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Chapter 812: Lip Like a Stray Dog

University of Chicago.

Lip stormed back to his dorm like a rabid dog, face bright red. He slammed the door so hard the whole frame rattled, then collapsed onto his bed and squeezed his eyes shut. He prayed with everything he had that this was just a nightmare—that when he opened his eyes it would all be gone and everything would be back to normal.

Reality didn’t work that way.

A few minutes later Lip—now wide awake with bloodshot eyes—grabbed his new phone. The nightmare wasn’t over. It was getting worse.

Dozens of emails had already flooded his school inbox. Somehow these people had his address.

He opened a couple.

The messages were a disgusting mix—some mocking him, some congratulating him, some straight-up vicious.

“Fuck!!”

Lip cursed and closed the app. Out of pure habit he tried calling Helena again.

Straight to the blocked message. No ring.

Even now, Lip still didn’t get it. He told himself Helena was just under too much pressure and had to block him for now. He couldn’t imagine she was actually done with him.

He was young, arrogant, and had no real clue how middle-aged married women operated.

The call failed. Lip tossed the phone aside in frustration, got up, and raided the mini-fridge. He pulled out every beer he had and started chugging.

Classic “drink your problems away.”

He killed two bottles fast, smoked a couple cigarettes, and started feeling a little numb. So he kept drinking.

When the beer ran out and his brain was mostly gone, Lip grabbed more cash, staggered out of the dorm, bought another twelve-pack, and started walking toward Helena’s house while still drinking.

He had to see her. If he didn’t, he really felt like he might lose his mind.

Helena’s house was faculty housing right on campus—not far. Lip made it there drunk and desperate.

The second he saw her car in the driveway his eyes lit up. She was home. He rushed to the front door and started pounding.

“Helena! Helena! I know you’re in there! Open the door—I need to see you…”

Inside, Helena sat on the couch. She heard every word.

Truth was, even though she was a very practical middle-aged woman who had already decided to cut Lip off completely, she wasn’t completely heartless. After all the time they’d spent together, hearing the desperation in his voice actually hurt a little.

But what could she do? The damage was done.

Helena sighed silently, poured herself another glass of red wine, and stayed put.

Outside, Lip banged on the door for a few minutes before giving up. He didn’t leave, though.

His heart ached. The alcohol made it worse. His legs gave out and he slid down to the ground, eyes bloodshot.

“Helena, please just talk to me… Helena…”

In that moment, Philip Gallagher looked exactly like an abandoned dog. All his usual cockiness and pride were gone.

He sat there like that for about twenty minutes.

When no answer came, Lip finally broke. Tears welled up in his eyes. He slowly stood, swaying, and stumbled away.

Inside, Helena heard him leave. She had the urge to go to the window and look.

But an urge is just an urge. She stayed on the couch.

Lesson learned: young guys—or guys of any age—should never catch real feelings for a middle-aged married woman. It almost always ends ugly.

Lip had drunk a lot, but the heartbreak kept him from getting blackout drunk. He was still maybe one-third sober.

He wandered to the academic building. He had too much pain and no one else to talk to… so he went looking for Youens.

Lucky timing—Youens had just finished a class. The second he saw Lip looking like death warmed over, he understood. He’d seen the post too.

Youens walked over and put a gentle hand on Lip’s shoulder, like a father. “I warned you—this had to stay secret. Come on, let’s go drink. Get it out of your system.”

“Yes, please,” Lip said, almost begging.

A short while later they were in Youens’ office, the two drunks going at it.

After a few sips Lip couldn’t hold it in anymore. “How bad is this gonna get?”

Youens gave a small smile. “Pretty bad. If it had stayed small and just inside the school, the university could’ve handled it quietly and it would’ve blown over in a while.”

“But that post went viral outside campus too. It’s making waves in academic circles.”

Lip’s eyes went wide. “It went outside the school?”

“You didn’t know?” Youens looked surprised. “The person who posted it put it up on several other platforms. Whoever it was really wanted to bury both you and Professor Helena.”

That hit Lip like a lightning bolt. Suddenly he knew exactly who did it.

“Motherfucker!!!” he snarled, but he didn’t run off to confront Amanda. There was something more important.

“What’s gonna happen to Helena now?”

Youens took another drink. “The school will open an investigation. There’s a decent chance Helena gets fired—but it’s not guaranteed.”

“Her husband has tenure, so that’ll help some.”

“Either way, this scandal’s probably going to follow Professor Helena for the rest of her career.”

Fired???

Lip actually loved Helena. He couldn’t accept that. “Why would they fire her? We’re both adults. It was consensual…”

He ranted, using his limited understanding, getting more worked up. “What can I do?”

Youens chuckled. “If Helena gets fired, at least you two can fuck openly. That should be good for you, right?”

“But she’ll hate me for it. She already blocked my number. I stood outside her house screaming for over half an hour and she was home—she wouldn’t even say a word to me…” Lip’s voice cracked, eyes watering again.

