Chapter 160

Tessa’s POV

Ruby screamed as I fell to the ground. I felt blood oozing from my nose. I was so shocked that I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.

That is until Liz jumped on top of me and punched me again on the other side of my face.

“I saw you try to steal her bag you stupid slutty thief!” Liz hissed. “I’ll teach you what happens when you take what doesn’t belong to you!”

Liz swung and punched me again. I was frozen; I had never gotten into a fight before. I wasn’t a fighter. I clenched my fists, about to finally fight back when I heard Ruby’s voice.

“Get the hell off her!” Ruby yelled, jumping at Liz and knocking her to the ground.

Amanda ran over to Ruby and kicked her in the stomach to get her off Liz. Liz’s hair was now a complete mess as Ruby yanked it out of its ponytail holder.

Amanda punched Ruby in the head, and Ruby went rolling off Liz from the impact. Amanda immediately kicked Ruby again as hard as she could in the stomach making Ruby vomit on the ground.

“You fucking bitch!” Liz growled. “It took me forever to do my hair.”

“Should have thought about that before you punched my friend,” Ruby moaned, clutching her stomach and trying not to roll over into her vomit.

Liz lunged at her about to swing again when a firm hand grasped her wrist and pulled her to her feet with force. She gasped at the contact and spun her body around to see who was standing before her.

My vision had gone blurry because she had punched me in the eye. I squinted at the tall figure standing in front of Liz, but I couldn’t see him clearly. My entire face felt like it was swelling with each passing moment.

“P…professor…” Liz stammered.

Amanda soon straightened her body as well and faced the man in front of them.

“Hello, Professor,” she said through an obvious clenched jaw.

“Fighting on school property is grounds for expulsion,” the man, whom I soon knew with certainty was Joseph, said. “I know your parents paid quite a bit of money for you to attend this academy, it would be a shame if their money went to waste.”

“It could ruin our futures,” Amanda said in a hoarse whisper.

Before Joseph could say anything more, a couple of security officers finally showed up. They looked breathless and confused. They looked at Amanda and Liz before looking down at me and then at Ruby.

“What happened here?” One of them asked.

“Nothing would have happened if either of you were doing your jobs,” Joseph said in a low and threatening tone.

“I apologize…” one of them stammered. “We had no idea—”

“No, you didn’t,” Joseph interrupted him, not wanting to hear their excuses.

“Those girls need to get to the nurse’s office,” Joseph said, gesturing to Ruby and me.

“Right away,” they both said at the same time.

One of the security officers wrapped his arms around Ruby and lifted her off the ground. She groaned in pain and misery from the movement. She clutched her stomach and whimpered against the officer.

He tried to reassure her that everything was going to be okay as he walked her toward the nurse’s office. Thankfully, her office was in the same building as the gym, so they didn’t have to go far.

The other guard went to pick me up, but a low growl escaped from Joseph as the guard bent to lift me.

“Don’t touch her,” Joseph quipped, making the guard freeze.I was surprised by this, as was everyone else.

“Sir?” The officer asked, confused.

“I’ll take her myself,” Joseph further explained. “Get this mess cleaned up and call the dean.”

He motioned for the vomit.

The officer’s face paled, but he didn’t argue. He went to find supplies to clean the floor with.

“Please don’t call the dean,” Amanda pleaded. “We will get in trouble.”

“Should have thought about that sooner,” Joseph said, narrowing his eyes at her. “As for what you ladies saw in my classroom, forget about it.”

He looked between the two of them, both their bodies tensing as they gazed into his eyes. I knew he was using his abilities on them.

“You will forget about what you saw Tessa and me doing, understood?”

‘Yes professor,” they both said at the same time.

He then focused on Amanda.

“Take your phone out and delete the photo,” he ordered, still using his abilities.

Without hesitation, she bent to pick up her bag; she then proceeded to take out her phone and within a couple of seconds, I heard the whooshing sound of something being deleted.

“It’s deleted,” she said, showing him the phone.

“Good,” he said, sounding uninterest. “Now remain here until the dean arrives. She will deal with you.”

He turned and without saying anything, lifted me off the ground and cradled me in his arms bridal style.

I leaned my head against his chest, basking in his warmth and loving his scent. He was like a warm campfire. I wanted to thank him for helping us, but I had no energy. I just leaned against him, making him hold me tighter like he never wanted to let me go.

By the time we got to the nurse’s office, Ruby was already lying in one of the beds. She was still holding her stomach and groaning in pain.

The security stood by the door until we arrived and then he turned to Joseph like he was waiting for another order as if Joseph was his superior.

“Stay with the girls in the gym,” he ordered. “At least until the dean arrives.”

“Oh, God. You got hurt too, Tessa,” the nurse said with a worried frown. “Lay her down on the bed,” she then ordered Joseph.

