Leonardo stands frozen in the doorway, shock flashing across his face.Professor David is almost shaking as he asks, "You can't tell anyone what you just saw.""Why not?! The world should know of men like you," Leo retorts, eying him."Wait, you're not a student, are you? You're Lara's best friend?"Leo glares at him like he’s ready to rip him apart."I'd say I'm more than that. Right, Lara?" he says, turning his head toward me.Oh no. Why put me on the spot like this? Now both men are staring, waiting for me to speak. But my mind is a complete, screaming blank.I swallow hard. "Leo is a... umm... a...""Boyfriend?" David offers, bewildered."No, no, no! Not boyfriend!" I shake my hands frantically.Leo's face falls, hurt flashing in his eyes."Then I suppose there's no issue here," David says professorially.Leo’s jaw ticks as he steps right into David’s space, crowding him without shame. "Not boyfriend, huh? Could’ve fooled me, the way she looks at me."David stays calm, but I catch
I have this crazy impulse to say that to him. But that would get me expelled. And becoming a lawyer is my greatest desire on earth. So I keep that impulse at bay, and say instead,"I'm sorry, professor. I'll be early from now on."A guy removes his bag from a seat and taps on it, mouthing, Come. I'm hurrying over, but Professor David's voice stops me again,"Crop tops are not allowed. It's particularly prohibited by the dress code."This is news to me. Last time I checked, everything I'm wearing is allowed. "I wasn't aware of that," I mutter, sitting next to the guy.But now that you've told me, I'll burn every one of the crop tops I own... just because you said so. Personal offences. That is the topic of the day. But it is impossible for a student to focus when she's busy mentally planning how to murder her professor and get away with it. How? Oh, how? Poison, they say, is a woman's weapon. But I'm thinking something more destructive... like fire. Maybe I do the lord's work and bu
LARA's POV"Leo, the thing is what?!" I ask. He still hasn't completed his sentence."About five months ago, I was attacked in a forest. And.. sometimes, that triggers something in me. I just didn't want you to see me like that.""So, that's it?" I demand, moving my weight to my other leg. "That's why you barked at me not to fucking touch you?""I'm so sorry, Lara. I really was tripping. You know that my favorite thing in the world is you touching me."I roll my eyes. "It didn't sound like it in the forest. You sounded like you hate me.""No, I promise it's the opposite. Full moons just... make me weird. And when I get overwhelmed, my instincts tell me to run first and figure it out later. Not my proudest trait."Leo runs a tired hand through his messy hair. But he's only making it messier. I rise on my toes and reach up to fix it for him."Much better," I mutter to myself, staring into his beautiful grey eyes. Alluring, mysterious and breathtaking eyes. Stars seem to reside there.H
LARA's POVLeonardo Knight is the world's greatest jerk.Yeah, that is my final verdict.Just when I was starting to get used to him, he shows me his true colors. Rude, obnoxious and full of himself. Tell me, where do these men get the audacity?! Who keeps giving them the freaking audacity?! Leonardo actually cursed at me and pushed me. Shame on me for wanting to help him.He's just like every other man in Hollywood. And I'm a fool for thinking he was different. I won't ever make that mistake again. The tiny feelings I felt for him in that car are now completely erased by the way he treated me in the forest. What we have is a contractual relationship. I'm a girl employed for publicity purposes. I will do my job and nothing more.Quietly seething, I pour cereal into my breakfast bowl, then tilt the milk bottle into my bowl.Asshole. If he thinks I'm going to text and ask how he's feeling, he's so, so wrong. I'd rather chew glass. His issues are so not my problem.I really don't care.
Leonardo's POV.I don't mean to shove her, but I do.She groans on the ground, then musters the strength to stand up and yell, "Suit yourself, asshole," before storming off in tears.Howling as loud as I can to the full moon, something in me awakens and brings me to my knees.I feel myself changing.I don't know what to do. I don't know how to control me. The surge of power and anger in my veins scares me. It's the type of power that can kill. Fierce, endless, dangerous and unpredictable. If Lara had stayed any longer, I could have hurt her. Really make her bleed. Since the night that Sinclair bit me, I have not been the same man. I cannot sleep without seeing red blood. So I don't sleep. I cannot eat meat without craving blood. So I don't eat. And Tonight... Tonight, my body finally turns against me. It feels like my bones are on fire. I'm groaning on the ground, trying to tear out the fire. My muscles are moving in ways they naturally shouldn't. My fingers curl and twist, nails
BACK TO PRESENT LARA's POV.I still can't believe that I just attended a Hollywood movie premiere and met Meryl Streep. I might hate Hollywood, but I love Meryl. If you had told Lara from five months that this would happen, she'd laugh in your face. Literally laugh. Someone pinch me. Also, I almost cry watching the screening of Golden Colors. Leo’s acting is absolutely captivating.Not that I’ll tell him, though. His ego is already big enough without me adding to it.We're at the after party. And there's a myriad of people complementing him and the cast. Then, he joshed around with his costars, before coming to me with a plate of hors d'oeuvre. "Hey, player. Have you eaten?" he asks."No, but I kind of have a bad history with hors d'oeuvre so I'd rather not eat that." I point at the plate."Oh." He drops the plate on a nearby plate. "Let me go get you something else.""No, no," I say, touching his arms softly. "I'm about to go home anyway."His face saddens. "So soon?"I shrug. "The