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Olive called Anh and Malcolm to keep her company at Adam’s place while he and Holden went to find Harvard’s dean of faculty. Adam didn’t want to send the file over email, and he could sense that Olive wanted to talk to her friends. Once he was sure she was in good hands, and after shooting a few warning glares at Anh and Malcolm, he headed off to find Holden. It didn’t prove difficult, and once Holden saw the look on Adam’s face–more murderous than usual– he quickly excused himself from the faculty mixer to walk with Adam.
“What is it?”
Adam didn’t know if he could speak. Now that Olive was safe, his anger had returned full blast, numbing his limbs and steering him like autopilot towards the deans’ wing. He gritted his teeth and managed to force out, “Tom–” before he stopped cold in his tracks.
Because there was Tom, rushing from the mixer after them, saying something that Adam vaguely understood as anger that he had missed their prep session for the dinner tonight, and Adam was shoving him against the wall, barely glancing to make sure they were out of view from the mixer. His fist connected messily with Tom’s jaw, anger impairing his concentration, and clearly his judgement.
“What the fuck?!” Tom spit, struggling against Adam’s hold. “Is this about that bitch, Olive? What did she say to you?”
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Adam growled, shoving his forearm under Tom’s chin, pressing him back into the wall further.
Holden’s voice cut through Adam’s haze. “Let him go, Adam. You know how much I’ve been wanting to punch Tom too, but you need to be the bigger person.” His hand was on Adam’s arm, easing him away, holding Tom back as he tried to swing at Adam.
Adam thought punching Tom would help, would make him less angry, and it had, for a moment, and he certainly didn’t regret it, but mostly he just wanted Olive. Wanted to tell her that he loved her, wanted to tell her he was sorry for lashing out at Tom before she heard it from someone else. That if anyone had the right to hurt Tom it was her.
Instead of running right back to Olive, Adam collected himself, unclenched his bruised fist, and turned to face the mess in front of him.
“You talk to the woman I love again, and I will kill you. But for now, I’m going to report your ass, and make sure you never see another minute of academic or personal success ever again.” He turned and kept walking towards the dean’s office, Holden catching up a moment later, not even trying to pretend to be angry at Adam’s rash actions.
The dean listened, even when Tom burst in to say Adam had assaulted him. The recording pouring from the dean’s computer speakers rendered Tom speechless and then stammering with excuses and finally removed from the office. Holden silently placed a hand on Adam's shoulder as he struggled to stop his shaking hands at the sound of Olive’s broken voice through the speakers.
The rest of the day was long, and full of meetings, and Tom and Olive’s voices played on repeat to shocked faces and shaking heads. By the end of the night, Tom was fired, and discredited. Adam was tired, and sad. Holden walked him back to their place, silent, and steady.
Adam thought he might cry again when he saw Olive. She looked tired, and a little bit splintered, but happy too. And when she saw him, and her face washed with relief, he thought he might die, or at least profess his love right then and there. But Anh and Malcolm appeared in the hall behind her and Holden kicked his shin until he stepped into the apartment. And they all swirled in a blur until it was just Olive and Adam left in the empty apartment.
“It’s over,” Adam said.
Olive nodded, a small smile tentatively gracing her face. She was still wearing Adam’s sweater and she saw the moment he noticed, and despite how exhausted and raw she felt, arousal still curled in her lower abdomen.
It was depraved, Adam thought, that he was thinking of sex right now, but he couldn’t help it, when Olive was smiling like that–and wearing his goddamn sweater. They wouldn’t have sex tonight, neither of them were in a stable enough state to make that decision, but it comforted Adam that those feelings were still there, from both of them. That maybe they were going to be okay, after all.