Chapter Fourteen
Amelie
The rest of the week gets somewhat easier.
Once I complain to Monty that Kalen’s behaviour is distracting me from my studies, he stops gate crashing my classes.
Only, he still finds ways to piss me off.
It starts with a delivery of a ridiculously huge dildo, signed with the note “For my best sister whore, because I know you must be missing me”.
Hilarious right? Except he made sure it was delivered to me in the dining hall, at breakfast, in front of the entire school!
I shit you not, this thing is the size of my forearm, and it’s even named ‘The Monster Dildo’.
Then, large and over-the-top floral displays are delivered to me every single lesson for the rest of the week.
If I wasn’t hated before for the shit I pulled spilling everyone’s secrets, I was certainly hated now for the attention I was getting from Kalen Knox.
Hated by the female population at least, though I’m pretty sure some of the guys were suffering with a little green-eyed jealousy too.
As if Kalen’s...kalenishness (Yep, I’m coining that phrase.
He’s so annoying he now needs his own dictionary entry) isn’t enough to deal with, I’m getting pounded pretty hard by haters in the hallways: petty name calling; trying to trip me over; a few girls have tried pulling my hair or shoving me from behind; and even throwing food at my uniform to try to land me in detention.
I’m not overly bothered by the bullying, after all, I’ve experienced worse at the hands of my so-called mother.
It’s more that I’m worried what will happen once Kalen finds out what’s going on.
So far the bullies have managed to keep it pretty low-key, but I’m sure once they get bored of my lack of retaliation or reaction, they’ll amp it up.
Thankfully, today is Saturday, and I wake before my alarm with determination.
Today I am going to get some peace from Kalen, by doing what he hates: running.
At 6:00 am I head down to the sports oval.
There’s a surprising number of students gathered for detention, and I’m a little surprised.
We’ve only been back a week and even I’ve managed to avoid detention.
It all becomes clear when the teacher turns up though. It’s Miss Evans. And...yep, every single student in detention is a boy.
“Fucking weird if you ask me,” I mutter under my breath as Miss Evans begins to warm up for their run by bending at the waist to touch her toes, facing away from the crowd and giving everyone an unmissable view of her ass.
Her Lycra-clad ass that clearly shows she’s wearing a thong.
She needs to invest in some better leisure wear because that cheap shit is nearly see through.
Next to me Onyx chuckles darkly and I jump, not having noticed his arrival.
“I’ll take her over the last teacher that ran detention, any day,” he murmurs, giving me a sly sideways glance. Jealousy prickles down my spine and I scrunch my face up in distaste at both his suggestion and my own emotions.
“I’m not running with them.”
“Of course we’re not. Those idiots will be so focused on her pert round ass, they won’t watch where they’re going.
” His description of her ass annoys the hell out of me, but I say nothing.
Holy shit, I really am jealous. “Besides, I’m not giving anyone the opportunity to get you alone again.
” His expression is dark, but his tone is soft.
I had almost forgotten about Onyx’s softer side.
I guess the depths of his betrayal overshadowed the occasional good I saw in him.
“Shall we go?” I don’t look at him, knowing it’ll be too dangerous for me.
He doesn’t reply, we both just begin to run in stubborn silence and he soon pulls ahead.
His ass is mighty fine. I admire the way his muscles move under his shirt as he moves.
Failing to watch where I’m going, I stumble over my own damn feet and fall to the ground, eating dirt on impact.
“Shit!” I complain and instantly Onyx spins on his heel to return to me. Before I can move he’s scooped me up into his arms, swearing softly under his breath. I stiffen in his arms and he tugs at me.
“Relax for fuck's sake, Amelie. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Heard that before,” I snipe, unable to help myself. Onyx gives me a withering look, but doesn’t say anything. Truth hurts, asshole. “Put me down. I’m fine. I just tripped.”
“Over what? We were on a flat path!” Amazingly, he actually listens to me and sets me gently on my feet. There’s no way in hell that I’m telling him the truth about how I fell.
