A Plague on All Houses Read Free

appetite was back with a vengeance.
    We reached the front of the line. “What do you want, babe?” Matt grinned down at me, an endearingly cocky grin known to melt the panties off entire sororities. “My treat, to make up for your sucky T.A.”
    “Ooh, buffalo burger with double cheese. And onion rings.” I snuggled against him. He may not have been the smartest guy on campus, but Matt never failed to make me feel special.
    “No wonder you got sick, eating crap like that.”
    Oh, no.
    I turned around to see the douchebag himself behind us in line, as stellar good-looking as I remembered and doing as much for jeans and plain white cotton shirt as Matt did. Maybe even a little bit more. Had he been there the entire time I'd been bitching about what an asshat he was? I mean, could I be that clueless? Judging from his expression, the answer to both those questions was a big old yes.
    Ugh.
    Okay, so he'd heard me call him a douchebag. Obviously the only defense at this point was offense. Disengaging myself from Matt's arm, I crossed my arms and glared at him. “What the hell do you care about what I eat?”
    Gabriel smirked down at me from his superior height. “Not a hell of a lot, except for the fact you're wasting Professor Fraser's time by being sick and then coming in late.”
    “Ash, is this the douchebag?” Matt bristled behind me and I waved him back.
    “I'll handle this, Matt.” This was my war.
    “Are you for real?” I took a step towards Gabriel to show him he didn't intimidate me. “I mean, do you just wake up every morning and say, ‘Today I will be an asshole to the first innocent bystander that crosses my path’? Or did I, like, accidentally kill your puppy or something? ‘Cause I would really like to know.”
    “I just don't believe in being late or in abusing my body with carcinogens and other living creatures.”
    “Class hadn't even started yet.” My teeth were clenched so tight I was in danger of lockjaw.
    “That's not the point, now, is it? Class is supposed to start at eight a.m.. Professor Fraser is there to teach the students. You're not there to teach her. So the least you can do is show up on time, whether she's late or not.”
    “Gee, so I missed the sight of you fiddling with the projector. Damn. Guess I'll fail my midterm now.”
    Gabriel narrowed those gorgeous blue eyes. “Why are you even taking Professor Fraser's class anyway?”
    “It sounded interesting,” I shot back.
    “I bet you're a liberal studies major, aren't you?”
    “And that's supposed to mean what?”
    “That you don't know what you want to be when you grow up, so you're wasting the time of the majority of your college professors.” Gabriel followed this up with a look so condescending and superior, it was all I could do not to punch him in the face. The fact that he was right didn't help.
    Matt, on the other hand, felt no such compunction. Testosterone crackled in the air and before I knew what was happening, he stepped in front of me, straight-armed Gabriel with a hand to the chest and said, “Back off!”
    I'm not exactly sure what happened, it all happened so quickly, but next thing I knew there was yelling, Matt was on the ground, one arm twisted up behind him, and Gabriel's foot braced against his back.
    “You jerk !” Never mind that Matt had thrown the first, er, shove. I smacked Gabriel on the side of his head as hard as I could. His head whipped around and his expression very nearly got an ‘I'm sorry’ out of me. His pupils were dilated so they were more black than blue, and he honestly looked as though he'd kill me without a second thought. Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. I was just stubborn and hungry enough, however, to stand my ground. Low blood sugar is a great equalizer. “Let go of him now!”
    To my surprise and relief (although I'd never admit to the second), Gabriel slowly backed off, lifting his foot and releasing Matt's arm at the same time. He moved out of the way as Matt rolled