Julia blanched. “What do you mean?”
“She’s forcing you into admitting that you had a relationship with your professor. Then the university can hit you and him with a fraternization charge. She’s either brilliant or she’s had some coaching.”
Julia traced a finger up and down the side of her martini glass, fighting the urge to be sick.
Soraya sipped her cocktail once more. “I need you to make a list of people the Dean might interview and anything they might say that would be damaging. The evidence he has is slight, but if you put it all together, it could be enough to convince a tribunal that Gabriel gifted you with favors because of your relationship.”
Julia began sawing on her lower lip with her teeth.
“Don’t worry, yet. Let’s focus on beating this complaint and worry about everything else later. The administration is very cautious when it comes to matters involving faculty members because of their union. The university will continue the investigation until they’re sure, and then they’ll pounce.
“In the meantime, let me file a complaint against this Christa Peterson character. From now on, you and Gabriel need to stay out of the public eye. David will be investigating both of you this week, and we should assume he’ll interview everyone who has come in contact with both of you.”
Julia shook her head, a wave of nausea crashing over her as she thought of other faculty and students from the department being asked to give testimony in front of the Dean.
“All right, Soraya. File the complaint. I don’t think it will accomplish anything other than to antagonize her, but you’re the lawyer.”
“Excellent.” Soraya smiled widely and downed the rest of her dirty martini.
Later that afternoon Julia was exiting the elevator on Gabriel’s floor. She passed his French Canadian neighbor as she walked down the long hallway, and they exchanged a brief but friendly nod. Then she let herself in with her key.
“Julianne? Is that you?”
“Yes. How was your meeting with the Chair?” She quickly removed her coat and boots and was ready to walk into the living room when Gabriel met her in the front hall.
“I want to hear about your meeting first.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Are you all right? What happened?”
“They asked me a few questions and let me go.”
He let out an expletive and pulled her into his arms. “If anything ever happened to you…”
She returned his embrace, exhaling slowly against his dress shirt. “It was Christa Peterson.”
“What?” He pulled back so he could see her face.
“Christa accused me of exchanging sexual favors with you for academic benefits.”
“What?”
While Julia hurriedly described the nature of the complaint and David and Soraya’s exchanges, Gabriel’s expression grew darker and more dangerous. When she quoted David’s final words, he took a large step away from her.
He reared back and thrust his fist through the wall. Then, for good measure, he withdrew, dragging fragments of plaster and dust with him, before punching through the wall twice more in rapid succession.
Julia stood, open-mouthed, as Gabriel trembled before her, eyes closed and chest heaving. Part of her wanted to run, but she found herself rooted to the spot.
No matter how much she wanted to run at that moment, the sight of a few drops of blood dripping from his knuckles and onto the hardwood floor captured her attention.
“What have you done to yourself?” She looked up into his blazing eyes and pulled him toward the guest washroom. “Sit down.” Once he was situated, she examined his knuckles and found the skin had split in more than one place.
“You might need stitches,” she said. “I’m worried you’ve broken something.”
Gabriel opened and closed his hand several times, wordlessly demonstrating that his hand wasn’t broken.
“I think you should have an x-ray, just in case.”
His only response was to rub at his eyes with his uninjured hand and heave a deep, shuddering sigh.
She opened the medicine cabinet and removed a few first aid items. “I’ll try to clean this, but you should go to the hospital.”
“I’ll be fine.” His voice was tight.
Using tweezers, she removed the bits of plaster from his wounds and cleaned them with iodine. Gabriel barely flinched as she bathed his knuckles, and she noticed that he was shaking, possibly from residual anger.
“I’m sorry I upset you,” Julia whispered.
“I nearly brought a wall down, and you’re apologizing to me?”
“I should have told you when you were sitting down. Or after you’d had a drink.”
He shook his head. “Then I really would have knocked the wall down. I’m too angry to drink.”
Julia continued her first aid until the wound was completely clean. When she was finished, she ghosted her lips over his bandaged knuckles. “I’m so sorry.”
Gabriel caught her hand in his. “Stop it. I seem to remember another time in this washroom when I was the one playing doctor.”
“I was mortified. I wanted to make a good impression and then I smashed your crystal and sprayed your nice shirt with Chianti.”
“It was an accident. I had to work up the courage to put iodine on your cuts. I was afraid of hurting you. And that was before I…”
He closed his eyes and rubbed at them again. “What happened to you today is my fault. I should have protected you.”