“I’m clumsy.” I shrug dismissively.
“So are we doing this?” Onyx asks.
“Doing what?” I brush my palms on my legs to clear them off.
“Running again. Together.”
“I’ll be running here every day at 6:00 am.” I evade answering his question as I start to take off running once again.
Together sounds too...well, together. And my heart does weird things in my chest when I think about that.
Cautiously, I go to find the school archives. I think the whole Debbie thing is a bust. What could a dead chick tell me about anything? Damn Baxter and his damn riddles.
I know a school as old as this would have old ass books, I remember Kalen cracking a joke about an old library that no one ever uses anymore since technology replaced the need for using actual books.
So I hunt that down. I can’t believe how many places on campus I still haven’t visited or found yet.
I never returned to the Lake where Kalen and I… well, anyway.
The building is old and looks like a church from a million years ago; the stained-glass windows would have been spectacular when it was first built.
The old wooden door creaks under the pressure as I push it open sending dust particles flying around the darkened room.
I manage to find a light switch and gasp when I get the full view of the place: bookshelves line the room; tables and sofas still wait for students to fill them.
Sadly, students abandoned the beauty of this place a long time ago. I love it.
Hours tick by. I search for everything I can think of, including cults, because you never know. But everything I try proves fruitless. I sigh, push the latest book I was scanning away and decide that I need to stretch my legs.
An old room, probably a teachers’ meeting room or office catches my eye, the rubble around the room indicates that whoever was here last trashed the place.
A floorboard creaks under my weight, the sound a familiar one.
I kept a diary when I was a kid and Aadi would find it and read it, so I found an old floorboard that was loose and hid it from him.
If he ever found it he never mentioned anything, and then when I became older I would stash my weed in there.
I search the room for something to pry the boards apart with.
An antique letter opener catches my eye and I kneel down and force it between the gaps until the single board comes loose.
Putting my hand into a dark hole is probably not a wise idea, but luckily for me no rats or spiders jump out to get me.
My hand does run over something though, I pull a small leather-bound book from the gap and slip the board back in place.
Footsteps approaching send me into a panic. I shove the book into the waistband of my pants behind my back, pulling my jacket over to make sure it’s covered. I scramble behind the old desk.
“Amelie, come out. I know you’re in here.” My anxiety eases at the sound of Sawyer’s voice.
“How did you know I was here?” I say popping up from behind the old desk.
“Your phone is tracked, and after your attacks we have all been linked.”
“You mean those asshole brothers of yours can track me?” My nostrils flare in anger. “It makes sense now, how Kalen keeps showing up out of nowhere.” I move from behind the desk coming to a stop in front of Sawyer.
“It’s for your own safety. If it makes you feel any better Kalen knew you would be pissed and you can now see where we all are too.” Damn him for knowing me so well, but at least now this can work in my favour...no more surprise visits from Kalen.
“What was this place?” I ask gesturing behind me.
“This was actually my grandfather's office. He preferred it here over the administration office. He said he loved the smell of old books, and it made him enjoy coming to work everyday. Though after he retired, no one ever came here and it has been left to sit.”
“It’s beautiful in here. I wonder if Monty will consider opening it back up as a place to study? I’m with your grandfather.”
“You can ask him at Sunday dinner; we’ve all been summoned to attend again. Now let's get you changed, we have training to get to.”
Ugh, my legs are still sore from running with Onyx, but any chance to spend more time with Sawyer is a bonus. It sucks not seeing him around the halls everyday, even if he did spend a lot of last term avoiding me.
We walk back to my room together and easy conversation flows about our week. He is amused by Kalen’s dedication to getting my forgiveness, but doesn’t make any comment on me actually doing so.
A group of girls are gathered in the foyer of my dorm building when we approach. A smirk reaches one girl's face. I’m pretty sure her name is Becca, and I have seen her trying to hang off the twins at lunch.
“Her mum is screwing the headmaster, so she gets a free pass to screw his son and it gets swept under the rug as if it isn’t illegal.”
