Sense of Rumor (Mount Faith Series: Book 6) (17 page)

Bancroft paced around until his secretary called and announced that there were three gentlemen to see him.

"Gentlemen?" He snorted. "Send the brutes in!" he snarled over the phone. He was fit to burst with anger.

When he saw the three boys trooping into his office he wrestled with his emotions and adopted a calmer stance. They were even smiling with him, uncertainly.

"Sit down." He pointed to the chairs around his desk.

They sat down and started to look nervous.
Good,
he thought.

"Now," he said sitting in his chair and steepling his fingers.

"How many of you had sex with Arnella Bancroft?"

The three of them were looking at each other nervously.

"Come on," Bancroft smiled at them coldly. "You must know that I know. You must know by now that she is my niece. If you didn't know, I am guessing you've heard what the trash paper printed this morning?"

"Er," Cory said shrugging, "I didn't."

"So you were the one who did the video?" Bancroft asked calmly. "The video that is now the hot topic of conversation?"

Cory cleared his throat. "It was Arnella's idea."

"Hogwash," Bancroft said still calm. "Now listen to me; I believe Arnella. Your little concocted story won't wash with me. So, either tell me the truth, or shut up. Who gave her the drugs?"

"There were no drugs," Jeff said, sweating. Dr. Bancroft was an imposing man and he looked as if he was tightly controlling his rage.

Bancroft growled. "I am not a violent man. Don't make me shout. Here's the thing:" he said, leaning back in his chair, "I am going to expel the three of you effective immediately. I am also going to sue you for defamation of character. The police are going to find out who is the mastermind behind this little video scam and I am going to sue them too. If it's any of you, you had better speak up now. I am not in the mood for jokes. Chief Green is on standby to escort you all from this campus. You are banned from returning."

"My parents are going to kill me," Cory said, staring at Dr. Bancroft, scared. "I did not have sex with her; I only gave her the drugs. It was GHB. I just wanted to loosen her up a little, to make her relax with us. Arnella is always so uptight, and since high school she has been treating me like dirt."

Bancroft said softly, "Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. How much did you give her?"

"It was just a capful," Cory said, "but it worked so fast on her and we had no idea...she would literally pass out so soon. That was not the reaction we wanted."

Bancroft bellowed. "A capful? Are you crazy?  So, all three of you are Science majors? You deliberately carried a known central nervous system depressant which is known to increase sociability, promote libido and lower inhibitions to a party and gave a capful to an unknowing person?" He shook his head. "You know that overdosing on GHB can cause death?"

"Yes," Cory nodded vigorously. "At one point we thought we had killed her," Cory was trembling. "That's when I told David to stop, er stop what he was doing...she had passed out cold."

Bancroft swallowed the rage that was on the verge of spewing out of his mouth and looked at David who had hung his head.

"Anything to say for yourself David?"

David shook his head. "I am sorry. I didn't even finish having sex with her. I didn't mean it. I would give anything to take it back. The truth is Arnella is not a bad person and we just wanted to er..."

Bancroft winced. "And you Jeff, what was your roll in all of this? Oral sex with a drugged up girl?"

Jeff was sweating rivulets. His parents were prominent in the local community. He had just gone along for the ride when David and Cory mentioned what they were planning. He sighed. "I had nothing to do with any drugs, or any planning. Cory asked if I wanted to see a hot Arnella doing stuff and I said sure."

Bancroft nodded. "Okay. What about the video?"

The three of them looked at each other.

"We had dumped the SD card in deep trash," Cory said wiping his face. "We have no idea how it resurfaced."

Bancroft cleared his throat and then took up the phone. "Is that enough for you?"

"Yes," Natasha said at the door. "Thank you. You would make a formidable detective."

Behind her were three police officers and they all advanced towards the guys. "You are under arrest for the rape of Arnella Bancroft," Natasha said to the guys with a small smile on her lips.

"And you are expelled from this institution!" Bancroft growled emphatically.

Chapter Fourteen

Arnella spent a week vegetating in the basement. She painted picture after picture of torrid scenes. She only showered when she smelled herself and only ate when Charlene practically forced her to. She had regular visitors who tried to get her out of her doldrums. Her uncle was a regular visitor. He came with good news. The boys were in lock up. The gossip paper had printed a retraction, grovelling about how sorry they were for printing propaganda.

Jackie had dictated their exact statement. None of this news was enough to get a rise out of her flagging spirits. Taj and Natasha had both taken to visiting her at regular times. Kylie was like a shadow in the evenings, going so far as to take her computer and her husband to the basement where they camped out and tried to get her to talk.

She appreciated the show of love; she really did, but there was just a part of her that was incapable of appreciating it. Besides, she noticed the glaring absence of Alric, who wasn't calling or texting her or even responding to the rumors. That, more than anything else, was eating her up inside.

"You know what you need?" Charlene had stuck her head down the basement stairs. She was dressed in her gardening attire. "You need fresh air and sunlight. Exercise will make you feel better."

Arnella sighed. She was in a paint-splattered khaki shorts and a white t-shirt. "You may be right." She stretched and got up. "I am gonna take a walk down the road."

Charlene nodded. "I was thinking more about helping me and Micah in the greenhouse."

"Nah," Arnella said. "I want to be alone."

Charlene looked at her sympathetically. "Are you sure?"

"Quite sure." Arnella slipped on her battered sneakers and went up the stairs through the front door, down the garden and out onto the street. It was one of those evenings. The air was nippy and the sky was cloudy. She walked down the road slowly and tried to repress thoughts of Alric. What did he think of her now? She had not wanted to tell him about the video for the simple reason that she didn't want to have him thinking badly of her again. He had made her care about him and that made her feel even worse.

