Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
CLOVER
Dad
Do you want me to go with you tomorrow?
Clover
No. I can handle this myself.
Dad
I don’t mind. It might make the transition easier.
Clover
I know I messed up, but I can handle this. Promise.
Dad
I know you can. But Dr. Carver is an old friend. He’s doing this as a favor to me.
Clover
I prefer to think that I earned this on my own merit even if that isn’t true.
M y eyes are fixed on the crowded dance floor as my orgasm subsides. It’s been months since I’ve risked doing anything like this in public. Not that I’ve ever done this with a stranger. But I’m not a novice when it comes to public sex.
Even though I shouldn’t, I love the thrill of getting caught. It excites me far more than anything else.
It may be thrilling and exciting, but actually getting caught is a nightmare. I should know.
And we’re not nearly has hidden in this dark alcove as my mystery partner thinks we are. That makes this the riskiest thing I’ve done in months.
The shadows hide a lot, but I could still see his silhouette from the dance floor. When the lights hit just right, even his eyes would reflect it back. It’s how I was able to keep my gaze on his for so long.
“Tell me that doesn’t mean you’re unprepared,” I say through a pant.
He pulls his head up and bores his whiskey brown eyes into mine. “I’m prepared … I think.”
I study the hard lines of his face as he fumbles for his wallet in his back pocket. He’s very handsome. Dark eyes, clean shaven, strong jawline, and dark bond hair. He’s in a suit suggesting he might be some kind of businessman or at the very least a professional. He’s no student like most of the men in this nightclub.
But he doesn’t look that much older than me. Maybe thirty, but not much more than that.
He opens his wallet with one hand and uses his teeth to pull the foil packet from inside.
I sigh. “I was afraid this was going to end too soon.”
He stuffs his wallet back in his pocket and takes the condom from his mouth. “Not a chance.”
I give him a shove and pull my legs together. The confused frown that takes over his expression is comical. I can’t hold back the laugh that escapes me as I shimmy out of my panties.
“Don’t look so crabby, sir.” I wad my panties into a small ball and stuff them into the front pocket of his suit jacket. “Just giving you a small token to remember me by.”
I snatch the condom from his hand and tug at the waist of his pants.
He raises a brow and glowers down at me. “Do you always take control like this?”
I shrug. “Sometimes. Does that bother you?”
He shakes his head. “As long as my cock ends up buried inside you before this night is over, you can do whatever you want.”
He rests his hands on the wall behind me, essentially blocking me in, while I undo his pants and slip my hand inside. When I wrap my fingers around his swollen cock, he lets out a low moan.
“Fuck, that feels good.”
I give him a gentle squeeze and tug. His eyes fall shut at the motion. “You like that.”
“Yes.”
I do it again, this time squeezing a little harder. A small bead of pre-cum forms on the tip and I wipe it off with my thumb.
“Hold me steady so I don’t fall.” He immediately moves his hands to my hips, repositions me on the ledge, and pushes me into the wall. This ledge is handy, but small. It’s not meant for someone’s ass to sit on it.
He rests his forehead on mine while I use both my hands to rip open the condom wrapper and roll it down his rather large, hard cock. He’s not unusually big, but definitely larger than the last man I was with.
Once he’s sheathed in protection, I spread my legs wider and position his tip at my entrance. I hold him there for several seconds before I look up at him.
I remove my hand from him, more than ready to give him back control. “Take me. Hard.”
He doesn’t hesitate to slam his cock all the way inside me. I can’t hold back the cry that comes out of me as he spreads me open and fills me completely.
“Goddammit,” he moans. “This pussy is so fucking tight.”
He tightens his grip on my hips as he pulls out and slams into me again and again and again. He’s relentless in how he fucks me. And I feel his dick growing harder and thicker with every slam inside my body. It’s hot and sexy and exciting as hell.
The best way to describe this mysterious stranger is feral and uninhibited. It’s exactly what I needed tonight to distract me from the disaster that is my life.
My head falls back against the wall, and I stare out over his shoulder. The nightclub is packed, and I hear footsteps coming up the ramp that leads to the stage. The slightest turn of the head in our direction and we’d be caught.
