B0161IZ63U (A) (40 page)

He veered and caught it in his mouth, heading back to the table with two beers.  “If memory serves, your uncanny ability to spiral into basket case mode is what got you this job in the first place.”

She accepted the beer he handed her, and the second kiss he pressed on her lips.  “You’re right. The dean who gave me the job last year, Dr. Brandt, he was on the committee, too.  He was smiling through my entire breakdown.”

“He gets you,” Chase said, turning off the crock-pot that had been cooking all afternoon.  “People who don’t get you?  They never will.  All it takes is one.”  He raised a finger.  “One person who can see the brilliance behind the basket case.  Then that one person can enlighten all the others, the ones who will never get you on their own.”  He threw her a look out of the corner of his eye.  “I bet anything you got it, baby.”

She scoffed.  “You’re blinded by your love for me.”  She looked back to her phone.  “Kelly is on that committee.  There’s no way I got it.”

“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be checking your phone so obsessively. Besides… If you don’t get the gig because of some crazy broad who’s been engaged seven times, and is currently engaged to a man who doesn’t give a fuck about her?” Chase shook his head.  “That would be a real tragedy.”

“Isn’t life one big tragedy?”

“I thought it was, for a long time.  He chuckled, spooning a heaping helping of their roast onto two plates.  His eyes met hers, again.  “But I was wrong.  It’s beautiful.”

She finally sat her phone down on the table, holding his bright eyes.  “This one beautiful life,” she whispered.

He moaned his agreement, eyes going wide when Lila’s phone suddenly buzzed to life.

Lila leapt out of her chair.  “Jesus.”

She snatched up the phone, which was displaying a Cambridge number, and pressed it to her ear as she moved into the living room. Chase came flying out of the kitchen after her, lingering over her shoulder as she put the phone to her ear.

“This is Lila James.”

“Lila, hello.  This is Dr. Brandt.”

Lila’s heartbeat raced, and she grabbed hold of the dove around her neck. “Yes, of course, Mr. Brandt.  How are you?

“I’m better now that I’m on my way home.  Arguing your case made for the longest ad hoc discussion I’ve ever had the pleasure of winning in my entire career.”

Lila could hardly believe what she was hearing.  “I’m sorry, did you say… winning?” Her voice rose.  “I got the promotion?”  She felt Chase’s hands grip her shoulders from behind.

“Not just the promotion.”

She could hear the smile in Dr. Brandt’s voice.

“Lila, they approved your petition for The Safe Space.  The Vice President signed off on it just this
evening.”

22

Not only had Harvard approved Lila’s petition, but they’d also given it its own structure in the middle of Harvard Yard, just two buildings away from Memorial Hall.

Lila found herself standing outside of the small building that used to serve as a campus restroom, hair lapping in the breeze as she took in its sharp lines and red bricks. The construction workers had put in overtime gutting the inside of the building and were in the process of drilling a sign to the steely brick.

The doors of The Safe Space would be open by fall.  She’d had her doubts, but Lila had made her deadline.  As Managing Director, she still needed to prepare a quarterly budget, get the space furnished, and hire staff for the semester. Fall was less than two months away, so she knew she had a lot of work to do.

She’d never been more thrilled to get started.

As she gave the construction men, who were completely annoyed with her unnecessary presence, some unsolicited advice on the crookedness of the sign, she squealed in shock when someone tickled her sides from behind.

She turned and whooped when she caught eyes with Brittany, embracing her with a soft moan.

“You’re still on campus?” she asked, pulling away.

Brittany rolled her eyes.  “What can I say?  Being Pre-Med is no joke.”

“No summer vacations for you, huh?”

“What’s a summer?” Brittany asked.

Lila laughed, thinking of Chase, who’d spent the night before bent over her dining room table, frowning into a slew of calculus and physiology books. 

“I hear you, Britt.  But it’ll all pay off in the end.”

Brittany joined her, watching the construction workers, nodding as she took in the progress.

“Looks good, Professor,” she said.

“Not Professor.  Just Lila.”

“You’re not going to be teaching anymore?”  Brittany asked.  “Isn’t that what you always wanted?  To get assistant professor, and eventually make tenure?  There’s no reason to go to war with Harvard anymore, now that they’ve finally given you what you want.”

