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TWENTY-THREE
Jesse fell asleep aroundtwo AM. He snored on my bed, snuggled up with his book, and it was kind of adorable.
Kind of.
I was too jealous of him to find it completely adorable.
Thanks to the second cup of coffee he made me twenty minutes before he crashed, I managed to stay up all night, and made a dent in the load of makeup work.
I nudged him awake ten minutes before it was time to go. He disappeared into the bathroom for a one-minute shower and came back smelling like river rocks and manliness that I probably shouldn't have been attracted to, but was.
He disappeared down the stairs while I finished shoving my stuff into my backpack. The wolf in me threatened to surface with his absence, but I was so tired that she too seemed sluggish.
When I landed at the bottom of the stairs, Jesse was waiting with two travel cups of coffee and a set of keys.
He handed me the coffee, and his hand met my lower back as he guided me out the garage door and into his car.
It wasn't until he was pulling out of the driveway that I remembered his friends' story about the tickets.
"Wait!" I yelled.
He slammed on the brakes, nearly killing us both in the process. "What? Who?" His head jerked side to side as he searched for a reason for my shout.
"You're a terrible driver. Swap seats with me.” I reached down to unbuckle my seatbelt.
Jesse's hand blocked me, but he cracked a grin. "I'm a great driver. My friends just prefer to live on the slow side of things." He let go of my seatbelt and turned the wheel, pulling away from the house and heading down the road.
"I can't afford to get pulled over and miss this class," I warned Jesse.
"Then I won't get pulled over." The bastard winked at me.
I was starting to wish I could get the wolf back, though the human came with plenty of perks.
The way he looked was at least half of those perks. Maybe more.
Surprisingly enough,I wasn't terrified while he drove. He didn't go too much over the speed limit, and never took a turn too sharp or anything. I assumed he’d taken my worry into account, and I appreciated it.
I finished my coffee halfway through the drive. When Jesse noticed me starting to fall asleep, he handed me his. I tried to protest, but he claimed he didn't want anymore.
Since I was pretty sure I'd crash without the extra caffeine, I drained the remaining half of his too.
He parked in the same place I always did. When I reached for my wallet, he shot me a dirty look and then paid while I got out and tugged my backpack over my shoulders.
"I'm not going to let you pay for everything," I told Jesse as we started walking.
"I know exactly how many dollars you have left to your name, Tea. Soon you're not going to have a choice." He strolled beside me, his body at ease. He wore a backpack too, but I wasn't sure what he'd put inside it.
"Over my dead body," I growled.
"You already defied death once. I doubt you'll have to tempt it again in the near future.” The calmness of his words and his level of chill was frustrating.
A few people glanced our way as we walked past them. I felt my wolf threatening to take control, and my shoulders tensed.
"You know the money in that envelope is yours," Jesse reminded me, distracting me from my wolf.
"I know it's yours."
A beautiful brunette stared at Jesse way too long as she walked the opposite direction from where we were going, and I nearly fell on my face as a wave of pain sliced through my spine.
