B0161IZ63U (A) (15 page)

Feeling exposed, she turned and went to the whiteboard, which she hadn’t utilized all semester. Any excuse to turn away from those powerful eyes, that probing gaze, and the sparks flying from that live wire, getting her right in the spine.  Even with her back turned, she could still feel the
zaps
striking her from behind. 

She jotted a few things on the board and kept at it until her hand went numb.  With a deep breath, she turned back to the classroom.

Like kryptonite, her eyes went to him, just in time to catch his green orbs traveling the curve of her as.  He’d surely had an amazing view of it the entire time she’d been writing on the board.  The pen was pressed to his temple now, a hint of his bottom lip trapped between his teeth.

Lila tightened her blazer around her body and moved to the opposite end of the classroom, hoping the words she was saying were making sense.

She couldn’t stop her gaze from moving back to him.

This time, his eyes were on hers, green climbing into brown, diving in deep in a way only he knew how, infiltrating her senses.

He’d gotten his fill of her body, and his reaction was now plain in his darkened, hooded eyes.

Lila looked away, and this time, she didn’t look back.

Not for the rest of the class.

--

She sipped gingerly from her glass of red wine later that night, tucked into a small ball on her couch, staring a hole through the
second
final draft of her manuscript. 

After the meeting with Julie, and the story Julie had told her, Lila had been inspired.  At first she’d been ashamed to feel so inspired by a student’s pain, but she quickly realized she’d needed the jolt Julie’s story had given her.  Her old manuscript had been at a standstill because something had been missing. 

She’d written ten thousand new words after her meeting with Julie, and she’d re-written ten thousand more, stopping only when she noticed the sun was coming up.  When she came back to re-read those words the next day, she was thrilled to find that she didn’t hate them on sight.  That was a first.

People always said the second book was easier than the first, but if the late nights she’d been putting in were any indication, the exact opposite was true.  The second book was going to
kill
her.  She knew it needed more.  For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what.

Just as she was about to slam her laptop closed, and perhaps throw it across the room, a knock on her door, gratefully, gave her reprieve.  She wanted to put that book away for two months and forget it existed.  Perhaps if she gave herself some time away from it, she would see what it needed more clearly.   Maybe she’d even learn to love it.  Absence did make the heart grow fonder, after all.

With her performance review coming up, however, she didn’t have the luxury of waiting.  Having something published would look good when it came time for the committee to decide on her promotion. She had to keep her eye on the ball and
off
any distractions.

Unfortunately, when she opened her front door, the biggest distraction of all was waiting on the other side, leaning against the frame with his laptop clutched to his side.

“Chase.” She almost swallowed every drop of wine in her glass, which was already filled, against all wine etiquette, to the brim.  “You have to go.”

Something in his eyes came alive.

She immediately regretted her words. 
You have to go.
  She’d said those exact words to him a year ago when he’d come to her hotel room in the middle of the night and kissed her for the first time.  By the grace of god, she’d managed to push him away that night.

She didn’t know if she’d have the strength to push him away again.

“You have to
go,”
she insisted.

“I’m not going.”  The smile in his eyes was luminous.  They were the same smiling eyes that traveled her body relentlessly during every one of her lectures, torturing her slowly, subtly.  Undressing her, having her, and loving her.

All without even touching her.

Her body’s response came in an instant, so fast it startled her. “I’m about to close this door in your face.”

“Be my guest, but I’m not going anywhere,
Professor
.”

That teasing tone was back.  Lila fought a smile.  He could never know that she’d missed it.

The smile on his face told her he already did.  “The longer I’m out here, the more likely one of your neighbors are to catch a glimpse of me, your student, hanging out on your front stoop, and we both know you don’t want that.  Not with your performance review coming up so soon.  How many Harvard employees live in this neighborhood again?--”

Lila reached through the door and took the neck of his black t-shirt in her hand, pulling him into her house with a force that could only be described as excessive.

Chase came tumbling in with a laugh from deep in his gut, covering his stomach with his hand when she slammed her front door closed.

