Laurie’s hand is cupped between Nora’s legs. Her hand is clamped over his as she forcibly tries to push it away. The sight turns my vision into a sea of red. I lunge at the professor, one arm slicing up and then down as I karate chop the back of his neck. He howls in pain and stumbles away from Nora.
“What the hell!” he roars, angrily rubbing the spot that the side of my hand connected with.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I snap back. “Am I interrupting something?” My stomach churns when I notice the bulge in his pants. That bastard. I turn to Nora, whose face is ashen, her fingers quivering wildly as she tries to smooth the hem of her rumpled dress.
“Are you okay?” I ask urgently.
“I’m fine.”
She doesn’t sound fine. Her voice is weak, and her legs are visibly wobbling as she comes toward me. I wrap a protective arm around her trembling shoulders. The fact that she lets me tells me how shaken up she actually is.
“Of course she’s fine,” Laurie says stiffly. “I don’t know what you think is going on right now, Summer, but Nora was not in any danger from me. Your hysteria, not to mention your ludicrous assumptions about what was happening are not only insulting, but you also just left yourself open to an assault charge.”
I can’t stop an incredulous laugh. “You’re going to have me arrested for assault? Are you kidding me? And I know exactly what was going on in here before I came in.”
“Nothing untoward occured between Nora and myself. Isn’t that right, Nora?”
She doesn’t respond. She simply shakes harder in my arms.
“You’re disgusting,” I hiss at our esteemed professor.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he spits out. “You interrupted a consensual intimate moment between me and—”
“A student!” I finish in disbelief. “Between you and a student! Even if it was consensual—and it didn’t fucking look that way from where I was standing—how is it in any way appropriate?”
His lips flatten in an angry line. I wait for a denial, an apology, anything. What I get is, “I don’t need to deal with this.”
I gape. “Like hell you don’t—”
But he’s already storming off. Frantic footsteps reverberate backstage, then get softer and softer until a door finally slams. And then everything goes silent.
Nora’s entire body is still shaking. “Thank you,” she whispers.
“Hey, it’s no problem.” I tighten my hold on her. She needs it, otherwise I suspect she’ll topple over. “But we need to go to the police now.”
Her head snaps up, the top of it nearly clipping my chin. “What? Why?”
“He would’ve raped you if I hadn’t come along, Nora. You know that, right?”
“Maybe not.” But there’s no conviction at all. She clears her throat, straightens her shoulders, and eases out of my embrace. “He didn’t rape me, though. And I know how this will play out—my mom’s a public defender. It’ll be my word against his. All he did was stick his hand between my legs. There’s no bruises, no evidence of assault.”
“There’s me. I’m the evidence. I saw him groping you. I heard you say no. Loud and clear.”
“Summer, you know there’s no point,” she says bleakly. “The cops will give him a slap on the wrist. They probably wouldn’t even charge him.”
I have a sinking feeling she’s right. I bite my lip as I work over our options in my head. There aren’t many, but one rises to the forefront of my brain. “I think I know who won’t give him a slap on the wrist,” I say slowly.
“Who?”
I take her hand and say, “Come with me.”
“We can’t just show up at the dean’s house,” Nora hisses more than an hour later. She’s in the passenger’s seat of my Audi, and she’s been protesting this course of action since the moment I told her.
“We’re not just showing up,” I remind her as I drive through the wrought-iron gates at the entrance of David Prescott’s property. The dean lives in a gorgeous mansion in Brookline, a wealthy neighborhood outside of Boston. I’m pretty sure Tom Brady and Gisele live around here too. I suddenly have a vision of Gisele jogging past the dean’s house, noticing my fabulous outfit, and inviting me over to her house for a drink. Oh my God. That would blow my frigging mind.
Unfortunately, we’re not here to celebrity sightsee. We’re here to report an attempted sexual assault.
“My father called ahead to tell him we were coming, remember?” Because my dad is awesome. Never mind terrifying when he needs to be.
And I guess Dean Prescott called in reinforcements as well, because he’s not the only one waiting for us on the doorstep. Hal Richmond is with him, and he’s the one who greets us.
“Ms. Ridgeway. Summer.” As usual, his “accent” contains a patronizing note. “What’s all this about?”
I let out a breath. “Something happened tonight, and, well, Nora doesn’t want to go to the police, but I told her I couldn’t in good conscience let it go unreported.”
Prescott’s eyes widen. “The police?” He opens the door wider and gestures for us to come inside.
Nora shoots me a panicky look.
I squeeze her arm. “It’s fine. I promise.”
As we follow the two men into a living room the size of my townhouse in Hastings, I dial my dad’s number on my phone. He answers immediately. He’s been waiting for my call.
“Hey, Dad, we just got here. I’m putting you on speakerphone.” I glance at Prescott. “Dean, you know my father. I hope you don’t mind if he listens in.”
I see Richmond’s lips tighten. I assume the word cloud in his snotty brain is now flashing “Preferential treatment!”
