Page 48 of Baby Girl
“Anyone who is a part of thewoodworking”—my emphasis on that last word is beyond sarcastic—“social group is not allowed to talk about woodworking. At all.”
Thayne nods, a little tension leaving his shoulders. “Exactly. So the fact that I saw you at woodworking and you saw me at woodworking, that’s between you and me and the other woodworking members.”
It finally dawns on me where this is going. I’m going to attribute my slow mental skills to the fact that I had my brain rattled a few days ago and a few of the systems are still running in back-up mode. “Yep, got it.”
Thayne pauses and watches me quizzically. “I was expecting some sort ofFight Clubreference.”
I blink at him. “A what?”
He waves a hand in the air, the stern older man in an authoritative position disappearing for a minute. “You know, the first rule of Fight Club is that no one talks about Fight Club.”
My confusion must be clearly written all over my face because he rubs at his forehead and mutters something about getting to be too old if that is no longer a pop-culture reference.
“Okay, well, if that was all…” I start and lean forward to pick up my bottle as I begin to stand.
“Two more things.” Thayne stands and strides over to his table, coming back with a thin cardboard folder and offers it to me.
I look at it but make no effort to take it from him, just stare up at him, waiting until he explains.
“First, I need you to sign these.”
This time, I do take the folder from him, immediately flicking it open to the first page. “What are they?”
Thayne pulls a pen out from the inside of his jacket and offers it to me. “They are a form that states you are entering into a consensual relationship with academic staff.”
I shake my head at the pen and then really take a look at the papers I’m holding. There are a whole bunch of words on the papers, but one thing that is the same on every single one of them is that they are all signed.
Derek King.
Hudson Gold.
Xavier Knight.
Darcy Reign.
And every single signature is dated for Sunday, when I was in the hospital.
After I’d saidred.
They still signed these.
First they saved me, then they documented ourongoingrelationship.
What the hell?
“If you could sign them, I can get them filled today, and that will sort everything out for the five of you.”
“Err…” I hedge, trying to buy myself a second. “Do you mind if I take these home to read over them first?”
He frowns for a heartbeat but nods. “Of course. Take all the time you need.”
Tingles of relief flutter through my chest. “And the second thing?”
“Ah, yes, the second thing. I wanted to reassure you, after the events that occurred on campus Friday night, we are drafting up plans for increased security, which you are more than welcome to provide feedback on, if you are interested. I know that won’t bring you much comfort now, but my hope is to ensure nothing like what happened to you happens again. Unlike my predecessors, I won’t be sweeping this under the rug.”
I reach for my water bottle and take a long sip. “You won’t?”
Still standing, he shakes his head. “No. Due to there being no nine-one-one call, we have been able to keep the incident under wraps, simply for your own privacy. I would like to assure you that once I was informed of the situation, I was fully prepared to be cooperative with any investigation that may have occurred. But given that your abductor isn’t able to be prosecuted, due to his fatal car accident, we are keeping this a campus issue.”
