Tessa’s POVJoseph, being the gentleman that he apparently is, carried my belongings from his car and into his villa. He paused once we got inside and turned to me.“Go pick out your room,” he said, looking down at me. “Obviously, you can’t have mine. But any other room is up for grabs.”I wondered how many bedrooms were in this Villa. It was a huge building, but only two stories. During our one-night stand, we started off in the downstairs bathroom next to his study, but gradually made our way upstairs and into his bedroom.I remembered his bedroom was down a long hall and the door was redwood with golden decals. I didn’t ask him what the decals meant at that time because all I cared about was getting inside, but as I stopped in the hallway and looked at his bedroom door, I couldn’t help but inquire about them.“It’s the symbol of the vampire empress,” he explained. “She died many years ago. Not something you should concern yourself with.”I didn’t ask further questions about this em
Joseph’s POVI didn’t like being awake during the daytime, so I was already tired when I arrived at school early this morning. I dressed in a long coat and put dark shades over my eyes in an attempt to shield myself from the sunlight.It didn’t work though. As soon as I was outside, I could already feel the effects of the sun.Tessa had gone to school by herself.I probably should have told her I was going to be giving her rides to school for her own safety. However, hiding from the sun, I found it difficult.This probably wasn’t the best idea.Tessa stared at me with large eyes as I began to tell her that I was going to give her a ride to school, but we were soon interrupted by the sound of angry parents coming from down the hallway.I quickly turned to see a small crowd marching toward us.I recognized one of the parents to be Morgan’s mother. She had bloodshot eyes from when she was crying. I can’t imagine she had stopped crying since finding out her daughter was killed.She also l
Tessa’s POVI hadn’t seen Joseph for the rest of the morning. It’s to be assumed he was probably getting yelled at in the principal's office. A knot had formed in the pit of my stomach thinking about Joseph.I hoped he wasn’t in too much trouble. I hoped that some of our words had gotten through to them, and they didn’t fire him.But what if he did get fired?I didn’t even want to bear the thought of that. I would have to attend that normal writing class and that was not something I wanted to do.I found it difficult to concentrate in class, but I wasn’t the only one. Most students, and even the faculty, were drones of themselves.Morgan was liked by most of her peers and teachers, so the pure thought of her no longer being here didn’t sit right with any of us. All our hearts were heavy, and we didn’t want to do any schoolwork because of it.Thankfully, the teachers understood this and went easy on us for the most part. I even got an email from Joseph earlier this morning canceling th
Tessa’s POV“You look sick again,” Ruby pointed out to once everyone was getting ready to leave the assembly.“I think I just need to get some air,” I said, standing to my feet. “I’ll call you later.”“From the hotel?” She asked, raising her brows. I could tell from her tone that she was questioning if I was really staying in a hotel.“Yes,” I said in return. “From the hotel.”I turned and left quickly, leaving her staring after me.Joseph waited for me in his Bentley just as he told me he would via a text. I looked around to make sure nobody was watching me before I made my way over to his car and disappeared into the passenger seat.However, once I got inside, I noticed he wasn’t in the driver’s seat. He was in the very shaded backseat.“I’ve had enough sun exposure for one day. I’ll need you to drive.”“You want me to drive your car?” I asked. The last car I drove was Brian’s and that felt like a lifetime ago.“You have your license, don’t you?”“Yes, of course,” I said in return,
Tessa’s POVI only got a couple of hours of sleep. I couldn’t stop thinking about Joseph all night. His question stuck in my brain.“What did you see in Brian?”I gave him a short answer, but truth be told, I wasn’t entirely sure myself. I mean Brian was definitely cute, and he had sweet moments, but he’s always been so arrogant and so unlike the guys I’m usually attracted to. But Brian was my first and only everything and I had an attachment to him.I was willing to change everything about myself to be with him. Everything except my passion for writing. That was something he desperately tried to change. But writing kept me sane. I needed it in my life to hold onto a piece of myself that was just my own.He never understood that.Once I finished getting dressed for the day, I made my way downstairs to grab a pop tart from the kitchen when I saw Joseph sitting in the living room. He was watching TV and a smile tugged at my lips at the image of him being so casual yet again.It was the
Tessa’s POVI froze when I saw Brian approaching. He was alone without Amanda, which was odd because she was always trailing behind him. Even when we dated.Brian had promised that he would leave me alone if Joseph retracted his statement, so I was surprised he wanted to talk to me.It’s been over a week since I’ve spoken to Brian and our last interaction wasn’t great. I rubbed my wrist at the memory of him grabbing me and dragging me along with him.Obviously, he wasn’t drunk now during school hours, but I really didn’t want to have any kind of conversation with him. There was nothing he could say that would change my opinion of him.“I’m going to be late for class,” I said to him.“I’ll be fast. I just want to talk,” Brian said, standing in front of me and blocking me from being able to step around him.“There’s nothing to talk about.”“I never got to explain myself with a clear mind. You left so quickly and that Professor just —”“You don’t need to explain anything, Brian,” I said,
Tessa’s POVIt was Friday and I couldn’t have been happier about that.The conversation I had with Brian stuck in my mind and I couldn’t seem to shake this nasty and unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. He had taken up so much space in my head and I just wanted him to get out.“Maybe you should think about getting a restraining order,” Ruby suggested as we sat down in our usual seats in Joseph’s classroom.“He’s not dangerous,” I said, shaking my head. “Just an asshole. I’ll be fine. I’ll just keep ignoring him until he gets the hint.”“And he doesn’t know where you are staying, right?”“Nope,” I answered.“Maybe it’s better if you stayed in the hotel then,” she said with a shrug. “Brian knows where I live, and I wouldn’t want to put you in danger.”“I really don’t think he’s dangerous. He has too much to lose,” I said in return. “But you are right. It’ll be better if he doesn’t know where I am.”“Good morning, everybody,” Joseph said as he walked into the room. “I was able to
Tessa’s POVI didn’t get much more engagement on my blog other than Ruby. Then again, I didn’t stick around long enough to find out if anyone else read my post.I looked around the room with a frown. It was very plain in there. I couldn’t wait to go to the store over the weekend and do a little shopping. I still had money in my savings account and my father still gives me an allowance every week. So, I had plenty of money to get a lot of things for this villa.Joseph liked dark colors it seemed. I didn’t want to get too many bright things, but I also didn’t want this place to feel so gloomy. He gave me permission to open the curtains of my room and I was pleased to see that I had a nice view of the garden.The garden was huge and led straight to the pool yard. Even at night, it was gorgeous and perfectly lit up with outdoor lighting. The pool water glistened under the illuminated lighting of the outdoor lights and the moonlight.I wondered if he ever used the pool. I also wondered who