He can eat a dick.
“I know this is weird, but I’m from a family of lawyers,” I explain to the men. “I’m not allowed to have any important conversations without legal counsel.”
A chuckle floats out of my phone. “You got that right, Princess.”
Nora seems to be fighting a smile. I’m surprised when it actually breaks free, and it’s genuine. “Family of lawyers?” she murmurs to me. “Me too.”
“Look at that,” I murmur back. “And you thought we didn’t have anything in common.”
Maybe if she’d given me a chance instead of assuming I was an airhead, we could’ve been friends. But deep down I know that will never be the case. I’m a super-jealous person, and the fact that she went on one date with Fitz means I’ll always want to claw her eyes out.
But I also watched her almost get raped tonight, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
With Prescott and Richmond’s rapt attention on me, I repeat the story of what happened tonight. Nora fills in her side of it, explaining how Laurie bought her two drinks and flirted with her all night until finally making his move after everyone had gone home. Both men wear murderous expressions when I mention where Laurie’s hand had been when I opened the bathroom door.
“So I karate chopped him and—”
There’s a choked laugh from my dad.
“Daddy,” I scold.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. It’s just that you took karate for three months before you quit. And you were twelve. I can’t believe you still remember any of the moves.”
“I don’t. Just that one,” I admit.
“Well, it came in handy tonight,” he says, and his pride practically pours out of the phone speaker.
“Anyway.” I finish the story by admitting that this wasn’t the first time Laurie made a move on a student. Nora stares at me in surprise as I reveal, “I had a meeting in his office and he tried to kiss me.”
My father roars. “I’m going to kill—”
“Daddy, hush! You’re a defense lawyer. You can’t threaten to kill people. And he didn’t push the issue when I told him I wasn’t interested. Tonight he’d had a lot to drink, so maybe that contributed to his behavior.” I level Prescott and Richmond with a stern glare. “But he can’t get away with it. We can’t have someone like that teaching at Briar.”
“Absolutely not,” Prescott agrees, while Richmond gives a grim nod. “Don’t worry, ladies. Briar will be taking swift action. And, Nora, please remember you have access to counseling at the student health center. I encourage you to take advantage of that.”
She nods weakly.
My dad speaks up. “As for contacting law enforcement, obviously nobody can force you to press charges, Nora—you need to do whatever you feel is right. However, should you change your mind, I will gladly serve as your counsel. Summer will give you my contact info. You can call me any time, day or night.”
She bites her lip, her gaze slightly awed. “Thank you, sir.”
Our late-night visit to the dean’s house comes to an end. Nora and I thank them for listening, and as the men walk us out, I take my father off speakerphone and murmur, “Love you, Daddy. Thank you.”
“Love you too, Princess. Oh, and by the way, I looked into that matter you’d asked about while I was waiting for your call. I didn’t do it before, because…well, because your mom said it would be enabling your craziness.”
“Dad!”
“Her words, not mine. Blame Mom.”
“But you looked into what?” I prompt.
He answers with, “West Yorkshire.”
I wrinkle my nose. “West Yorkshire?”
“That’s where the fellow you’re overly interested in hails from. Leeds, West Yorkshire. England.”
My gaze flies to Richmond, who’s walking ahead of us. He’s actually British? I can’t even.
“Thanks for telling me,” I say glumly. “Love you.”
When we reach the front door, Richmond stops me from exiting by saying, “Summer, a word?”
Sum-ah. Dammit. I hate being wrong.
“I’ll wait in the car,” Nora says.
I nod. “I’ll only be a minute.” I wait until she’s out of earshot before crossing my arms. “What do you want?”
“To apologize.” There’s genuine remorse in his eyes. “I’ve been behaving like a bit of a wanker, haven’t I?”
“Just a bit,” I say flatly.
“I must confess—I went into our relationship with a hefty bias.”
“You think?”
He gives me a look. “May I continue?”
“Sorry.”
“I didn’t grow up with money, Summer. I worked myself to the bone in order to attend university, as I wasn’t offered a scholarship. Over the years, I suppose I developed resentment toward people like you, the ones who come from wealthy families that can pull strings for them. I didn’t get into my first choice uni. Nobody called in a favor for me.” He hangs his head. “I’m sorry for my behavior. And I’m especially sorry because you tried to warn me about Professor Laurie. You tried to tell me how uncomfortable he made you, and I dismissed those concerns.”
“Yes. You did.” I can feel the disapproval radiating from my pores.
“And you have no idea how deeply I regret that. It’s ghastly enough, what Ms. Ridgeway endured tonight. But if something had happened to you because I’d ignored your claims?” He shudders. “I’m terribly sorry.”
I exhale. “It’s done now. And I hope that in the future, if a student comes to you with these kinds of concerns, you actually heed them.”
“I will. I promise. And I also promise to be a little friendlier during our meetings.” He chuckles dryly. “But please, don’t expect me to transform into a warm and fuzzy creature overnight. I am British, after all.”
