Chapter 31
I’m wearing my favorite dress, flowy black reaching just under the knee, a light but large scarf with an interesting, colorful print, and my black high-heel boots. There’s this nervousness I’m feeling, but the fit of the clothes gives me a little boost in confidence.
I meet Raven and Alaric in the Main Hall, where there’s already a crowd — people chatting around the elegant high tables, getting their drinks from the bar in the far left corner and buzzing around the room trying to network.
We’re still considered to be outcasts, but the students are no longer going out of their way to ignore us.
To the contrary. While we make our way through the crowd, I see more than one person throw Alaric and me a nod. But I also see quite a few guys checking Raven out.
Of course, it’s not escaped Alaric either, I think with a smile as I watch him rush to grab a cocktail off a passing waiter’s tray. “Raven, look, your favorite.”
She takes the glass in her hand, giving him one of those little smiles of hers. Then, just as we walk past one particularly crowded spot, I see this guy leave the table and head straight towards us, his eyes fixed on her.
“Whoopsie, sorry, bud,” Alaric says when he almost bumps into him, throwing the guy off and waving for us to hurry.
Shaking my head, I rush to catch up with him, but as soon as we’re away from that particular crowd, he stops, making the two of us follow suit. He turns to tell me, “Anna, I’m so glad you’re finally showing you’re not a monster who never needs to relax…”
I quirk an eyebrow at him. “But?”
“Wouldn’t you prefer if we went to play cards in my room?” he asks. He glances around with an awkward chuckle. “I mean, this is all kind of lame, right, Raven?” And with that, he turns to her, waiting.
Raven’s eyebrows shoot up. “You think so?” She glances around and then blinks at him. “I don’t know, I am not entirely sure what kind of feeling ‘lame’ is yet.”
A smile tugs at my lips. “It’s not a feeling, Raven,” I explain with a soft shake of my head. She turns to look at me with curiosity in her eyes. “It’s a quality that things can have, one that causes feelings of boredom or some kind of aversion like contempt.”
“Oh,” she says simply, turning back to Alaric. “Then no, I don’t think this is lame, Alaric.”
“Yeah, no, I meant ironically,” he rushes to say.
“Ironically?” Raven asks.
Now Alaric is getting all flushed and I really don’t want someone stealing Raven from under his nose, so I take a look around and immediately spot a lonely table in the far right corner.
“I have an idea,” I say. They both look at me. “Why don’t the two of you grab a table for us? Look, that one over there, for example.”
Alaric’s eyes light up, making me almost let out a chuckle.
“What about you, Anna?” Raven asks.
“I’m just going to mingle a little.”
I don’t give them time to protest. I turn on my heel and start looking around for Bane. The plan is not to go talk to him. It’s just to be seen having fun like a normal, self-sufficient person.
It makes my eyebrows pull down, when I realize he’s nowhere to be seen.
Now what?
It’s the very next moment that I spot her. Serra, sitting in one of the few chairs they haven’t moved for the occasion. She seems to be immersed in a book, not minding the noise.
Perfect. I’ll nonchalantly make her tell me whether Bane’s even coming to this thing.
“Serra, hi,” I say as I walk up to her. She looks up and throws me a smile, putting her book down.
It’s with a conspiratorial little smile that I ask, “Where’s Professor MacArthur?”
She lets out a chuckle. “I’m happy to say I have no idea. But I also have to say I’m surprised to see you here.”
“I guess I needed a break from everything.”
“Good for you. I’m sure it’ll help speed things up with your wolf.”
Her words leave a sting. “Exactly,” I say with a smile. I can’t resist adding, “And we’re not on good terms right now.”
There’s a flash of concern in her eyes. “No?”
“No,” I reply with a nervous laugh. “In fact, it seems she’s cut off all connection.” And I’m part thinking out loud and part trying to lead the conversation where I want it to go. “But let’s say I took the next week off.” I glance around the room. “Something I’ll need to discuss with Professor Bane, of course, but—”
“A whole week?” she cuts me off. “Another one?”
“Yeah,” I say as I turn my eyes back onto her.
She’s pressing her lips tight.
“What?” I ask.
She hesitates for a second. “I’d just be careful if I were you. You absolutely do need your rest,” she rushes to say, “but it’s not like you’re a student whose only responsibility is to give a couple of exams.”
It’s at that exact moment that my phone pings. A text from Bane. “I’m finding it hard to believe you’re not up yet, Novak.”
