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My sweep continued over the book titles, souvenirs from different countries, and the horrible asylum-white paint enclosing him in an office a quarter size of Katie’s bedroom.
“I don’t know how to prove it to you,” I said. “I’m sure if you give it a few more weeks, Eva will prove she’s a rotten person in a dozen other ways and I’ll get my ‘I told you so’ moment.”
I thought I glimpsed his mouth quirk up, but he was still head down and reading. I decided I imagined it.
“Right now I’m just hoping you’ll let me make up the missed test and give me another chance. I can’t be on academic probation.”
“An emotional argument. Heads up, it’s not swaying me. Want to try another tact?”
A muscle in my brow ticced. I was having a talk with John and Martha Wilson, and finding out what exactly they did to wind up with two first-class buttholes for sons.
“Okay,” I forced through gritted teeth. “Before Eva started shouting her head off, I was breezing through my test, answering every question correctly. I didn’t need to cheat.”
“You could’ve gotten your correct answers from Eva’s paper.”
Leaning back, I folded my arms. “Easy enough to check. See if they’re all the same. A cheater might change one or two of their answers, marking it wrong so the teacher can’t say they match. But that doesn’t make sense if they already know the correct answer.”
“Hmm.” Adonis finally raised his head, punching me in the gut with the full force of his sculpted cheekbones up close. The man was more handsome than a mortal had a right to be. No wonder he was named for a myth. “That’s a valid point, Miss Sinclair. If the tests were to mismatch, Eva would have the correct answer for the same question and you’d have the incorrect.”
He slid two sheets across the table. “It’s the other way around. All of your answers were correct. Most of hers were wrong. Eva clearly didn’t do the reading and you clearly did. You’d be a fool to copy off her paper.”
“So... you knew the whole time that I didn’t cheat.”
Professor Anthony lifted a shoulder, mimicking my recline. “I knew for the last two hours.”
“What was all that about why you should believe me?”
“You were in the right. I was curious to see how hard you’d fight for yourself. The answer: not very. I had to prod you into trying another argument.”
The muscle under my brow was thumping under control. “Ever the professor, you’re always teaching.”
A slow, irritatingly sinful grin spread across his lips. “That sounded a tad sarcastic.”
“Did it? Let me try another tact: you’re not a nice man.”
Adonis laughed out loud. “I thought you were gearing up to say something harsher.”
“I was, but it’s not wise to insult your professor after he lets you off the hook for academic probation. If you’re done torturing me, I have to get going.”
“Hold on.” He stopped me short of the door. “You’re still receiving a zero for that paper.”
“What? Why?”
Sighing, the self-satisfaction drained out of him. “Eva followed up with someone in administration, demanding to know what your punishment was for cheating.”
“She did what? What the hell! What kind of shitbag takes it that far? I didn’t do anything.”
“I know that, and I informed Mrs. Lawson there was no evidence of cheating. Unfortunately, she did not see the two mismatched papers as proof. Regalia U had an incident with cheating last year and now all accusations are taken seriously. She agreed academic probation was off the table, but you have to get a zero for the test.”
“Well, that’s balls.”
He chuckled. “You recognize that it’s not appropriate to insult me, but balls and shitbag are okay?”
“I didn’t say you were balls or a shitbag, so we’re good.”
His deep, rich laugh warmed my insides, then my face as it brought back the memory of that stupid kiss. It was just a quick, tipsy peck. Why couldn’t I forget it?
“Still, I doubt you’re this informal with your other professors.”
“My other professors aren’t my soon-to-be brothers-in-law.”
Adonis’s smile wiped off. “Of course.”
Quiet spread like spilled tea. I said the wrong thing and I wasn’t sure why. His problem was with his parents, not Victor. From the sound of it, Victor wanted to patch this up—keep his brother in his life. More evidence that they were cool—the picture of the two of them together was the only photo on his wall with another person. The rest were poses of him alone in the Alps, crowded marketplaces, and famous squares.
“Thanks for fighting for me,” I spoke up. “I’ll be more careful who I sit next to from now on.”
“Don’t run off yet.” Adonis pushed himself up. “She said I had to fail you on that test. Mrs. Lawson didn’t say I couldn’t give you a makeup. Do you have time now?”