“Eventually being tenured
was
one of my biggest dreams, but if I’ve learned anything in my short time in this beautiful…” She breathed in, again.  “Beautiful life… it’s that dreams change.  Sometimes before we even realize it’s happened.”

“Wow.”

“They offered me the assistant professor position, but I knew it would mean splitting my time between the classroom and The Safe Space.  So I took a full-time gig as Managing Director here instead.”

“Isn’t that a pay cut?”

She nudged Brittany.  “Don’t worry about it.”

“Sorry, I’m nosy sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”  Lila raised an eyebrow.

They stood together, watching the construction workers quietly for a few moments.

“I never got to thank you,” Lila said.

Brittany snapped her head towards her.  “For what?”

“You’re the one who gave me the idea to use that interview with The Post as leverage to make this group happen.  It worked.”  Lila winked at her.  “Like a charm. You brilliant, beautiful little butterfly, you.”

“Oh
god
,” Brittany rolled her eyes, feeling second-hand embarrassment at that ridiculous statement.

“I’m going to start calling you Brittany Butterfly.”

Brittany’s smile went suddenly somber.  “I don’t think I’m capable of flying, anymore.”  She took a deep breath, eyes meeting Lila’s.  “I swear to god, it’s like someone’s clipped my wings for life.”

“A bird with clipped wings can still fly,” Lila said.

Brittany’s head fell.  She shrugged, not convinced, kicking her sandals against the grass below.  She was wearing the same white glittery nail polish as the girl who’d jumped in Harvard Yard.

It stopped Lila’s heart.  “Hey,” she demanded, waiting for Brittany’s eyes to meet hers.  “It’s the monsters in your head,” she said.  “That’s what will really clip your wings, and keep you down for good.”

Brittany shrugged again.  “How the hell do you get them out?”

“You just have to find something that chases them away.  Maybe it’s a something, or maybe it’s a some
one
.  Once you find out what does the job, the world will open up in a way you never believed possible.  Even with clipped wings, nothing will stop you from flying, climbing, taking on your one beautiful life with the real courage it deserves.”  Lila looked to her, nudging her again.  “You’re a student at Harvard, for goodness sake.  You’re already flying, and you’re going to
keep
flying, pretty much by default.”

Brittany smiled bashfully.

“You just have to find that thing that chases away your monsters. Then, you won’t just fly, Brittany, you’ll
soar. 
And once you find it?” Lila breathed in while shaking her head.  “Hold on for dear life.”

Brittany squinted, brown hair blowing in the breeze.  “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You’re young, courageous, successful, and easily the hottest professor on campus, by a mile.”

Lila looked off with a hearty laugh.  “I’m not a professor, anymore,” she reminded.

“Okay, the hottest middle-aged woman, then.”

“I am
not
middle-aged!” Lila was horrified. 

Brittany giggled.  “You’ve been through the same dark shit as all the rest of us… but here you are.  So what about you,
Lila
?” She tossed her hair out of her eyes.  “Who chases away your monsters?”

When Lila looked back to Brittany this time, the smile had vanished from her face.

She hadn’t expected that question.

The answer hit her instantly, claimed her heart and took her breath away.

--

Lila swore she wasn’t going to come.

It wouldn’t be worth the drama.  It was best to keep her distance, for all their sakes.

Still, she found herself staring up the grand staircase that led to the top of the church, where dozens of well-dressed attendees were milling about.

With English medieval architecture, the building was darkly stunning.  Stained glass windows soared so high one had to crane their neck just to get a decent look.  In sheer stature alone, the windows were topped in height only by the steeple. The pointed structure zoomed high into the sky, finished off by a cross that almost touched the billowy clouds floating by.

He spotted her the moment she put her high-heeled foot on the first step of the church. The smile was in his eyes instantly, washing away the hint of surprise. He turned towards the stairs as she climbed, trying to fight the smile pressing at his lips.  He looked away from her when the task proved too difficult.

Lila held the royal blue maxi dress in a fist at her side as she ascended towards that smile.  Towards him.  Towards the only person that mattered.

