Chapter 204

Tessa’s POV

Excitement and nerves slammed into my chest at Ruby’s words.

With trembling hands, I went to the school website and logged into my account. There was an email on the account that read: Final Grades. Everything in my entire body was screaming at me and I was terrified to open the email.

What if I didn’t graduate?

“Tess, you still there?” Ruby asked on the other end.

I put my phone back to my cheek.

“Yeah, can I call you back?” I asked her.

“Of course,” she said gleefully. “I wanted to call Carter anyway,” she added with a chuckle.

I furrowed my brows together, making a mental note to talk to Carter about his intentions with my best friend. I know he’s around here somewhere.

“You two are getting pretty serious, huh?” I found myself asking.

“I’m honestly not too sure what we are doing,” she breathed. I could hear a hint of sadness in her tone, and it tugged at my heart. “He’s very secretive. Has he always been like that?”

“It’s just who he is,” I told her. “It takes a lot for him to open up. He’s been hurt in the past.”

I was just making up stories at this point and I felt awful for doing that. But Ruby couldn’t know the truth; she couldn’t know that Carter was actually a vampire. This world was too dangerous for her.

Then again, it was dangerous for me too.

“I get that…” she said slowly. “I just hope he’ll trust me enough to let me in at some point.”

“I’m sure he will,” I told her softly.

The door to the house opened and Joseph stepped outside, staring at me curiously and a bit worriedly.

“Okay, Ruby. I’ll call you later,” I told her.

“Okay,” she said in return. “Let me know the results!!”

On that note, I hung up and turned to Joseph.

“Everything okay?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Apparently our grades are in,” I said, biting my lower lip. “A lot faster than I thought.”

“Yeah, professors tried to grade them as fast as they could so we could spend this week preparing for graduation,” Joseph explained. “Our deadline for submitting grades was this morning. I had mine done yesterday.”

“I’m nervous,” I admitted, staring at my unopened email.

“I’m here,” Joseph said with a fond smile. “No matter what.”

My heart swelled from his words and a smile tugged at my lips. I nodded, taking a deep breath and opening the email.

As I scanned the email, I scrolled down until my grades were showing.

“Oh, my god,” I breathed as I stared at all my grades laid out in front of me.

“What is it?” Joseph asked, trying to peer at my phone so he could look as well.

I handed the phone to him.

“I got all A’s,” I gasped. “I passed!!!”

“Tessa that’s amazing!” Joseph said as he wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me off the ground.

I laughed as he spun me around.

“I can’t believe I got straight A’s,” I cried, tears falling out of my eyes before I could even stop them.

“I can,” Joseph said as he placed me back on the ground. “You earned every A.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually graduating college,” I said, a smile permanent on my lips.

“I’m so unbelievably proud of you,” Joseph said, grabbing my arm and pulling me into his hug.

I lifted my gaze to meet his and stood on my toes so I could press my lips against his. He deepened the kiss automatically and I felt in total bliss. This was what happiness was and I loved every moment of it.

“What’s going on?” Anna asked, poking her head out of the house. “Everything okay?”

“I got my grades back,” I told her breathlessly. “I’m graduating!”

“Oh, Tessa. That’s amazing! We must celebrate! How about we have a fire tonight.”

My face paled at the mention of fire and memories of the fire I started during that spell came flooding back into my mind. Realizing this, Anna chuckled.

“Not a magic-induced fire,” she corrected. “As long as you don’t do any spells, it’ll be fine.”

I forced a smile and I nodded.

“That sounds great,” I told her, not wanting to disappoint her. She seemed excited about this idea.

“We can go to the mountainside beach and have a bonfire,” she said with a fond smile. “I’ll cook food for the event too. Meet me there in a couple of hours!”

With those words left in the air she ran back into her house, slamming the door behind her.

I frowned up at Joseph and he only winked at me as he took my hand and pulled me along with him.

“Where are we going?” I asked, curiously.

“I want to get you alone,” he answered, a bit of humor in his tone.

From his words alone my body responded. Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I was suddenly very eager to get back to his house. But just as we reached the door, his name was called, and we both froze.

“Joseph!”

We turned to see Carter walking in our direction.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, looking between the two of us.

“Then why are you?” Joseph asked, furrowing his brows together.

“One of my warriors fell ill,” he said, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face. “ I need to run into town to get him medication. Was wondering if you could step in for patrolling the North borders for an hour.”

Joseph sighed, but I knew he wasn’t going to say no. So, I released hold of his hand.

“Alright,” Joseph agreed.

He turned to face me.

“Will you be okay alone for an hour? You can hang out in the house and wait for me to return,” he said softly, meeting my eyes.

I wanted to tell him I didn’t want to stay in the house like a waiting dog, but Carter spoke first.

“She can always come with me,” he said, shrugging. “If she doesn’t want to hang out alone.”

“I like that option better,” I said quickly.

Joseph raised his brows, but he nodded.

“Okay,” he said, leaning in to kiss me.

I pressed my lips against his and basked in his incredible scent and warmth.

After we pulled apart, we said our goodbyes and parted ways, leaving Carter and me alone. I followed Carter through the forest until we reached the outskirts of the village where the small parking lot sat. In the lot were a few different cars, one of which I recognized as Joseph’s.

Carter went toward a red Lamborghini and opened the driver’s door.

“This is your car?” I asked, raising my brows as I slid into the passenger’s seat.

“One of them,” Carter said shrugging.

It was brought to my attention that I really didn’t know much about Carter. How rich was he that he could afford more than one car?

Or maybe he had some kind of ability that manipulated minds like Joseph did.

Either way, I really wasn’t sure.

“So, we are getting medicine?” I asked, peering over at him as he fixed his attention on the road before us.

“Yes,” he said slowly. Something about his tone made me think there was much more to this story, so I continued to stare at him until he caved and told me the truth. “Okay… maybe not medicine.”

“Then what are we getting?” I asked, raising my brows.

“It’s an antidote,” he said sheepishly. “My idiot warrior consumed a poisonous plant. He’s on bed rest right now and the doctor said he won’t live until the end of the night unless he has the antidote.”

“And where exactly is this antidote?” I asked, raising my brows.

He was quiet for a moment, and I saw a little redness appearing around his neck. He was embarrassed about something, and it only made me that much more curious.

“Carter,” I prompted, arching my brow. “Where are we going?”

He sighed and then he swallowed; his Adam’s apple bobbing as he did so.

“I might have invited you for a reason…” he breathed, his knuckles growing white as he clutched the steering wheel.

My entire heart fell deep into my stomach as I stared at him; my mouth was now agape, and worry began to consume me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice coming out much softer than I intended.

“The only place that has a cure is Esmerald’s Glitter,” he said slowly. “Which is a shop run by Esmeralda…”

“Okay…?” I urged.

He sighed.

“It’s a witchery shop,” he continued, causing my entire body to freeze. “And Esmeralda….”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence; I knew where he was going with this, and I knew exactly why he was bringing me. He was trying to keep the peace because Esmeralda was a witch.

And witches hate vampires.