The Bloodhound

A Shitty Day

Connor growled as he walked toward the dean’s office. Back in his hometown, he was now an instructor in psychology and forensics at the University. That, along with his part-time job at the sheriff’s office and helping his father with pack matters was going to take up all of his time. He already missed the big city and all the excitement. As a former agent with a PHD in psychology, he was living the dream in Atlanta, that is, until a cute little agent with big t**s and an ass that wouldn’t quit muddled his reasoning. He was in love but she was crazy. How was he to know  the woman was a psycho, and her father would make her life a living hell?

“Damn women,” he thought to himself as he knocked on the dean’s door, ”Nothing but trouble. Too bad he liked trouble. 

“Come in,” a gruff voice answered.

“Dean Jones ,you wanted to see me?” Connor strode in with his confident air.

“Yes, Mr. Evans ,have a seat.”

Connor planted himself in the chair opposite the dean, leaning back in a confident manner.

“Uh, hum,” the dean cleared his throat, “I trust you have settled into your new office ,and have everything you need?”

“Yes, sir,” Connor pulled on his tie ,itching to get out of the stuffy room.

“Ok, then, I’ll get right to the point,”

Here it comes.

“This university prides itself in acting in a professional manner.” The dean looked over his glasses ,staring Connor in the eye. ”We have one of the premier forensics programs in the country, with all we can offer our students.”

Connor sat up in his chair. He was not going to be intimidated by this man. Whatever he may be, he was not a wimp, or a coward.” Just get to the point ,Dean Richards,” he glared.

“Um, well, I read your file, and I just wanted to make sure you know the rules about fraternizing with the students.”

There it is. How did he know that was coming.

“Yes sir ,”he rolled his eyes. “I know they are hands off,”  he held his own hands in the air.

“You can trust that I won’t touch a hair on any student of mine’s pretty little head .Besides, I like my women a little closer to my age,” he winked ,”Not little girls in training bras who haven’t gotten over their high school crushes. Besides, this is a small town, with smaller minded people ,not really my cup of tea, so to speak.”

“Mr. Evans, Knoxville may not be as large as Atlanta, but I can assure you most of our citizens are well rounded, open-minded people .Just stick to your job, and stay out of trouble, that is all the University asks. Besides your “Little incident,” he put his fingers up in quotations, “Your record is impeccable ,thus we are honored to have such an esteemed colleague as yourself. That is all.”

“Thank you sir,” he stormed out of the office, already late for his first class.

Jensen wandered down the halls of the University in awe, trying to find her first class. Her family had begged her not to wear her ugly glasses, or brown contacts, but she ignored them. Even though she most likely wouldn’t run into anyone she knew,t his was her comfort zone. They did however, convince her to keep her pretty hair down, although she pulled it through the back of her baseball cap.

Forensic Psychology ,room 310, her syllabus read. Lugging her heavy book bag over her shoulder, she continued down the hall. “Finally,” she heaved a sigh of relief. The name on the door read, Dr. Connor Evans. Jensen stepped in the room, peering through her lashes. She was early. The class didn’t start for another thirty five minutes ,so luckily Jensen had her pick of places to sit.

She chose a desk in the back ,in the right hand corner, hoping no one else would want to hide, like her ,but she was wrong. A tall, lanky boy, about six foot two, with curly blonde hair bounced back to where she was, and sat down beside her. 

“Marvelous,” she thought to herself. Though she didn’t  sense any bad vibes coming from the young man who appeared to be the same age as her;Jensen just wanted to be left alone. It was nerve-racking enough to be on a huge campus on her first day ,now she was probably going to have to talk to this guy.

“Hey,” his soft masculine voice greeted her.

“Hi,” she darted her eyes toward him, then stared down at her desk hoping he would leave it at that. No such luck.

“Are you as nervous as I am?” he asked.

Jensen sat there a minute before answering him.

“Yea,” she shook her head ,still looking forward.

Through her periphery she could sense the guy staring at her.

“I’m Chad,” he reached over and held out his hand. When she refused to take it, he chuckled .”Oh come on, I don’t bite. I’m not from here, I am just trying to make new friends that’s all.”

“Jensy.” she reluctantly shook his hand.

“Well, nice to meet you

Jensy,” he gave her a dazzling smile. “I don’t have many friends.”

“Me either.” they both took out their computers and notebooks, setting up for class when he turned to her.

“I want to join the FBI, how about you?”

“That’s my goal,” she managed a small grin. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad. He wasn’t threatening, just goofy, kind of like her brother. 

“Let me guess,”  he leaned over, whispering in her ear, ”You want to be a profiler like me. You want to catch serial killers.”

Now he had her attention.

“Yes,” she finally broke into a genuine smile, though most people would find it odd that the mention of serial murderers would put a smile on anyone’s face.

“Oh f**k, me too,” he grinned widely. ”Which one’s are your favorite.

They engaged in a conversation about which killers fascinated them, and why. Chad’s favorite was the Green River killer, Gary Ridgeway ,who was convicted of forty nine murders, but thought

to kill at least seventy or more .He got his name ,from the press, after his first five victims were found in the Green River, in Washington state.

Jensen’s  obsession was Ted Bundy, the charismatic serial murderer who fooled law enforcement for years as he left a swath of victims from Washington State to Florida, where he was finally arrested and charged with the murders and beatings of several college coeds from The University of Florida in Gainesville. One of things that fascinated her the most was how quickly he had subdued and killed his victims. It was reported that during his m******e in the sorority ,it took him all of fifteen minutes from start to finish. Both Bundy, and Ridgeway would return to their dead victims, having s*x with their dead corpses.

