Time Out of Mind: Cora's Bond Vampire Series #3 by V. M. Black

Author:V. M. Black [Black, V. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swift River Media Group
Published: 2014-11-18T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Here you go,” I said, serving out two huge bowls of the gussied-up ramen noodles I’d made with egg, precooked chicken breast, green onions, mushrooms, and, of course, Sriracha. It was Monday evening, and as hard as it had been to leave Dorian after a long and, as always, mind-blowing weekend in his mansion, I’d decided that I could manage to stay on campus until Wednesday, after all.

My desire to avoid the lab and whatever blame I might catch there for something I hadn’t done had nothing to do with it, I told myself. Nothing at all.

Lisette unfolded from the couch and took her bowl and spoon from the counter. Clarissa was out—where, I didn’t know, because she’d just muttered something vague before disappearing—and Chelsea and Christina were off with a group project. It was nice to be alone in the dorm with my best friend. Clarissa’s cheerfully psychopathic presence had been especially exhausting over the past week.

I wasn’t sure whether it was empathy for me after I’d told Lisette of Jean and Hattie’s deaths, something Clarissa had done, or the fact that I was staying on a Monday when I’d already told Lisette that I’d be spending Monday evenings with Dorian, but whatever the cause, I was grateful for Lisette’s good mood. She was behaving as if we had never had that fight two weeks ago, and I was perfectly willing to play along.

“Thanks,” Lisette said, returning to the sofa.

“No problem.” I circled the peninsula and joined her, blowing across the top of my bowl of soup.

Closing on my Gramma’s house was in three weeks, just after my birthday, and I’d already deposited the earnest money and used it to pay my overdue rent, cover the textbooks and car insurance I’d put on credit, and make good on my grocery debt to Lisette.

With my work-study program gone—at first, because I’d been too sick, and now that Gramma’s estate was out of probate, because my assets were too large—I’d need the rest of the money soon. I still had fifteen hundred dollars in medical bills, and I had rent to make for the rest of the semester, too.

Sipping the soup with one leg curled under me, I idly considered asking Dorian to formalize my role in his lab by asking him to hire me as a tech. But I wasn’t sure if that would seem like more or less nepotism in the eyes of the other staff.

Lisette made a face at me. “You’re awfully quiet.”

I laughed. “I’ve been quiet for four years, and you’re just now noticing?”

“You’re mooning, aren’t you? Practicing your name over and over in your mind. Cora Ann Thorne. Cora Shaw Thorne. Cora Ann Shaw Thorne. Cora Ann Shaw-hyphen-Thorne. Mrs. Cora Thorne. Mrs. Dorian Thorne—”

“Oh, please,” I said. “I’m just thinking about how nice it’ll be to get out of debt.”

She pointed an accusing finger at me. “Aha! You are a gold digger.”

“Because Gramma’s house is selling, you twit,” I said, pretending to threaten her with my spoon.

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