I look back at Serra, but I’ve forgotten what we were talking about. “Yeah, Serra, thanks for the advice,” I tell her. “I’m going to go grab a drink now.”
I barely register the look she throws me and the smile she gives me. I just start walking for the bar, my mind buzzing.
So he’s definitely not here.
Distracted, I order a drink and remain standing there until my phone starts buzzing. This time, it’s a call.
I choose not to answer it. People who are busy having fun don’t check their phones a lot, do they?
So I turn on my heel and start looking for familiar faces.
Ah, my former colleague. I walk up to Carrel, throwing a smile on as I ask, “Carrel, long time. What”s up?”
“In the name of Lycan, Anna,” he starts with a smile, turning away from the group he’s chatting with. “Where’d you disappear to?”
I sense him even before I see Carrel’s eyes dart to a spot behind my back, his eyebrows shooting up.
I throw a look over my shoulder to see him standing there, looking pissed. “You lost your phone, Novak?” he demands as he throws a scowl at Carrel.
I turn back to my former colleague, saying, “I’ll catch up with you later, alright?”
It’s funny, the look he gives me, but he smiles and nods.
“Yeah, sorry,” I say as I turn to look at Bane. “I forgot to text you. But not to say I’m up,” I rush to explain. “To say I don’t need your help with those things anymore.”
He just looks at me for a second, his eyes darting to my wrist, where there’s no demon bracelet anymore. “Really? Just like that?”
I give him a wide smile. “Yeah, isn’t it great? I don’t feel like crap anymore, I’m making progress on our little project, I’m even finding time to have fun.”
His eyes narrow in that way that makes me feel naked. “Alright, what’s going on?”
I grit my teeth at his insisting on not believing me. But I shrug it off and smile even wider, getting in his face a little to say, “I’m finally getting my shit together, Bane.”
Then, just as I spot Raven and Alaric approaching us, it occurs to me. “In fact,” I tell Bane, motioning at my friends, “the three of us are going out tonight, to celebrate.”
“What up, Jericho?” Alaric says when they come to form a circle with us.
Bane doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Yeah?” he asks, suspicion in his voice. “Where are you going?”
“Going?” Alaric echoes, sounding confused.
“To this party in the Vein,” I rush to say.
“Are we?” Raven asks.
Bane ignores her. “Why don’t I join you?” he asks with a funny little squint. Then, before I can react, he folds his arms and says, “I mean, if celebrations are in order and you’re all so into fun all of a sudden…”
I open my mouth to say thanks, but no thanks. Unfortunately, Alaric beats me to it. “That sounds bloody amazing.”
Bane turns to beam at him. Then he glances around, catching a couple of his groupies’ looks. “And why don’t we take some more people with us while we’re at it?” he says as he turns to smirk at me. “The more, the merrier, right?”
Perfect, I think with gritted teeth.
***
Why oh why did I let this happen, I wonder as I walk with the rowdy little group led by Bane, barely registering the conversation between Alaric and Raven. Was it really just so I wouldn’t have to admit I wasn’t planning on going to some party after all? And now that I’m thinking about it, did I really go to that mixer solely to spitefully show Bane I don’t need his help?
Gods, I think as I register Alaric talking about the history of Bloodholm.
It’s so crowded here and the people out on the streets look either incredibly posh or unambiguously sketchy. Run-down yet somehow majestic, Bloodholm is a gothic town that never sleeps and boasts more seedy streets than some places have, well, streets in general.
“Your first time here, Novak?” Bane asks, throwing a look over his shoulder as he leads us into one of the most dingy alleyways I’ve ever been in.
“It’ll be my first time in the Vein,” I tell him, in a friendly but not engaging way.
He cranes his neck to throw another squint at me, but he doesn’t push anything.
“Mine was in 1939,” I hear Alaric say, and I welcome the opportunity to shift my focus back onto him.
“Just before the War?” I ask, despite knowing this is a touchy subject for him.
He happily nods, throwing a glance at Raven.
“Holy hell,” I say. “What was it like?”
By the time Bane stops in front of an old wooden door with dirty stained glass panels, he’s told us exactly what the Vein used to look like.
I move to the end of the line our little group forms, to take a look at the old sign with the name of the place creaking up in the air.
“The fun is this way,” I hear Bane say and I snap out of it, seeing him standing in the doorway, keeping the door open and gesturing for me to get moving.
I don’t say anything. I just start walking, my behavior these past two days starting to make me feel I should cut my interactions with him to a minimum.
I’ll make an appearance, blend into the crowd and take the first chance to get out of here.
