Chapter Nineteen

I turn to stare at Adrian again, squeezing his hand with my nails to gain his attention. “You didn’t kill anyone, did you?” I ask incredulously.

As soon as he turns to look down at me, his expression is the same as usual, with no hostility whatsoever. He smiles innocently as if he doesn’t notice even more gawking eyes turn towards us now. If I had to guess, I’d say no one here has seen him look anything but constipated and pissed off until now.

“No,” His response sounds convincing, but the continued stares make me think otherwise.

“Well, you must have done something to make people hate you,”

He chuckles, holding the doors open for me. “They don’t hate me. They respect me,” He says confidently as if it clarifies anything for me. “It doesn’t matter though. Let’s get you to your first class.”

I pause at the doors to call him out on his topic avoidance again, but he ushers me forward with a hand on my waist. I open my mouth to protest, but after realizing that I’m not strong enough to fight him, I continue to walk so I’m not being dragged. “It does if I want to get invited to any parties, genius.”

Adrian pauses to give me a dark look. “There will be no parties, Lydia.”

I almost forgot that he likes to play the dominant one in our fake relationship. Well, he’s about to learn that I’m a very bratty sub. For now, though, I’ll resort to teasing and embarrassing him. He thinks he’s well respected on campus, does he?

I sigh, as if in wistful compliance. “Yes, Daddy,” I say, loud enough for the students around us to hear. Conversation ceases as they turn to stare at us, mouths agape.

Adrian stops walking in the middle of the hallway to stare down at me, heaving a heavy sigh. Out of all the pet names we decided to call each other in public, ‘Daddy’ wasn’t on the list. I expect him to break character to scold me, but he decides to take my arms and back me against an awards display, lowering his face inches from mine.

My breath hitches as I glance around us, embarrassed by my backfired plan. The other students seem to turn their attention elsewhere though, finding somewhere else they’re supposed to be, leaving me with him.

Adrian pinches my chin between his thumb and forefingers, forcing me to look up at him. His expression is unamused, and I hate how good it looks on him. “Please, try not to draw attention to yourself,” He says, breath fanning the loose hair around my face.
“I was just teasing you. You take yourself so seriously all of a sudden,” I say, wriggling my wrist out of his grasp. “Let’s just get to class. You’re so degrading.” I make a mental note to talk to him about the near breach of contract later, but as for right now, we’re cutting it close on time. I don’t want to be late for my first lecture.

Adrian shoots me a warning look, but takes my hand and leads me out of the corner. Luckily, the hallway is all but cleared out now, save for a few stragglers. As Adrian leads the way to the proper lecture hall, I have a spare moment to admire the architecture. Unlike the exterior, the inside is very modern looking with a lot of exposed brick and metal. There are big lights hanging from the vaulted ceiling that illuminate the corridors in fluorescent lighting, making it feel brighter than it is outside.

Adrian pulls a door open and gestures me ahead of him into a darkened room, lit dimly by a projector. Since I can’t see very well, I wait for Adrian to join me in the walkway so he can lead me to a seat. The professor seems to be speaking with some students, though it seems to be about a topic we wouldn’t be learning in this class. If I’m not mistaken, the plaque on the outside of the door states that this is a history class taught by Professor Clatt. It sounds like the middle-aged man is talking about a fantasy game or something.

Adrian takes my hand and guides me up a row of stairs, keeping a hand on my waist in case I lose my balance. It sounds like the class is relatively full by the amount of murmuring, though I can’t tell until we get to the last level of seats, where Adrian directs me to sit. Most of the people that occupy the seats don’t seem too bothered by Adrian or our late entry, with only a few of them bothering to turn and look at us.

Adrian sits beside me in the seat closest to the walkway, remaining unfazed by the attention. If the student body doesn’t hate him, then he must be famous for something. Maybe he’s a star jock? I can’t see him hiking around a football though. I think about bringing it up again, but the professor clears his throat noisily to gain our attention.

“Okay, let’s settle down. Now, back to what we left off on last week; everyone please turn to page Seven-hundred and Sixty-seven of your textbooks, either digital or physical.” From the new vantage point, I can see that the professor is actually younger than I thought, appearing to be in his mid-thirties with a surprisingly handsome face.

Adrian taps the shoulder that my bag hangs from, and holds his hand out expectantly. I furrow my brow but hand it over, watching him root through it to pull out my laptop. He pauses at the lock screen of my Macbook, glancing over at me before typing something in. The screen unlocks and grants him access to the home page, where he types something into the search bar and brings up a website for a textbook.

“You shouldn’t make your password for everything the same,” He whispers, scolding me. He types in login for the website and clicks a few more things to bring up a textbook, bringing the screen to the page directed by the professor.

I give him a bemused look as he slides the laptop between us on the desktop. “What are you, my daddy?”

He looks unamused at the mention of the nickname I chose for him. “Shut up and take notes. You’re the one who needs to pass this class,” He reminds me.

I roll my eyes but scootch closer to him on the elongated bench seat, opening the notes section of my Macbook so I can follow along on the projection at the front of the room. Professor Clatt glances at the back row near our direction, though I’m sure he isn’t actually looking at us. He offers a slight nod, probably upon seeing all of the computer screens lighting up the lecture hall before beginning his speech.

Several minutes into the lecture, the door opens at the bottom of the stairs as someone attempts to sneak in quietly without drawing attention. The professor looks at the latecomer with mild irritation but continues his speech without pausing for long enough to scold them. The small silhouette scuttles silently up the stairs, head swiveling as they search for a spot to sit. Seeing none, they continue up the steps to the back row where we sit, spotting an open spot on the bench beside me.

Adrian grumbles something incoherent as they glide up the steps towards us, undeterred by my companion’s distaste for their sudden appearance. I feel a gust created by them as they cross against the wall behind us, hurriedly sliding into the spot between me and another girl.

“Sorry,” The voice apologizes to both of us on either side as she pulls a huge book from her bag. From the light of my laptop, I can see that it’s a girl around my age with dark hair that’s cropped to her shoulders and dark skin. Feeling my gaze she smiles sweetly at me. “I overslept,” She says, further explaining her tardiness.

I offer a similar smile, keeping my voice low. “I wouldn’t have been able to tell. Your makeup looks great,”

“Aw, thanks! Oh my god, you’re so nice,” She beams, pulling a notebook from the bag at her feet. She continues to dig through the contents of her pack for a moment, and I notice that she must have forgotten a pen.

I reach for my own bag and procure one from the depths, handing it wordlessly to her.

Her eyes are huge with gratitude as she accepts the utensil. “Thank you so much. I’ll give it right back.”

Adrian sighs obnoxiously beside me and takes me by the waist, pulling me close to him. I feel his mouth against my ear as he whispers a warning to pay attention. Well, now that my thigh is pressed against him so closely, I doubt that’s going to be possible.