Chapter 813: Lip’s Desperate Breakdown, Completely Petrified

University of Chicago, Youens’ office.

Youens kept drinking while he tried to talk some sense into Lip.

Finally he drained the last of his glass and said, “Look, Lip, this might sound harsh, but I’m gonna say it straight. There’s nothing you can do about this. All you can do is wait it out and see how it ends.”

“Whatever happens with Professor Helena—whether she calls you, sees you, or never speaks to you again—you’re just gonna have to live with it.”

“You’re a smart kid. You’ve got a long road ahead. There are plenty of other women out there. You get that, right?”

To Lip, right then, no other woman on earth came close to Helena. He didn’t want anyone else. He only wanted her.

These Gallaghers were starved for love. When they fell, they fell hard—one-track mind, full crazy.

A short while later Lip left Youens’ office, lit a cigarette, and went looking for Amanda.

She had ruined him—and worse, she had ruined Helena. She owed him an explanation.

It took him almost half an hour to find her.

Library entrance.

The second Lip spotted Amanda walking out, he charged straight at her, face red, veins popping. “It was you, wasn’t it?! You posted that shit! You stole my fucking phone!!”

Amanda flinched for half a second, then glared right back, not scared at all. “What the hell are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean.”

“Oh, you mean that post about you and Professor Helena? I saw it. Pretty spicy. Didn’t know you were into old ladies. Guess I never really knew you.”

Her tone was pure venom.

“You bitch!!” Lip’s fists clenched. “Why? Why the fuck would you do that?!”

Amanda noticed his fists but didn’t back down. “First of all, it wasn’t me. I couldn’t write anything that good.”

“Second, I’m actually grateful to whoever did post it.”

“A guy like you—who treated me the way you did—deserves exactly this!!”

“Now get the fuck out of my way. I have places to be.”

She tried to walk past.

“Fuck you!!” Lip grabbed her arm hard. “How the hell did I treat you? I never promised you shit! We were just having fun, you crazy bitch!”

The words “just having fun” lit Amanda’s fuse. “You did promise me things, you piece of shit—”

She screamed in his face, “Let go of me or I’m calling the cops right now!”

The second she said cops, Lip’s brain kicked back in. He let go, even though he still wanted to scream and demand answers.

Amanda stormed off without another look.

Lip stood there with nothing. What the hell could he do?

He had zero proof she stole the phone. Zero proof she posted the essay.

“Fuck!!”

He cursed again, shot a murderous glare at the crowd of students who had gathered to watch, then turned and walked away fast.

The scandal burned hot for most of the day, then slowly started to cool.

Simple reason: at the end of the day it was just two people fucking. Not exactly front-page news.

Plus, the photos in the post only showed Helena topless. The internet was full of way more explicit stuff. Once the students had looked, they moved on.

By evening the gossip was still loud, but it wasn’t the only thing people were talking about anymore.

That afternoon the school had already pulled Helena in for questioning. Deciding her punishment would take time—there had to be a formal hearing.

In the early evening the administration also talked to Lip privately. In their eyes he was the victim, so they wanted to keep it quiet and protect the university’s reputation.

That was exactly what Lip wanted too. He passionately defended Helena, swearing the whole thing was between two consenting adults.

Time passed.

Back in his dorm, Lip kept drinking to numb the pain. He got blackout drunk and spent the night blowing up Helena’s phone with calls, texts, and emails.

He had no memory of what he actually wrote.

All he knew was that his heart felt like it had been ripped out. He had never hurt this bad in his entire life.

Three days flew by in a blur.

The morning of the third day, at ten o’clock, the school’s official hearing began.

Lip had basically been drunk for three straight days and barely remembered any of it. But today he had a chance to see Helena, so he forced himself to get up early, skipped the booze, showered, and put on clean, serious-looking clothes.

He went through his part of the hearing first. He stuck to the same story—two adults, completely consensual, Helena did nothing wrong.

Afterward he waited outside the building in a hidden spot, terrified Helena would slip out another way.

About fifteen minutes later she appeared, hands in her pockets, face dark, walking fast.

The second Lip saw her his heart slammed against his ribs. He ran over.

Helena didn’t even glance at him. She kept walking.

Lip stayed right beside her, talking fast, desperate to fix it. “Helena, I’m so sorry—some bitch stole my phone and posted all that shit…”

“Helena, I never wanted any of this to happen…”

“Helena, tell me what to do. I’ll do anything to make it right…”

“Helena! Look at me!”

Helena said nothing. She wouldn’t even look at him. She just kept walking faster.

Her cold silence felt like a knife in Lip’s chest. “Helena…”

She reached her car, stopped for half a second, then turned to him.

“From this moment on, stay the fuck away from me. Stay away from my house. Do not call me. Do not text me. Do not contact me in any way.”

She got in, slammed the door, and drove off without another word.

Lip stood frozen on the sidewalk, completely petrified, heart shattering all over again. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.