Page 76 of Ricochet
“Callum.”
He rolls his eyes. “I didn’t sleep well, okay? That’s all.”
I wonder if it was because of his nightmares. But I’m not going to do what he hates and treat him as though he’s fragile.
Instead, I lean over and lower my voice. “Probably would’ve slept better inmybed.”
He looks at me now, and a tired smile slowly forms on his face. “Probably.”
See…learning.
Before the professor starts class, she walks around the room, depositing stethoscopes on each table along with our lab assignments. The first part of the lab is to listen to our partner’s breathing and record our observations.
I pick up the stethoscope first and clean the earpieces with an alcohol wipe. Spinning around to face Callum, I wait for him to do the same before grabbing the bar of the stool and dragging it closer until his legs end up between mine. He jerks and grabs onto the table. Like I would’veactuallylet him fall.
Inserting the earpieces in my ears, I grab the stem of the stethoscope. With my other hand, I lightly brush my fingertips down the column of his throat.
His breath hitches. “What are you doing?”
“Locating your larynx like the instructions say,” I tell him while attempting to keep a grin off my face and my tone full of innocence.
Judging by his weak glare, he doesn’t buy it.
Placing the diaphragm of the stethoscope against his chest, over his shirt and just beneath his larynx, I listen to his tracheal and bronchial sounds. While our gazes are locked, I move the diaphragm a little lower.
“Breathe deep.”
He does, and I listen to the smooth flow of air into his lungs.
“Exhale.”
He does that too.
“Did you know…” I raise a finger and trail it down over his right pec before stopping and pressing firmly. Holding Callum’s gaze hostage, I keep my voice low. “When someone’s stabbed in the lung, you can hear a sucking sound? Sometimes there’s a little bubbling when air enters the chest cavity.”
The noise in the stethoscope grows a bit louder, still smooth but a little more erratic. His eyelids flutter, and he shifts on his stool.
“Fuck,” he whispers. “You can’t do that right now.”
“What am I doing?” This time, I don’t even try to disguise my smirk. “I’m just educating.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should try hands-on experience.”
Sighing, I drop the stethoscope and turn back to the table to jot down some bogus notes inside the blank box on our lab assignment.
It’s not the first time he’s brought it up. I know he’s itching to watch me kill again, probably because he knows that now he’ll be able to get up close and personal with death. I haven’t felt the urge to do it these last two weeks because I’ve actually beenhappy. But if I’m bringing him along for my next kill, then I have to be prepared. Much more than I’ve ever been before. It’ll take time to plan and arrange things. I won’t just be jumping into it like I’ve often done.
We move onto the rest of the lab that includes labeling parts of the respiratory system and answering a few questions. Whenwe’re the first ones to finish, we hand in our assignments and leave together. We don’t get far down the hallway before Callum is pulling me into the same classroom I took him to when he was having his panic attack.
He closes the door and then shoves me against the wall beside it. Before I can even blink, he smashes his mouth against mine.
He’s attacking me with his tongue and teeth until I attack back.
It’s a fucking battle for dominance I didn’t realize I craved with him.
When he grinds against me, I feel the evidence of his mutual desire.
Going on the offensive, I grab the front of his shirt and spin us around until it’s his back pressed to the wall. I thrust against him and bring my other hand up into his hair, gripping it tight. Tugging his head back, I move my mouth to his throat, kissing and licking my way down. Over his pulse point that I’m quickly becoming obsessed with.