Chapter 17
Ben
It had been a couple of days since I had talked to Kylie. She had left that Monday night after some amazing sex, and I thought it better to keep my distance. I didn’t want to, but right now, it was the best thing to do for all of us. Kylie was beautiful, smart, and exactly the girl I had been looking for, but with the dean hot on our trail, we had no choice but to call it quits. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked across the gym at Grant who was lifting. He seemed focused, stressed, and he was lifting those weights like he could punch through a cinder block wall. It was apparent all of this had taken a toll on him too. He had the same feelings for Kylie that I did, and he hadn’t spoken to her either since Monday night.
If I had to choose a guy to share a girl with, Grant was definitely the man. He was trustworthy, thoughtful, and he always had great advice, even if I sometimes didn’t want to hear it. It had been his idea to cut things off between us and Kylie, and I’d fought him on it at first but eventually caved after seeing the hurt in his eyes. He didn’t want to end things with her either, but we had to. I already missed the three of us fucking, and I was definitely missing the chemistry between all of us. When we were together, it was like we could solve any problem, except our own apparently. Grant was the sound one, knowing the hard choices and making us take them. I was reckless, but with two other people facing my same fate, I knew I had to stick to the plan. I didn’t need Grant’s firing and Kylie’s expulsion to weigh on my shoulders because I let my heart and my dick get in the way. So, instead, Grant and I had doubled up on gym time, trying to keep our brains from running and keep our aggression in check.
“I’ve got that meeting with Jeffrey and Arthur soon,” I said, sitting down next to Grant. “We both know what they want to talk to me about.”
“Just stick to the story you told in the hotel. Pull out that picture of my cousin if you need to, and you’ll be just fine,” he said with a fake smile. “Besides, the rumors have already died down, and Facebook took that picture off, so hopefully, it didn’t even have time to make it to the president’s desk. We both know Jeffrey nor Arthur can fire two professors without her approval. Just assume they’re there trying to rattle you, trying to give them a reason to fire you. They want a confession because they know they have no evidence.”
“That’s something I will not be giving them.” I chuckled.
“You’ll be fine,” Grant said, sitting up and looking me in the eye.
I left after that, running to the apartment to take a shower and get dressed. I wore my nicest suit, not wanting to give them anything else to complain about. I arrived at the school fifteen minutes early and walked to the dean’s office in the business building where he said to meet him. You would think with a situation as fragile as this, he would meet in the main building, but I couldn’t tell how the man thought anymore, especially with the provost sniffing up his ass. I sat down in the chairs across from the dean’s office, looking down at my phone. I could hear voices on the other side of the door, and whoever it was did not sound happy. It wasn’t very often you landed in the dean’s office for something good, so it didn’t surprise me.
I flipped through my phone, coming to the old group message between Kylie, Grant, and me. I smiled at it, remembering how fun everything had been at the beginning. I sighed and deleted the messages, not needing any kind of evidence in my phone. I scrolled to Kylie’s name and changed it to Sophie in my phone, figuring I couldn’t be too safe at that point. Just as I slipped the phone back in my pocket, the office door shot open, and I stood up. Standing in the doorway looking back was one of my female students. She had tears and makeup running down her face, and she looked madder than hell.
“I’m not doing this anymore,” she yelled, before turning around and stopping for a moment when she saw my face.
I stepped forward and opened my mouth, wanting to ask her what was wrong or what had happened, but she turned quickly and ran down the hall. As she ran, I could see the outfit she was wearing under her coat, black stockings, a short skirt, a tight top, and tall high heels. What Grant had told me about the other girl floated through my head, and I wondered if this wasn’t somehow connected. It was strange for a girl to be that upset, dressed in that manner, and running from the dean’s office. Maybe there was a reason Jeffrey had made a second office in the business building. That kind of outburst would not be tolerated in the admin building, especially when his office was directly across the hall from the president of the university. Someone would obviously notice that kind of behavior from several different students.
“Professor,” Jeffrey said, standing in his doorway. “Right on time as usual.”
“You know I don’t like to be late to things,” I said, still looking down the hallway.
“Come in, and have a seat,” he said. “You remember Arthur.”
“Of course,” I said, shaking his hand. “Sir, what was going on with that girl? She’s in one of my classes.”
“Don’t you worry about that girl,” he said, clearing his throat. “You have your own problems to deal with.”
