Page 33 of Get Even

“What? Now?”

“Yeah,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “Want to come?”

A date. Sort of. More of a peace offering than anything else. Casual enough to not blur things between us but also enough to indicate just a little something more. I couldn’t have been at the mixer for more than half-hour but at least Davis had seen me and I’d wandered around a bit. I could probably sneak away early.Who am I kidding?Davis had been watching me like a hawk since I’d arrived and I knew that even this small absence was surely being noted.

I released a deep breath and shook off the lingering tension with a small smile.

“If Davis catches me leaving early it won’t be pretty,” I said apologetically and Ryan’s mouth tugged up into a half smile even as his shoulders slumped. “Rain check?”

“Sure,” he said and then held out his hand for me to take as we moved back towards the group. I curled my fingers around his and let his warmth ease into me before he tugged me to a gentle stop. “But next time something crazy goes down… tell me, okay? I’m not some asshole who only wants to get in your panties. I’m not Aaron, and even if we’re faking this I hope you know that–”

I couldn’t resist. I pressed my lips to his, sinking my fingers into his soft hair and bringing his face down to meet mine as his words cut-off abruptly. I did know. For whatever reason, Ryan Sommers cared about me.

“Okay,” I agreed breezily as I pulled away, as though this wasn’t the next dangerous step on the path of addiction. From the room around the corner I heard a glass being tapped and didn’t hold back my eye roll. I loved history and wanted to be a part of academia, whether that was teaching or researching, I didn’t mind, but sometimes the pretentiousness was too much.Stuffy men in equally stuffy suits,I thought as we rounded the bend and saw people gathering near the back of the room where the projector that was usually used for quiz nights had been set-up.

I smothered a yawn. I wasn’t a hugely sociable person, not for these kind of events anyway, but this was easily the worst part of these mixers: the shakedown. Professor Dick cleared his throat and the remaining chatter faded away, not that any of us except the newbies needed to hear him. We’d all heard this speech a hundred times. First, he would wax poetic about the amazing staff and department, then he would beg for volunteers for whatever events they had planned for the rest of the year. Then, for any of the donors present, he would talk about what the department needed – usually funding for trips, showcases and whatever else they could come up with to grab a little more cash.

“Thank you all for coming. It’s such a pleasure to see your faces once more, though for some of you this will, of course, be your last mixer with us,” Davis paused as if waiting for tears or some other melodrama and frowned at the stony silence of the group. He hit the small presenter’s button in his hand to move onto the next slide, “Anyway, I’ve put together this small presentation to–”

His words were drowned out by gasps and I felt the blood drain from my face as I stared up at the screen.

I didn’t know how he thought he’d get away with this, or what his fucking game was but there was no way this would be allowed. People would speak up, surely, head of department or no.

Because that was my own flushed and sweaty face beaming up from the screen, squashed between Brad and Cody’s, with a good amount of boob showing too. Was this even legal?

Heads began to turn my way and Professor Davis glanced back at the screen behind him, doing a phony double-take that made me see red. Asshole. Nobody could be buying this. I flicked my eyes around the room and saw a few hands pressed to mouths and then the muttering started:slutandheard she cheated on her exandshe’s here with another guy! How many does she have?

Ryan took my numb hand in his as Davis began to splutter apologies, but all I could hear was the crescendo of whispers rising.

It was hard, being driven and confident. I liked sex, I liked my body and I wasn’t afraid to put myself out there. Unfortunately, all of those things weren’t necessarily attributes that the outdated world of academia favored. Davis must have truly hated me to be going to these extremes though. I just hadn’t imagined he could be so direct, so… public.

I stopped short of the exit that Ryan had been guiding me to and his brows furrowed in concern as he watched my jaw work. “What is it?”

“It’s not Davis’ style.”

“What?” Ryan’s voice rose in confusion but he didn’t stop me as I spun around and raked my eyes across the room.

“He hates spectacle even more than he hates me. Besides, he didn’t even know I would be here so how would he have known to include that picture in his slides? I just don’t see how he benefits.”

“What are you saying?” Ry threaded his fingers through mine and pressed a quick kiss to the side of my head, clearly just relieved that I wasn’t a bawling mess right now. It was tempting, but by this point nobody in the room was saying anything that hadn’t already been said to me via social media. Some people had even got a hold of my cell number and had sent me all sorts of hate – fans of Aaron’s from the football team I had assumed. In the end, Liv had taken my phone off of me so I wouldn’t have to see them popping up.

“I’m saying,” I said as my eyes paused on a familiar blonde head, “that he didn’t do this. But I think I know who did.”

Ryan followed my eyes and grabbed my arm before I could walk over. “She’s not worth it. Your professor is already out for blood and you giving her a smackdown isn’t going to help.”

I let his words wash over me as I kept my gaze fixed on the girl across the room. I took a deep breath in and held it and then took another. Tried to let my anger and, okay, a little hurt, fade away as I watched Taylor laughing in the doorway to the kitchens. There was a dark-haired girl at her side that I vaguely recognized from the sorority house I’d sent Taylor to the day I’d kicked her out. I was guessing she had been responsible for sneaking my ex-bff in here and letting her edit the presentation that had been left sitting in the open on Davis’ laptop until he was ready to give his speech.

“You’re right,” I said, relaxing the balled-up fists my hands had curled into. “Let’s get out of here. I’m so fucking done.”

Ryan helped me shrug back into my mini jacket and then held my face between his hands as he looked into my eyes before letting go, “How about that coffee?”

Taylor looked up from the doorway and her eyes met mine, she looked pointedly at my face on the screen and then back to me with a shit-eating grin. Rage boiled through me and I glared at her from across the room. It wasn’t bad enough that she’d gone behind my back and slept with my boyfriend, but then she’d lied about it and now she was – what? Exposing me? I threw back my head and laughed lightly, Ryan’s lips curved up in response and Taylor’s face soured as I blew her a kiss and grabbed Ry's hand. She’d done me a favor. The irony wasn’t lost on me that by trying to hurt me, she’d only really helped push me into the arms of someone who genuinely cared.

“Coffee sounds great.”

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

SAY SO - DOJA CAT

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