Joseph went toward an empty bed next to Ruby’s and gently placed me down. I looked up at him; he looked so tired and so worried. He ran his fingers down the side of my face, brushing a strand of fallen hair out of my features and behind my ear. His touch sent a warmth throughout my body and I found myself closing my eyes and leaning into his touch.

But as soon as it began, it ended. He pulled his hand away, reluctantly, and I opened my eyes to stare into his hungry gaze.“Thank you…” I said to him softly.

He nodded his head once and stepped away from the bed.

“Take care of them,” he told the nurse, finally taking his eyes off me to look at her. She looked surprised, but she nodded.

“Of course,” she responded.

He looked at me one last time before glancing at Ruby to see if she was okay. She was still in a lot of pain.

He soon turned and left the nurse’s office, leaving only the ghost of himself. I sighed and laid my head on the pillow, feeling this incredible emptiness inside of my chest.

The nurse was in front of me moments later with a small light that beamed into my eyes to look at my pupils.

“Are you able to see?”

“It’s a little blurry,” I admitted. “But I can see better than I could a few minutes ago.”

“Good,” she breathed. “It doesn’t look like anything is damaged in her eyes.”

“She touched my nose and wiggled it slightly; it was incredibly uncomfortable. It had finally stopped bleeding and I worried it would start bleeding all over again.

“Does that hurt?” She asked.

“A little,” I admitted. “But not much. Just uncomfortable.”

“It doesn’t seem broken,” she said, pulling away from me. “I’ll give you some ice for the swelling and some medicine for the pain. I’m thinking you’ll be fine.”

“I figured,” I told her.

She then went over to Ruby and did the same tests.

“Lift your shirt for me,” the nurse instructed her.Ruby did so, and I couldn’t help but gasp. She had a large purple bruise on the side of her body where Amanda had kicked her twice.

“Oh, Ruby…” I breathed.

“I’m going to do an ultrasound to make sure there’s no internal bleeding,” the nurse said, walking toward the back of the office where she kept the machinery.

“That looks so painful,” I breathed.

“It looks worse than it is,” she said, trying to brush it off.

I didn’t believe that for a second though.

The nurse returned moments later with a small handheld device and a little monitor. It was the smallest ultrasound machine I had ever seen, and I was quite impressed with how it worked.

She ran the device across the bruise, and she stared at the screen with an intense frown. Her face was unreadable, and my stomach clenched.

The nurse finally put the device aside.

“Good news is, no internal bleeding,” she said with a fond smile. “Bad news is your ribs are cracked.”

“You got all that from an ultrasound machine?” I gasped.

She looked at me and smiled.

“It’s a very powerful machine,” she replied.

“What do I do?” Ruby asked, wincing as she struggled to sit up.

“You just need to rest and drink plenty of fluids,” the nurse instructed. “Try to take it easy. It should heal on its own in a few weeks.”

“That’s a relief,” Ruby said, lowering her shirt.

“And apply heat and cold compresses,” she instructed. “it’ll help with the swelling.”

She grabbed a couple of heat and cold compresses and handed them to us. Then she gave us some medicine to stop the pain and prescribed more medicine.

“Now go home and rest,” she ordered. “And try not to get into any more fights.”

“Yes, mam,” we both said at the same.

We slid off the beds, Ruby struggled a bit more than I did. I rushed to her side and wrapped an arm around her.

“Come on. I’ll take you to my place and you can rest there for a few days,” I assured her.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Of course,” I told her, smiling at her. “It’s time I took care of you for once.”

She smiled gratefully at me.

I helped Ruby into the passenger seat of her car, and she handed me her car keys as I slid into the driver’s seat.

It took us only a minute to reach my apartment. I had never been happier to be home in my entire life.

I helped Ruby out of the car, and we slowly made our way upstairs. Once we reached my floor, we made our way down the wide hallway and toward my apartment door. It was only a few doors down, but I froze when I noticed something was off.

“Is your door open?” Ruby asked, noticing the same thing.

I furrowed my brows together.

From a distance, it did look open.

“Were you expecting someone?” She asked.

“No…” I said, fixing my eyes on the door as we got closer. “

“Holy Hell… someone must have broken in,” Ruby said panicked.

That’s what I was afraid of.

But why?

What could they be looking for?

I reached my door, and I pushed it the rest of the way open; I was dreading walking inside.

Once we were inside the apartment, my eyes couldn’t process what they were seeing at first. He stood tall in the middle of the living room and his back was facing us.

I couldn’t believe it.

“I’m calling the police!” Ruby shouted as she struggled to get her phone out of her bag.

Then he turned around and met my eyes, making me gasp and step backward.

It really was him.

“It’s nice to see you again, Tessa,” he said simply.

I let out a sigh.

“Carter?”