Business as Usual (Off The Subject) (13 page)

“You know what Reed? I got an up close and personal view of how unfair life is last April.
When I was raped
.”

He cringes.

“I was raped…and while we’ve dealt with the fallout from that night for months and months, we’ve never addressed what actually happened.”

“And we never will.”

“Reed!”

He shakes his head violently. “Don’t you see, Lexi?” His voice breaks. “I can’t. I don’t think I can hear the details and survive it.”

His words hit my chest and steal my breath away.

He turns off the television, then rubs a hand over his face. Dark circles underscore his eyes. “When you were a baby, you had a nanny. I’m sure Mom never told you that, because you didn’t have one for very long.” He looks into my face, his cheeks splotchy. “I wasn’t like most boys my age. I actually wanted a baby sister. I was excited when Mom and Dad brought you home and I loved to see you every chance I got. But whenever I went to the nursery, the nanny would shoo me away. One afternoon, I camped outside your door and refused to leave until I got to see you. I stayed there for hours, and you cried the entire time. Finally, I ran into the room and saw that the nanny wasn’t even in there. She’d slipped out the terrace door after propping a bottle on a pillow in your bassinet. It had rolled off, though, so you couldn’t drink it. Somehow I managed to pick you up and take you to the rocking chair and give you your bottle.”

My mouth drops open in disbelief.

“You stopped crying the minute I gave you the bottle. You were starving. I had finished feeding you by the time the nanny came back. She was furious that I was holding you, but I think she was more concerned about having been caught. She tried to take you from me, but I kicked her in the leg and threatened to hurt her if she ever came near you again.” He looks up at me. “Amazingly enough, Mom actually believed me when I told her what happened. Maybe it was because I was still holding you when I found her.”

I shake my head. “Reed, you were four. What four-year-old kid does that?”

He shrugs, looking defeated. “The nanny was fired, but I was upset with myself that I’d let you cry so long before intervening.” He pauses. “I made a promise to you that day. I promised you that I would always be there for you when you needed me, that I would
never
let anyone hurt you again.” He voice breaks. “I failed you, Lex. Someone hurt you in the most vile, disgusting, dehumanizing way and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. I had no idea that it had even happened until after the fact.”

I grab his hand, tears clogging my throat. “You can’t protect me from everything, Reed.”

“Maybe not, but I can try.”

I pull him into a hug, squeezing my arms around his back. I cry onto his shoulder, and he holds me tight. After a minute or so, I pull back and look into his face. “Reed, I mean it, you have no idea how much I love you.”

He smoothes the hair back from my wet cheeks. “Go to bed. We’ll talk more in the morning.”

I kiss his cheek and then head toward the hall.

“She’s with Scarlett.”

I stop and look back at him. He’s staring at the dark TV screen. “Caroline went to Scarlett and Tucker’s. That was the first place I called.”

Fresh tears burn my eyes as I head down the hall. I have no idea how to fix this, but I have to find a way.

***

I try to talk to Reed on Saturday like he promised we would, but he spends most of the day out of the apartment. Caroline doesn’t return until Sunday afternoon, and that’s only after Reed finally goes to get her. When she comes home, they disappear into their room.

I spend the weekend focusing on my homework, the summer program, and brainstorming fundraising ideas. The play was the perfect way to get the university and the town to come together. We ended up making nearly eight thousand dollars, which is amazing, but we still need so much more. I can’t ignore the fact that many of the university students have deep pockets. I need to figure out how to get them to spend some of that money.

I decide to call Sylvia to run a few ideas by her, but I haven’t talked to her since Friday night besides texting to tell her that I made it home okay. I’m worried it will be awkward. The only way to address this is head-on. As soon as she answers, I launch right into my apology.

“Sylvia, I’m sorry I ditched you.”

“No. Don’t say that. I forced you to go and I knew you weren’t having fun. I should have left instead of making you find another way home.”

“I didn’t want to ruin the night for you. Did the guy you were talking to ask you out?”

She hesitates. “Well…yeah.”

“That’s awesome! Tell me all about him.”

