Adrian's POV
I closed the door to my office and turned the deadbolt. The click echoed in the quiet room. I braced both hands flat on my desk and leaned my weight forward, dropping my head between my shoulders.
My knuckles were white, fisted against the dark wood. I forced my fingers to uncurl one by one. The joints throbbed. My jaw ached with a dull, persistent pain from the strain of keeping my teeth clamped together for the last hour.
I closed my eyes but the image of Nirvana sitting in the middle of that lecture hall was burned into the back of my eyelids. She looked so small. I saw the exact moment the humiliation registered on her face. I saw the way her shoulders stiffened and the way she dug her fingernails into her own palms to stop herself from crying.
Damn! I caused that
