23. Thea
23
Thea
M y phone buzzed.
Eden: College is shit without you. *crying emoji*
Eden knew exactly how to make me feel bad. She’d been sending me sad GIFs for two days. Ever since she arrived back at Abernethy.
Me: Still talking to James?
This James guy seemed to have cheered her up, at least. I just hoped he wasn’t a dick like Michael.
My phone rang with a call from Eden. Only Milo was in the suite, busy doing nerdy things as per usual. The others had gone off on various errands, so I had been sitting around bored having given up trying to figure out how the TV worked.
“ Ciao, bella , what’s up?”
“Ohmigod, James wants to take me out this evening!” she yelled down the phone. “He’s just messaged me saying he’ll pick me up at 7!”
“Is that a good idea? I mean, you’ve not met the guy before, so maybe wait until it’s daytime and there are lots of people around?”
Eden had no sense of danger whatsoever. Declan had supposedly assigned two security guys at the campus to keep a watchful eye on her, but two men weren’t enough to monitor Eden 24/7. He probably assumed she’d be more careful after the nightclub incident, but apparently not.
“I’ll be fine,” she scoffed. “James seems lovely. We’ve been messaging every night.” I could picture her rolling her eyes at my concerns.
“I’d feel better if you were more careful, Eden. Don’t make me call Declan.”
She gasped. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“I would if I thought you weren’t taking your safety seriously!”
Milo walked in and frowned as he caught the tail-end of my conversation. “What’s going on?”
I pressed the mute button as Eden ranted about me not acting like a true friend because I’d threatened to call Declan.
“Eden wants to meet a guy she’s connected with online and I’m trying to make her see sense. She doesn’t know this dude from Adam. Dammit, he could be some stalker or serial killer!”
“You’re right. The number of women sexually assaulted after meeting online dates has increased in the last few years. 83% of assault cases are female.”
“I really wish you weren’t a walking, talking database,” I muttered. Knowing and hearing how dangerous online dating was were two different things.
“I can’t help it,” he shrugged. “I have a photographic memory.”
Eden was still ranting about her right to autonomy as a strong, independent woman when I unpressed the mute button.
“I want you to be happy, Eden, but I also don’t want you to end up chained to a wall in some psycho’s cellar. Trust me when I say that isn’t at all fun.” Milo threw me a concerned look, but I ignored it. Now wasn’t the time to dig deep into my past trauma.
Eden huffed loudly and sighed. “Thank you for caring. I do appreciate it…it’s just…” She went silent for a moment and I pictured her chewing her nails, as she often did when thinking hard. “I’m so sick of people trying to cosset me, you know? Honestly, it feels like my cousins want to wrap me in cotton wool and marry me off to some guy who never lets me leave the house! I just want to live my life and have some fun!”
“Eden, I get it, but they love you, like I love you, and we all want you to be safe. James won’t mind if you suggest a coffee date in the college cafeteria tomorrow, and if he does mind, well, fuck him.”
I was right about this, and she knew it. Men were still a mystery to me, but any guy who didn’t understand why a girl might feel uncomfortable going off with him in a car for the first date was either criminally stupid or some kind of dangerous predator. I hoped James wasn’t the latter, but it was better not to take any chances.
“OK, I’ll tell him I’ve changed my mind,” she said, not sounding happy about it.
“Thank you.” I huffed out a sigh of relief as she changed the subject to the latest gossip at Abernethy, which involved Olivia getting caught giving one of her tutors a blowjob in a classroom. The college had fired the tutor for misconduct, but dear, sweet Olivia had got off with a warning after her daddy donated a significant sum of moolah to the college to fund a replacement science lab after Dario burned the last one down.
Eden ended the call after promising to keep me posted on her date with James. Despite her reassurances, however, I still had a niggling sense of worry that none of my warnings had made a dent in her determination to meet this James. I loved her to bits, but Eden was reckless, headstrong, and stubborn to a fault.
All qualities that would get her in trouble.
I wondered whether I ought to warn Declan, but before I could decide, Cassian walked in and announced,
“Grab your coat. I’m taking you shopping, sweetheart.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why? You already bought me a swimsuit and nightdresses.” A very expensive, obscenely sexy swimsuit with almost no fabric. I loved the silky slips, too. Mostly because the guys enjoyed removing them.
“A swimsuit isn’t suitable apparel for a night at the opera, darling, and the slips are for bed.”
“Opera?” God, that sounded boring as fuck. “Do I have to go?” I whined.
“Yes. I want to show you off. My father will be there, and he needs to see I’m serious about you, so we’re hard-launching our relationship in front of him and all his cronies.”
I pouted but eventually nodded my agreement with his plan. The thought of Lucian’s reaction when he saw me on Cassian’s arm cheered me up no end.
