Reaching Answers (Artemis University #8) - Erin R Flynn Page 0,4

stormed towards us.

But then I realized at the last minute she was coming for me. I had my telepathy off, resting my mind on instinct after all those people and such a high intensity situation. I was still taken aback from what Craftsman had done out there and now in here, and I wasn’t paying attention to her flipping out.

Well, until her hand connected with my face.

Then I was supremely focused on her.

And not in a way she would probably like.

“You trashy little bitch,” she hissed at me. “You know—how could you with a teacher when you knew—you hear everything—”

“I’m closer to his age than you are,” I reminded her. We were five years apart and they were at least six. “And I’m fairly certain ‘trashy’ is slapping a student, no matter what they’ve done.”

She flinched, but steam about came out of her ears. “Finals are done. I’m not your teacher right now and we both know it. I’m here as a woman. A woman you betrayed after all your rhetoric about being good to each other and—”

I snorted. “You’re right, I do hear everything. You don’t remotely respect me, so don’t give me that shit like you’ve been good to me and are the victim.” I pulled back my arm and let my fist fly, knocking her on her ass. “Since you’re not currently my teacher, that’s for wanting my lover’s last name more than him and being a bitch who chased after him when he told you he was with someone.”

“Not sure that helped,” Craftsman sighed, gesturing to Campbell who was now crying and holding her face.

“It helped me. I’ve been holding that in for a long time.” I shot him a nasty look. “You forget, I do hear too much and see it. I had to sit through her fucking class and listen to her thoughts about—too much before I could control it all. It was horrible. It was horrible to listen to her go on and on about how much you enjoyed talking crystals and magic with her while you were blowing off dates with me and…”

I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm, not letting go when I struggled.

“No, I will not let her come between us again,” he said as he hugged me to him. “I got lost my head but it was never about her. Yes, it sparked all kinds of excitement as I cannot produce those kinds of crystals yet. But a lot of it was researching them so we could have projects and experiment over the summer. I wanted to know them better so we could do more. Together.”

“I have to go.”

“No. Not yet. You were right we need to talk.”

“With your tongue down your student’s throat?” Campbell sneered as she stood. She glanced between us and she snorted. “I’m so stupid. You really are more like your family than I thought. All the lies you didn’t want anything to do with them and yet here you are, just like them.”

“Are you having a laugh?” Craftsman asked her, not understanding what she meant.

But I did. I knew assholes well, and I knew exactly what she saw when she looked at us.

“He actually wants me because I’m seriously fantastic in bed and can rock his world in a way you never could, Campbell. It has nothing to do with his family wanting the council seat or me being the brass ring. Nice you would consider it though. I’ve heard it in your thoughts several times. You’re the sellout, not him. He flat out refused his family and the council.”

“You’re more than a fantastic shag,” Craftsman grumbled. “She’d really sell you out?”

I snorted. “Oh yeah. She’s long since thought I wasn’t worth any of the hype and tired of all the drama surrounding me. She doesn’t like I’m the cool one in with the cool teachers and it used to be her. She doesn’t think our world is as bad as I say, content to leave her head in the sand. Even White is annoyed and disgusted with her. The council is forcing powerful witches to mate and Campbell just ignores it and—”

“That’s enough,” Campbell snapped, coming out of her shock I was saying all of that.

“Or what? You going to hit me?” I purred. I glanced up at Craftsman who was still holding me. “One, we’re not together, but I doubt that matters to her since she knows we used to be a thing. Two, she would tell everyone just to