Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Eventually, I found myself in a place that I imagined would give Ace a fucking hard-on to step inside. The massive two-story structure that seemed to go on endlessly, nearly every inch of the place stacked with books.
Down the center of the library was a sort of study station full of long, wide wooden tables with little copper lamps giving off warm, soft lighting for anyone there trying to study late at night.
It wasn’t exactly a packed place, not so late into the evening, but there were a fair amount of people milling around. From students at the desks, to librarians and custodians doing their jobs, and yet another couple making out in the shadows.
I don’t know what it was that had me looking up and toward the back corner, but it was almost as if something was pulling me in that direction.
Curious, I followed that feeling as it led me toward a smaller open area in the back where several tables were pushed together in an attempt to have enough room for the many stacks of books on their surfaces.
No less than three travel mugs were on the table as well, along with two extra pairs of glasses, notebooks, a tablet, and a bag of hard candy. The strawberry and cream kind.
Then there she was.
Bent over a book on the table, her elbow resting on the desk, her head resting a bit against that hand as she read.
She wasn’t as formally dressed as she’d been in the photograph, though her hair was still pulled back in that severe bun. She had on a pair of navy blue slacks and an oversize, thick-knit sweater in an off-white color. There was another sweater on the back of one of the chairs. And if I wasn’t completely mistaken, what looked like a blanket folded up on another one.
It was cool in the library. It probably had something to do with the health of the books or some shit like that, but I regretted my decision not to bring an extra layer.
The cold had been one of the biggest shocks of being dragged into the human world. Having lived many years of my immortal life in the hottest place in our planet, even the human summers felt chilly.
I wasn’t quite at the level Ace was about the cold, but I imagine that had come on slowly over the years, and thanks to the fact that he’d spent a lot more time in hell than any off us had, acclimating to the climate.
As I watched, her other hand moved toward the corner of her book, sliding a long finger with its neat oval nail painted a nude color under the edge of the page, then flipping it.
I don’t know how long I stood there watching her read before she seemed to get pulled out of the story, and her body stiffened.
Humans were pretty dense creatures, in my experience. Wholly unaware of their surroundings, completely oblivious to danger.
But they all had moments where something inside of them seemed to sense a threat, making them stiffen and finally look around.
That seemed to be what was going on with the professor.
I slinked back into the shadows as she looked around, trying to find the source of the uncomfortable feeling.
Reaching up, she pulled off the glasses that took up a lot of her face, then slow-blinked at the library before shaking her head like she thought she was being silly, grabbing her glasses, and getting back to reading.
Eventually, her posture kept getting lower and lower, until her upper body was practically draped over the table.
Then, of course, the inevitable happened.
She fell asleep.
Right there.
In public.
Where anyone could do anything they wanted to her.
Fucking humans.
Really, it was a wonder they survived as a species.
Shaking my head, and resisting the strange fucking urge to cover her sleeping body in that blanket she’d brought with her, I turned around and exited the library.
If I were to play the part of a fellow professor who wanted to discuss her favorite topic with her, I couldn’t be showing up in the middle of the night.
So I took myself off campus to find a hotel room to stay in, jacking up the heat until the room finally felt comfortable, and dropping off to sleep for a bit just to pass the time.
Sleep wasn’t something we really needed much of, but I’d gotten accustomed to the normal, human schedules thanks mostly to the women who’d come to live in the house as well as all the parties we threw.
I hadn’t quite wrapped my head around the whole biker club thing we did. From what I could tell from the media I’d consumed on the topic, outlaw biker clubs really only existed to party and commit various sorts of crimes. Neither of those things were shit Ace was overly interested in. He was happier alone with a book in front of the fire.