going to happen. If you don't give Lyrical enough time to complete her work, and if you fail her, I'm going to show the mayor pictures of you fucking his wife. You don't want that. If you tell Lyrical I helped her pass her class, or anyone else, I'll leak these photos online. And no one will ever work with you again."

He swallows thickly, then proceeds to open the folder, searching through the photographs. "You wouldn't do that."

"Oh yes, I would. I have an email on standby."

"Fine, Mr. Williams. I will do it. I'll make sure Lyrical passes my class."

I tuck the photos in my backpack and head out the door.

Once I make it outside the building, my phone dings with a text message from Lyrical.

Blue: Are you following me?