She spends the next five minutes telling me about Ken. She has a date with him tonight and she’s trying to figure out what to wear.

“Do you want me to come over and help?”

“You know my clothes. Just suggest something.”

“Where are you going?”

“Dinner and a movie.”

I make a suggestion and then tell her a bit about the brainstorming I’ve been doing. “I need something that will make Southern students spend their money.”

“An event with lots of beer.”

“I’m serious, Sylvia.”

“So I am.”

“I was hoping to keep it legal.”

“So I guess prostitution is out.”

“Very funny.” But the thought jogs a memory. “When Tina figured out who I was the other night, she mentioned that I should start a match-making business. She offered to put together some probability charts to help.”

“You’re thinking about starting a match-making service?” she asks in disbelief.

“No, but what if we did something similar? Like a bachelor auction or something.”

She’s silent for a moment. “That could actually work. The key is to get some really hot guys to participate.”

“True.”

“But we should include girls as well. Guys are just plain stupid around sexy girls. They’ll pay out the nose to go out with a hottie.”

I believe that. “Let’s bring this idea up at the committee meeting tomorrow. I think we’re onto something.”

“Sounds good.”

“Have fun on your date.”

I hang up and then work on homework until it’s time for bed. The only time I see any sign of my brother or Caroline is when Reed emerges from his room to get some food for them. No one’s more happy that they’re back together than I am, but this makes it painfully obvious that it’s past time for me to move out.

Now I just need to break the news to Reed.

Ben

Monday’s are a bitch. My history class is still kicking my ass, but at least I feel semi-prepared for the exam. When I walk out of the room, I’m certain I’ve made a C. Not ideal and not up to my 3.8 GPA, but I’m letting a lot of things slide this semester. All I need is my damn diploma. No one will give a shit if I got a C in American History.

I’m at the Higher Ground coffee shop studying for my thermal stress class when someone sits in the chair across from me. I look up, and this time I’m not surprised to see Tucker.

“Hey,” he says. “I hear you got the math lab job.”

I give him a wry smile.

“Does that grin mean you want to thank me or kick my ass?”

I snicker. “The jury’s still out.”

He laughs too.

“Seriously, Price,” I say. “Thank you. The pay is great and they work around my schedule, even if Pendergraft’s a dick.”

“After what happened this weekend, I agree with you about Pendergraft, and don’t sweat it, I helped you for purely selfish reasons,” he says. “My girl was working too much before they hired you.”

I’m curious about what happened this weekend, but not enough to ask. “Well, thanks nonetheless,” I say.

He stands and ruffles my hair. “You’re welcome.”

I push his hand off my head with a snort and turn back to my homework. After my class, I grab a quick lunch and head to the math lab. Scarlett and Tina are at separate tables with an empty table between them, each sitting with someone. Tina’s quite the enigma and I’m still trying to figure her out. She’s not like any other math major I’ve ever known, and in her case, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Scarlett says to the blonde girl across from her. “I’d love to help, but I’m not sure about my summer school schedule yet.”

“That’s okay,” the girl says. “What I really need right now are volunteers for the auction.”

Her voice sounds familiar and I scour my memory trying to place her, but her back is to me and I can’t see her face.

Scarlett laughs. “Well, we both know that I’m out, but Tina might be available.”

The blonde turns to look at Tina and her face scrunches. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

Tina’s talking to the student at her table and doesn’t seem to notice.

I take a seat at my table and try not to be too obvious about checking out Scarlett’s friend.

“You need guys too, right?” Scarlett asks.

“Definitely.”

“What about Ben? He’s attractive enough,” Scarlett says this as though she’s listing the periodic table.

“Wow, I might get a big head if you keep giving me compliments like that,” I say, turning my attention to the girl now that she’s looking at me. She’s petite, with a fair complexion. Loose blonde curls hang slightly past her shoulders, but it’s her striking blue eyes that catch my attention. I’ve seen her somewhere before, but I can’t place where yet.

