"He attended this school right? This same course, in this same department with the same lecturers. His class's year wasn't that long ago. It doesn't matter how I know him. I just want to know how I can reach him. It is quite important, I will appreciate it if you can help me out with that. That is what I wanted to ask you." I don't know how I remain calm in spite of the fact that Tristan's face has twisted into such an angry mask that he is almost unrecognisable. Penny preens at his arm like a dedicated loyal wife and I don't know if I am disgusted at her or sorry for her.Judging by Tristan's reaction to my knowledge of his brother, I can tell Penny wasn't exaggerating when she said Shane was the family's dirty secret and Tristan wouldn't want anyone to know about their connection.But then why would he come to the same school if he didn't want anyone knowing about their connection?"What the fuck are you on about? You are not answering my question. How the fuck do you know Shane and
Zane Orion Pov:: "Mr. Bryan. Let her go this instant." I say through clenched teeth. When Maggie came up to me on my way to my office, breathlessly asking me to come back to the class immediately as there was a physically violent situation happening involving Alex and Tristan, my head went light for a moment. I don't know what I expected but when I opened the doors and saw the boy choking Penny, eyes dark and crazed looking, I hate to admit it but I felt a smidge of relief in that moment. I don't know how I would have reacted if it was Alex he was holding like that. I don't know how far I would have gone. How many lines I would have crossed without thinking. Without blinking. My heart is still beating madly in my chest like a wild animal at the sudden boost of fear and adrenaline that gripped me as I ran back here. "Fuck off." Tristan snarls at me. I hear the muted collective gasps from the students crowding the class. I look back at them, most have their phones out, recordi
Alex Pov:I am being dragged along the hallway. Someone has my hand tightly in theirs and they tug me along. I am cold. I am numb. I squint at the figure in front of me and it is Zane. Panic rises within me as I regain consciousness completely. "Stop! Wait. Where? What are you doing? Where are you taking me? Oh my God, I have to go back. He said that... They all heard that we...Oh God. Zane. Zane. Wait. We have been found out." I say, I try to stop walking but he tugs me along."No, we haven't. Come on." Zane says, he turns to the stairs and starts taking them in twos. I am forced to match his pace. I blacked out earlier when he hit Tristan. The sickening crunching sound of the contact of bone against bone hit me like a nauseous wave but not before the crowd's gasp at what Tristan was saying before he was cut short washes over me. I blacked out. The fear engulfed me and I was vaguely aware of everything else that happened after. Tristan being tackled and bundled out by the security
"Alex, I don't think this is a very wise thing to do." Maggie says as we walk into the reception of the hospital. It is the third time she would be expressing her displeasure about my decision to come see Penny on her sick bed. But I made up my mind. I can't sleep another night without knowing how she is doing. It has been four days. We have our first exam tomorrow and Penny hasn't come back. "Oh, come on. I just want to see how she is faring. You know how guilty I feel. I can't sleep. The room is different without her." I say as we step into the empty elevator. "If you wanted a new roommate, you could have just told me and I would move into your room. It is almost the end of the semester anyway. Nobody would care." Maggie says, she pulls a face and frowns at me. I give her a small smile. She is right about objecting to this visit. It is very likely that Penny wouldn't want to see me of all people. According to her clique, she has shut everyone out. Her close friends can't see her
Penny looks different. And not in a very good way. I don't know what I was expecting her to look like but this is kind of worse than I imagined. I can see why she would refuse to see her clique of superficial friends whilst looking like this. She has dark circles around her eyes with eye bags so prominent, I gape at them, unable to look away. Her hair looks worse than I have ever known it. Unwashed and uncared for, stringy brown clumps at her ears, matted in the spots she sleeps on. Her neck is wrapped with bandages. She has on the customary hospital gown and she lies on her bed all covered up to the neck. Her bedside table is suspiciously devoid of anything. Not even water or medicine of any kind. The entire room is blankly decorated. Just an hospital room. It is almost like she is not inhabiting the room. She occupies her lone bed like a ghost in the middle of the huge white room. It is so unlike the Penny I know that I don't even know what to think. So I stare at her, noticing fr
"What do you mean?" I ask, bile rising in my throat at the look of dark glee on Penny's gaunt face. "You know, we know." Penny's squeaky rasp is anything but funny right now. I watch her with a numb shock that makes the cold of the room seep into my bones. She watches me from under long lashes and hollow cheeks. I'm waiting to see if I would say anything. I should probably say something. A denial or feign ignorance. Or confusion. Anything. Anything at all will be better than this awful affirming silence. "And I was going to let you off the hook. I didn't care that you were fucking Orion. It wasn't my business. I only looked out for you when I noticed his ex-wife lurking around. She has crazy eyes. But you took that good deed and slammed it right back at me in the worst way possible. And now I am going to make you regret it." She says, mock sympathy in her tone. She is enjoying herself now. And I am doing my best not to show that my entire body is trembling. Of course, I didn't esc
