The look

Ashton’s POV

I sat on the loveseat on the far side of the art gallery while Sheryl sat in front of her canvas. She had this perplexed look in her eyes as she fixated her gaze on her painting. I had given her some old clothes so

she wouldn’t get paint all over her outfit, along with an apron. Her tongue was out slightly, touching the top of her lip, as she often did while concentrating. I had

taken note of that while watching her. She bit onto her bottom lip slightly, tugging at it between her

teeth. I watched as it grew red and swollen from the intensity of her bite and I wondered at what point she would release it. She had paint smeared on her features as she splattered the brush across the canvas.

It’s been a couple of hours since we began the painting; she had to have been almost done by now. “What happened to you wanting to reject her?” Max asked with a little humor in his voice.

It was true that I was planning on going to the academy to reject her, but as I got close to the packh