With that, I snapped my head back forward, remembering why I was there in the first place. I wasn’t going to let that incident go, but at that moment, he was right. I had my own problems to deal with. I sat down in the chair and crossed my leg, putting my hands in my lap. The two men stared over at me, waiting for me to say something, but I wasn’t going to take the bait.
“Well,” Jeffrey said, lifting his eyebrows.
“With all due respect, dean, you asked me to your office,” I replied. “I’m not sure what you’re looking for.”
“A confession,” Arthur said.
“Now, now, Arthur,” the dean smirked. “Let’s enlighten the young man on what he’s being accused of first.”
“I know what this is about,” I said pointedly. “And may I go on record by saying it’s absolutely ludicrous. You see people in the same building and then listen to some kid on social media and you think you have some case. Your witch hunt isn’t going to work, sir.”
“Why don’t you replay the events of that day for us again,” Jeffrey said. “Remind us of what happened.”
“I had gone to the hotel with my girlfriend to get away from Boston for the night,” I said. “When we arrived, I ran into Kylie, who takes one of my classes, and her mother. We talked for a few minutes and went our own way. The next morning, Grant came by to see us and spend the day in Providence. When I ran into you, I also ran into Kylie, who I didn’t even know was still in the area.”
“So, you’re telling me it was sheer coincidence that all three of you were in the same hotel, an hour outside of Boston?” Arthur chuckled, and I wanted to slug him.
“Just as coincidental as you two being there on a Sunday morning,” I said with a straight face.
“You better be careful, young Ben,” Jeffrey chuckled. “What’s your girlfriend’s name?”
“Sophie,” I said immediately.
“And why is she not your social media buddy? I checked,” he smiled.
“She doesn’t have social media,” I said without blinking. “She’s apparently smarter than all of us.”
“Indeed,” Jeffrey said, leaning back in his chair. “Tell me again, what does she do for a living?”
“Physical therapist,” I said without thought. “Would you like to see a picture of her too?”
I pulled the picture out of my pocket and tossed it on Jeffrey’s desk. He picked it up and looked at her, whistling and showing it to Arthur. Arthur nodded and handed it back to me with a smile, a devilish one.
“Let me be plain and simple here, Ben,” Jeffrey said. “We have more than enough evidence to destroy you, Grant, and Miss Moore. But, if you want to tell me the whole story here and now, I can make sure you keep your job.”
“You want me to lie to you about something you made up, so I can keep a job I’m not threatened of losing? You have lost your mind.” I chuckled.
“Like I said,” Jeffrey said through clenched teeth. “You better watch what you say to me.”
“With all due respect, again, if you had enough to destroy me, you wouldn’t need a fake confession from me,” I said, standing up. “The truth is, you don’t have anything more than a picture. You want me to tell you something that I can’t tell you because it would be a lie so that you have the upper hand. Why don’t you just drop this before you get embarrassed? You know as well as I do that you don’t have any damn thing on me, Grant, or Miss Moore.”
“Get out of my office,” Jeffrey said with a scowl. “You are going to get what’s coming to you, and when I’m done, you won’t be able to find a job in Bone, Idaho.”
I grabbed my jacket off the chair and marched out of the office, keeping my head held high until I heard the door shut behind me. I was proud of the fact that I’d stood up to them, but there was a big part of me that was worried. What if they weren’t bluffing? What if he really had been trying to give me a chance, and I’d blown it in a fit of sarcasm and douchebaggery?
I walked down to my classroom and peeked in at my assistant, looking around the crowd for any sign of Kylie, but she wasn’t there. I wanted to talk to her, to let her know to expect some fallback from these guys, but I knew I shouldn’t call her. I walked back to my office and went inside, shutting the door behind me. I picked up my cell and called Grant, needing to get it off my chest.
“Hey, how did it go?”
“You were right,” I said. “They tried to tell me they had damning evidence on us but then asked for my confession. I may have let them have it, so I think I might have made the witch hunt worse.”
“It’s all right. They deserved it.” he chuckled. “Good job in there. I’m in the middle of getting this business plan done. I’ll call you later.”
“Hey,” I said before he hung up. “Have you talked to Kylie at all?”
“No,” he said. “It’s too dangerous, and all it will do is make her worry more than she already is. I want to leave her out of all of this as long as we can.”
“All right,” I said, hanging up the phone.
These guys were tough, and though I knew they were bluffing, there was a small part of me that was terrified they knew more than they were letting on.