“How’s Roux?”
“Not great.” I rub my eyes with my thumb and fingers. “He wants to quit.”
“I really hope he doesn’t.”
“I get it. Not just because of the environment but because it’s not fun for him anymore. He has no interest in going pro; he plays because he loves to. It’s hard to love a game when you’re being shit on by your entire team. I can’t even argue.”
Declan shakes his head. “You’re right.”
My computer dings with an email notification, and I glance up. I have every intention of ignoring it in favor of giving myself today to agonize and mope over this decision I’m making except that the subject line catches my eye.
I tap the pop-up before it slides away, and my email comes up.
from:No Name
to:Alka Lennon
date: Oct 19, 2025, 9:42?AM
subject:Re: Youre team is failing
remove roux from the team or ill expose your relationship to the dean for your firing youre call
My first thought is, oh god, how did this person get into college? Between the lack of punctuation, capitalization, and theincorrect your, I’m cringing. However, not even all of that can take away from the message.
“Look at this,” I say and back my chair away from my desk so Declan can get in to look. He leans over me and reads. It doesn’t take long.
“I truly hope all that grossness is intentional,” he says and stands. “Also, what the fuck?”
“Will you ask Quin to come here? I want to see what he thinks.”
Declan scowls at me. “I hate asking him for help,” he mutters.
“Hey,” I say, raising my hands. “I’m not asking questions about what goes on at home and what you need help with—although I have questions for Zarek if that’s the case.”
Declan swats at me, and I laugh. Yep, I deserved that, but really, I want to stop my heart from pounding. Soon, this is going to get out of control. No, it already is. It’s going to be taken out of my hands. I need to decide on a course of actionnow,but it needs to be a smart one.
Thus why I want to talk to a dean, and Quin is the one I trust personally. Even if he has nothing to do with me or my department, I trust that he’ll look at the situation with my best interest in mind as well as share what he’d do if this were presented to him as a dean.
While Declan calls Quin, I pick up my office phone and call Harper.
“Hey,” she answers. “I’ve been thinking about?—”
“Hold on. I need you to come here for a minute.”
“Sure. Everything okay?”
“I mean, could be better.”
She huffs. “That’s fair. On my way.”
The line disconnects, and I set the receiver down as Declan says, “He’s on his way. He’ll likely take more time to get here than Harper though.”
Harper knocks then opens my door, smiling at Declan as sheapproaches. I wave her behind my desk and let her look at the screen where the email is still pulled up.
Immediately, her hackles rise. “What the actual fuck is wrong with him?”
“Him?” I ask.
