One Night

Chapter 23

Audrey & Edwin

Audrey’s POV

“Thank you again for dinner.” I said softly as Edwin pulled up to the front of the dorm buildings. “That was really nice of you.”

Edwin cut the engine and turned his head to regard me. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s nothing” he asked with a shrug of one broad shoulder. “Although if you don’t mind me asking… are you under some financial strain?”

My eyes widened ever so slightly at his rather blunt question. How had he known?

“Well, L.” I hesitated, chewing my lip as I debated how much to divulge. “My family doesn’t have a lot of money, if I’m being honest.”

It was true; ever since my first adoptive mother, Maria, had passed away when I was fourteen, I had been adopted by her sister and her sister’s husband, Francine and Gary. They had three kids of their own and with Francine being a stay–at–home mother and Gary being a high school science teacher, they weren’t exactly loaded.

Edwin remamed silent, his dark eyes trained on me. I couldn’t quite read his expression.

“They can’t help you out at

out at all?” he suddenly asked,

My face reddened. “No, I. I mean, they would love to, but..

Now that was a lie. They didn’t have much of an interest in helping me financially, or helping me out at all, really, to them, I was the burdensome human in the family. The black sheep, so to speak. The only reason why they took me in as a teen was because Francine didn’t want to face scrutiny from the rest of the family over leaving her sister’s adoptive child to rot in the foster system.

There was a long silence after that. Edwin seemed to eye me almost suspiciously for a moment, a knowing look flickering through his gaze.

“Very well. I’ll look into securing you some additional funding,” he stated matter–of–factly. “Perhaps another scholarship or grant program you qualify for.”

“Oh, no!” I protested, shaking my head vehemently. “You don’t have to do that, really. I’m making it work. I was actually thinking of getting a part- time job, and—”

“Audrey” He cut me off, his tone leaving no room for argument. “I can’t have one of my students working themselves to the bone with a part time job on top of their studies. It will only serve as a detriment. His eyes bored into mine, steady and insistent and.. something else I couldn’t quite put

my finger on

I felt my cheeks warm under his intense scrutiny. For a moment there, I had let myself believe that his concern extended past the standard student- teacher relationship. But of course it didn’t I needed to not read into this too much

“Right,” I mumbled, diverting my gaze to my lap. “Well, thank you. Again.”

Before he could respond. I reached for the door handle and slipped out onto the sidewalk, letting the cool night air wash over my flushed face. “Thanks again for dinner. I’ll see you in class on Monday”

Edwin merely nodded, that same vaguely inscrutable look falling over his features once more. With a quiet “Goodnight, I swung the door shut and hurried up. the steps into my dorin

Monday morning, as I settled into my usual seat in Edwin’s lecture hall and pulled out my notebook and pencils, I felt a light tap on my shoulder. Frowning. I glanced up–and did a double take.

There stood none other than Gavin, wearing a faded band tee and a pair of jeans rather than his waiter’s uniform, with a backpack slung over one shoulder. He flashed me a warm smile. “Hey,” he said. “It’s Audrey, right?”

“Ah, hey!” Recognizing him immediately, my surprise morphed into a bright smile of my own. “Thad no idea you were a student here too. What a Small world!”

“You can say that again,” Gavin agreed with a low chuckle, shifting his weight almost nervously? “I just transferred here this semester, actually. I was going to ask if this seat was taken?”

I glanced to my left, which was where Tina normally sat; but she was sick today. With a shake of my head, I gestured to the open chair. “It’s all yours.”

As Gavin slid into the vacated seat, depositing his backpack on the floor with a dull thud. I chewed my lip nervously.

“Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for what you did the other night.” I said. “That was

Chapter 28

“Don’t mention it,” he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It was nothing, really. That uniform needed to be replaced anyway!”

I felt heat creeping up the back of my neck at his frank words, fiddling with the end of my pencil. “Well… Still. That was nice of you

A rueful grin rugged at one corner of Gavin’s mouth as he gave a small shrug. “All I ask in return is that you respond to my message”

My eyes widened into saucers. “Sorry, what?” I breathed, genuinely confused.

Cavin shot me a concerned look. “You didn’t get my note, did you?” he asked sofily

I quickly shook my head, trying in vain to recall some sort of note on Saturday night.

“No, I

“Maybe it got lost,” Gavin interrupted smoothly, already pulling out his phone. I could have sworn his smile kicked up a notch. “I wrote down number for you. Left you a note in the billfold.”

My face reddened into a deep crimson, and I pulled my phone out with trembling fingers. “Oh, um. I guess it did get lost.” I said. “Here. My number is..

my

With our heads bent together, we shared our numbers. I felt an excited swoop in my stomach as I rattled mine off to him, and a moment later, his

text came in.

Unknown Number: “Now you have mine.

I felt a burst of butterflies in my gut at the text, and offered Gavin a nervous smile as I entered his contact into my phone, but just then, the classroom door banged open–startling both of us as Edwin stalked in.

Edwin’s POV

As I strode into the lecture hall a few minutes early, bracing myself for another energy–draining

design composition to droves of unengaged students, I was caught off guard by an unexpected ree hours of prattling on about color theory and

There was Audrey sitting toward the back, wearing a bright blue sweater that contrasted startlingly with her jet black hair. But the wasn’t with her usual friend–instead, sitting beside her with an undeniably smitten look on his stupidly handsome face, was that walter kid from the restaurant,

Gavin. I think his name was?

No. It wasn’t my business. 1 had already realized that crumpling up his note to her was inappropriate, and this was just karma.

Suppressing a scowl. Turned on my heel and made my way up to the lectem. As I began pulling up the Powerpoint presentation 1 had prepared, however, I couldn’t stop myself from shooting one last pointed look in their direction.

I felt an irrational surge of irritation claw its way up my throat as I watched him murmur something to Audrey, prompting a splash of deep red to stain her cheeks as she ducked her head with an embarrassed hugh.

I could already imagine their conversation; flirtatious, maybe already planning their first date. He had been utterly smitten the other night after all.

And Audrey. Well, she was stunning. Any guy would want her, even though she was a human

Swallowing hard. I turned my attention away again. “We’ll be covering color theory today, I announced, causing the room to go quiet. “Specifically..”

Before I could finish my statement, however, another soft giggle caused me to whip my head around at Audrey once more. This time, seeing their heads practically touching as they looked at something on their phones, I felt an undeniable sense of frustration bubble up inside of me,

“Audrey! Gavin!” Snapping my fingers sharply, I leveled the pair of them with my most withering glare. “If you two are quite finished flirting.” I drawled, “then perhaps we could begin the lesson?”

Audrey’s head snapped up at the sound of my voice, her eyes going comically wide as brilliant crimson bloomed across her cheeks. A few laughs rippled across the room, most heads turning to face them. Cavin, to his credit, merely coughed into his fist and shifted in his seat–but made no move to relocate himself from his spot beside her.

With that, I returned my attention to my presentation; although throughout class, I couldn’t help but notice Audrey’s morified look, the trembling of her fingers as she took her notes. Class finally ended after what felt like an eternity, and she scurried out of the room without so much as a glance in my direction.

“You’re jealous,” my wolf chided as I watched her fading

caine form.

Hlet out a deep sigh and quickly looked away. “No.” I replied inwardly. “I’m not.. jealous”