“Do you want to hear it?”

“Right now?”

“Mm-hm.”

She had twenty minutes before the meeting; it couldn’t hurt to have a listen. “I guess.”

She passed her phone over to me, and a video popped up on the screen. The camera panned over the door, zeroing in on the nameplate as faint noises that could have been mistaken for talking changed into the unmistakable sounds of sex.

Some sex is hot to listen to. This was not. The high-pitched, whiny moans of the girl-woman on the other side of the door, interspersed with the male’s deep grunts and groans, were erection shriveling. The clincher came when the female shrieked Calder’s name, followed by a harsh admonishment from his easily recognizable voice and a loud slap. Any doubt about who was behind the door was erased by that wretched orgasm.

“Wow.” I was a little worried I might hurl.

“You think it’s enough?”

“Oh, yeah. I think it’s more than enough.”

Given the irrefutable evidence, Tenley persuaded me to let her go into the meeting without making my presence known. She had her phone with her and she’d sent me the file in an e-mail. There was also the backup USB of the video. This fucker was abusing his power, and I wanted her to report him.

I sat in the lounge for about five minutes before I got restless and walked down the hallway to his door. I listened to the low murmur of voices. I didn’t like Assface’s tone, or that he suddenly got louder.

The door flew open and Tenley stumbled out, her expression panicked, tears threatening to spill over. The neck of her dress was pulled to one side, exposing her bra strap and my ink. Professor Assface looked irate. My eyes dropped lower. He had a fucking hard-on.

All the anger and aggression I’d been holding back crashed over me in a wave of red.

“Wait for me in the lobby.” I kissed Tenley’s forehead and walked past her, closing the office door. I locked it behind me.

“You can’t be in here.” He reached for the phone on his desk with an unsteady hand.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I said through clenched teeth.

When he didn’t remove his hand from the receiver, I crossed the room, clamping my hand over his and squeezing until he let go, then I shoved him into his chair. I hovered over him, the violent urge to beat him until he was a bleeding mess almost too strong to deny.

“Let me explain something to you.” I took a deep breath and continued as calmly as possible, “You don’t touch Tenley. Ever.”

He sat back in his chair, a sneer pulling up the corner of his mouth. To make my point clear, I cocked my fist and punched him in the balls. A gasping wheeze shot out of him and he doubled over, coughing and sputtering.

I grabbed him by his receding hairline; the comb-over gave me perfect leverage. I jerked his head up. “Do you understand?”

His eyes bulged and his mouth moved, but no sound came out. Eventually he nodded. I let go of his hair, trapping him in the chair as I leaned over him, holding the USB stick in front of me. “Do you know what’s on this?”

“Miss Page—” he rasped.

“Yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Good. So you’re aware of how fucked you are if this happens to get out.”

“You can’t prove—”

“It wasn’t a question, and it wasn’t rhetorical, fuckhead—so shut up and listen. This is what’s going to happen. You’re going to recommend that Tenley be paired with a different adviser, one who specializes in deviant behaviors. I know there’s more than one female professor in the department who’s willing to take on a new student; I’ve already checked into it. You will not recommend her to another male adviser, or I will come back here and beat the living fuck out of you. If Tenley tells me that you so much as looked at her, I will come back and beat the fuck out of you. And if you touch her again, so help me God, I will rip your dick off and feed it to you.

“Now, I’m not sure what your problem is with Tenley’s thesis, but I think you will find, if you take a closer look, that she has been nothing but thorough and eloquent. Her connections to Merton, Routledge, and Thoreau are cohesive and provide an in-depth exploration of cultural norms and deviations, primarily based on, but not limited to, Strain Theory, Functional Structuralism, and Conflict Theory. I could go into greater detail, but I don’t think I need to, since you won’t be her adviser anymore.”

Professor Assface looked at me as if I had two heads, his mouth opening and closing like an idiot.

“You look surprised. I can run circles around you, you dumb fuck. Just because I don’t choose to fit in with the general masses doesn’t mean I have a subpar intellect.”

When I grabbed a pen off his desk, he jumped and squeaked. I assumed he thought I was going to stab him with it, which I wanted to do. I jotted down the names of the professors I’d researched while Tenley was away, in case something like this happened. “This should help get you started. Someone other than you will call Tenley when a new adviser has been appointed.”

“What about the video?” he asked.

“What about it?”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“That’s a very good question, now, isn’t it? If the board got wind of your behavior, you’d lose your tenure, wouldn’t you? Not to mention your wife.” I tapped the ashtray with the wedding band tossed carelessly inside. “Unless she’s down with you fucking your students?”

His expression told me she had no clue as to what he was doing.

I smiled maliciously. “Just thought I’d ask. I suppose it would be in your best interest to get your ass in gear and start making phone calls, then. You might also want to consider keeping your dick in your pants. You’d be amazed at how quickly rumors spread—especially when they’re vetted through YouTube.”

I rose, towering over him in all his pathetic, sniveling assholeness. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a very distraught girlfriend to attend to because of you.”

I let myself out and texted Tenley as soon as I made it to the end of the hall. She wasn’t waiting in the lounge as I thought she might be, which meant she was sufficiently upset to follow my directions and wait for me in the lobby. I punched the button for the elevator, wanting to get to her as soon as I could.

I wasn’t worried about Calder’s calling security. He had too much to lose. Even after he followed through with my demands, I was going to encourage Tenley to bring that recording to the attention of his superiors. That dick needed to lose his job.

The doors of the elevator slid open and a familiar-looking blonde stepped out. I’d seen her coming out of Dr. Douche’s office before. She clearly hadn’t expected anyone else to be in the building. As she recovered from the shock, her eyes moved over my face and she smiled in a way that was meant to be sexy. It came off as insecure, which was exactly what Calder was looking for.

I moved aside to let her pass. She glanced over her shoulder as I stepped into the elevator. I put my hand out to stop the door from closing.

“I recognize you,” I said. “Calder’s your adviser?”

She seemed confused by the question. “Um, no, my prof, but hopefully next year . . . How—”

“People know you’re fucking him.”

Her horror was the last thing I saw before the doors closed.

16

TENLEY

Hayden burst out of the elevators and into the main lobby. “Let’s get out of here.”

He grabbed my hand, pulled me up out of the chair, and headed for the door. I practically had to run to keep up with him. His jaw was clenched, eyes blazing. When we reached the car, he helped me in and went around to his side without a word. He slipped the key in the ignition and turned the engine over.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Mostly, yes.”

“He put his hands on you.”