“Good. Now let’s go. My personal shopper is waiting for us in Harrods.”
I surveyed the racks of designer dresses and frowned. Louise, the personal shopper assigned to help style me, lifted a midnight blue gown and hummed thoughtfully as she cast an experienced eye over my figure.
“Try this one,” she suggested. I fought back an eye roll but snatched it from her. Shopping was like watching paint dry. While I’d happily spend ages perusing knives and guns, swanky dresses left me cold.
Cassian sat on a hard leather chair, legs spread while he read something on his phone. He looked up when he saw me heading toward the changing room, and grinned, fully aware I wasn’t enjoying this.
Sadist. I’d make him suffer later. Somehow, someway.
“I’ll pick you some shoes to try with the dress,” Louise told me before scurrying away. I guessed she was being paid on commission, so the more we bought, the more she earned.
The woman was good at her job and fully deserved that money. She’d listened to me when I told her I hated certain colors. Been accommodating of the fact I didn’t want to wear anything overly revealing. And when I’d whispered how we needed to keep the cost down, she’d smirked and said I should enjoy myself because Mr. Forsyth could afford whatever I wanted to buy.
The suggestion I was one of a long line of Cassian’s female friends who came here to be fawned over like a pampered lap dog did nothing to improve my mood. While objectively I understood he’d had many girlfriends before me, along with a fiancée, I certainly did not need my nose rubbing in it.
And I had no intention of wasting Cassian’s money on dresses I would never wear again. If he wanted me to look the part this evening, then fine, I’d choose a suitable gown. But only one.
The blue dress shimmered in the bright lights of the changing room, the small crystals sewn into the silky fabric sparkling like tiny stars. I turned this way and that while examining my reflection in the mirrors.
“Beautiful,” a gruff voice said. When I looked up, Cassian stood watching me from the doorway. He smiled as my cheeks turned pink.
“Not too much?” I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to wearing such expensive brands. Not after spending most of my life in jeans and tees.
“Definitely not. You deserve to wear the finest dresses money can buy,” he told me as he stalked across the room like a panther.
“Not sure I deserve anything,” I muttered. A life sentence in a maximum security prison was more appropriate than playing dress-up.
“Sweetheart, if I thought that, would I be standing here with you right now? Would any of us?”
“Maybe you’re all suffering from some kind of mental illness?”
“What, like a group delusion?” Cassian scoffed, resting his hands on my shoulders as we watched each other in the mirror.
“I’m sure Milo could quote some scientific studies supporting my hypothesis,” I joked while also not joking because he definitely could and would if he were here.
“I can confirm I am of sound mind and body.” His lips brushed the curve of my neck, triggering a wave of heat between my thighs. This was a public changing room, but the lack of privacy didn’t stop my traitorous body from responding to Cassian.
“I have some shoes for you. Would you like me to bring them in?” Louise chirruped from outside the door.
“No, we’re good. Leave us please,” Cassian growled. He pulled me back, letting me feel how hard he was as his hands curled around my waist.
“You haven’t paid for this dress yet,” I pointed out, my eyes locked on his. “I should probably change before it gets ruined.”
“Let me help you with that.”
He pushed the silky straps off my shoulders. The gown slid lower, hovering precariously on the swell of my breasts for a moment, before slithering down and resting on the curve of my hips.
I’d removed my bra before trying on the dress, so my tits were bare. Aching for his touch. Desperate to feel his hot, wet mouth on them.
I watched through hooded lids as he cupped each tender globe, testing the weight of them. He rolled my nipples between his finger and thumbs, half smiling when I moaned softly.
The bastard was teasing me. He loved to push me to the edge and leave me there, hovering on the cusp of pleasure so blinding I could barely think straight. Well, two could play at that game.
I pushed his hands away and spun around, dropping to my knees. When I looked up, he arched an eyebrow questioningly. But I just smiled and then lowered my gaze to the prominent bulge tenting the front of his perfectly tailored pants.
Cassian rarely wore jeans. He preferred pants and shirts, or for more formal engagements, suits; always designer.
He took pride in his appearance, in his perfectly coiffed hair, clean-shaven jaw.
I wanted to see him come undone. See him fall apart on my tongue for once. Worship at his altar.
So I undid his pants and tugged his boxers down. His thick cock sprang free, jutting out from his taut abs. His gaze darkened as I parted my lips and took him inside my mouth. A small groan echoed around the room, and I smiled around his shaft.
He tasted salty and fresh. Delicious and decadent.
I took him deeper, using my tongue to tease him as he slid in and then back out. His hand gripped the fine hair at the nape of my neck as he looked down at me.
“You want me to fuck your mouth and come down your throat, sweetheart?”