Chapter 19

Tessa’s POV

I tried to catch myself on the bookshelf before I fully fell to the ground, but to no prevail. The most I did was accidentally scatter Christopher’s manuscripts all over the place.

I let out a small shriek, covering my face with my hands, expecting to hit the floor soon enough. But the impact never came.

When I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw Joseph standing over me with his arms around me.

Did he just catch me?

My entire body trembled. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the adrenaline from falling, or because I was so close to him, but for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

“What are you doing?” Joseph asked, breaking me from the small trance I was in.

This time, there was less patience in his tone.

He kept his hold on me for only a moment longer before setting me on the ground. My heart was still racing, as I looked up at the perimeter of the bookshelf. I fell a long way and he caught me so easily.

This was only deepening my suspicion of him.

I looked down at the manuscripts that surrounded the floor, frowning.

“I was looking at those,” I answered, peering back up at him.

“They are just old manuscripts,” Joseph said with his brows knitting together. “You shouldn’t have come in here without my permission.”

“I’m looking for answers and I want you to tell me the truth,” I said, trying to keep my voice under control.

I hated the feeling of being so frightened that it could be heard in my voice. I tried hard to keep that fear from shining through but with everything I knew about Joseph so far, I was afraid of the answers I sought.

“What kind of truth are you looking for?” Joseph asked, cocking his head to the side.

“About whom you really are,” I said to him.

“You don’t believe that I am Joseph Evergreen?”

I stared back down at the manuscripts.

“Are you somehow Christopher Moore?” I asked, my voice becoming slightly stronger as I poured my eyes into his.

“What makes you think that?” Joseph asked, a little amusement hidden in his tone.

“Your handwriting is the exact same,” I told him, holding up a piece of the manuscript that had fallen. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

“The manuscript was something I had copied from Christophers’ book,” he replied.

He was lying.

I knew he was lying because I’ve read every single one of Christopher Moore’s books and this one had a discrepancy between the manuscript and the published version that was released to the public. Not to mention there is also evidence of revisions in these manuscripts.

“These are signed copies,” was all I said.

“Do you honestly think I’ve been alive for over 200 years?” Joseph asked, raising his brows.

“I don’t know what to think,” I told him honestly. “Everything is just really weird. I saw you the night I was attacked. You stopped two motorcycles with your bare hands, and I saw a shard from that bike slice your neck…”

He pulled down the collar of his shirt for my viewing.

“There’s nothing there,” he said, releasing his collar.

“I can’t explain it, but you somehow healed yourself,” I said to him, narrowing my eyes. I was done having him make me feel like I’m crazy. I was sick of him acting like he was a normal professor.

He was keeping a secret and I was determined to find out what it was. He had to be the reason those gang members died. He had to be the reason behind a lot of the mysterious things that have been happening around our town.

Before he was able to say anything more, I spoke again.

“The morning after we had sex…I woke up with bite marks on my neck,” I told him.

He said nothing.

“But the bite healed within the day. However, it was the same marks on other victims, those who were found dead in our town recently.”

“You can’t prove that I did anything to you,” Joseph said through his teeth.

“You’re right. I can’t prove it. But I know what I saw, Joseph. All the signs have been here this whole time. You are incredibly stealthy and fast, not to mention crazy strong. The bite marks… the fact that you clearly don’t like sunlight,” I said, waving my hands around his dark study.

“Why are you so pressed about this?” Joseph asked. He narrowed his dark eyes at me, and I felt a chill creeping down my spine, making my body tremble. “Why are you asking questions you don’t want the answers to? Why can’t you just leave shit alone?”

“Because if you’re dangerous then somebody needs to stop you,” I said to him, trying my best to sound intimidating, but it came out in a small-sounding voice.

“Are you going to stop me, Tessa?” Joseph asked. “If you think I’m so dangerous, what exactly do you plan on doing?”

“I’ll call the police,” I replied. “Although you seem to have connections so I’m not sure what good that’ll do…” my voice betrayed me toward the end as I was consumed with dread. I lowered my gaze, trying to keep the tears from spilling from my eyes. “The most painful thing is the possibility that my idol, a writer I had admired for so long, is a murderer.”

Joseph’s body had visibly tensed, and he stared at me almost dumbfounded for a moment.

“Murderer?” He asked, “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Those hooligans that had attacked me were found dead with those bike marks on their necks. The police had me go to the station for questioning and they showed me the pictures. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen. I know you were there that night…”

He stared at me for a long while, his dark eyes searching my face almost curiously. He no longer looked angry, just perplexed with what I had just said. However, he was still incredibly hard to read. I couldn’t tell if I had hurt his feelings or not.

He was quiet and he stayed that way for a little longer.

Knock Knock!

“Tessa, are you still in the bathroom? I need to use it! Hurry up!”

I recognized Morgan’s voice outside the bathroom door. For a moment I had forgotten I told everyone I was using the bathroom.

It made me wonder what Joseph told everyone what he was doing.

Hearing her knocking on the bathroom door snapped my mind back to reality and I went toward the bathroom just before Joseph grabbed onto my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

I stared up at him with a pounding heart and palms that were growing sweatier at that moment.

“If you’re not too scared, you can stay here tonight a little longer, and we can talk.”