Chapter 53: Jeremy!

Chapter 53: Jeremy!
Leo

After tossing the entire night, I prepare myself for work in my lab on campus. That’s all I need right now, as much distraction as possible.

I feel a growth of my emptiness within. There's Asclepius’ silence, the recently broken mate bond, and Willow’s coldness.

It’s a relief that Willow knows what I have done and doesn’t think of me as a saint, but the weight of what I have done still weighs down on my shoulders.

Her image of when she was crying and screaming on the floor keeps replaying itself in my mind, causing me to wince.

After leaving my car in the parking lot, I head to her dorm room to find her locking up and dressed up in a pretty red dress. She looks up at me, her eyes cold and unwelcoming.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her, surprised that my hands are slightly shaking.

“I’m okay,” she says dismissively. “What are you doing here?”

“You are not okay, you were crying your eyes out yesterday.”

“And whose fault is that?” She glowers at me, but gestures for me to get in.

“Willow, I’m so sorry. I know that nothing will ever fix this.”

“I’m glad you do. What do you want?” The iciness in her voice elicits a grimace out of me.

"Good, you hate me.”

“I asked you a question,” she says impatiently.

“I came to see you and to tell you that you are crazy.”

“I don’t follow,” she gives me a salesperson smile.

“I know that we can’t just forget what I did, and my apologies will never be enough, but I’m not going anywhere. Right now, you are going to need my protection more than ever before.”

“I said I’m fine and I don’t need your protection.”

“Then why did you get rid of the evidence?”

“To get back Liam?” She shrugs.

“Getting back at Liam is more important than getting justice for your brother?” I regret the words the moment they leave my mouth.

She winces for a second before taking a deep breath. “I’m not going to let you ruin my day. If you want justice for my brother, just go to the police to confess. Something tells me you are happy with the way things turned out.”

“You have such a high opinion of me, Willow Gordon,” I glare at her.

“I’m glad you know. You got money out of this and God knows for how long, then suddenly you come to the victim’s family member and act all good, as if paying for your crimes would have been a great SACRIFICE.”

“It wasn’t a sacrifice! It’s something I had to do.”

“Then go ahead and do it,” she looks up at me, her face unreadable.

“You are really out of your mind. You sealed our fate the moment you poured that thing into the sink. You know that Liam won’t let this go, and now you are stuck with me, whether you hate me or not.”

“I have to go. Jeremy is waiting for me,” she glances at her wristwatch.

“Waiting for what?”

“Oh! I don’t know, to chill. He’s the one who blocked the police from arriving at your apartment on time and I promised him a date, but this is not the official date. Just a brief meeting to thank him.”

“You are the one who organized the fan meet?”

She nods.

“You know he has a crush on you,” I say accusingly as if it’s her fault.

“Yes, and remember when I told you I had a crush on him?” She counters.

“You said you had a crush on his character in the series, not him!”

“I discovered that he is a real gentleman. You know when I asked him to hold a fan signing, he didn’t ask any questions, he just agreed.”

“That’s called a pushover, not a gentleman.” I roll my eyes.

“I thought you would approve, you like Jeremy.”

“I doubt that you had my approval in mind when you went for him.”

She titters. “True.”

“I like Jeremy, but...” I search my mind for any excuse. “You are his TA.”

“You once told me that you are the one who gives out grades, not me.” She rolls her eyes. “Besides, the semester is almost over, so we can wait until we officially date.”

“You are going to cheat on Liam? I never thought you were the cheating type.”

“You care about you Liam?” she snorts.

“You know I don’t give a damn about him.”

“Then you don’t have to act like this. This is a good thing, maybe if I start dating someone else I will forget about Liam.” She grins. Is she doing this on purpose to find out how I really feel? Or she genuinely hates me and she enjoys seeing me suffer.

“I don’t want you to get hurt. Break up with Liam and give yourself time to heal.” I say in what I hope to be my casual tone.

“Fine.”

My eyes widen. “Fine?”

“I will break up with Liam and give myself time to heal, but I’m going to have a passionate one night with Jeremy. I mean, he is hot, and he is a vampire.”

My hand closes in on the pencil in my hand before it gives in and snaps in half. “He’s not a freaking vampire! You are testing my patience, Willow.”

“Not everything is about you. Goodbye, Leo, and stay away from me! Get out of my room, I want to leave.”

I picture myself giving Jeremy an assignment to accompany me to Antarctica and forgetting him there.