The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins

Author:Quinn Ivins [Ivins, Quinn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ylva-Publishing
Published: 2020-06-03T17:50:38+00:00

Back in her office, Carmen processed Grayson’s threat. He had no proof that she was a lesbian. She was certain of that. But if he started telling everyone, plenty of people would believe it. Her stomach heaved at the thought.

She needed advice. Her first instinct was to go looking for Molly, the one person on campus who knew her secret and was firmly on her side. But she dismissed the idea. She shouldn’t burden a graduate student with her personal problems. After a moment of deliberation, she grabbed her jacket, walked outside, and crossed the street to the sociology department.

Seth’s office door was open. He was reclining in his chair, head cocked to the side as he studied the document he was holding. Carmen knocked on the doorframe.

“Carmen! Come in. I was just grading papers.” He sat up and dropped the paper on his desk. “Honest to God, I don’t know how some of these kids finished high school. Is English an elective these days?”

Instead of responding, Carmen pressed her lips together and closed the door behind her.

“What’s up?” His expression turned serious as he took in her demeanor.

“I just wanted to… I need to…” Carmen decided to just say it. “Brett Grayson committed fraud.”

“What?” Seth’s eyebrows flew up. “What do you mean?”

“Remember his hot new study, the one homophobes adore? He falsified the data. The results didn’t go his way, so he changed the responses until he got the effect he wanted.”

“What? How? How do you know?”

Carmen launched into the story of Molly’s discovery. Seth’s jaw dropped when she told him there were no streaks in the data.

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “That dumb fucker. Who else knows about this?”

“No one. It’s just me and Molly…and now you.”

“And Brett has no clue that you know?”

“He might have some idea. I asked him to share his data with me, and when he refused… I didn’t say I knew it was fraud, but I strongly implied that he was withholding the data because of problems with the study.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said—he threatened—he said that if I don’t back off, he’s going to tell everyone that I’m a lesbian.” Carmen held her breath.

“Jesus.” Seth sat back in his chair. For a moment, they stared at each other.

Then Carmen said, “It’s true. I am a lesbian. I mean, I didn’t tell him, of course. But he’s not wrong.”

“Oh, wow. Um, to be honest, I suspected. But I didn’t want to intrude. I hope you know that I’m okay with it—more than okay. I support you completely. And I’m proud of you.” Seth looked at her with so much empathy that part of her wanted to crawl away in embarrassment, but she forced herself to hold his gaze and receive the acceptance that he was beaming in her direction.

She offered a small smile in return. “Thanks, Seth. I appreciate that. So, what do you think I should do?”

He wrinkled his brow. “No one in your department knows about you?”

“No one. Well, Molly knows. She sort of stumbled on the information last fall, but I know she hasn’t told anyone.

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