“Chase.” She said his name once she made it to the top of the stairs, reveling in how appropriate it was.

Chase.
The one person in the world who could chase
away her monsters.

“Lila,” he whispered, still fighting that smile.

They’d argued over whether or not she’d attend this wedding so many times, they’d nearly made themselves sick.  Finally, Chase had accepted that she wasn’t ready to come, to face Jack, to face Kelly.  He’d accepted it, but he still hadn’t liked it. 

“I thought you weren’t coming.”

“I didn’t think I was.”  She sighed.  “And then someone said something to me that woke me all the way up.”

“Woke you up? 
All the way
up?
This I gotta hear.”

“A student asked me who chases away my monsters.”  Her eyes searched his.  “The question actually alarmed me, and the answer to it alarmed me even more.  Because I knew instantly that person was you.  Instantly.  It’s always been you.”

His eyebrows knitted together.

Lila laughed, but the smile quickly dissipated as she accepted Chase’s sudden, passionate kiss.  She pushed close, stepping into his space, giving him all of her as she returned his love, moaning against his lips when the kiss deepened.

They parted with simultaneous sighs, pressing their foreheads together, oblivious to the curious stares their kiss had earned them.  None of it mattered.  The stares, the opinions, the judgment.  None of it mattered anymore, not to either of them.

His eyes searched hers as he reached into the flap of his jacket, pulling something out.

Lila’s mouth fell as the first proof of her second book,
Talk,
appeared from behind Chase’s lapel.

“Where the hell did you get this?” she demanded, snatching it from his hands.  “And how the hell did you fit it in your jacket pocket?” It was nearly four hundred pages.

His laughter rang out around her, feeling like it was coming from a distance as blood pounded through her ears.  She flipped the pages with her mouth hanging open. Her second book.  She knew this book better than she knew her first and last name, but something about seeing it bound, so officially official, made it feel like she was seeing it for the first time.

“I haven’t even seen this myself yet,” she said.

“It helps when your best friend and roommate has a part-time job with the school’s publishing department.”  He waited for her eyes to come back to his.  “I read it this morning, cover to cover.”

She slammed the book closed and met his eyes, bringing it to her heart.  Her eyes asked the question that her lips were too afraid to.

Chase tapped the book when she clutched it protectively to her chest.  “It was almost as beautiful as you.”  He tapped it, again. “This is you.  This is Lila.”

--

After hearing him rave about her book on the steps of the church, Lila couldn’t get Chase Almeida into that bathroom fast enough.

She didn’t even have time to engage the lock of the ‘Family Restroom’ before Chase took her waist and turned her, pushing her back against the door.  It disagreed with the hinges as they slammed into it, but neither noticed as their lips met in passionate haste.

She panted as she reached under her blue dress and pulled her panties down.

“Lock the door,” she mumbled against his plush lips, anchoring her knee high on his waist.  As he reached over to lock the door, she grew impatient and undid his pants, releasing him from the black slacks. Taking the back of his neck in one hand, she claimed his throbbing member in the other, brushing the head against her drenched center.  Her pussy pulsated in response, greedy to receive him, to swallow him in.

Having barely managed to lock the door, Chase grinned at her impatience.  The amused smile was quickly wiped away as he felt himself sinking in, overwhelmed by her tight warmth. He returned to her in haste, enveloping her in his arms, looking down between their bodies at the sight of his manhood slowly disappearing.  It was a sight he never wanted to live without. He grabbed hold of the changing table hanging off the back of the door, arms on either side of her, holding himself steady as his hips began a slow rhythm.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and found a balance before matching him, pushing her hips to his.

“Lila, I love you.  I love you so much,” he moaned ardently.

“I love you,” Lila cried, her head still thrown back in ecstasy.  He worked her slowly, so slowly that she could feel every inch of him as he moved in her.  He hit every spot with patience and ease, causing an incredible swarm of pleasure to seize her bones and render her defenseless.  Pressing her forehead to his, she tightened her hold on the back of his neck, using his strength for leverage while lifting her other foot off the floor.  She wrapped both legs around his waist, never losing their beat, spreading her legs wide.