She was so focused on her thoughts that she never heard the car that pulled up beside her. It was only when the driver cleared his throat several times that she looked over. It was Alric. He looked sleepy, tousled, and so adorable to her.

"Hey," he said solemnly.

Arnella's heart jumped for joy. She inhaled deeply. "Hey yourself."

"I was interviewed by Natasha today," Alric said, sighing. "I am feeling a hell of a lot of guilt right now."

"Why?" Arnella asked curiously.

"I saw them surrounding you at the party." He smacked his head with his open palm. "I was mad at them and you. I couldn't believe that you were laughing and cozying up to them like that. I was going to find you and give you a piece of my mind. God, I wish I had. I would have stopped this whole thing."

Arnella shrugged.

"So how are you feeling? I heard you weren't taking visitors."

"I am coming around," Arnella said, realizing that seeing Alric had lifted her spirits tremendously.

"So when are you coming back to school?" Alric asked.

"Maybe never." Arnella chuckled. "My uncle can't argue about that now."

Alric cleared his throat. "Want company on your walk?"

Arnella frowned. "I don't care."

Alric grinned. "That's Arnella speak for yes please. Can I park in your garage?"

Arnella nodded and watched as he drove off. She waited for him at the side of the road, her heart suddenly singing.

Suddenly things were not looking as bleak as they once were, and she found some of that fighting spirit that she had once prided herself on. Who knew that the missing ingredient all the while was Alric?

He jogged down to where she was standing and smiled. "I had a hellish week too."

"How so?" Arnella asked.

"Well, between studying for the interview, doing a final group project, and hearing that my friend was a porn star, things got pretty tough. Out of all of them, your news was pretty devastating. I got a video from EasterBunny too. To say that I was gobsmacked was an understatement."

"I really wish I knew who it was," Arnella said. In a hesitant voice, she asked, "Did you watch it?"

"Only the first part and only because I was in shock." Alric took her hand in his and squeezed them. "I deleted it."

"Thank you," Arnella said squeezing back his hand. "I can't remember most of what happened and I am grateful." She laughed uncomfortably. "That would have been my first time."

Alric stopped walking. "Ever. Are you saying? No wait a minute...Oh Lord," he groaned, "Arnella this is crazy. I am so sorry. They robbed you of what should have been a special moment by drugging you and then taping it?"

"Yup," Arnella smiled sadly. "I can genuinely say I don't remember my first time with a guy, or in my case, guys."

Alric was silent for a long time as they walked. They reached the intersection of Malvern, the sleepy town district. There was no one around. "Ready to turn back?" he asked.

"Sure." Arnella frowned at him. "You have gone silent."

"I am stupid." Alric shook his head. "I can't believe I listened to all the things about you. If I hadn't been as speedy to judge you, I could have saved you the trauma. I could have gotten to know you better. Things would have been different. I am so sorry." He stopped and looked at Arnella intently. "Please forgive me."

"The thought had not even occurred to me," Arnella said, "to blame you for anything. I can't forgive you. You did nothing wrong. For a time I liked being the notorious Arnella. You judged me as the town's bad girl. I judged you as the stuck up son of the pastor. We are even."

Alric grinned. "Me, stuck up?"

"Yup. Remember that night when Tracy introduced us? You looked down your nose at me."

"I was battling serious attraction," Alric said grinning, "and not to Tracy. You were in a red dress and you had your hair up in that sophisticated style that shows off your neck. You seemed to look through me. I was mad as ever and really angry that I found you attractive."

They reached the house and Alric said softly. "I am relieved that you were not into that sex video willingly. The stress of it could have had me flunking this semester."

Arnella's heart fluttered uncomfortably.

"What I am trying to say here," Alric said, "and doing a bad job of it, is that I seriously like you. Like in a love kind of way... the kind that even sex videos of you with other men cannot kill. If it were any other girl, I would have written her off, but this week I couldn't write you off. I kept comparing the girl I think I know to the girl I saw in the video, and they were irreconcilable."

Arnella smiled, moving closer to Alric, "I like you too, in a love kind of way. This week, when I was dealing with the stress of being known as the schools porn star, my biggest problem was not hearing from you. What does that say?"

Alric chuckled. "It says that we have a thing for each other." He stepped closer to her. "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

Arnella nodded, dazed.
His mouth came down on hers. His kiss was soft and gentle and exploratory. The imprint on her lips was like a new beginning, a benediction. It was okay; she was a woman, and alive. A low moan sounded in her throat and she closed her arms round him, stretching up on tiptoe to intensify their contact. He parted her velvety soft lips with his tongue.

They
were so caught up in the experience that they didn't notice that they were being watched. The sound of a chuckle near them made her pull away from Alric and gasp in surprise.

It was Cathy Bancroft, Adrian's wife. "Sorry to intrude but it seems as if the kiss was going to go on for hours."

She laughed when Arnella hid her face in Adrian's chest.

"I came to extend a personal invitation to Natasha's bachelorette party. It will be just us girls, two weeks from now, first week in November. It will be held here, at Deidra's. Deidra insisted. It will be a surprise."

She held out her hand to Alric, "I am Cathy. Can I tell you how marvelous it is to meet you? I was coming over here to keep my girl company only to find out she already has company."

Alric cleared his throat. "I am Alric Peterson."

"I know." Cathy giggled. "You play the organ at church. I am so happy to see Arnella in good company. Maybe now she will start attending church regularly."

"Shut up," Arnella said
, still nestled in Alric's shirt.