Page 28 of Heartbreak Kings
I pulled out my phone to take notes. He eyed the device, then went on. “The professor was very married and very uninterested in Carmody, or any other guy on campus. But Carmody seems to have lived on a planet with no women for most of his life, because just as with you, he couldn’t handle her presence.”
“That’s pretty messed up.” I swiped in a few notes to add to my files on Carmody. “So, what happened?”
“He fixated on her. At first, it looked like a normal crush. But he’s always around the fraternity house, and after a while, we noticed some weird things going on. Like his photoshopping her face over those of porn stars.” He licked his lips distastefully and set down his burger.
“He also took all of her classes and tried to get her attention in every one of them. He did it by trying to make himself appear smarter and better-read than his fellow students. He couldn’t manage it. Then, he constantly asked questions just to get her attention. He started being passed over in favor of other students so that others would get equal time. He found this unacceptable.”
I took a swallow of my coffee and sighed. The food was great, but their coffee tasted like nurses had brewed it on the midnight shift. I dumped cream and sugar into it and motioned for him to go on.
“He started becoming antagonistic in class, even arguing with her over the finer points of the text. He showed up at all her office hours with the same attitude. Then he began following her to her car after classes.”
I shook my head slowly as I kept up on note-taking. “He was getting closer and closer to stalking her, is what you’re saying. The guy escalates.”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. There are reasons Blake immediately promised to keep him away from you. No matter what our feelings are about the administration making the campus co-ed, you don’t deserve problems from our resident problem child.”
“The man is almost thirty,” I sighed, and he winced and nodded.
“He’s coddled by his parents. This, I suspect, is part of the reason for his perpetually arrested development, but most of it is him. His choices, his decision to haunt Reddit hate clubs instead of socializing normally, all of it.” He forced a bite of his burger, as if nauseated by Carmody but not wanting to let talk of him ruin the meal.
I took a few notes. This time, they weren’t for a news report since I couldn’t report on him with too many personal details or I would get sued. No, this was in case there was a criminal case. I was gathering evidence. “What happened to the professor?”
“She gave him a strong reprimand for following her around so much, and when he wouldn’t stop, she took it to the dean. They ordered him to stay away from her outside of class and to submit all his questions via email instead. I’m uncertain whether he continued harassing her over email after that, but I know he started a petition to have all female professors removed from campus as a ‘distraction.’” He winced when he saw my face.
“Christ, what an immature ass. Looks like he didn’t succeed.” I rubbed my temple and took another swallow of coffee, praying the caffeine would kick in soon.
“No, in fact, she still works here. However, this gives you some idea of his usual pattern. He is persistent, obnoxious, tries to enlist others to his side, and cannot stand women who show no inclination to—” He hesitated, glancing around, and I immediately got the gist.
I held up a hand. “I get it. Unless a woman is interested in his baby carrot, he doesn’t want us around.”
“Yes. He’s aschwein, for certain. One reason he’s never made it past pledge in our organization. But he still keeps knocking on our door and camping out in our common room.”
“And you haven’t banned him because of nepotism. Because his daddy gives the fraternity too much money and, thus, has too much say in what you do.” I couldn’t keep a touch of disdain out of my voice.
“That’s correct.” He didn’t sound angry or even annoyed. “Do I think he will make things as difficult as he can for you? Yes, but you have recourse even if we should somehow not be able to protect you from him.”
“Are you sure he won’t become violent if he doesn’t succeed?” I stared at him over the rim of my coffee cup.
He shrugged in response. “As I mentioned, he’s shown no evidence of that. Also, I doubt that a man in his poor health could do that much damage.”
Unless he got his hands on a gun. But if he had access to a firearm, he probably would have threatened the professor with it. I nodded slowly, then went back to my meal as I thought of my next question. Carmody was the worst kind of man—the kind who was both childish and demanded adulation, the kind who hated women openly and virulently but still expected us to jump on his unwashed cock.
“Okay,” I muttered after a bite of burger. “Okay.”
“Questions?” he asked with a soft smile.
“I have a million of them,” I admitted, and he laughed.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere.”
Daniel made an impression. A big one. On my way back to my dorm room, all I could think of was him.
He had promised never to lie to me. He had explained a lot of things. Blake and Marcus were basically exactly as they had been with me in person. Jude had been entirely acting. Apparently, he was young and immature, but still successful and far friendlier than he had seemed. Nathaniel was always that aloof. He was also scrupulously honest. And Daniel? He had worked hard to be a gentleman and purge some of the bad blood between us. And he had never come off that badly during the disastrous dinner.
Belly full of a good burger and curly fries, and with inadequate sleep under my belt, all I wanted to do when I reached my dorm room was crash for a nice long nap. I had earned it.
Once I was in my purple pajamas, all I could do was lie there, staring at the ceiling.
Can I trust Daniel?
