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“So when is this seminar of yours?” He sat back.
“I told you. Friday night. I’ll remind you.” I smiled at him because this was his way of saying yes to me. “You might learn something. It’s a lecture on the frontiers of science, taught by a guest professor, who is supposed to be renowned in the field. I thought we could make a thing of it and have dinner afterwards. Yeah?”
“Would it make a difference if I say no?”
“Not even a little bit.” I leaned toward him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
Since Aurora, he didn’t like being touched. But little by little, he’d let me into his shadowed world. Not all the way in, but enough for me to show him he didn’t have to be alone. I always imagined him sitting in his dark room, wishing for things that couldn’t be. It hurt to see him like this.
“This is fine.” Enzo tapped his driver on the arm when he turned onto one-hundred-sixteenth street. “We’ll walk from here.”
As soon as the car pulled over, Enzo bolted. I pressed my forehead to the back of the passenger seat, then turned to look at the driver. “He looks better, right?”
“He does.”
“Okay, I thought so.” I blew out a breath. “I’ll text you when we’re ready.”
“Have a good day, Ms. Salvatore.”
“You too.”
* * *
The first weekback after holiday break was fairly uneventful. To my delight, Enzo made it to all of his classes. Not so deep down, he knew I was right about staying in school. It was better than sulking alone at home with no end in sight.
By the time Friday rolled around, he was in better spirits about escorting me to my mini seminar. I didn’t even have to go home and drag him out. He came of his own accord. Yeah, this was progress. When I strolled up to the building, I immediately spotted him sitting on the front entrance steps. Of course, a bunch of girls lingered in his vicinity, though Enzo didn’t notice any of it. He had a long way to go before getting to the point where he could look at another woman.
“Hey.” I kicked his shoe. “You made it.”
“Let’s just get this over with.” Slowly, he rose to his feet then offered me his hand. “Frontiers of Science, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be great.”
As soon as we stepped inside, Enzo turned to me. “Are you kidding me?” He pointed at the line to get into the auditorium, which covered the length of the hallway.
“It’s a required class. There should be enough seats. Don’t worry.” I pulled him to what looked to be the end of the line. “We’re early enough.”
“What the fuck?” Enzo’s green eyes turned insidious black. “What is he doing here?”
“Who?” I followed his line of sight, then froze. “Omigod. What is he doing here?”
“I just asked you that.”
“Wait.” I set my book bag on the floor and rummaged through my folders until I found the syllabus for this class. “Oh shit. I didn’t think to look before. I was so worried about getting the reading done.” I glanced up just as Enzo made to go after Luca Gallo. I’d never moved so fast in my life as I shot to my feet and blocked him from taking another step. “He’s teaching this class. Look.” I shoved the syllabus in his face. “He’s the guest professor.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. He must be good at what he does.” I pressed my body to his. I was afraid that if I moved out of the way, he’d go after Luca. “Please don’t do anything. Please.”
“Donata, I have to. That asshole is…”
“No.” I placed my hand over his mouth. “Don’t say it.”
“A predator,” he mumbled, so I added another hand.
“Don’t say another word.” I pressed tighter. “Shh.” I shot a glance over my shoulder to see if anyone had noticed Enzo was talking about our illustrious Cogs professor.
“Donata,” Enzo said through gritted teeth.