The thrill that rushes through me is enough to push me over the edge. I cry out again as a second release washes over me. This one is more intense than the first.
My mysterious partner lets out a loud grunt as his thrusts become more erratic. Wanting him as deep inside me as he can get, I wrap my legs around his waist and squeeze. When he lets go, his release pushes mine even higher.
We both come hard and cry out in unison just as someone walks past us. My eyes meet those of another stranger, who simply smirks with a faint nod and keeps walking.
A constant buzzing sound pulls me out of a deep sleep. I slap at the nightstand to turn off my alarm but don’t find my phone. I reach around for it. Instead of grabbing it, I knock it off the nightstand and it goes flying across the room.
“Dammit.” I sit up and rub my eyes.
A faint glow is shining through the bedroom window, suggesting that the sun is rising. I’m definitely not late. It’s not bright enough out yet.
Before I can get out of bed to check the time, my phone starts buzzing again. I hear it but I don’t see it. Pushing to my feet, I follow the sound until I find it hidden just under the edge of the bed.
It stops buzzing just before I reach it. When I unlock it, I groan when I see I have three missed calls from my dad.
“Great.” I sigh and mentally prepare myself for a lecture as I hit the callback button.
“Where are you?” Dad says when he answers the call.
“Hi Dad. How are you?” I ask with a little too much attitude. I know he worries about me, especially after what happened in Cambridge, but he’s taking his fatherly protection a little too far now that I’ve moved back home.
He acts like I’m incapable of running my life. I know I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes, but I’m twenty-four, not fourteen.
“Clover, this is not the time to get mouthy with me. Where are you?”
“I’m at Sloan’s apartment.”
“Why would you be there? You have a meeting in two hours.”
“Dad! I—” I stop myself before I say something disrespectful. I’ve put my parents through enough this past year. They don’t need more stress from me. “I won’t miss the meeting. I promise.”
“I won’t let you miss it. This is too important. I’m waiting for you at your apartment. I’ll go with you.”
“You’re at my apartment?” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I didn’t want to give my parents a key to my new place, but they didn’t really give me a choice. It was a condition for their help with restarting my life in New York City.
“Yes. I came over early to help you prepare.”
“I appreciate that, but I don’t need help with this meeting.”
“Fred is my friend. He’s doing this as a favor to me.”
“I know that, and I am so grateful that you made this connection for me. But I need to do this last step on my own. I need to feel like I secured my place at the university on my merit and not because of my parents’ connection.”
“Do I need to remind you that it’s because of those connections that you’re able to enroll in school here?”
I rub the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath. I hate that I had to rely on them to save me. It was the only way I was still going to be able to earn my degree. The scandal I got myself involved with in Cambridge was too damaging otherwise. I was forced to leave Harvard because of it. No creditable university would have taken me without my dad’s connection.
“I said I know. But can you at least understand why I need to go to this meeting by myself? I need Fred, or rather Dr. Carver, to see me as a good student. Not the daughter of a close friend.”
Dad is silent for a few seconds while he ponders what I’ve said. He eventually says, “Okay. I’ll trust you to do this without me.”
I sigh in relief. “Thanks, Dad. I won’t let you down. I promise.”
“I love you, Clover. I just want what’s best for you.”
“I know you do. And I love you too. Please give me a chance to prove to you that I deserve this. I’ll make you proud.”
“Honey.” I hear the sadness in that one-word response. “I am proud of all you’ve accomplished.”
I squeeze my eyes closed and fight back the tears. He didn’t say he was proud of me, but rather of my accomplishments. Some might argue those two things are the same, but not in my eyes. I don’t want my parents to be proud of what I’ve done. I want them to be proud of the person I’ve become. Sadly, I haven’t given them a reason to be proud of me lately.
“Thanks Dad,” I say to end this conversation. I can’t go down this road this morning. I need my head to be clear for this meeting. “I’ll call you when I’m done and let you know how it goes.”
“Alright, dear. I know you’ll do great.”
I hang up the phone and drop back on the bed.
