Chapter 36 Harper
Harper
For the briefest second, disbelief flashed across Orion’s face, but he blinked it away, and anger swept in. “Tell me everything.”
After I did, Orion’s jaw clenched. “I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him right now.”
“No,” I said, calmer now. “I’m going to handle this.”
“How?” Orion said, pacing across his place. He wore an undershirt and sleep pants, and looked haggard, wrecked by grief for Dean. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to tell the school exactly what happened.” I read Orion’s face. “I know what you’re thinking. His word against mine. They’re not going to believe me.”
“Maybe, I don’t know. He’s super popular. When you said his name…”
“I know. I saw it.”
Orion’s head whipped to me. “Harper, I believe you. You know that, right? I believe you one hundred percent, but it’s this fucking system.
It’s this whole thing… It’s the school. I saw it today at a crew practice.
It was business as usual, and I was there.
I was a part of it. I went down there and I sat in that goddamn boat…
” He shook his head angrily. “This is not about me. I’m just saying, they might fight back.
He will fight back, but I’ll be there with you. I’ll drop out of the contest.”
“No,” I said, feeling strangely calm. Clear-headed but exhausted. “You cannot drop out.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just more charity. It’ll just look like I can’t fight my own battles or that the only reason I won is because you dropped out. I have to tell them the truth and see what happens. We have to let it play out and hope that they do the right thing.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, “but I should drop out. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Not now. I really can’t. I’m so tired. Please. I need to sleep.”
Orion looked conflicted for a moment, and then he nodded. “Take the bed. Do you want me to sleep on the floor?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t know where we’re at right now, but I need you. Your coin. It saved me. I hid in the storage closet until the janitor found me. I would’ve probably lost it even more if it wasn’t for you.”
“I’m glad,” he said. “But I wish I’d been there. I would’ve killed him.”
“Then this would be an even bigger mess than it already is.”
Orion’s face was unreadable as he took my hand. I kicked off my shoes and lay down in the bed.
“What do you need?”
“Hold me, Orion. Please?”
Wordlessly, he climbed into bed and held me to him, my back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.
I thought I would pass out immediately, but my hand ached where I’d hit Langford, and the memory of his leering face and his touch kept coming back to me.
Every time I dozed off, I felt his fingers on my skin or his breath on my neck, and I’d bolt awake.
“It’s okay, I’m right here,” Orion whispered every time I jerked awake. He never seemed to sleep. “I’ve got you, love.”
Finally, I slept and stayed asleep.
The next morning, I woke in Orion’s arms, and for one soft, stupid moment, I thought the whole thing must’ve been a terrible nightmare. Nothing bad had ever happened. Nothing bad could ever happen when I was with him…
Then it all came flooding back, and my stomach clenched.
I sat up and nudged Orion’s arm.
“I have to get going,” I said, and climbed out of bed. I wanted to get home and shower and change and never wear these clothes ever again.
“Do you want me to be there?” Orion asked. “Should I call someone? Just tell me what you need, and I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.”
“I have to do this on my own,” I said. The memory of Langford at his car, waiting for me, sent a shiver running down my spine. “But will you walk me to my car?”
“Of course.”
It was early yet; the student parking lot was empty.
At my car, Orion’s brows furrowed. “Call me or text or…I don’t know.” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, Harper. I’m sorry things got all cocked up and that I’m such a bloody mess. Because there’s something I still need to tell you.”
“Later,” I said. “Please. I’m barely hanging on. I have to get home, and…then I have to do what I have to do. Okay?”
He nodded finally. “It’s something I should handle on my own anyway. Something I should have handled a long time ago.”
“Thank you.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’m sorry. It isn’t worth shit, but I am sorry.”
“Me too. We’ll talk later.”
I got into the car and drove home, my mind too tangled to touch what we were.
That would have to wait. I had to gather every bit of strength I had, because this wasn’t just for me.
From the start, something about Langford had felt wrong.
Now I knew why. I wasn’t the first he’d tried this with—not by a long shot.
Other girls had come before, and even if I failed, I had to stop him, so no one else would come after.
At home, my mother was asleep on the couch.
Good. I didn’t have any energy to deal with her.
I bundled my dress and coat in a garbage bag and threw them away.
Then I showered and got dressed in black pants, a black sweater, and my motorcycle boots, and headed back to school, to the administrative offices.
