THE GUARD DOGS (OT7)

⛓Ch. 2: Tattoos

"You may pack your things since class will be dismissed in a couple of minutes." Professor Lynn smiles as I place my notebook, pen, and Anatomy textbook into my bag.

"Oh! One more thing." She announces as we all stand and get ready to leave, "I will be pairing you each with one other person who you will meet to study with at specific times, do presentations with, and do lab work with." She glances at all of the tables around the room once before speaking, "Okay, we have an equal number so whoever you are sitting with is your partner. That is who you will work with inside and outside class with."

I awkwardly fidget with the last heart button on my sweater as I slowly glance to the man next to me who's asleep.

I'm going to shove my foot so far up his ass if he doesn't carry his side of things!

The teacher notices us as everyone's busy walking out of the door and I give her a smile before waving her off, mentally saying to her I got it! as I lean down and tap the ginger's shoulder.

A low growl starts to escape his throat and I look around, hoping that it's not just me hearing weird things. I shrug it off because I don't have time for bullshit and walk around the outside of the long table until I reach the left end and I crouch down next to him in hopes he'll notice me. I tap him once more and the same low growl leaves his lips that makes my stomach drop but suddenly his dark eyes snap open. He stares at me for a moment as I start getting hot, feeling rather awkward with this whole encounter.

"Sorry... " I stand back up and he raises a brow at me as he sits up and notices that the rest of the class is gone, including the professor, "Class just ended but you weren't waking up and you also missed something important." I rub the back of my neck nervously as it seems what I had just said isn't peaking his interest.

"Okay." His deep, raspy voice mumbles out, "What'd I miss?" He grabs his black bag that doesn't even seem to have anything more than a pencil in it and stands, towering over me by at least a full foot, "What's so important, Sweetheart? Spit it out."

I take a deep breath in as he tries to intimidate me and I grip the handle of my bag harder so that I don't snap at this dude.

I let out a playful chuckle and smile up at the annoying man, "We were assigned partners for stuff like group work, at home studying, presentations, and lab work. We're partners, just so you know!" I continue to smile through my gritted teeth.

"Couldn't get enough of me, hm?" He smirks, taunting me, "Jumped at the chance to pick me as your partner while I was asleep?" He brushes a fly away hair out of my face, pushing it behind my ear.

I swallow hard as I keep up my composure and smile, "Actually, the pro- "

"Save it, sweets. You're my partner - got it." He walks past me as two very tall men walk up to the doorway and wave to him.

"Hey- " I call after him, walking up to him as the two other men watch us, "Please just pull your weight in the assignments and whatnot because I have a lot going on and can't afford to fail because of my partner." I throw him a refreshing smile full of perfect straight white teeth but he still doesn't budge.

As soon as he turns and opens his mouth I can feel the regret pooling in my stomach from speaking up.

He crosses his arms and scoffs, "Okay, well since it's so important that I pull my weight then I'll have to rely on my trusty study partner to catch me up on what I missed while sleeping today." He grabs a piece of paper sitting on an empty table by him and pulls out a pencil from his bag, scribbling something down in annoyance.

"What- "

"Here, " He shoves the paper to me, "is my number. Text me your address, I'll be over tomorrow in the evening." He begins to turn and head for the door.