Until I step inside and see the place is almost exactly like Alaric described it — hot, cramped, noisy and dimly lit. There are doors leading into a whole web of other rooms, something psychedelic going on to the left of the old wooden bar and something clubbish to the right. It’s all in black wood and red leather, light reflecting off glass and metal everywhere.
It’s glorious.
Mesmerized, I let the crowd swallow me, making sure I stay behind Alaric, who’s elbowing his way through a group of vampires who are obviously all on something.
Once we find a spot near the bar with drinks in our hands, I let everyone else have fun and take the opportunity to figure out what’s so captivating about this place. Because it’s not just the ambience. There’s magic in these walls. I can feel it.
Pieces of something Alaric’s saying to Raven drifting to my ear, I start glancing around. It’s old, that’s for sure. Alaric did say it was last renovated during the Prohibition.
Slowly, I completely stop registering the people around me and move out of our circle. There are things conflicting inside me — this sadness about my wolf going silent on me again, with this excitement at the very thought of actually dropping the whole Aurora stress for the time being. It doesn’t hurt that, by doing the latter, I could maybe fix the former.
Maybe, just maybe, I could be a regular student for a moment, I think as I walk past a group of girls chanting something as they throw glowing pink shots back.
It makes me blow a laugh through my nose. I down my own drink and walk up to the bar, slamming the glass on the sticky wooden surface, throwing the energetic bartender a grin and ordering a blood gin.
I’m on my third one, and I’m leaned on the bar, admiring the gargoyles carved into the wall above, when I sense him come to stand next to me. “I heard this guy say they used to weep actual blood tears.”
I turn to look at him, finding him leaning against the bar with a scotch in his hand. That seems to be his favorite drink. “Interesting,” I say, trying to be as flat as possible so as not to engage him too much.
He throws me a suspicious look. Then his gaze drops to my scarf and he lets out a scoff before he tips his chin at it and asks, “Aren’t you hot in that monstrosity?”
So clever, he thinks he is. I just look at him for a second, my lips curling into a smirk. “Actually, I am,” I say as I grab onto one end of the silky thing and slide it off my neck, revealing the real reason for the scarf — the fact that my favorite dress has a cleavage a little too plunging for an affair like the Academy mixer. Especially given what I’m working with.
His eyes dart down and back up, locking with mine. I raise my eyebrows at him mockingly, but he seems to be at a loss for words at the moment. It all makes me want to laugh a smug laugh, but this is getting too close to flirting, so I just smile, grab my glass and move to go back to our group.
He rushes to block my way. “Why don’t you help me with something, Novak,” he says in a low, serious voice.
I take a step back, raising my eyebrows.
“Why don’t you tell me why you’re still choosing to be such a little liar?”
I laugh. “What am I lying about?”
He gets in my face, his eyes narrowing at me. “Everything. All the time.”
For a second, I just look at him. Then I laugh again. “You know, by the time you get to your point,” I say as I swirl the drink in my hand, “I might be too drunk to get it.”
He ignores this. “You say you don’t need my help anymore, but there’s something you’re not telling me. All the while, you’re pretending everything’s fine, which is an asshole move.”
Damn it. He’s got a point.
“Fair enough,” I say as I lean back on the bar. I take a deep breath. “Look, I’m grateful for all your help. But I don’t want it anymore because I don’t like relying on others more than absolutely necessary.”
“Why?” he asks, very seriously.
The question throws me off. I frown. “What do you mean why? Neither do you.”
“What did they do to break you?” he insists matter-of-factly.
What the… “No one broke me,” I say with an awkward laugh.
“Everyone is broken,” he replies, with a scoff but not taking his eyes off me.
“Everyone but me, yeah, I agree.”
He blows a laugh through his nose. For one long moment, he just looks at me. Then, to my surprise, he relaxes a little. It’s with a smile that he says, “Alright, we can ease into it. I tell you something and you tell me something.”
“I’m not telling you a thing,” I protest, defiant but smiling.
“Oh I don’t think you’ll be able to resist.”
“I most definitely will.”
He glances around, his eyes stopping on the drink in my hand. “I once got so drunk,” he starts, my ears pricking up in anticipation, “I practically downed a whole bottle of vinegar thinking it was wine.”
I laugh. He grins.
“Was it to impress someone?” I ask.
“Nuh-uh, your turn.”
“I once set my teacher’s hair on fire.”
He just looks at me for a second, then swallows a laugh. “You did not.”
“It was an accident. Moving on,” I insist, wanting to hear more of his. “Go.”
