“Bloody hell,” Ezra murmured.
Tessa looked between us. “I know that’s bullshit…but what actually happened?”
“The opposite,” I said, my face on fire as we passed a cluster of students, all of them stopping to watch us pass. “He…he threatened me, saying that Orion won, but if I did what he wanted…” I couldn’t even say it. “So I made a complaint.”
“Oh God,” Tessa said, her eyes filling with tears. “Oh, Harper, I’m so sorry. Everyone loves Langford. I’m not even in the science department and I know that. All these people…” She threw her arms aroundme. “I have rehearsal I can’t get out of but… Is there anything I can do?”
“No. Thanks,” I said, sounding shell-shocked to my own ears.
“Okay, call or text when you can.”
She reluctantly left, and I clutched Ezra’s arm.
“Who told them…?” I breathed.
“Langford,” Ezra said darkly. “He’s trying to get ahead of it. Come on. Let’s take a detour.”
He led me out a side door into blinding sunshine.
“He’s a piece of steaming shit, but this is a lot, Harper. Too much, maybe. You tell me what you want. Keep going or…?”
I sucked in a breath. “Keep going.”
***
Ezra and I were ushered into President Sterling’s office where half a dozen people were pacing, agitated, including Sterling. They all stopped, and an array of faces stared back at me—I barely registered Orion’s parents were among them—because my blood had gone cold at the sight of Langford.
“It’s abhorrent that she should be in the same room with him,” Ezra declared, tattooed and pierced amid all the suits. “We all know that, right?”
Dr. Sterling held up his hands. “Professor Wolfe, if you please. No one has been formally charged. Keep that in mind.” The man next to him, his lawyer presumably, nodded. “Please be seated.”
Ezra turned to me. “You don’t have to do this. We can leave right this bloody second.”
“It’s okay,” I said so only he could hear. “Let’s get this over with.”
Moving on stiff legs and looking anywhere but at Langford, I sat in the chair farthest from everyone else, Ezra beside me like a buffer.
“We’re just waiting on Orion, then,” Sterling said, with a deferential nod to his parents, who sat near the window, perpendicular to the desk.
Ezra and I shared shocked glances.
“What for?” he asked.
“This is an internal meeting regarding a faculty concern, and the integrity of the Novus Prize for Scientific Innovation,” Dr. Sterling said. “Orion’s name was brought up, and because his parents are here and such valued members of our Academy family, we thought it best to include all involved parties.”
“I see,” Ezra said with biting sarcasm. “I thought we were here to discuss a student complaint against a faculty member. Silly me.”
A knock came at the door, and Orion was ushered in. He looked just as appalled as Ezra that Langford was here.
“What the hell…?”
“Orion, hush,” his father said placidly. “Sit.”
Orion didn’t want to sit. He looked ready to murder Langford. I shook my head at him, and he reluctantly took a seat with his parents, hands gripping the armrests of his chair.
“Now that all parties are present…” Sterling said, and nodded to his lawyer, who turned to me.
“Miss Bennett, if you would.”