She turned to him before choking down a few hearty swallows of wine.  The answer to his question was a lot. 
A lot
of Harvard employees lived in this neighborhood. Lila was sure some of them even worked for the human resources department.

Seeing a student hanging out on her doorstep would’ve looked extremely suspect.  She knew it.  He knew it.  And that made the smug smile on his face all the more annoying.

“Why is it that you’re so dedicated to destroying my career? Inviting my students to a completely innocent housewarming party was enough to elicit a meeting with the
dean
the following morning.  What kind of surprise will be in store for me at work tomorrow if she finds out I’m alone in my house with one?”  One that started an engine she hadn’t even known was inside her, making her body hum to life with one crooked smile.  “You. Cannot. Be. Here.”

“I know what your career means to you, and I would never put it at risk over nothing.”

Lila straightened up.  Some part of her was upset with him.  But some other part—a more powerful part—was swimming with relief at the smile on his face.  In his eyes.  Since that unexpected night in her kitchen, and the cold days that came after, the vibe from him had been hard, angry, damn near uncomfortable.  Even while checking her out during class, there had been a new darkness in his eyes.  Like he no longer wanted to make sweet love to her, but
take
her.  Break her.  Hurt her in any way he could.

His easy presence now was welcome.  It was the Chase she’d always known.

“You’d better have a damn good reason for being here.”  She felt herself relaxing.  “It better be something amazing.”

He shrugged and made his way into her living room, looking over his shoulder as he moved.  “I wouldn’t say amazing.”

Lila circled her couch on the opposite side of him and was the first to plop down.

He sat next to her, close.  So close his thigh brushed hers.

She scooted away, feeling that current, that current that was going to be the death of her.

He looked, laughed gently, and set his laptop on her coffee table with a shake of his head.  He pulled the table across the wood floors, closer to them, and began clicking away.

“You told me you went to Jack about Julie,” he said.

“I didn’t go to Jack.  I went to The Harvard Law Office.”

Chase shot her a look.  “Right.  You said they needed more proof about what happened to Julie that night. Otherwise they didn’t feel there would be enough evidence to pursue, right?”

“Correct.”  Lila took another sip of her wine, wondering where this was going.

Chase watched her lips as she swallowed.  He watched the liquid move down her throat.  Then he tore his eyes away, clearing his throat as he pressed a few more buttons on his laptop.

Lila’s eyes widened when a video came up, and the sight of Julie’s naked body filled the laptop screen.

“Oh lord.” She set her wine down on the coffee table and leaning in to see more clearly.

“This video was taken the night of the party,” Chase said. “It’s all over campus.”

Lila covered her mouth with her hand.  In the video, Julie was lying naked across a king sized bed.  Her large breasts were full and perky.  Even lying down, they stood at attention, along with her soft pink nipples.  She pinched them while spreading her long legs for the shaky camera, exposing a silver clitoris piercing between her freshly waxed vulva.  Music and voices could be heard from the party raging in the background, but the door to the bedroom must have been closed because the sounds were muffled.  What could be heard more clearly were the various male voices in the bedroom with her. As Julie rolled around languidly, purring, the men joked and laughed.

“I got first,” a deep voice chimed in.

“Second.”

“I got third.”

“Are they calling turns?” Lila hissed.

“Yup.” Chase tightened his lips. 

“This is disgusting.”

The unsteady picture looked to be cell phone quality, and as Julie looked up into the camera lens, her eyes were glazed, almost completely shut.  When she spoke, her words were slurred.

“Jeremy…” She garbled, hardly able to lift her arm as she pointed a finger towards the camera’s operator.  “I wanna… fuck you…”

“She can’t even hold her head up,” Lila spat.

“She’s rolling hard.” Chase shot a look at Lila over his shoulder, eyes going back down to her lips.

She was riveted to the screen.  “And this is all over school?”

“It’s viral.  Everyone’s seen it.  My roommate is the one who brought it to me.  Once word got around that Julie talked to you, someone released this.”

