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I can’t?—
“Fuck!” Stumbling out of the room, I struggle to get my phone out of my pocket and into my trembling fingers. Hot tears flood my eyes and my gut twists like a corkscrew has slipped into my intestines. I’m going to be sick.
I immediately open the group chat and type out a long, badly spelled message begging for forgiveness as I explain my pictures have been stolen. After I send the message, I stare through tears as the read receipts pop up but no one types.
No one says anything.
A sob punches out of me and then, suddenly, there’s an influx of messages telling me to stay calm. Finn and Asher are off campus, but Caspian is here and he tells me to stay where I am. He’ll be with me soon.
I then turn to my group chat with the girls and send them a similar message, mostly crying over how my life is about to be over and I’ll be ruining the lives of the men I’m falling for. Ana immediately responds with anger, trying to reassure me that no one will care about the pictures but it doesn’t ease my distress at all. Meghan’s name pops up at the bottom and I see her typing, but nothing appears.
She changes her mind and I can only imagine how she’ll spin this to be my own fault.
I clasp a hand over my mouth and the tears finally spill over, weaving a hot path down my cheeks. Fuck. How is this happening?
“Emma?!” Caspian bursts into the room a few minutes later and he makes a beeline for me. His brow is low, and his eyes brim with concern. “Emma, tell me what happened?”
“I just—” It takes me a few moments to get my sobs under control, more so when Caspian’s large hands land warm on my shoulder and he pulls me close. “I left here and I went to pee, and when I came back the door was open and all my pictures were gone. All of them!”
Caspian presses a swift kiss to my forehead then he steps away and enters the dark room. “You were working alone?”
“Yes,” I whimper, wiping at my tears. “No one else was scheduled. I was only gone for a couple of minutes and I—I don’t understand.”
Caspian follows the same path I took searching the room, but he comes up as empty as I did. Then he’s back next to me and he cups my damp cheek.
“Are you alright?”
“Me?” I gasp. “What about you? You and Asher and Finn, if someone sees then you’re all going to lose your jobs. Oh God…” The reality of our situation comes crashing down around my ears. “I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I don’t want anyone to lose their job. Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I’m so?—”
The band around my chest tightens infinitely, and suddenly, I can’t breathe. My mouth opens like a goldfish and I clutch at Caspian’s arms. No air makes it past my lips.
“Emma. Emma, listen to me. It’s going to be okay. You’re working yourself into a panic and I understand you’re scared but I’m here, okay? I’m here, baby. Take a breath.”
He strokes my cheek with the back of his fingers and somehow, it works. The tension in my chest unlocks and I drag in a ragged breath. My grip tightens on Caspian’s thick arms like he’s my sole lifeline.
“I’m so sorry,” I gasp out, panting. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey.” Caspian strokes my hair and guides me away from the dark room. “Listen, the campus has cameras. We can check them and see who has been in this wing of the building. That’s what we will focus on first, okay? A theft happened here, and that’s more important. So we will take care of this, all of us. We have your back, okay?”
“But what if those pictures get out?” I clutch tighter at him until the tips of my fingers ache. “You’ll get into so much trouble.”
“Let me worry about that,” Caspian assures me as he tilts his head, causing a few loose strands of hair to sweep across his forehead. “One thing at a time, okay?”
“Okay.” I nod quickly, blinking quickly through my tear-soaked lashes. “What do we do?”
“First, we get your stuff, and then there are a few things at the studio I need to collect. Then we will go home because it’s late, and first thing tomorrow, I’ll call security. It’s going to be okay.”
His words are calm and soft, but he doesn’t entirely hide the anger in his eyes. It doesn’t seem to be aimed at me, but it doesn’t make me feel better. I want him to be angry, to yell and cast me aside, to do everything he can to save himself because I have no idea who could have stolen those pictures.
My stomach churns and Caspian offers me a soft smile which only makes the guilt stew worse.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
Caspian kisses my forehead. “One thing at a time.”
He helps me pack up my bag and carries it on his shoulder as we leave the dark room and trudge through the building toward his studio on the other side. My phone constantly lights up with messages from Ana, and it seems Finn and Asher are having their own discussion about what to do. They both have the same idea about checking the cameras and finding out who was in the building at the time, but before I can respond, we reach Caspian’s studio.
A wounded noise escapes him and I watch in cold horror as Caspian steps into the carnage that has befallen his studio. Canvases are ripped apart with blades; paint is strewn over everything in sight, and pottery is smashed on the floor or turned to slop if it wasn’t set. One window is smashed, clothing on mannequins is ripped to shreds, and a few chairs have been thrown into the display cases, shattering glass and projects alike.