“Gabriel,” Julia said, her voice a warning. She leaned over and took his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her. “Don’t. We knew the risks when we got involved. I don’t care what they do to me.” Her voice broke on the words, but she spoke them anyway. “I don’t care about Harvard or my PhD. I don’t want to lose you.”
A strange fire illuminated Gabriel’s eyes. “Not even Hell could keep me from you,” he whispered.
The lovers embraced desperately, drawing comfort from each other’s very skin.
“Are you going to tell me what happened with Professor Martin?”
Gabriel took Julia’s hand and led her into the master bathroom where he began drawing a bath. “You relax, I’ll talk.”
“I’m not in the mood for a bubble bath. I kind of feel like taking a crow bar to something.”
(Something appalling and poorly made. Like domestic beer.)
“That’s why you need a bubble bath. I have to preserve the walls of my apartment.”
Julia undressed and settled herself amongst the suds. He regarded her intensely—the way her long hair was pinned up haphazardly on top of her head, the gentle contours of her breasts floating amidst the water like two white, pink tipped lilies, the way she bit at her lip until she realized he was staring at it.
“Do you remember the first time we bathed together?” she asked as she watched him settle his tall form on a low stool.
“I’m not likely to forget it.”
“You were worried I was hurting, and you carried me to the tub.” She smiled shyly. “That was one of the kindest things you’ve ever done for me.”
“Thank you.” He gave her a peck on a cheek. “But I can’t reminisce about happy things with you. I’m far too angry for that. I’d like to rip out David Aras’s tongue and strangle him with it.”
“What about Professor Martin?”
Gabriel paused, clearing his throat. “If Christa’s complaint had stood alone, he would have interviewed me, perhaps spoken to a few others around the department, and concluded that her charge was fabricated. Her complaint against you, however, complicates things.”
“What did your lawyer say?”
“I decided to meet with Jeremy alone.”
Julia sat bolt upright, the water sloshing around her. “What? I thought you told your lawyer about the complaint so he would accompany you.”
Gabriel leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
“Jeremy hired me. I consider him a friend. I thought it was more likely that we could cut through the bullshit and deal with the issue if I didn’t bring my lawyer.”
Julia’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What did he say?”
“Christa claims that I tried to initiate a sexual relationship with her on a number of different occasions, including meetings that we had on and off campus. She mentioned our interactions at Starbucks and at Lobby.” His eyes shifted to Julia’s.
“She’s also accusing me of punishing her by rejecting her thesis proposal and threatening to have her dismissed from the PhD program. She claims that after she spurned me, I made her life hell.”
“But it’s all lies. She was the one harassing you.”
“Exactly, and I said as much. Jeremy was quite cross. He told me that I should have come to him immediately and filed a complaint. Obviously, my claim is not very credible at this point, but there are a couple of things that Christa did not take into consideration.”
“Such as?”
“Her academic file. Jeremy and I had at least two discussions about her poor progress over the course of last semester. He was well aware of the fact that she was struggling. Notes from those discussions, along with copies of her work, are in her file. Also, Paul was present during some of my interactions with Christa. I suggested that Jeremy speak with him, along with Mrs. Jenkins.”
“Paul was with me in Starbucks the day you met with Christa. She told us she was planning on persuading you to take her to Lobby—that she was going to be exchanging more than names with you that evening.”
Gabriel’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“I forgot about that conversation, or I would have mentioned it earlier. Paul and I were having coffee and Christa came in before you arrived. She was bragging about how she was going to seduce you.”
Gabriel stroked his chin, deep in thought. “And Paul heard her say this?”
“Yes,” said Julia, fighting a smile. “I guess the Angelfucker might turn out to be a guardian angel.”
Gabriel scowled. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What else did she say?”
“Not much. We saw you meet with Christa, but we were too far away to hear what you were saying. Her body language seemed pretty obvious. She was trying to flirt with you, and you scolded her. I could tell Professor Martin that.”
“Absolutely not. You’re too involved as it is.” He scratched at his chin once again. “Jeremy asked that I not speak to Paul about Christa. The situation is a bit touchy because Paul is working for me, but Jeremy agreed to talk to him. It would be best if you didn’t speak to Paul about this, either. The less said on the topic the better.”
“He doesn’t like Christa. One of the first things he ever said to me was that she wanted to become Mrs. Emerson. He knows she was after you.”
Gabriel grimaced. “I reminded Jeremy that I approved Christa’s dissertation proposal back in December, after giving her numerous chances to fix it. Let’s hope that when he talks to Paul, he’s able to grasp a clear picture of what actually happened.”