Free Vengeful Heart: Fighting Heart Erotic Bad Boy Romance Series Book 3 by Nicole Hamilton Page B

reason you’re doing all this is because you think it will get you into bed with Brandon Lynes? Am I right?”
    Penny went red and incandescent with rage.
    “Thought so,” I said, giving all the students in the audience something new to talk about for at least a week. And this time it involved the gossip queen herself. The stand-in lecturer flustered behind us, half-heartedly trying to shut me up. But it was too little, too late. I walked back to the door.
    “I’ll read the notes,” I said by way of apology.
    I walked outside, and Amanda poked her head into the corridor after me. I could already hear the buzz of the rumour mill starting up behind us.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To find Professor Ridgley.”
    “Why?”
    I honestly wasn’t sure. Not then.  Maybe he owed me an apology. Maybe I owed him one. But whichever way I cut it, there was unfinished business between us. Even if he wasn’t in the building, I was determined to find him.
    “Because I want to, Amanda. Now, are you going to try and stop me? Or are you going to follow me?”
    “What’s your preference?” she said.
    “Neither. My preference is both of us acting like adults.”
    “Off you go then. I can’t stop you if you run off without me, can I?”
    “No you can’t,” I said. I started walking.
    “Ash,” she said. I looked back.
    “Way to go. That girl deserved every word.”
    “Yeah, I thought you’d like that part. See you later.”
    I walked into the stream of students and headed for the English corridor, hoping my Professor was still on site. The chances were slim. As I walked up the stairs towards the corridor I passed Dean Mayhew who was skipping down the steps pretending he was young, spritely and cool. If you looked at his face, you might have even believed it. Spend ten minutes in his company, however and you knew it was all fake.
    “Ashley,” I saw him hesitate mid-skip, and my heart lurched, ready to plummet if he called me for a serious chat. But hesitation was all that happened. I think he changed his mind. “I’ll see you soon enough,” he said, and skipped on.
    “Fine,” I said, with as much nonchalance as I could muster, then I bounded up the rest of the old stairwell aiming for my destination.
     
    The corridor had settled down into seminar groups for those who had their lectures early, poor souls. Students with nine am lectures must be pitied, for the hour of nine is usually reserved for nursing hangovers. I was glad the lecturer’s offices were all bolted shut, as it meant I didn’t have to face any inquiries or gossip-monger eyeballs.  Two girls out in the hall discussing some boyfriend jerk or other. They were young. If I had the time to spare I would have told them that boyfriends and jerks are one and the same thing, and that it went with the territory. But I did not have time. I breezed past them in the paper cluttered corridor and made for Ridgley’s door, a place I had been fantasising about for days. The frosted glass on his door was too light and too airy I could already tell that no one was home, but I knocked anyway. Ridgley didn’t magically appear on my third knock, and now I was left floundering. How was I going to find him? No college staff would ever give me his address. I was struggling to think of a way when Professor Cantor’s door opened two doors down, and a downcast Professor Ridgley emerged. He was talking to Cantor who was out of sight, still ensconced in his office.
    “Yes, yes I know. Of course. It can’t get any worse now, can it? See you later, Bill,” said Ridgley.
    He hadn’t seen me yet. My body was reacting like someone had just plunged a Hollywood sized injection of adrenaline straight into my heart. My nervous system going crazy, and suddenly I was in desperate teenager mode again.
    “Professor,” I said, hearing the strange twang in my voice.
    Ridgley looked at me and took some darting looks down the corridor. He looked at the two talking girls then beckoned me