“First time I came here,” he starts, the lower, more serious voice making my ears prick up, “I’d just broken into the Bloodholm Authority Office to destroy evidence that would’ve gotten me thrown in prison.”
With that, he keeps staring at me with this defiance in his eyes.
I frown. Then I remember that guy he told me about. “You were part of a còmhlan,” I reply pensively.
“Your turn,” he demands.
“Alright,” I say with a sigh. I think for a second. “When I was a kid, I broke my leg trying to jump off the roof, believing I’d end up landing softly like I saw this vampire do. That guy you told me about, was he in the same còmhlan as you?” I ask, my eyes narrowing at him.
It makes the defiance flash through his eyes again. Still, he doesn’t refuse to answer. “Yes. He was like a brother, in fact,” he says. Then he looks at me for a second before he lets out this bitter little laugh, making me breathless with anticipation when I realize that’s not all he’ll be telling me in this round. “When the còmhlan took me off the streets, I fought tooth and nail to get them to take him with us. What a service I did him, huh? Then, years later, when I realized the life was destroying him from within, I helped him escape, only to get both him and a bunch of others killed for it.”
I frown and stay silent for a second, sadness flooding me and my voice soft when I finally say, “You said it yourself, you were both kids and neither one of you chose the life.”
This makes him hesitate, his jaw clenching. “Sure,” he says with a touch of mockery in his voice, “until I hit puberty and they started grooming me to take over, to go from being bait in conning the rich to being sent to kill off an entire enemy còmhlan. Now that bit, can’t really say I objected to it much.”
There”s a moment of silence during which he throws me another defiant look. I choose to set all judgment aside. I relax and ask, even more softly than before, “Why didn’t you?”
That seems to surprise him. “Why didn’t I?” he echoes pensively. Then he glances around, his lips curling into a sad smile. “Imagine going through life as this sweet, pretty little boy everyone loves having around. Then, one day, all of a sudden, without anything changing within you, you start noticing people averting their eyes, scurrying away from you, obeying you even when your intention is not giving out orders. It turns you hard, makes you start identifying with it, gets you believing that’s all people ever want from you — to be this rock that just gets shit done.”
I don’t want to make him feel like I’m pitying him, but what I really want right now is to give him a hug or something. I’m just about to make a compromise and put my hand on his, when he leans back again and looks away, letting out another bitter laugh. “So when my brother got killed, I left the còmhlan and joined the military. When that didn’t work out for me, I started a business and just kept making a living out of bossing people around.”
Still softly, I ask, “And how’s that working out for you?”
When he turns to look at me again, he’s slightly gritting his teeth. “You’ve been wiggling your way out of it long enough. Your turn.”
I hesitate. I really don’t want to keep saying stuff, but I also don’t want him to stop talking. I let out a sigh, shaking my head. “First time I came to the Academy was on a rare tourist tour,” I start, seeing his ears prick up. “I spent my last money on it. I was, at that moment in time, without a place to live and I seriously considered trying to hide and live with the Academy goblins.” I finish with a laugh that’s only slightly awkward.
“Without a place to live?” he asks, leaning closer with a frown. “As in—”
“Your turn.”
He doesn’t drop it. “Why didn’t you have anywhere to go?”
“What does it matter?”
“You never mention parents, or any kind of family, for that matter.”
Damn it. That’s not a place I want to go to right now, but I do feel the need to offer something in return for everything he’s shared with me. I stare into his eyes for a second, then I just lean to whisper in his ear, “I only changed my last name. I guess I felt the need to at least keep some of myself.”
I feel him tense up. When I pull back, I find him staring at me with such burning intensity, seemingly holding his breath. It takes a moment, but then he demands, “Why’d you do it?”
“Your turn,” I say with an eager smile.
“I asked why’d you do it?” he repeats himself forcefully, his eyes probing me.
The longer I stare into them, the easier it seems to just say it. I shrug. “Maybe there’s someone I have to hide from,” I say simply.
I watch him freeze, something flashing through his eyes. “Who?” he asks, his nostrils starting to flare.
I’m smiling, but the probing is making things surface and that was not my intention. I shake my head to get the images out. “Your turn,” I say more forcefully.
“No,” he snaps, his chest now heaving. It startles me, when he shifts his eyes, grabs me by the wrist and gets in my face so much, I have to lean back. “You’re telling me who it is and you’re telling me now. Is it an ex?”