The blonde looks up at me, confusion flickering in her eyes, followed by something that looks like panic. Why would she panic? Icy realization shoots through me. She probably recognizes me from my brush with infamy. But I quickly realize I’m wrong. She seems nervous but not fearful. It’s as though she’s worried I’ll find out something about
her
.

“We’re still sorting through the details,” she finally says, shifting her gaze back to Scarlett.

“I might be able to help if I knew what you were talking about.” I slide my chair next to her. I’m certain she’s recognized me, but I still can’t place her. While I’m not usually drawn to blondes, I’m sure I would have remembered this girl.

Scarlett starts to talk, but the girl hushes her by putting a hand over hers. “We’re still in the planning stages so let’s keep this quiet,” she says. “I want to make sure it has the maximum impact when we announce it.”

Scarlett’s eyes narrow. “Okay…”

I’m dying to know more about this girl, and the one sure way to get her to tell me her name is to introduce myself. I reach out a hand. “I’m Ben Masterson. Obviously, I work with Scarlett here in the lab.”

She smiles, but it wobbles. She’s still nervous. “Nice to meet you, Ben,” she says, shaking my hand with a firm grasp.

The fact that she purposely omitted her name doesn’t escape my notice.

She stands and picks up her leather bag, casting a wary gaze in my direction. “Scarlett, can I talk to you out in the hall?”

Surprise flickers in Scarlett’s eyes. “Sure. I don’t have any students waiting for me.” She gets up and follows her out the door.

I wheel my chair back to my table and pull my homework out of my bag. That’s another benefit of this job—I can work on homework when we don’t have anyone to tutor. I’ve started on an equation from my last class when Scarlett returns and resumes her seat.

“Who was that?” I ask, not caring if I sound nosy. I’ve seen the girl before and my brain won’t rest until I put it together.

She looks down at her own work. “Reed’s sister.”

“
That’s
Reed’s sister?” And suddenly, I’ve figured out where I saw her last. The day I started, Reed was explaining how the lab worked when a cute blonde walked in. He stopped everything to go talk to her, but I barely got a glimpse of her before they ducked into his office. They look nothing alike, so I figured she was his girlfriend.

“Stay away from her, Ben.” Scarlett’s tone tells me she’s serious.

My mouth drops in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I can tell that you’re intrigued, but Reed will skin you alive if you ask her out. He takes overprotectiveness to his own extreme level.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. Reed’s already made it clear he’s only tolerating my presence here until I screw up somehow. “No worries. Not interested.” I am, but if she’s Reed’s sister, I’m not interested enough to lose my job.

“Good.”

The student at Tina’s table leaves and Tina scoots her chair next to mine. She’s made it clear she’s interested in getting to know me better and I’ve made it as clear as possible that I’d prefer a raging case of herpes. The girl doesn’t take a hint.

“Personal space, Tina,” I growl.

“Easy there, Virgin Ben. I’m not going to rape you.”

I cringe at her word choice. So far no one in the math lab has shown any sign they know about my arrest last fall and I hope to keep it that way.

“Wasn’t that Reed’s sister in here?” Tina curls a hand around my arm. “You should hook up with her. She’s virginal too.”

Scarlett shoots her a glare. “That’s enough, Tina.” It’s obvious that she cares about this girl more than she would about someone who was just her boss’s sister.

“God, Scarlett. You need to loosen up. I told Virgin Mary that Friday night when I took her home. Imagine my surprise when she busted out with the piece of intel that she’s not a virgin after all.” She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms under her breasts. “I bet fifty bucks Reed doesn’t know that.”

“And you’re going to keep it that way,” Scarlett says, her tone harsh. Scarlett is a mild-mannered girl, but I can tell she’ll bear her claws if Tina keeps pushing. “And what do you mean you took her home Friday night? Caroline said she was supposed to be out with her friend on the committee.”

Tina shrugs and gives a smart-ass grin. “Hell if I know. All I know is that I was leaving the Voodoo Club with my friends when Curly Sue comes running up, asking if I can give her a ride back to her car.”

“Stay away from her, Tina.”

“Ben can’t play with her. I can’t play with her. What’s the fucking deal?”