Page 62 of Wrong For Me

“You were really into that book.”

She flushes slightly, looking sheepish. “I’m always like that when I’m reading. My mom says the house could burn down around me and I wouldn’t notice.”

Once again, I’m struck with the strange desire to learn everything I can about this girl. “Are you close with your mom?”

“Very.” I can hear the sincerity dripping from her voice. But then her eyes refocus on me and something changes in her expression, the softness that had just been there at the mention of her mother suddenly replaced with a flat, closed off expression. “Anyhow, I should get back to work.”

I take a step closer to her desk. “Can we talk, Rose?”

Her lips press into a tight line but otherwise, her flat expression doesn’t change. “I have a lot of work to do, Leo.”

“You can’t give me five minutes?”

She sighs and finally looks up at me, every line of her face telling me she does not want to have this conversation. “Fine. Five minutes.”

Now that she’s agreed to talk, I have no idea where to start. I shove my hands into my pockets, rocking on my heels awkwardly. “So. That guy.”

She waits, clearly having no intention of making this easier on me.

“You said that kind of thing happens a lot?”

She shrugs. “A lotmight have been an exaggeration, but yeah, it happens. People think that because they read something about me or my family in some gossip magazine or bullshit blog that they know me. It isn’t always easy to convince them that they don’t.”

That has my fists tightening against my thighs. “Guys harass you because they read about your family in a tabloid?”

She shrugs again. I’m beginning to hate the sight of that little movement. I want real answers here, not this halting bullshit delivered with an emotionless, blank expression.

“Not just guys—though they tend to be the ones to get, uh, personal. Girls approach me too, thinking I can get them an in with other famous people. I try not to let it bother me too much.”

I think about those girls I saw surrounding her on the quad last week, how she’d been so adamant that they weren’t her friends. There had been girls at the orientation, too, hadn’t there? And a few whispering as she passed in Hernandez’s first lecture.

But bitchy, insincere girls are not my primary concern at the moment. “That guy had his hands on you,” I snarl and Rose tenses.

“I’m aware, Leo.”

“Does your family know this shit happens?”

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. Her blank expression gives way to anger, her eyes flashing with emotion, their blue color a few shades darker.

“That’s none of your damn business.”

“Rose. Your family has resources, right?” I think about the suit who came to see me this summer. A guy who can afford to send lackeys after his daughter’s hookup partner should certainly be able to provide some protection for her.

“You think I want to walk around campus with bodyguards?’ she asks incredulously. “It’s already hard enough to blend in.”

“Yeah, but if it keeps the creeps away—”

She stands suddenly, the scraping of her chair legs over tile interrupting me mid-sentence.

“Leo, I appreciate you helping me the other day. Really. But I have been dealing with this shit for years now. All due respect, but I’m not really interested in hearing your advice or opinions on it, okay?”

I blink at her, having zero response to that. She’s right—I have no real connection to her life. Having sex one night a few months ago doesn’t give me some right to dictate how she handles her problems.

So why does it feel so wrong to agree with her?

“Okay,” I finally manage to grit out, my mouth strangely dry. “I’ll butt out. I just…” I swallow a few times, not knowing the right words, but sure that there’s no way I can just walk away without saying something else. “Will you please tell me if something like that happens again? If someone is harassing you.”Touching you,I think, and have to swallow down my growl. “If someone is stepping over the line or you don’t feel safe, please tell me, Rose.”

She gapes at me, clearly bewildered. “Why?”

“Because I…”Because I can’t stand thinking about your face the way it was that morning. The fear I saw in your eyes. Can’t stomach the idea that you might ever feel like that again.“Because you shouldn’t have to deal with that shit while you’re trying to do your job,” I finally say.

She studies me for a moment before sighing. “Fine. Now I really do need to get back to work.”

Rose buries her head in her book once more and for the rest of the hour, she doesn’t look up once.