“Where is she?”

“Locked in her room.  Won’t answer her phone.  Her sorority sisters won’t let anyone see her, but she’s okay.”

“Oh my god.”  Lila pressed a hand to her mouth just as the screen went black.  “She said his name.  The guy who was filming.  She called him--”

“Jeremy,” Chase finished.

“As in--”

“Jeremy Sodomyer.” He nodded.  “Quarterback.  You can see the starting linebacker in the distance, too.  His name is Lionel Smith.”

Lila leaned over and slammed his laptop closed.  “I need this.”

“Take it.”

“Is it password protected?”

“Monster,” Chase said, looking up at her as she hopped up from the couch.

Lila froze.  “Excuse me?”

“My password,” he reiterated.  “It’s monster.”

--

“Jesus,” Jack whispered, leaning on his desk.

Lila watched his reaction from where she was leaning next to him as the laptop before them replayed the video.  She took in his profile, the strong line of his jaw, his hard eyes, his full lips, that close cut beard, and she couldn’t remember a time she’d ever been more thankful to be looking at his handsome face.

She’d seen the state of disarray he’d been in the day before in his office.  She could tell that this job was proving much more than he’d bargained for, that it was taking a toll on him, so she’d held out hope that he would be here tonight.  Possibly working overtime.

He had been.  It was pushing midnight, but when she came knocking, he was there.  A half empty tumbler of scotch sat next to the computer, confirming that today had been another long one for him.

She breathed deep.  “Chase showed me this; he says every student has seen it. It’s all over campus.”

Jack looked up, staring over the screen of the laptop.  For several moments he looked straight ahead before whispering, “Chase.”  His face was blank, unreadable, but his voice betrayed him.

Lila swallowed.  “Yes.  He was worried for Julie, and so am I.  She’s talking about hurting herself.  We have to get this video down now.”

“So you came to me?”

“Who else?  You insisted on taking this, even though it was meant to go to an associate.  You asked for proof.  Well, here it is.”

Without looking at her, Jack closed the laptop.  “This isn’t proof.”

“Jack
Almeida
.”

“There’s no penetration.  No uninvited touching.  No proof.”

“She’s naked in a room with half a dozen of men.  So high she can barely hold her eyes open.  Just because these animals were smart enough to turn the camera off before penetration doesn’t mean they didn’t rape her.  Of course they did!”

He stared down at his hands on top of the black surface of the computer.  “I’ll see what I can do.”

“You’ll see what you can do?”

“Is it fucked up? Sure. But there’s nothing here that’s actionable from a legal standpoint.”

“There’s always a way to make something actionable from a legal standpoint.  Of all people, I believed you would know that.”  Lila hurried on to the next point when she realized her words had the power to open a can she wasn’t ready for. “Her image is being used against her will, isn’t it? They’re painting her in a terrible light, and hurting her credibility as a victim of this crime.  She is the victim, Jack.  Please, this needs to happen now. I know that if anyone can make this go away, it’s you.”

She came in close, and saw his fingers jerk.

She pressed on.  “It won’t take much to scare whoever put this video up.  I’m sure you can throw together some bullshit notice of violation--”

“
Lila
.” Jack threw her a look, and frowned.

Lila held his gaze before snatching up Chase’s laptop and adjusting her bag on her shoulder.  “Fine.  I’ll let myself out.  God forbid your
fiancé
find out I was here, or I might not have a job tomorrow morning.”

Jack’s eyes widened in hers, and he forced himself to look away.  An irritated smile played at his lips as she turned and went for the door. 

He waited until he heard it close before launching his glass at the wall.

Lila heard it shatter from the hallway and, just for a moment, she felt at peace.

--

Lila awoke with a start on her living room couch and quickly checked the clock hanging on her wall.  It was 3am.  She launched herself off the sofa cushions, tossing aside her purple throw as she zoomed across the living room to her desk.  With a few frantic clicks, she reloaded the video of Julie, and jammed her eyes shut at the sight that met her.