At President Sterling’s office, his secretary looked up from her desk. “Can I help you, dear?”
“I need to speak with Dr. Sterling.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but it’s extremely urgent.”
“You can’t see him without—”
“Professor Langford sexually assaulted me last night.”
The secretary’s face went white. Without taking her eyes off me, she pressed a button on her phone. “There’s a student to see you, Dr. Sterling.”
***
“These are quite serious accusations, young lady,” Dr. Sterling said ten minutes later, after I’d told him everything. “Professor Langford is a popular teacher with a stellar reputation. You’re quite certain this is what occurred?”
“Yes,” I said through gritted teeth, cheeks burning with humiliation. “I’m quite certain.”
Dr. Sterling rubbed his angular jaw. “The NoSci award ceremony is tomorrow afternoon. Press is here. Parents. University representatives. The timing is…unfortunate.”
“My apologies for the inconvenience.”
He frowned. “The appropriate thing to do is allow Professor Langford the opportunity to tell his side of the story tomorrow morning, prior to the ceremony. I would like to see both of you here at nine a.m.”
What was left of the blood in my face drained out. “You’re going to make me sit in the same room with him?”
“Young lady—”
“My name is Harper Bennett.”
“Miss Bennett. This is a very serious accusation. I must hear his side of things. And if what you say is true, then your story should be able to stand up to scrutiny.”
“Or I could just go to the police. I came to you first because I thought…” I swallowed hard. “I thought you’d do that for me.”
Sterling’s expression softened, and he leaned forward. “What you’ve described is serious, Harper. I want you to know I know that. It took great courage for you to come here.”
My throat burned. I nodded.
“But if we involve law enforcement right now,” he continued, “this matter leaves the school’s hands immediately. It becomes public. Parents, press, lawyers. Things like this tend to move fast, and not always carefully. Or quietly.”
Parents. He meant Orion’s parents. It was all over his face.
He sat back in his chair. “We’ll open a formal inquiry and document in writing everything you’ve told me.”
“And then?”
“Give us until tomorrow,” he said gently. “We’ll have a meeting. You may bring an advocate. A trusted adult. But if that still doesn’t satisfy, you’re absolutely within your rights to go to the police. No one here will stop you.”
No one will stop me.
I could read Sterling well enough to know he was praying I’d keep this an internal matter.
But I didn’t want to go to the cops either.
I didn’t want to drag Orion’s name into something loud and public.
I didn’t want to sit alone in a cold police station and explain to a row of men how I’d been hunted and touched and threatened—only to be told it wasn’t that bad.
His word against mine.
“I just want to make him stop,” I whispered, hating how small my voice sounded.
Dr. Sterling smiled. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise.”
***
The next morning, I met Ezra Wolfe outside his office door.
“Are you sure?” he said. “About me, I mean. ‘Trusted’ is a new one for me.” He tapped a black-nailed finger to his chin. “So is ‘adult,’ now that I think about it.”
I glanced up at him, big, tall, imposing all in black. But also one of the best people I knew. “I can’t think of anyone else I want with me for this.”
His teasing smile faded. “I can’t say enough how sorry I am, Harper.”
Yesterday afternoon, after leaving Sterling’s office, I’d gone straight to Ezra to ask him to be my advocate. It was humiliating, having to tell him the whole sordid story, but I thought telling it again might make it easier.
I was wrong.
He heaved a breath. “Ready?”
“No. But…yes.”
We began the trek through the Academy to Sterling’s office.
“If it helps at all, I haven’t had a drink since we last spoke,” he said. “Since you gave me a good talking-to all those months back.”
“Really? That’s wonderful.”
“It’s been less wonderful and more awful, terrible, and very bad. But thank you.” He shook his head. “And that you can find it in your heart to be glad for me at a time like this speaks volumes about you, my dear. How is your mother?”
“Not as well as you,” I said. “But one crisis at a time, if you please. I only look like I have my shit together right now.”
Because on the inside, my stomach roiled, my heart clanged, and every time I let my thoughts wander, the memory of Langford’s touch or his body caging me in came roaring back, and I flinched as if someone had shocked me.
We passed through the Arts Wing to the STEM Wing, where I noticed the students talking in clusters. Every single one of them stopped to stare at me as we passed, whispering to each other, most with snide looks on their faces.