But I wouldn’t.
“Coop did it,” I said, steeling my shoulders, “because the night Heather died, I told him Dr. Garvey made me sleep with him in exchange for a recommendation letter. I applied for the fellowship like Heather, and I wanted it more than anything. But I lost, and Heather won. Dr. Garvey wrote her a letter fair and square, but for me, he…” My voice trailed off. Ten years later, I still couldn’t bring myself to say the word Coop had written across every room of Dr. Garvey’s house.
No matter—the unspoken message exploded like a bomb.
Caro gasped, hands flying to her mouth.
“I’ll kill him,” Frankie said. “I’ll fly straight to DC and kill him right now.”
Courtney’s outstretched finger, which was still pointed at me, drooped a little as she glanced around, unsure.
But Mint.
His eyes were locked on me, so sharp they cut. His face was turning red—bright, painful crimson staining his skin, creeping up his neck. He looked angry, or…humiliated.
I searched his face. He was ashamed of me. Just like I’d feared.
“When Jess told me,” Coop said, oblivious to Mint, “I was furious. I broke into Garvey’s house and hurt him the only way I could think of.” He looked at Caro. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. But I don’t regret it.”
Eric crossed his arms, the movement drawing my eyes. He wasn’t surprised. There was something else in his face—was it a flicker of pity?
“After the breakin,” he said slowly, “with that word written all over his house, Duquette administration opened an investigation into Professor Garvey’s behavior. One of his TAs—it was a Phi Delt, actually, your year—came forward and said he’d witnessed the professor having inappropriate relationships with roughly half a dozen female students. He was asked to leave, but he got the university to seal the record and stay quiet. And then he skulked off to the White House.”
Half a dozen girls? My chest ached.
“I always wondered”—Eric’s voice caught, but he pushed forward—“whether Heather was one of the girls. If that’s how, with the letter…”
Did I tell him what I suspected? Tell him she’d lied to me about one thing, unwilling to admit the lengths to which she’d gone to get the fellowship, and so she might have lied about this, too? That the truth had died with her, and he would just have to live with the uncertainty?
I looked at Eric. His jaw tensed, waiting for my answer.
“She wasn’t one of the girls,” I lied. “I promise. He didn’t touch her.”
He nodded, and there it was—a flicker of gratitude.
“You said Garvey’s TA was a Phi Delt?” Frankie scratched his head. “I wonder who. Asshole should’ve said something way before it got to half a dozen girls.”
Eric’s voice turned bitter. “Yeah, well, you Phi Delts weren’t exactly known for your upstanding behavior, were you?”
A Phi Delt had known about Dr. Garvey. Something about that didn’t feel right. There was a connection I couldn’t quite grasp.
“You know what I don’t understand?” Mint’s eyes were cold, but his voice—his voice was low and taut, so intense it surprised me.
Fear bloomed in my chest, dampening my palms.
“Why did you go to Coop? I was your boyfriend. If Garvey…took advantage of you…why didn’t you come to me?”
Coop and I looked at each other. I could sense the storm in him. What would we say? It was the only secret left, and it was too big, too destructive, to ever speak out loud.
The silence stretched.
“Jess,” said Caro finally, her voice shaky. “Answer Mint’s question.”
I caught her eyes. Dark and beautiful, soft with pain. Caro, my best friend. Caro, who didn’t deserve this.
But I needed to do something I should have done years ago. It was much, much too late, I knew that—but for once, I was going to make the radical choice.
I took a deep breath. “Because I was in love with Coop. And I still am.”
Chapter 38
February, senior year
Mint
Mint stared at his laptop, a chill spreading over him. There it was, in black and white, the headline screaming “Housing Crash Claims Real Estate Giant Minter Group.” Just like his mother had warned: It’s coming for us like a tidal wave, and we can’t stop it. Your father made terrible investment decisions. He failed us. We’re going to lose everything.