. If something seriously bad happens to her, I would be indirectly responsible again. And I am sick of being stuck in their business. I am sick of it. I don't want any part of it anymore. Before I can answer Maggie, a nurse walks in, more like burst through the door, she has worried panic in her eyes, her gaze lands on Penny on her bed first, her face is still turned stubbornly away. The nurse turns to Maggie and I, and she looks us over. "Penny, are you alright? What is the emergency?" She says as she hurries toward her bed. That button she was pushing so angrily was a call for help. The fucking coward. I can't believe her. "I want them out. Immediately." She says from behind her ugly hair hiding her face. She sounds off but her hate and anger still rings loudly in her voice.The nurse turns to us. She is young but older than us by at least five years. She looks apologetic about Penny's rudeness. This is probably not the first time she is requesting visitors to leave. "We are on
"Yeah." I say, the tears breaking forth. Maggie pulls me into a hug, my shoulders shake in her embrace. I feel betrayed. As crazy as that sounds. And it hurts. "I am sorry." Maggie says, she runs her hand up and down my back soothingly till I am able to calm down. "It is fine. Thank you." I say, pulling back. "I don't think it is within her power to call off his charges though. She wasn't the one that had him arrested. Her parents did. And there are video clip proofs of what he did to her. Even if she says she wants to call off his charges, I don't think it depends on what she wants anymore." Maggie says, reassuringly. She makes sense. But she did not see the determination in Penny's features. If she wants him free, she would get him free. Her parents are likely to give in if she continues whatever self harm tactics she is currently involved in. "Yeah." I say, weakly. I don't have the energy to agree or disagree with anything anymore. I need Zane. I need his strength and confide
He gives his charming smile and nods, "Hello to you too, Madeleine." He says good-naturedly. The audience is still cheering and clapping. Someone uses the teleprompter to ask for silence, and it still takes a few seconds for the studio to go quiet so Madeleine can continue. They love him. My heart fills with pride. And love, too. I am so grateful that we are past that dark phase in his life two years ago where it felt like he was losing everything, and it was my fault. "Let's get right into this book!" Madeleine says, and the audience erupts with cheering and applause again. But it is quickly controlled. "First off, I want to talk about the process. It is very rare to see projects like this. I know of authors coming together to write biographies or translating books. But actually writing together? That is new and different. Alex, I want to know what the writing process was like for you. Orion is already quite established and experienced, but this was your debut!" Madeleine asks me.
"I have no idea." I say, truthfully. I really don't. I have still not come to terms with the thought that I am not going to return to the college for the new session. Since Zane is not going back, it makes no sense for me to. That is how it works now. That is how it will be from now on. "Okay. We can put a pin on that for now, then. Back to my offer, what do you think, Alex?" Zane squeezes my knee with one hand, his eyes stay on the traffic ahead, as he navigates the car. I recognise this highway and where it leads. He is driving us to the cabin. His cabin. Our cabin. My heart is so full, I can barely breath. "You want me to co-write a book with you?" I ask him again, just to be sure I am not in a dream. Just to be sure that this is real. The sound of his laughter reassures me. It is real. I am going to be an author! "Yes, Alex. I want to work with you on a book that is going to be more successful than all the books I have ever released." He says as he pulls into the countryside, i
Alex POV::"Oh my God! What do you mean?" My voice comes out as a really loud scream that is very uncharacteristic of me, Zane just smiles, he takes my hand and leads the way out of the hallway, I follow him still confused but feeling a swirl of excitement ramp up in the pit of my stomach at the mere thought. I can't even begin to fathom it! "Come, let's go before you summon the whole department." He says and I laugh but the laughter bleeds off my face as soon as we step out of the department and there are a lot of people around and they all stop to stare at us as if we were stars in a movie and the director yelled for everyone to stare at us. I blush under the scrutiny. I didn't expect this much people to be out and about but I guess most people are already resuming. I think it is only my class that is resuming a week later, the rest of the department are resuming this week. I try to pull my hand from Zane's grip, he doesn't let go, he looks down at me with a questioning look in hi