“Kevin giving you a hard time?” I look up to find Sloan leaning against the bedroom door holding a cup of coffee with a huge smile on her face.
“He wouldn’t be my dad if he didn’t.” I point at the coffee cup and ask, “Is that for me?”
“Yep.” She pushes off the door frame and hands the coffee to me.
I take a sip and immediately feel better. Just knowing that I’m about to drink a cup of coffee makes me feel better. “Damn, this is good.”
“Fresh ground beans.” She plops down on the bed next to me and crosses her legs. “I made eggs and bacon too. Can’t let you go to this meeting without a nutritious breakfast. Kevin and Jane would be disappointed in me if I did.”
I chuckle at how she uses my parents’ first names. Sloan is my oldest friend. We met in kindergarten and have been inseparable ever since we were paired up to work on an art project together. “My parents would be so proud.”
“Come on.” She hops to her feet, takes my hand, and pulls me to my feet. “Let’s eat before it gets cold. Plus, you have a mysterious sex god to tell me all about.”
“Oh, god.” I groan as I follow her out to the kitchen.
I still can’t believe I did that last night. I can’t even blame it on drinking too much because I only had one drink. Alcohol is not to blame for my risky decisions this time.
This was pure sexual desire and a desperate need for a release driving me to misbehave.
And it was foolish.
All it would’ve taken was for one person to recognize me and I’d been caught in another media blitz that could completely ruin my life.
“Do you want some toast?” Sloan asks.
“Yes, please.” I take a deep breath and moan. “It smells so good. I love bacon.”
I slide onto a barstool and take a drink of my coffee. “If you keep taking care of me like this, I’m not going to leave.”
“You’re welcome to live with me,” she says. “My place is so much bigger than that tiny thing your dad is paying for. I’ve got two bedrooms here.”
“If only. Dad insisted that I live in that tiny apartment. They want to keep a close eye on me.”
“Hence the reason for Daddy’s early morning visit?” she laughs.
I groan and drop my head, letting it bang on the countertop. She laughs even harder.
“After what you did last night, they’ve got a point,” she says.
“Hey!” I pop my head up and glare at her. “Whose side are you on?”
“Yours.” She slides a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. “But I can’t believe you did that again.”
“Who are you to judge? You did the same thing.”
She tosses her hands up in surrender. “It’s not judgment. You know I’m all about sexual freedom and satisfying our kinks. But I’m also not the one that was caught up in a very public scandal. What if someone recognized you?”
“New York City is huge. It was highly unlikely there would be any reporters there. Besides, it’s been months since the scandal broke and the thrill of the news has long since died down. No one even knows where I went.”
“All true, but still.” She gives me a skeptical look. “That was a very public escapade.”
I give her a sheepish grin. “It was, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, yeah.” Her eyes widen as she takes the barstool next to me. “I could see you. But then again, I knew you were there.”
“God, I know!” I cover my face and laugh. “Can you imagine if the wrong person saw me? I’d be plastered all over social media again. My parents would camp out in church praying for my forgiveness.”
She laughs at my depiction of my parents. It may be funny, but it’s also true. My parents are very religious.
“Yeah, but that didn’t happen.,” she says. “And he was hot, hot, hot!”
“Tell me about it.” I sink back into my chair like my body is melting into it. “And oh so worth the risk. He was very well endowed and knew how to use it.”
Before Sloan can respond, my phone buzzes with an incoming text message. I groan when I see who it’s from.
Sloan laughs. “Daddy pestering you again.”
“Yes. He seems to think I’m incapable of making it to this meeting without his help. He set out an outfit he thinks I should wear.”
Sloan has to stifle her laugh. “He’s just worried about you.”
“I know, but I’m not going to repeat what happened while I was at Harvard. I’m playing it safe here.”
She looks over the rim of her glasses with a raised brow. “You call what happened last night playing it safe?”
“Last night was just for fun.” I playfully smack her arm. “Nothing bad happened. Besides, I’ll never see him again anyway. I didn’t even catch his name.”
