Page 3 of Almost Rotten

The slight derision in his tone rubs me the wrong way. So does his resistance and reaction. It makes me wonder if maybe hedidwatch the video. It makes me not want to walk out of here so fast after all.

“No apology, Dean?” I goad.

“Tytus,” Sawyer hisses under her breath.

I snag her hand once more, this time interlacing our fingers.

He saw what’s mine.

He knows what sorts of sounds she makes.

No one should know those details but me.

He stands again, but even at full height with his shoulders pulled back, he looks smaller than ever. “I apologize that your week has started in such a disruptive way, and I’m sorry for the gross intrusion of privacy that has occurred. My sincere hope is that neither of you will ever be required to visit this office again.”

You and me, both, buddy.

“Appreciate it.” I rap my knuckles on his desk, then turn my back on him and walk away.

At the door, I usher Sawyer through first.

At the threshold, she pauses, hitting me with a withering, vengeful look. She remains that way, challenging me, until I cock a brow and extend one arm.

“After you, wife.”

Chapter two

Sawyer

Every organ in my body is seized up and quivering. I’m numb on a cellular level.

What the actual fuckwas all that?

I shuffle one foot in front of the other, dazed and completely alarmed by what just went down.

A different emotion flares with each jilted step away from the dean’s office.

I want to cry.

Scream.

Run away or punch something.

Above all else, I want to get downstairs and fill Mercer in. I want to tell him everything and assure him it’s okay. And maybe be reassured myself.

I want him to hold me.

I want him to guide me out of the anxiety spiral that coils tighter in my chest with each passing second.

Tytus saved our asses back there.

I’m damn lucky that my childhood friend looks so similar to my much-older lover.

I’m also mortified…

If it weren’t for Ty’s quick thinking and morally questionable intimidation tactics, this morning could have gone in a drastically different direction.

I was nearly fired.