Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)(117)

“Anything to do with the university should be discussed with me.”

“Please don’t make me give up the one friend I have, apart from you.

Then I really will be isolated, since I can’t be with you all the time.”

Gabriel flinched. “Have you told him you’re seeing someone?”

Julia gulped. “No. I thought it was a secret.”

“Come on, Julianne. You’re smarter than that.” He sighed loudly. “Fine.

I’ll concede that you need a friend, but he needs to realize that you are no longer available. He’s far too invested as it is, and that could create a problem for us.”

“I’ll tell him I have a new boyfriend. We’re supposed to go to the museum in two weeks to see — ”

Gabriel growled into the phone. “No, you are not. I’ll take you.”

“In public? How can you?”

“Let me worry about that. So I suppose he’ll be carrying your books to class in a few minutes?” His tone became sarcastic.

“Please, Gabriel.”

He exhaled deeply into the phone. “All right. Let’s forget about this.

But I will have my eye on him. As for Friday, I’ll give you a key, or I’ll call the concierge and he will let you in.”

“Okay.”

“See you in a few minutes.”P

When Julia and Paul arrived at the seminar room, The Professor was already there. He glanced at them, scowled at Paul, and turned his attention to his lecture notes. However, he noticed with satisfaction that Julia was using her messenger bag. The thought pleased him a great deal.

The rest of the graduate students, including Christa, looked from Julia to The Professor and back again about three or four times. It was almost like watching a volley at Wimbledon.

Julia sat in her usual chair next to Paul and immediately adopted a deferential posture.

“Don’t be nervous. He’s been in a good mood all week. I don’t think he’ll bother you today.” Paul leaned in closely, far too closely, to whisper in her ear. “He must have gotten laid last weekend, more than once.”

Professor Emerson coughed loudly at the front of the room until Paul moved away from Julia.

For her part, Julia was flustered over Paul’s remark. She kept her head down, writing copious notes in her notebook. It was a good distraction, for it stopped her from thinking about Saturday morning and what Gabriel looked like under his clothes, wet from the shower, dropping a small, purple towel…

The Professor barely looked at her and never called on her to comment or to answer a question. In sum, the lecture was a colossal disappointment from an entertainment perspective and left more than one graduate student wanting. Christa, however, was delighted that the course of the universe had finally corrected itself and all was (almost) as it should be.

“You are all invited to the lecture I will be delivering on lust in Dante’s Inferno at Victoria College on Friday afternoon at three o’clock. I’ll see you next week. Class dismissed.” The Professor quickly packed up his things and exited the seminar room without so much as a backward glance.

Paul leaned over to Julia. “Can I walk you home? We could grab some Thai food on the way.”

“It would be nice for you to walk me home. But I’m probably going to work right through dinner. And there’s something I need to tell you…”

On Friday morning, Julia stood in the entrance to her rather small closet wondering what she should wear. She knew that Gabriel would not be pleased when he saw her sitting with Paul. She knew that she would be meeting Gabriel at his apartment later that evening and sleeping over. She had already packed her messenger bag in preparation for her visit.

She wanted to make a good impression. She wanted Gabriel to notice her amongst all the other women and think that she looked pretty, so for the first time that semester, Julia decided to dress up for school. She wore a black dress with black opaque stockings and knee-length, high-heeled, black leather boots that Rachel had persuaded her to buy a few years ago.

She wore simple jewelry — pearl stud earrings that had belonged to her Grandma Mitchell — and she wrapped a dark purple pashmina around her neck, fearful that her modest cle**age would turn out to be too much for a daytime lecture.

Julia and Paul were almost the first to arrive at the large lecture hall.

They quickly chose seats near the back, on the aisle, so as not to be too conspicuous. Faculty members usually took the best seats near the front, and graduate students would not dare to meddle with that convention.

As soon as Julia stepped into the room she felt his presence. A strange tension hummed between them, even at a distance. She felt his eyes on her too, and knew that he was staring. She knew that his stare would quickly morph into a scowl. A sly glance to the front of the room confirmed her suspicions. He was glaring at Paul as he placed a hand to her lower back, guiding her to their seats.

Gabriel gave Julia a quick half-smile as his eyes raked over her form, resting a beat too long on the heels of her boots. Turning away, he continued his conversation with one of the other professors.

Julia took a few moments to admire Gabriel’s appearance. He was breathtaking, as usual, dressed in a very handsome black Armani suit with a white French-cuffed shirt and a black silk tie. He was wearing his glasses and a pair of black dress shoes that, mercifully, were not pointy. Surprisingly, however, he wore a vest under his suit, and as his jacket was unbuttoned, Julia saw the fob of a gold watch dangling from one of the buttons of his vest, with the chain leading to a pocket.