Consider Me

Chapter Twenty Two: Lucas

It took a lot of strength to not march over to the campus garden and have my word with Anthony. I dropped Lily home without wasting another minute and drove back to the campus to see what my golden boy brother was doing on a weekend at the school grounds with a professor nonetheless.

A professor? Really?

Is he crazy? What if someone saw him? There will be a whole lot of drama involving them. All bad. 

I rushed over the speed limit and drove inside the city to the building my brothers share. It's a residential building that my family owns. One apartment here costs two kidneys and one liver. 

My brothers stays on the top two floors. Cal at the penthouse suit and Anthony a floor below him in the VIP section. No one except them or our family has access to their floors. I quickly park my car outside their building, toss the keys to security guard Jameson on the way, and march over to the middle elevator that opens to their floor. There are two more elevators on either side for other residents. 

I tap the building access card my brother gave me and watch as the light above the elevator turns red followed by a bell before the door opens. 

The modern gray elevator is slick and surrounded by mirrors. I am so into my head I don't even spare the time to turn and take a moment to look at myself. Usually, I would run a hand over my hair, try a messy look, and pose but right now, all I can think about is my brother and that mystery professor. Who even is she? I don't think I've seen her.

It doesn't make sense that I don't know her. I know everyone at Hawthorne High. It's a big university that provides education at all levels. PHDs, Diploma, Bachelors, Masters, high school. 

There's nothing that this university doesn't cater to. I am aware of everything that happens around the campus. Not only as a student but as a Hawthorne. Cal might look after the management, but the fieldwork, the teachers, professors, students, I know them in and out. There's not a chance I would miss anyone.

Either that mystery professor is a new admission or I got way too involved in Lily to spend time on other matters. 

The elevator door opens with a ring and I see the floor number shining above me. Thirty-four. I make my way down the hush of the silent hallway. Marble flooring, white-washed walls, two windows at the end show me the city and the afternoon sun that is getting close to sunset hours. 

There's no other rooms here. Just one door in the middle with a silver doorknob and a vase on the left with artificial banana leaves. When I asked Anthony why he put a vase outside his apartment, all I got from him was, that it gives a pop of color to a rather dull silver hallway. 

I can't argue with his logic. Without the fake plant, the corridor sure looks like a mental facility. 

I knock twice at the door, willing myself to not pounce my brother or else he won't tell me. Anthony is secretive about his life. He can't keep others secret but when it comes to his own life, that bastard sure has a tight lip. I wonder if Cal knows about this. 

The door opens before I can think more on the fact and I am speechless as a tiny female answers the door. She reaches to my shoulder, warm brown eyes looking at me in scary fascination. Interesting. 

Her hair is mid-length and wavy. Exactly like that female professor at the garden. Only this time she didn't had it in a bun. It's open and thank Christ, not messy. I would've died if I found a little semblance of sex hair. I don't want to look at a woman who my brother fucks and is apparently happened to be a teacher.

The entire thing is forbidden.

Her clothes tell me they weren't in the middle of bedroom Olympics. It's the same as before. Maroon trousers and black blouse, well except without the Hawthorne ID badge. God, the stupid ID that Lily saw.