Zane Orion POV::"We were just trying to determine how this scandal started. If you get what I mean." Mrs. Tyrell tells me, she sounds like she would rather be anywhere else, but Mrs. Manson looks exactly the opposite, I understand she wants to be rid of me and sent that announcement of my job termination to the press. I understand that as vice president of the college, she can't afford the fallout from the scandal, so she must do what is in the best interests of the college, but this is going too far. They are still trying to pin everything on Alex. They want a different story. "I thought the panel was referencing the interview. You should already have your answers to that." I say, holding Mrs. Manson's narrowed gaze. Alex squeezes my hand under the desk, I interpret it as her being nervous. I have missed her so God damned much, it is unreal. Sitting beside her, I keep taking full lungful of her scent. She smells just as I remember, the nostalgia of us together at my cabin, naked
"These feelings, you didn't consider them inappropriate seeing as he was your Professor and a respected member of this faculty?" Mrs. Tyrell asks when the rest of the room remains silent. "No, I didn't." I say, deciding to be truthful and straight to the point."Did you act on these feelings first?" They are trying to determine if I should be the one to place most of the blame on. So it becomes a case of a student seducing her lecturer and they can get Zane back since he is obviously more valuable than I am in terms of who contributes more to the college. I didn't come here to be crucified so I wouldn't give them that satisfaction. It is becoming clearer to me that I definitely wouldn't be allowed to finish my degree here. I nursed a pipe dream, hoping that I could do anything about this case that has now spiralled into something more than me. "I can't answer that as I can't say. I don't know who acted first. It was mutual and consensual from the beginning." I tell them, the confid
Do I even want to continue schooling here? I don't know. I have not been able to really think about the impact of this situation and what it meant for my interests. I came to this school because of Zane, if he is not going to be here, do I want to stay? I mean, I have to think about myself and what would work best for me, but I can't help thinking about him too, I can't help it. He was summoned too and he promised me he would show up after they were done with me, I can't wait to see him. Though it would feel weird meeting again in this department after everything that has happened, but I look forward to it regardless. I missed him so much. "You said you chose this college solely because professor Orion taught here?" Mrs. Tyrell asks, she is obviously going to be the one doing all the questioning while the others sit in, I can feel their sharp gazes trained on me, I can't bring myself to look at any of them, I keep my eyes set on a spot above their heads. "Yes, I did. It was the tru
"I told you to be careful because you are young, Alex. He is almost twice your age. I told you that he had more life experiences you can only dream of. This relationship, it isn't fair on you. You probably can't see it now but you are getting the short end of the stick. I can't watch you spend your youth like this, Alex. This is the time of your life to be young and free and unburdened, you can't spend it dating a man with a kid and a mad ex wife." It is one thing we have come to agree on. That Daisy is insane. She didn't hesitate to believe me after I told her about how Daisy was stalking me and being weird. "Mom, I am young, but I am not naive. I matured almost ten years above my age after we lost dad. I am not a kid. I am not going to spend my 'youth' being free and unburdened as you put it because it would never happen for me. I am already burdened, Mom. I understand your worries and I am sorry that I have disappointed you or that I am not going to listen to you, but it is someth
"How did you know where she is? Did her family home location get leaked online?" My heart is racing so hard, I can barely breath. I can't follow all else that Madeleine said, I can't get past the part about her getting an interview with Alex. The last time we talked, we didn't agree on talking with the press. My dumb strategy was waiting out the outrage. I know that it would eventually fizzle out. I didn't mind being the worst hit. As long as Alex was safe and shielded."Is that the only thing you heard me say?" Madeleine leans forward, intense eyes narrowed in interest. "No, her location wasn't leaked, Orion. I found her because I was interested, it takes little to find someone these days." She says, leaning back, arms crossed over her chest. "Why were you interested?" I will get back to the interview bit but there was something about Madeleine's presence in this cabin that felt different. We are friends but we hardly get involved with eachother's lives. She has made it clear that
"You look like shit." Madeleine pushes past me and the half open door to make her way inside the dark living room. "What are you doing here?" I ask, reluctantly turning on the lights, knowing I look exactly like shit as she said. Madeleine is more than an acquaintance, I would say we have a friendship of sorts. We have kept in touch over the years since my debut, she invited me to her wedding three years ago. She is a wildly interesting woman with a diverse group of friends. Artists and writers and everyone in between. She is also three years older than me. There might be some kind of maternal undertone to our relationship, but it isn't weird. I like her. We work really well together, she is always the first person my books are sent to for a review. And it is a mutually beneficial relationship that has held grounds for years now. All this doesn't explain to me why she is here. She is not the kind of journalist to chase after scandalous stories like the one I am currently involved w