Page 329 of His Hungry Wolf

“I’m sorry about that. It’ll never happen again. Or, at least, I’ll try,” I said with a smile.

“You do that,” he said smiling back.

As sure as I was that I was the one who could best help Nero, my professor’s words did linger as I walked back to my room. I knew the rule against dating someone you’re helping. Everyone does. I never thought I would have to worry about it because I never thought I would date anyone much less a client.

Yet, here I was sleeping with the first person whose mental health I had been entrusted with. What did that say about me?

I would like to think that this was a special circumstance. Not only did I kiss him before he had been assigned to me, but he was a supernatural being who had helped me realize that I might be able to do magic. If there’s anything that gets someone on a ‘freebie list’, it’s got to be that.

Besides, wasn’t it Nero’s attraction to me that got him to open up? Would he have come out to a complete stranger? He certainly wouldn’t have invited them to his place for the weekend. And, if they weren’t in his hometown, Nero couldn’t take them to the lake and share his painful story.

No, it was a good thing that the two of us had the relationship we did. It was helping him. But, as his counselor, maybe it was better if I slowed things down. I wanted to be his boyfriend. I wanted to rush to his side and wrap my arms around him until he felt better. However, a good counselor would give him the time and space he needed to process it all.

He said that he would text me. So, instead of pushing him, I would wait for his text. It would be what a typical therapist would have to do. And, it wasn’t like I needed to hear from him every day. It wasn’t like I needed him to breathe or anything… Evan Carter!

Prickles shot through my body like jagged rocks. I whipped around replaying the image in my mind. I saw Evan Carter. It took me a moment to realize it but I had. At least I thought I had. I thought I had seen him standing in the quad staring at me.

I didn’t see him now. Scanning everywhere, I didn’t even see someone trying to hide or get away. Had it just been in my head? Double-checking my surroundings, I considered that it could have been.

Thinking I had seen Evan when I hadn’t wasn’t a new thing. It used to happen a lot, especially my freshman year. I used to think I saw him everywhere. He was the boogeyman sitting in my periphery. Whenever I looked for him, though, he was never there.

But all that had stopped. I had barely thought about him after Nero beat the shit out of him. I had gotten my justice. What Nero had done had allowed me to move on.

Re-centering myself, I took a deep breath and continued to my room. I reminded myself that I didn’t have to be scared of Evan Carter anymore. Nero had taken care of it for me. Nero had put the fear of God in him. There was no way he would dare show his face here even if he knew where I was. But, I was sure that he didn’t. And I knew Nero would keep me safe… that is if we were still together.

Initially, I thought questioning how Nero felt about me was me being insecure. After all, we had spent the weekend together opening up about the most intimate parts of our lives and having sex. No one could go cold that quickly.

But, as the days passed and I hadn’t heard from him, I began to wonder. Could I really mean so little to him that he could disappear for days without a word? Sure, he was dealing with some heavy stuff about how he was born, but didn’t he love me? Why didn’t he want to share what he was thinking with me?

“What are you doing?” Cory asked me as I stared at my phone.

“I’m trying to make my phone ring with my mind,” I explained.

“That’s what I thought you were doing. You know that you could just text him, right?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because he said he would text me.”

“So, that means you can’t text him?”

“Kind of.”

“And, you’ve determined this how?”

“I don’t know. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

“Is there a rule book somewhere I didn’t see?” Cory joked.

“Isn’t there?”

“Huh!” Cory said getting into bed.

“What?”

“I thought a relationship between two guys would be different.”