Page 58 of Teaching Roman

“But while he was a student he taught classes, one of which your client”— Lauren said the word with disdain—”was enrolled in.”

Lillian had come prepared for this. It was the most damning evidence they had against me. I had been in Roman’s class. It was how we had met. “Miss Stone was not involved with him romantically during that time.”

“Brett Andrews is not so certain of that.” Lauren tapped the folder in front of her.

“That’s amusing, given that Miss Stone was in a monogamous relationship with Mr. Andrews while she was in Mr. Markson’s class.”

“Brett only made a complaint because I broke up with him,” I said. Lillian stiffened next to me, but she didn't inflict any physical pain on me this time.

“Did you break up with him for Mr. Markson?” Lauren asked, sounding more like she wanted juicy gossip than justice.

“No,” I said. “I broke up with him before anything happened between Roman, err, Mr. Markson and I.”

“Then why is he making a complaint?” Lauren asked. The question was as vacant as I assumed her head was. Good luck getting into law school with such amazing powers of deduction, I thought.

“Obviously,” Lillian answered for me, probably realizing I was bound to answer that question with more snark than was appropriate for a hearing, “Mr. Andrews has a vendetta against my client. I regret to inform you that this whole hearing is the result of his jealousy. There’s no basis for it, other than his wounded pride. It strikes me that a counter-allegation could be made against him for harassment.”

Brett blanched at this, but Lauren waved it off. “You are free to pursue complaints after the hearing.”

“I'll remember that.” Her eyes traveled from the board and landed on Brett. He knew my sister meant business and he clamped his mouth shut. If he was smart he would drop this and go into hiding before she found him and made him pay.

“Mr. Markson do you have anything to add concerning this matter?” Lauren asked.

Roman stepped forward, his eyes darting to mine, before he faced the committee. “My own department has been apprised of the situation and found no ethical violation to be concerned with. You're free to contact Dean Howard for his official position on the matter.”

“We're not concerned with the inner politics of the Communications Department,” Lauren said. The term drunk with power came to mind.

The boy next to her leaned onto the table and shook his head. “It seems to me that if the Dean of Communications decided the relationship was kosher, it probably is.”

“This is a question of ethics, Brad,” Lauren snapped.

“Yeah, and there might be a real moral dilemma if Mr. Markson was 65 and abusing his tenure.” Brad turned to Roman. “How old are you, man?”

Lauren's eyes looked like they might bug out of her skull but Roman only smiled. “I'm 26.”

“And you?” Brad asked me.

“22.”

“Seriously?” Brad looked at the rest of the committee. “Why are we even here? If they had met four years ago, they'd have been undergrads. This sounds like two consenting adults to me.”

Heads bobbed across the panel, agreeing with him. I had no memory of who Brad was. He couldn't have been terribly exceptional if I couldn't recall training him, but right now I wanted to kiss him. It was reassuring to know someone on the board could still scrounge up an ounce of logic.

“I suppose that Mr. Andrews’ complaint is found to be without merit,” Lauren said through gritted teeth as though the words pained her to say. She’d probably hoped to see me hanged in the public square.

“Talk about a case of sour grapes,” Brad added, shooting Brett a dirty look. “If you want to file a counter-allegation—”

“No!” I held my hand up. “I don't.”

Brett might deserve it for being a jackass, but to me it felt like I'd snagged a get-out-of-jail-free card. Not only was Brett's complaint being dismissed, I’d dodged a bullet—one headed straight for my heart. If I'd never gone to Mexico with Cassie, I might be engaged to Brett right now and who knows when he would have finally shown me his true colors. It could have been after I'd married him, I realized. The thought made me sick. But even though I’d escaped that pain, I’d managed to get hurt all the same.

“You're dismissed,” Lauren said. She didn't bother to look up from the notes she was making in her folder. She was too busy recording the outcome of the hearing.

Lillian steered me out the door, past both Brett and Roman. I snuck a quick glance at Brett, who was glued to the wall, still glowering. It struck me that he might have actually wanted to see me expelled from school, which was all the proof I needed that he had never loved me. I couldn't bring myself to look in Roman's direction. Even though this had been decided in our favor, my last exchange with him still tugged at my heart, threatening to break the still healing organ all over again.

Outside the door my friends were waiting and as soon as we were through I winked at them. Jillian screamed and threw herself on me.

“I couldn't have lived without you,” she whispered in my ear. She embraced me for a long time, and I tried to draw strength from her. Now that I was in the clear, the reality of my relationship with Roman was setting in. It had never been inappropriate or wrong, but we'd been too caught up in what others felt about it to see that. We’d let it dictate too much of our time together. Now it was too late to see what might have been.

When Jillian finally dropped her vice grip on me, Liam drew her back into his arms and nodded to someone behind me.

“Let’s give them a minute,” Liam suggested, pulling Jillian away. She protested but he didn’t listen.

“If you want me to stay, I will,” Cassie offered, but I shook my head. I could handle talking to my sister alone. She’d gotten me out of this, and she knew everything. It wasn’t a victory that would earn her partnership in her law firm or acclaim, but I needed her to know what it meant to me.

“Thank you,” I said, turning to give her a hug. She squeezed my shoulders and gave me an encouraging smile.

“You have one last person to face,” she whispered. Then she joined my friends, leaving me alone with Roman.