Compounding Traumas (Artemis University Book 6), стр. 41

I hurried back and found Izzy impatiently waiting for me. I simply raised an eyebrow, shocked she was up so early without me dragging her out of bed for breakfast.

“We didn’t get to talk last night, and I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she explained with a huff as if it was a given.

I nodded, sort of accepting the chastising for not thinking of her being concerned on my own. “It’s a lot to process, and I’m trying not to regret that I caved because he doesn’t deserve that, but I truly thought we wouldn’t be mates.”

“You thought you were caving for a one-shot of hot sex and comfort,” she muttered, bobbing her head.

I sighed. “I’m not sure there was enough blood to my mind to think that deeply in the moment, but yeah.” I shrugged when she gave me a confused look. “One of the hardest parts of losing them was losing that connection and physical, that—I can’t explain it without seeming shallow.”

“No, I heard Mel saying the withdrawal from good sex, and having someone in your bed all the time was one of the worst parts of a breakup.”

“Yeah, it makes it all so much worse. I felt so lonely and all alone, more than I already did, which is a big problem for me, given everything else going on.” I sniffled and quickly wiped under my eyes. “But I have no idea what I’m doing, or going to do, so I appreciate you kicking him out last night. I’m—I planned to not have anything to do with any of them ever again.”

She shot me a look that she didn’t think that was smart, but kept her mouth shut, which I appreciated. Greatly.

“We do need to talk about what I found in his phone,” she blurted, seeming ready to explode with the need to get it out. “There was so much porn in his history. I mean just—everything was black guys banging redheaded women porn.”

“He told me.”

“Did he tell you he was watching stuff with redheads, or it was all BBC porn with them?”

I knew what that meant, but frowned. I knew black people who thought BBC stuff was racist, even labeling porn as interracial in this day and age was considered that as well. I shook my head. This was one of the last things I needed to worry about in this crazy world. If Lucca wanted to watch that, it was up to him.

“So does he have one? A BBC?” she asked me.

I winced. “I think most find that label racist, like that’s all black men can be for porn.”

“Oh, shit, ouch. My bad, but don’t dodge the question. Is he hung?”

“Yes, Izzy, he’s got a monster,” I chuckled, but then smirked. “And it likes me.”

She snorted. “Of course it does; you’re sexy as fuck. Okay, one more bad thing, and then off to breakfast as food service starts today.”

“What?”

“Um, there was a lot of stuff in his phone that would upset me if I was to get involved with him, and I like Lucca, so I didn’t want to make this a thing before, but now that you might get involved, and I saw his phone, you need to know that he was a huge slut, and he’s got them all in his phone, and some of it wasn’t good like at all.”

I blinked at her, trying to sort through that one huge ramble. I slowly nodded. “He told me he’d been with a lot of women, but wouldn’t give me the number until I was more into him. I know.”

“I think there’s more to it,” she pushed, twisting her hands together. “There was a whole folder of pictures of women labeled ‘admission whores.’ I think he realized girls in high school were sleeping with him because his dad is the head of the school board at Artemis.”

“Oh shit,” I hissed. “Wow, his father really has been a fucking pain for him, as I ran from him because of that asshole, and he’s going to be one of our biggest hurdles.”

“Yeah, and I don’t get all of shifter politics, but I know his sloth is towards the top of the bear food chain. There was also a folder named ‘Alpha Mate whores,’ so I’d guess those were the women trying to use their bodies to get in as his mate for power and he found out.”

“Okay, thanks for telling me. I’ll think about it really, and I woves you for making sure I knew.”

“Always. I’m always on your side, Tams.”

I winked at her, knowing she was.

We headed to the cafeteria, and it was almost weird to be at Artemis without the hobgoblins, but it was smart of them to take the first few weeks off until the idiots got settled. They were making extra money helping with the bakery and stockpiling the dozen industrial walk-in freezers I now had in my basement. Mel talked me into it, so we always had fae fruit everything in winter.

Oh, plus, a huge room we filled with tons of shelves for preserves and pickling.

Last night and this morning was when anyone helping with the freshmen were arriving… Or people who just wanted the chance to get back to Artemis early and away from their families. Or for other reasons. I was sure there were lots of those.

I was sure I really didn’t care. It was pathetic people came back to school early to take shots to my face, instead of over social media about my owning Cherrywood or how they got banned from all the hobgoblins businesses. Yes, I absolutely seemed the type to cave because someone shouted in my face.

It had worked so well for Blake and that group. I not only immediately sent that to Claudia, but