Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Shit, that made me uncomfortable. “He’s probably just busy.”
“So are we,” she said.
Feeling torn, I stared at the ground. The hallway had mostly emptied now that new classes had started. “We’ve got a pretty decent discussion going in the group chat. We could ask about the case studies there.”
“Yeah, but that’s just other first-years. None of us really know what we’re doing—that’s why we were assigned to a cohort with an older student in the first place.”
I hated the way she talked about Parker… but I also hated the fact that what she said was true. “How about this? You research the entrepreneur in Benin, and I’ll look up that woman who opened the food truck in Slovakia. Then we can report on our findings in the group chat.”
Paige nodded. “It’s a start, I suppose. And likely more help than Parker will give us.” She stared down at her hands, shaking her head. “Or we could go to the admin office and ask to be reassigned.”
Alarm filled me. “But what if Parker gets in trouble?”
She shrugged. “So? Why should he get credit for something he’s not doing? Come on, be honest. Do you think he’s a good mentor?” Paige stared at me, not letting me off the hook.
Finally, I shook my head. “No.” But unlike Paige, I knew there was a reason why he wasn’t.
Paige nodded. “Okay, I’ll do my part of the research and post it, and you do yours. But if nothing changes, I’m telling my advisor what’s going on. See you later.” She crossed the marble tiles and headed outside.
I stood up, feeling troubled. What Paige had said was true, but I knew there was more to the story than that. I knew what Parker had gone through.
It was the first time all day my mind wasn’t in the gutter. I knew I should’ve taken advantage of that and studied, but my thoughts were too troubled. So instead, I stared at the stupid sculpture behind me. If they had a statue of dolphins, wouldn’t it have made sense to make it into a fountain?
My eyes scanned upward, and that’s when I noticed someone standing on the landing between the floors behind the statue.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
How much had he heard of what we’d said?
“Parker?” I called from the base of the steps, but he turned and jogged up the rest of the way, disappearing from view.
20
Parker
I heard Kylie calling me, but I ignored her. I didn’t want her to tell me it was okay when clearly, it wasn’t fucking okay. It was bad enough that my life had turned to shit—now I was bringing first-year students down with me.
That other student—God, I didn’t even know her name—was right. I was useless as a cohort leader. She had every right to request someone else. Hell, I’d do it myself. I strode toward the admin office, determined to have my group of mentees reassigned to someone who’d actually help them.
“Parker?”
I flinched as I heard Kylie’s voice behind me. How the hell had she kept up? She was such a little thing. Abandoning my plan, I dashed up another set of stairs and hurried down the hall. It was cowardly, yes, but I didn’t want to talk to her. Not unless it was to make her moan like I did last night. And even then, it was mostly Mason and Jude. These days, I barely helped someone have an orgasm, let alone pass a class.
By the time I made it to the fourth floor, Kylie was nowhere in sight. That was good. She was better off without me. I wound my way through the cubicle farm of graduate teaching assistants and entered yet another stairwell. It’d led up to the seldom-used top floor.
The air was staler up here. I passed a library looking as if the most recent book added was from the 1920s. Then there were some offices for the more prestigious retired professors, though they were rarely used. Finally, I found what I was looking for. A dusty old classroom that had a heap of desks stacked on top of each other at the back. And off to the side was a three-quarters size door. I ducked my head as I entered the narrow passage running along the side of the classroom. Then it opened out to a small, round turret at the corner of the building. From the outside, it looked like the tower of a castle. Inside, there wasn’t a lot of space, but the large windows provided a good view of campus and the Rockies in the distance.
“Parker?”
I was shocked to see Kylie enter the room after me. “How the hell did you do that? Your legs are about as long as my index finger.”
She brushed some dust off of her oversized sweater and smiled, moving to a window, taking in the view. “My superpower is being able to locate every spot on campus that has a good view of the Rockies.”