Oh, hell no.
Alex was heading for her. There was absolutely no way she wanted to talk to fucking Alex now. Or ever again.
She could just imagine them now, laughing over how best to humiliate her. Yes, make her feel ugly, disgusting, pathetic, so she would hate them so much, be so destroyed, that she wouldn’t even bother to read the groundbreaking paper they’d written. Well,theyshould have included Laurel. Alex and Nate,Nate, had cut her out of it altogether. Stolen her work and published it as their own.
What was all this to Nate now? Just another ploy to get the Little Willow Farm dig site up and running? Another coup for the brilliant doctor’s career? How could she have been so stupid?
Laurel fled the conference hall, pushing past Robin and Jack by the door.
‘Laurel, what’s going on,’ Jack hissed, but she ignored him and burst out into the cold autumn afternoon.
The door closed behind her again, and it was Alex who had followed her out.
‘Leaving your own reception, are you?’ he asked derisively.
‘What do you care?’
Alex took two large steps towards her, and he was quick for a big guy. She would not step back even though he was crowding her.
‘Read my paper, have you?’ he asked, smugly.
‘You and Nate stole my work, then you decimated me, destroyed me in that student union bar, so I wouldn’t ever come after you. You two are fucking horrendous human beings,’ she ground out, desperately trying to keep her tears in. ‘You’re the worst kind of academics. You’rethieveswithout any original ideas.’
‘I was sparing you. Telling you the truth. Giving you some much needed advice, Laurel.’ Alex gripped the top of her arm tightly. ‘And now I’ll give you some more.’ His voice had dropped, low and dangerous.
‘Get your fucking hands off me.’ She tried to rip her arm away from him, but he was too strong.
‘You need to listen to this,’ he whispered, ruddy face way too close to hers. ‘Because you seem to think that you’ve got some kind of power here. You don’t. You’re worthless here, you understand? You are nothing to Nate, you just keep his bed warm at night until he moves onto the next, better girl.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Laurel said, but her voice was small.
‘Yes, I do. I know him better than he knows himself. He still thinks of you as that pathetic, scared little girl playing dress up in your ridiculous black dress, trying to steal him away from his girlfriend, who, by the way, is much more of a woman than you will ever be,’ he spat.
‘Fuck you, Alex.’ Her voice wobbled unsteadily.
He snorted and leaned closer. ‘You’re not scared, are you Laurel?’
Laurel opened her mouth and then closed it again, because she was confused and hurt and desperately sad. And yes, she was scared, because Alex was enormous and angry, his grip a vice on her arm.
‘Get your hands off my sister,’ Jack said from behind Alex, voice like iron, and she had never, ever, been so glad to hear her big brother.
Nate
Nate cut the questions short when Alex jumped off the stage and rushed outside after Laurel. Whatever that conversation was going to be, ‘good’ was not an outcome he expected.
Sylvie had taken the stage in lieu of Laurel and directed the audience to the buffet and drinks area, which was good, because that meant he had a clear run outside. He glanced around, but Jack and Robin were nowhere to be seen either.
His stomach dropped. This wasn’t good.
Nate burst outside, taking in the Fletcher boys flanking Laurel, her face tear-streaked and shattered. He moved to her, but she shrank away from him into Jack’s side. What? He frowned, then looked to his old friend.
‘What the hell is going on?’ he asked, warily. ‘Alex, what have you done?’
Alex’s shirt was hanging out, blood dripping through his fingers clutching at his nose.
‘I haven’t done anything! That fucking farm boy punched me!’ Alex spat blood on the ground.
Nate looked at Robin, who shook his head and pointed to Jack.
