“You were absolutely planning to,” he snapped. “Your face is planning to right now.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “Okay, fine... I’m curious.”
“You are a journalist. Curiosity is your weakness and your weapon,” he said bitterly. “But this? Let it go. Understand?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
The long silence that followed was beginning to feel oppressive. “Please don’t make me do internal reflection,” I mumbled. “We both know I’m going to suck at it so badly.”
Amusement flickered in his eyes. “You probably would,” he conceded. He glanced at his watch. “Go. I have office hours in five minutes, with students wholisten,” he added.
“I listen.” I stooped to pick up my bag, then hesitated. “Did you get your ass ripped open by the dean?”
His face screwed up at my question. “God help this girl, please,” he muttered. “I got a veryclippedphone call if that’s what you mean.”
“I’m really sorry about that.” I was, and he nodded briefly. I headed to the door.
“Be sorry aboutallof it, Hadley. Actions have consequences.” He waved me away. “I want a feature review idea by nine a.m. tomorrow. You’re already a week and a half behind.”
“On it.”
“And Hadley?”
“Yes?”
“I mean it when I say drop it.”
I smiled. “Of course.”
It was not a yes.
He knew it.
I knew it.
The papers on his desk definitely knew it.
I left his office, feet dragging a little. Earlier, when my temper eventually cooled, which took a while, from either Dustin not being open or the way the coach had spoken to me, I’d seen the stares and the not-so-hidden giggles. I just hadn’t put the two together.
I’d chased him across the field.Not even subtly. Flat-out raced after him.
What did I expect was going to happen? Coach Sutherland must have thought all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once. I doubted I’d even been out of the building before the call to the dean was made.
The folder burned a hole in my backpack. Flannigan was probably right. This was college, life happened to us all, and this was likely nothing. It was just an old paper. Old ink.Notan old mystery.
But I’d looked. I couldn’t find him. And every instinct I had was screaming that there was a story here.
Which meant I absolutely couldn’t forget it.
Chapter 14
Hadley
I didn’t slam the building’s front door.
I wanted to, but I didn’t. Mostly because they were already halfway broken, and I didn’t want to be blamed for destroying university property on top of everything else.
But emotionally? Spiritually? Existentially? I slammed the hell out of that door. Only someone with something to hide would want me off the assignment. Coach Sutherland definitely had something to hide, and he kept fueling my obsession to find out what it was every time he pushed back against me.