Soon, the classroom filled with people from all walks of life. Men and women ranged in ages from Jensen’s to mid-fifties, all waiting on the professor to walk in and begin their studies.

“I heard he’s hot,” a young blonde whispered to another girl across the room.

“Yes, tall, dark ,handsome and mysterious,” the brunette replied.

Jensen scoffed internally. The two beautiful girls would probably attract the professor's attention ,possibly earning them better grades ,but she wasn’t here for that, she was here to learn.

From her limited experience, the better looking the guy, the bigger asshole he was. This was a mute point to her however. No man would get close to her; she would make sure of it.

“Sucks to be a guy,” Chad muttered. He may be right in this case. The professor probably had an eye for the pretty girls ,but maybe they were wrong.

Everyone lifted their heads when the door to the room swung open and in strutted a handsome man, dressed in a black button up shirt and a pair of fashionable jeans that showed his muscular physique. Through his silky shirt, his toned chest and abs were apparent and his silky black fohawk was perfectly coiffed.

“f**k” Jensen muttered, pulling the bill of her cap down to hide her red face. Were the Gods conspiring against her? What had she done in a past life to be handed this sort of torture? What were the chances that the angry sexy man she encountered in the woods yesterday was her instructor? That was it, her career was over before it had even started. Although she didn’t want to be near the man, his wolfish scent mixed with his clean, crisp cologne sent her heart aflutter. Who wouldn’t be subdued by that inviting scent ?Jensen however, had far more pressing details to consider.

“You know him?” Chad whispered, noting his neighbor’s strange reaction.

“I almost shot him,” Jensen slunk further down in her seat, attempting to make herself invisible, but it was too late. She glanced up to find those deep emerald eyes bearing down on her, and his lips curled up into a menacing smile.

“Well, new friend, I’d say you’re f****d,” Chad gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Yep, I’m dead.”

Jensen peered through her eyelashes, watching as the man went to the center of the classroom, standing in front of his student body.

“Good morning,” He said firmly,” I am Dr. Connor Evans, your professor.”

“Hello,” the class answered uniformly.

“I assume you have all read your course syllabuses,” He crossed his muscular arms as he looked around. Most of the students nodded their heads ,but some of the girls just smiled serenely, trying to attract his attention.

“I know most of you are here because you want to catch serial killers, ”He began pacing, giving the females a perfect image of his chiseled profile.

“I will tell you now, the FBI only takes the best of the best ,so if you are here to goof off or to get extra credit ,you need to get up and leave, because I don’t f**k around, ladies and gentlemen,”

“Ok, Mr. Rude,” one of the guys frowned. This man was a hardass, giving the impression that he wouldn’t hesitate to fail his students if they didn’t perform to the best of their abilities, or almost shoot his head off. Right now, Jensen was wishing she hadn’t lied for her stupid brother. 

She watched as several people got up from their seats and promptly exited the room.

“Ok, anyone else?” the professor asked, looking directly at Jensen. 

“Don’t move,” her inner voice urged. She gulped, not realizing her head was shaking, “No”.

“Ok then,” he looked around, “Let’s get started. My time is precious, as is yours and I don’t want any distractions.”

Connor began his lecture discussing prolific serial killers, much to his serious student’s delights. He knew this would get them to open up, so he could gage his students and do a little profiling himself. It didn’t take him long to differentiate between the ones who really wanted to learn, and the ones who couldn’t cut it. At this moment, he was eyeing Jensen, wondering why he couldn’t decide which category she presided in.

Of all the people to show up in his class was the little ugly duckling who nearly killed him. As he continued his lecture, slyly watching her every move , he noticed a few surprising things. Firstly, she was very attentive, listening intently to his lecture. She studiously took notes ignoring anyone else in the room. He watched as she raised her brows, soaking up his every word.. Unlike the other female students, she wasn’t eye f*****g him, but then again she had nearly killed him.

Secondly, she avoided eye contact with every person in the room, shying away from the guy sitting beside her who was whispering to her, and on the occasion that she did make direct eye contact with her professor, it was purely professional, with a heavy dose of trepidation. This girl was here to learn, and scared to death of him, and his oppressive aura. He was thinking that right at the moment ,it took every ounce of courage for her to stay in her seat, but she did. He could see in her sad brown eyes that she knew he wanted to kick her out and she was aware that he would make her semester a living hell, but yet she stayed.

The third thing Connor noticed was through her baggy clothing and tangled dark red hair, that she really wasn’t ugly, in fact, with a new wardrobe and a makeover ,she may actually be a very pretty young woman. She was also very guarded ,he assuaged, by her rigid posture and the way she hid from anyone else in the room, aside from her neighbor, who ignored her invisible boundaries. This only fanned Connor’s curiosity. It was obvious to him by now that she was hiding something, possibly a deep seeded trauma had caused her to act this way. The young girl was very obviously leery of men, and wanted nothing to do with them ,but why?

Jensen, an odd name for a girl, he thought to himself, yet it suited her, and Connor found himself intrigued by the enigmatic young girl trying to hide from everyone. This was a good challenge for a psychologist, Connor mused to himself ,and he smiled inwardly, thinking little miss Jensen Jones, the ugly duckling of his class had bitten off more than she could chew with him.