3

Samirah’s POV

Nancy didn’t need to tell me I would be an absolute inconvenience to her and her fiancé, so I declined her offer to stay at her house before she could even twist her face into a polite lie.

I bloody hate the idea of staying in the university staff lodges, but it appears I may have to if I am unable to come up with anything tangible. At the very least, I draw comfort from the knowledge that my mum is doing okay health-wise.

Having just rounded up my final lecture of the afternoon, I headed across the tarmac towards my car. Halfway there, I remembered my landlord's strict parting demand: I had to fix whatever was broken in the house before handing over the keys. The pipe connected to the kitchen sink was leaking.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Nancy to see if she could send me her plumber's contact details.

"The kitchen sink is a nightmare, Nancy" I muttered into the receiver, unlocking my car door with the other hand. "I need to get it sorted now while it's crossed my mind, or I'll lose my deposit."

"Ugh, bad timing, babe," Nancy replied over the line. "My plumber is out of town until next week."

Before I could reply, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I whirled around. Vickerry Adams was standing there, his arms crossed, pouting his full red lips at me with an insufferable smirk.

"Nancy, I'll call you back," I snapped, ending the call and folding my own arms. I stared at him, unimpressed. "What do you want?"

Vickerry looked at my vehicle, his sneer deepening. "With all the pride you have, you could only afford a matchbox? Cars like this are completely out of fashion. Scratch that—I expected you to be driving something much more luxurious with the way you carry yourself."

I sucked in both sides of my cheeks, trying to stop myself from saying something incredibly rash. Instead, I forced an amused smile and said absolutely nothing.

He wasn't finished. "My father's driver wouldn't even use a car like this to run errands."

I breathed out slowly, keeping my voice level. "I wish I had time to spare for this, Mr Adams, but I have a lot going on right now."

Vickerry pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a lighter, and deliberately puffed a thick cloud of smoke right into my face. "Why's that?" he asked with a wry smile on his face.

I waved the smoke away, my temper flaring. "Simply because, first of all, smoking on campus is strictly prohibited. And secondly, I see you as nothing more than an infant trapped in a grown man’s body."

Goddess knows it was taking everything in me not to explode all my financial frustration onto him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded, his face red with instant rage. He took another drag, blowing more smoke directly at me.

"It simply means I do not have time to waste on someone whose frontal lobe hasn’t fully developed."

Vickerry stepped closer, his Alpha aura flaring aggressively. "You have serious guts. Your audacity is maddening, you know that right? Do you know my father practically runs this school? With a snap of my fingers, you will be fired. And trust me, you won't get a teaching job anywhere else."

I could swear this man was a direct temptation from the devil himself, but I maintained my cool.

"Is that so?" I challenged, tilting my chin up. "Well, if your father is as powerful as you claim, he should spend his money getting you a private tutor so you can actually be up to par with your studies. To be rich, ignorant, and remarkably dumb—forgive my language—is a truly terrible mix. Now, if you will please get out of my way, I would like to get into my cheap car and go about my business."

"Oh, you mean this oven?" Vickerry scoffed, blocking the car door. "I can get you a much better car if you humble yourself enough to apologize. Maybe we can make better use of that sharp tongue of yours, and I'll buy you a proper ride."

That was the absolute limit.

"Move," I hissed, shoving past his shoulder with enough force to startle him.

I scrambled into the driver's seat, slammed the door, and locked it. I started the ignition and drove out of the car park without looking back. I had officially had enough of Alpha Vickerry Adams. It was time to get the university authorities involved.

—-

Vickerry’s POV

Shortly after Professor Samirah sped out of the car park, the sound of loud clapping came behind me.

Marcus and Desmond strolled out from the shadow of nearby concrete pillars, grinning like absolute lunats.

"Blimey, Vick," Marcus laughed, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "We’ve been watching the whole exchange from a distance. Let me presume she utterly rejected you? Because it looked like she nearly broke your shoulder shoving past."

I turned on him, my jaw clenched so tight it ached. "Are you sick in head, Marcus? Are you honestly expecting me to walk up to a woman like that and just tell her I want to fuck her? Of course she played the ice queen. But my plans are already in motion."

Desmond raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "Oh yeah? How so? Because from where we were standing, she just dogwalked you again and left you breathing her exhaust fumes."

I quietly smirk, letting their suspense simmer for a bit.

Then, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, tapping the screen to bring up a live radar map. A little red dot was already blinking, moving steadily down the main avenue away from the campus.

"I slipped a military-grade tracker under her rear bumper," I said, tilting the screen so they could see it. "And more importantly, I overheard her phone conversation before I tapped her shoulder. The gorgeous professor is having a bit of a domestic crisis. She needs a plumber, desperately."

Marcus’s eyes widened, a wicked grin splitting his face. "No way."

"Yes Way," I sneered, pocketing the phone. "So, boys, guess what? I'm about to become my insanely hot professor's new plumber. Check that!!."