“Just ignore them,” Sawyer says but I can’t. I have tried all week to let it go.
I turn to face her and her petty little group of friends.
“Isn’t that also what your family did when you strung the family pet up by his neck in the backyard? Keep your stupid judgement to yourself, jealousy won’t get you anywhere.”
She looks about ready to murder me when Sawyer clears his throat.
“Damn, Psycho, who kills their family pet? You have to be messed up in the head to do that.” Sawyer laughs and we walk away.
I smile at how much like his brothers he sounded in that moment, no longer having to play the good boy teacher role.
He is a Knox after all, and just then he damn well sounded like one.
I perk up when I think about Sawyer training me again and being knocked on my ass. Bring it on.
When we’re back in my room, I remember the book I have wedged between my back and my pants.
I excuse myself to the bathroom and decide to hide the book in the cabinet until after my training.
I can’t resist sneaking a quick look though.
The leather-bound cover has the Celtic Knot branded into the front, and the pages are old and yellowing.
They’re that tissue-thin paper that highlights the age of the book.
It feels ancient in my hands, weighty, important. Significant.
Carefully, I open the cover to have a quick look.
It seems like the entire thing is in a different language.
Maybe Google can translate some of it later.
I feel like I am finally onto something.
I honestly wouldn’t care much about the tattoos, but having the same necklace, that seems too much of a coincidence to be nothing.
Once I’m dressed more appropriately for training with Sawyer, we head back out to his car.
While he can still come onto campus within reason, hanging around for long periods is not ideal.
Sawyer had told me Monty managed to fix up his resignation paperwork and talk the board into believing that we didn’t start seeing each other until after he had officially quit and that no investigation was needed.
I feel like the school board may be slightly corrupt because even I would have a hard time believing that.
I hate myself for adding the photos to my revenge.
Maybe I can talk to Monty about him working as a teacher again, even if it is one of the local schools.
No, that’s a bad idea, it would just be me trying to ease my conscience.
I’m sure he will figure it out on his own.
Sawyer pulls up at his house and I give him a sideways glance. “Is training code for sex?”
He laughs as he shuts off the car. “No, I have everything set up here and I thought I could cook you dinner and we could watch a movie.”
“Sounds good, I didn’t know you could cook.”
“I can’t really, I can feed myself enough to survive, but steak seems to be my specialty, and salad comes out of a bag, so I can’t mess that up.”
Sawyer leads me out to his back garden which I’ve never seen before. He has set up mats for us to train, and we spend two hours going over the same techniques until I grasp the concepts. But I also think he just likes pinning me to the ground.
When we finish up, Sawyer jumps in the shower quickly while I pick the movie.
After he’s finished he gives me a shirt and sends me to clean up while he starts cooking.
A few short months ago, I told myself that dreaming of a life like this was pointless, yet here I am again, dreaming about a future where I could come home to the man I love, cook a nice meal and enjoy each other with no worries in the world.
“How do you like your meat?” he calls out. I bite back a snigger. Surely he knows how I like it by now?
“Clean and fresh out of the shower,” I call back to him with a laugh while I dry my hair with a towel. He pops his head into his room and his eyes wander over my body.
“Your steak, Amelie. How can we go slow when you say stuff like that? Because you, standing there in just my shirt, looking so damn fuckable makes me want to...”
“I like it dead, please,” I say, cutting him off for safety.
I’m surprised at how normal and easy things are with Sawyer. I’m still slightly uneasy with his explanation about the tattoos, but it’s not exactly like I’ve told him everything about my life.
I expect things to end up in the bedroom, yet Sawyer is a perfect gentleman. After we eat and watch a movie, he takes me back to the academy.
Kalen’s stupid massive dildo that’s now displayed on my bedside table is looking mighty appealing and intimidating.
I decide to use my hand instead. Even after a beautiful dinner with Sawyer, and Kalen’s constant presence, and even Slate's magical voice this week, it’s Onyx’s name falling from my lips when I orgasm, images of his tight round ass taking me over the edge.