Page 70 of Loved

“You had a paper with a bad grade you gave Penny just sitting in your desk. With a saucy little note that she wrote to you underneath. Ring any bells?”

Yeah.I’d lured Penny to my office with a bad grade. She’d crumpled up the paper and threw it at me. And then she’d left me a cute note after we had sex for the first time in my office. I’d uncrumpled her grade and saved both it and her note. Because I was obsessed with her. And the two things together were pretty damning.

So…that was how the detectives knew what happened. And how the narratives of the girls that came forward were all so similar. Because those shit detectives fed it to them. It all made sense now.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was starting to worry that they’d bugged me or something. I’d never once thought about my office… “Wait, didn’t they need a search warrant to search my office?”

“It’s university property, James. I gave them permission. I didn’t think you were dumb enough to leave evidence all over the place.”

Fair.I sighed. "Well it’s pretty obvious what happened now. The detectives must have pressured those girls into agreeing with their theory. They promised Penny she could get her scholarship back if she went along with it. Did you know that? They must have done something similar with those three girls. They probably just offered them As. Joe, we can clear all this up…”

“I just want it to go away,” Joe said with a groan. “And if you didn’t want this to happen, you shouldn’t have left those papers in your desk.”

“Sorry about that.” I knew the detectives were in the wrong here, but I just wanted this to go away too. For Penny’s sake.Shit, is this what she’s upset about?

“Please tell me you’re in your apartment lying low like I requested?”

I pulled up outside Penny’s dorm. Joe did not want to hear about this. “Yup,” I lied.

“Great. Keep doing that. I have to go.” He hung up the phone.

I really hadn’t meant to create a shitstorm for Joe. But honestly, it could be worse. After all, I’d beaten the shit out of the last dean I’d worked for.Hmm.Maybe that was why he’d sent an email instead of calling.

I parked my car and shot Penny a text: "I'm here. Do you want me to come up?"

My phone buzzed with her response. "I'll come let you in."

I slammed my car door closed and kept my head down as I walked up to the back of Penny’s dorm. It was between classes so no one was around. But I’d try my best to be discreet for Joe’s sake, even if he had pissed me off this morning with that idiotic email and the sham investigation.

Penny opened the door. Her eyes were pink and her nose was swollen from crying.

Screw discreet.I took the stairs two at a time and wrapped my arms around her. "Penny, what's wrong?"

She immediately burst into tears.

"It's okay," I said and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay, I'm here." I lifted her into my arms and carried her through the hallway of her dorm and up the stairs. She melted into my chest. I was glad that she felt safe in myarms. But I had a sinking feeling that her tears weren’t about a withdrawal from class versus an incomplete. I would have guessed she was pissed at me about keeping that note. But wouldn’t she be pushing me away instead of clinging to me? Something else must have happened.

I opened the door to her room, kicked it closed with my foot, and then set her down on her bed. I put my hands on the bed on either side of her so that I could stare right at her.

She just blinked and stared at me.

"Penny." I grabbed her chin in my hand. "Talk to me."

"I just wanted to see you. Can you hold me?"

I smiled. "I'm all sweaty." I’d been freaking out this morning and had gone straight to see Dr. Clark after my workout. I was still in my athletic shorts and a hoodie.

"I like when you're sweaty."

My smile grew. "Okay, move over." I kicked off my sneakers and climbed into her bed next to her, wrapping my arms around her.

She sighed and pressed the side of her face against my chest.

"If you're upset about your conversation with Joe, I convinced him to change the incomplete to a withdrawal. It looks better on your transcript."

"But Mr. Vespelli said you couldn't withdraw from a class that was canceled."

"Yeah, well Joe was being an asshole."

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