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Had she kept her mouth shut, none of it would’ve happened. The question then became, had she wanted it to go on like this? Ignorance was far from bliss.
She flipped through the chapter on neuroplasticity, running the end of her pen along sections she’d previously highlighted. Something pulled at her concentration. Kenna glanced at the dead arrangement of roses atop her dresser.
Nothing had ever distracted her from coursework; not even when Reid, God rest his soul, had broken her heart. Shutting the textbook, she buried her head in her hands.
All she fought to suppress flashed through her mind’s eye in a horrific slideshow.
The feelings she had for Dr. Merino were forced into a different light since he’d pinned her against his bedroom door. Her fingers flew to the space where his palm had held her, flat and merciless. Kenna wanted to believe her feelings were merely a byproduct of her close study of him, the time spent in his company.
But her romantic inclinations were no longer strictly tied to research, and she was disgusted with herself for desiring someone who went from cooking her dinner to choking her all in the same night.
She jolted in her desk chair as a knock came at the door.
“Knock, knock. Sorry, I know you’re busy in the final trenches,” Alex said, flexing her thin brows in apology. A box was bundled under her arm. “This came for you.”
She set the violet box on the edge of the desk.
Kenna eyed the package. Her throat constricted the longer she stared at it. “Thanks.”
Alex gave a single, slow nod and shut the door on her way out. She returned to her biological psychology textbook in a weak bid to ignore the box. Its presence alone was unnerving when she knew full well who sent it. Dr. Merino should’ve been issuing an apology, in person, not sending along gifts.
Her pen fell into the book’s spine and her hands fell limp on its pages as she recalled his words from dinner.
I have something for you.
Curiosity dominated her repulsion and she tore into the box. A note, only legible to her after months of being forced to decipher his handwriting, was nestled among the tissue paper.
Kenna,
Words hardly suffice for the horror to which I subjected you. Know that I am deeply sorry, for everything.
Dr. M
Lifting the layers of tissue,her toes curled, digging into the rough carpet as the contents of the box were laid bare.
“Oh my God.” Face aflame, she examined the delicate items within. She reached out to graze the fabric but halted, calling, “Alex!”
“What’s up?” she asked, reentering the room.
Kenna, incapable of speech, pointed to the open violet box. Alex plucked up the white hipsters and matching bra that had rendered her roommate mute. A huff escaped her lips as she let the items drop. “Hate to say I told you so.”
Checking the tag on the bra’s band, Kenna mumbled, “How did he know what size to get?”
She rolled her eyes.
“He’s resourceful, I’ll give him that. Are you still seeing him? Because I really don’t think this—”
“He put his hands on me.” She surprised herself with the admission. Anxiety swarmed her and she felt foolish for having said anything.
“He hurt you?”
“Not exactly. I don’t think he meant to.”
Alex’s tone went soft, as if Kenna were a frightened animal she didn’t want to scare off. “Well, what happened?”
“We had an argument.” She pushed the box to the farthest corner of the desk. “I told him about Erin and Charlee.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