The receptionist sitting behind the desk looks younger than me, but her smile is friendly and welcoming. This is the opposite of my experience at Harvard. Many of the staff were old enough to be my grandparents and very grumpy. This is a welcome surprise.
“Can I help you?” she asks with a huge grin on her face.
“Clover Davis. I have a meeting with Dr. Carver.”
She looks at the calendar on the computer screen and nods. “He’s finishing up with a meeting now and will be with you shortly. If you want to have a seat, I’ll let him know his next appointment is here.”
“Thanks.” I smile at her professionalism. She may look young, but her temperament is well suited for the position.
I head over to the small waiting room area but pause at the wall of faculty photos. The email I got from Dr. Carver about my appointment said I’d be assigned to Dr. Adonis Rosi. I couldn’t find much information about him when I Googled his name other than he’s a new faculty.
He completed his PhD last year. This could be both good and bad.
Good in that he’s probably eager to earn tenure. He’ll likely be responsive and very involved in my program, which is what I want from my academic advisor.
Bad in that he may not have a clue what he’s doing yet. If that’s the case, it could set me back even further in my career.
Most recent graduates with PhDs typically work in a post-doc position for a couple of years before getting a tenure track faculty position. Going straight from a PhD to a faculty position is rare. Either he’s great at what he does or just lucky. My fingers are crossed that he’s great.
I need a little more greatness in my life.
I can’t afford any more setbacks. I need the next two years of my life to go smoothly and free of drama. Another catastrophe like what happened in Cambridge would be detrimental to my future career prospects.
I scan the photos on the wall, reading the names on each placard. When I find the one with his name on it, there isn’t a photo. The frame is empty, acting as a placeholder.
My shoulders sag and disappointment washes over me. I really want to know what he looked like. I want to know if he smiles or has kind eyes. A lot can be discovered about a person simply by the look of their eyes.
I guess I’ll have to wait until I meet him in person.
“Miss Davis?”
I jump at the sound of my name. With my hand pressed to my chest, I turn around. Despite the lifelong friendship my dad shares with Dr. Carver, I’ve never met him before.
“Yes, I’m Clover Davis.” I smile and offer my hand for a shake. “You must be Dr. Carver.”
His smile is genuine and puts me at ease. Dad said I could rely on Dr. Carver to be discreet and kind, but I had my doubts. My experience at Harvard has spoiled my view of academic professionals.
My department didn’t hesitate to ask me to leave. They didn’t have solid grounds to expel me—though they wanted to—so they insinuated they’d make my remaining time at Harvard difficult if I stayed.
They even threatened to fail me—guaranteeing I’d never earn my PhD—if I stayed.
I had no choice but to leave and rely on help from my dad to salvage my career.
“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Miss Davis.” He waves me into his office and shuts the door behind us. “I’ve heard so much about you over the years. Your dad is very proud of you.”
I smile and nod, even though we both know his ending remark is false. Maybe there was a time when my parents were proud of me, but no longer.
“Will I be meeting Dr. Rosi today?” I ask, hoping my question will change the direction of the conversation.
“Unfortunately, no.” Dr. Carver points at the chair opposite his desk, indicating that I should sit. “He’s tied up in meetings all day. He asked that you email him to schedule a meeting time next week. He’s excited to get you settled before classes start.”
“I can do that.” I make myself a note in my planner, so I don’t forget. “I’m anxious to get started. This break from school has been … stressful.”
Dr. Carver sighs and leans forward onto his desk, resting on his elbows. “I think you’ll find we’re a very close-knit family here. We pride ourselves on taking care of our own. No one will betray you.”
I stiffen at his choice of words. I never found out who leaked the pictures of me in a very compromising position with Senator James Klint—a state senator from Massachusetts—but I suspect it was someone in my department at Harvard. My advisor called me in for a meeting to discuss my future before I even found out there were pornographic pictures of me all over the Internet.
“I appreciate that,” I finally say. “And I can promise you I will not be repeating past mistakes.”
“Good,” he smiles. “I’m sure you’ll be an excellent addition to our department.”
His smile and words give me reason to smile. I just hope I can be true to my word, and I don’t screw it up.
This opportunity is much too important to me to let that happen.