Page 72 of Kings of the Campus

Alec nods. “Yeah. We need to tell her what’s going on and see if she knows anything about who might be behind things.”

The drive back to the house is silent as we process everything we just learned. I can’t believe someone I considered a friend would do this to us. I can’t believe we trusted Julian and he betrayed us like this.

My mind spins even as I get out of the car and head up the porch to the front door. Once inside, I spot Tessa who has fallen asleep waiting for us.

She wakes when I sit next to her on the sofa. “Hey,” she says, her voice sleepy as she blinks awake. “What happened?”

“Julian was behind the stalking, but it turns out that he’s not the only one involved,” Devin explains, sighing as he settles into the worn armchair.

I reach out and take her hand in mine, squeezing it. “He admitted that he helped with the stalking but that he was just following orders from someone else.”

“Who?” Tessa asks, sitting up as she fully wakes up.

Alec’s jaw tenses. “He wouldn’t tell us. All we got from him was that it was someone you work with at the paper.”

Tessa’s eyes grow wide and her hand flies to her mouth. “Someone I work with? I don’t understand. Why would any of my coworkers be out to kill me?”

“Is there anyone who had beef with you in the past?” Devin asks. “Anyone who might hold a grudge?”

Tessa’s expression is baffled, her eyebrows drawn together as she tries to think but slowly it smooths out into a look of dawning comprehension. “There is one person,” she says, looking down at her lap. “I’m not proud of this but back when everything was still going on, before anyone even knew there was a drugging scandal, one of my junior reporters came to mewith a story proposal. His name was Ryan Carter and he said that he had a source who told him that someone was dealing drugs on campus at Sigma parties.”

We glance at each other, remembering the shady dealings that went on at the frat house back then.

Tessa draws in a slow breath. “I looked into it for him and realized that the drugs being dealt were date rape drugs and that the story was so much bigger than a single podcast episode could do justice to. I told him that I was going to have a team take it on but then I ended up being the one to do all the research and reporting. I told myself it was to protect him from retaliation because he was just a junior reporter and I didn’t want to throw him to the wolves with a story this big.”

“But?” I prompt, knowing that there had to be more to the story.

“But I knew deep down it was because I felt a connection to the story. I could have been one of those girls who was assaulted. I connected with Valencia over the story too, when she agreed to be interviewed. It seemed better coming from a female reporter than a male one, in my mind.”

Tessa folds her hands over her belly. “He got credit, but I think he’s been cold and distant with me since then because he feels like I stole the story from him. I hate to think he might have held a grudge this long though. I don’t think he’d go so far as to try to hurt me over it, especially since I had him help me with parts of the story in the end.”

“It could still be worth looking into,” I say, scratching my chin. “We could just talk to him, maybe he’s not involved directly but he’s part of it like Julian was.”

Tessa twists her fingers together, digging them into the blanket on her lap. “Please don’t harass him,” she begs. “I don’t want to further antagonize him if it turns out that he’s had nothing to do with it. So can we drop it, please?”

“Okay,” I say softly, bringing my hand up to smooth the worry lines on her forehead. “We’ll look at some of the other staff members then, see if any of them have a connection with the story.”

I exchange a brief glance with Devin and Alec and it seems like we agree—no stone should be left unturned, but we don’t want to upset Tessa right now.

42

ALEC

It’s been a few days since we confronted Julian, but the unease hasn’t left me. Tessa seems calmer now, maybe even hopeful since Julian was taken out of the picture. But I can’t shake this nagging feeling about Ryan. Julian’s words keep replaying in my head, and something just doesn’t sit right.

We’ve been taking it easy today, lounging around the house while Tessa catches up on some work. Devin and Jace are both trying to keep things light, but I know they feel the same tension beneath the surface.

I pull them aside, just out of earshot from Tessa, and keep my voice low. “I know she doesn’t want us to push this with Ryan, but I can’t stop thinking about it. There’s something there—some kind of connection. We need to look into him.”

Devin frowns, clearly not thrilled with the idea of going against Tessa’s wishes. Jace crosses his arms, looking between us, but I can tell he’s on the same page as me.

“Look, I know we’re going behind her back and we just talked a lot about trusting each other but I have a gut feeling that Ryan might be a solid lead here,” I tell Devin, who sighs.

He crosses his arms. “Fine. We’ll look into it and tell you what we find. Just keep Tessa distracted while we’re out.”

The two of them head out and I amble back into the living room where Tessa is curled up on the couch, typing away on her laptop. She’s been running herself ragged with everything going on—school, the newspaper, and now the weight of the stalking situation. I can see the exhaustion in her eyes, even if she tries to hide it.

“Hey,” I say, sitting beside her, “how about we take a break? You’ve been going nonstop.”

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