Unexpected question

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• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   Epilogue

  River There are moments in life that feel like breathing again after being held underwater for too long. Moments that don’t announce themselves with fireworks or drama but with quiet, unwavering peace. This was one of them. The hospital room was bathed in warm afternoon light, the sound of faint birdsong slipping in through a cracked window. It was a rare kind of day—still, unrushed, and real. And I was alive to see it. Kaiden was sitting on the bed beside me, one leg propped up, a tray of half-eaten hospital pancakes in front of him. His hair was a mess, his stitches were healing, and his eyes still carried that untamed fire but it was softened now. Like the worst of the storm had passed, and he could finally breathe again. Sage sat curled up in the visitor chair, a blanket wrapped around him like a cocoon. He had color in his cheeks again. The bruises had faded. The shadows beneath his eyes weren’t as heavy. He was alive. He was safe. And somehow, despite everything, we were

• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   Back to the end of the beginning

  River Hospitals always had a strange smell. Antiseptic, floor polish, and quiet dread. It felt like I had spent so much time in the hospital. Ever since I became involved in Kaiden, it's been one hospital trip to the other. I truly hope that this will be the last one. I have seen so many strangers receive bad news all in the span of fifteen minutes. I was scared that the doctors would come and give me horrible news like they had been giving those strangers. This time, they weren’t strangers in those rooms. They were mine. Kaiden and Sage had each been taken into separate wings of the hospital the moment we arrived. Sage was still unconscious. Kaiden was pale and was rushed into trauma with blood still soaked through his shirt. I stood in the emergency ward’s hallway, my body stiff, my hands crusted with dried blood, his, theirs, mine. I hadn’t let the nurses check me. I didn’t care. I only cared about them. I needed them to be okay. The glass doors hissed open behind me, and

• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   The Reckoning

  River The engine roared beneath my hands like a beast unchained, and I gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles went white. The tires screeched against the asphalt as I swerved onto the main road, heart pounding like a war drum inside my chest. Kaiden was in that car, bleeding, unconscious, slipping away by the second. And Raines was taking him to God knows what. My foot slammed harder against the gas. “You’re not getting away with this,” I muttered, eyes burning as the road twisted ahead. “Not this time.” The trees blurred past, and I leaned forward like I could will the car to go faster. I wasn’t thinking clearly, wasn’t thinking at all, honestly. I just saw Kaiden’s face when he crumpled to the ground. The way his body went limp in my arms. The blood in my hands and the instant fear that he won't make it. And now that bastard was running. Running with him. I gritted my teeth. Raines had already stolen too much from us, too much time, too much peace. He thought

• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   The man on the run

  River I wish I could say it went breezy like we had planned. We would just walk out of here alive with no one to stop us. I was wrong. I was deeply wrong. Every step we took crunched leaves beneath our feet, every heartbeat pounding in my ears like a war drum. Kaiden was right beside me, his jaw clenched, his hand steady against Sage’s limp body on my back as we moved deeper into the woods, away from the facility. We were close to freedom. Just a little further. But freedom, I’ve learned, never comes without a fight. It started with voices. Shouts in the distance. Then the piercing, commanding bark of Raines. “Secure the perimeter!” Kaiden froze beside me. My gut clenched. “No, no, no,” he muttered. “They weren’t supposed to know—” We both turned at the same time. Flashlights blazed through the trees, gun barrels gleaming beneath the moonlight. Before I could react, we were surrounded. A perfect circle of armed men closed in. Cold, ruthless eyes. Steady fingers on trigge

• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   Out of the dark

  River I was spiraling since I was left alone with Sage. He hadn’t spoken in hours. His face was too pale. His breathing shallow, lips parted as if halfway between a dream and the edge of death. I knelt beside him, pressing my palm gently against his cheek. “Sage,” I whispered. Nothing. “Come on, dammit. Wake up.” I shook his shoulder softly, then harder. “You hear me? You don’t get to give up now.” Still, he didn’t move. The drug had done its job too well. I exhaled through clenched teeth, sinking back against the stone wall of the cell. I hated this place, hated the damp smell, the metallic taste of rust, the faint buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead that made it hard to tell if it was day or night. But I waited. I had to. We couldn’t run now. Not in daylight, not through the open woods. That would be suicide. We’d wait for night. Wait for the dark to cloak us like an ally. And then we’d run. I watched the window. Already knowing it's pointless. I’d already scanned the

• The Professor Wants Me and So Does My Bestfriend   No turning back

  Kaiden I wasn't one to give up. That's the one thing people found annoying about me. That and the fact that I always gathered attention. But giving up is for dead people. I know Raines was dirty and it was up to me to prove that. I'd gone back to the house in the woods, something was wrong. They didn't know I was coming with the detective so they were not tipped off. So I deduced that they were only operating at night. I decided that I would be smart about that this time around. This time, I didn’t get too close. I parked far off and moved on foot, quiet through the trees, heart pounding against my ribs like it wanted out. I’d dressed dark, layered in silence and paranoia. I found a thicket of brush that gave me just enough cover and sat low, watching through a pair of binoculars I borrowed, okay, stole from Bryan’s glove compartment earlier. There they were. People. Dozens of them just like the other night I was here. So many crates being loaded into two separate vehicles,