I shake my head for no, the voice making my eyes round and my breath catch. I’ve never heard him use it before — so hard and cruel, burrowing into the bones and resonating through them, making heads turn all around us.
The spotlight doesn’t help shift my attention away from his eyes. They’re making me feel more naked than ever before, my mind now relentlessly filling with memories of all the notches I put on the windowsill counting the days until I turned eighteen, of all the looks of hatred my father threw me as he punished me simply for being who I was, of all the rage I felt when I decided I wouldn’t spend another day being a prisoner in his gilded cage, of everything I had to endure the first time he caught me.
It’s all threatening to be put into actual words, so I just keep staring at Bane, who’s waiting frozen with my wrist in his hand, until I finally manage to tear my eyes away from him.
For a moment, he keeps my wrist in his hand. Then he abruptly lets go, stepping away a little and clearing his throat.
The retreat and the tension in his body make my heart sink, especially after what he told me about the way people treat him. So I find myself taking a step closer, giving his shirt a gentle tug and looking up at him with a soft smile. “You said you used to be bait,” I say, wanting for him to relax but still desperate to change the subject. “How do you even go about conning someone?” I shrug. “I mean, it’s not like you can borrow a handbook or something.”
For one long moment, he doesn’t say anything. He just stares at me.
Then he seems to relax, leaning in to explain in a more upbeat voice, “It’s actually very simple.” He glances around the room, making me do the same. “You choose your target, you make an impression, you get them to do whatever it is you want them to do, and you pick the right moment to disappear.”
Disappear... How tempting. Maybe that’s exactly what I need right now.
“Okay,” I say, my eyes sweeping over the room and stopping on an older male vampire sitting in a booth alone. “That guy over there. What would the actual plan be?”
“Plan?” he asks with a scoff. “It’s all improv, Novak.” He leans a little forward, getting real close, and says, “You need to get people to think they’re on the verge of getting what they desire most in this world. And how will you know what they desire most in this world until you start talking to them?”
It’s at that moment that my eyes get drawn back in the direction of the vampire sitting alone. I see how nervously he’s glancing in the direction of this beautiful young woman dancing with a man not too far away from him.
“Talking to them?” I repeat pensively. “I’d think that sometimes you only need to look at them,” I say. I throw Bane this feverish smile and say, “Come on.”
***
“Hey, Novak,” Bane calls out as he rushes to catch up with me.
I don’t stop, I throw a look over my shoulder. “Just follow my lead, please?”
I can tell he’s confused, but he just keeps following me until we’re slowing to a stop in front of the vampire. I’m smiling a wide, silly smile as I try to catch his eye, asking, “Mind if we rest here for a bit?”
It’s only then that the vampire pays us attention. But only for a second. “Sure, but just until my wife gets back.”
So she’s the wife. A thrill rushes down my spine when I realize I’m right about the best course of action here.
I nudge Bane to take a seat and as soon as he does, I come to nestle myself next to him, squirming softly as I put his arm over my shoulder. He doesn’t protest, but when I look up at him, he’s staring at me with his eyebrows pulled down. I lean to whisper in his ear, “Tell him you think his wife is gorgeous.”
“I don’t.”
“Just say it.”
He lets out a sigh and then turns to the target, locking eyes with him. “That your wife?” he says as he motions at the girl. “She’s gorgeous.”
“Hey,” I protest in a hurt voice, making him throw another confused look at me. “If I catch you looking at her one more time…”
I see him frown just before his gaze darts to a waiter walking by. “Hey, why don’t you freshen these two up?” the vampire demands as he points at two fancy cocktails in front of him. “That’s my wife over there. She likes ‘em a certain temperature.”
I look up at Bane, catching him staring at the guy before turning his focus back onto me. “You know,” he leans to whisper, “it’s kind of unsettling, how quickly you’re catching on.”
I give him a smug smile. He lets out a sigh, but he’s smiling. “You never want to give me any space, huh, babe?” he asks, loudly and with a smirk. Then he turns back to the vampire, who’s now staring at him. “Women, am I right?”
“Yeah, women,” the guy echoes, a spark of interest appearing in his eyes. “So what brings you two here?” he leans to ask.
Bingo. Moving his arm so it’s wrapped tightly around my waist, Bane engages in a conversation with the vampire. I settle in, nestling even more comfortably against his chest and leaning the back of my head on his shoulder.
The conversation keeps drifting to me, but I stay silent, lifting my hand to trace my fingers along his forearm. It makes heat wash over me, when I see his skin prick and he starts slowly stroking my waist with his thumb.
He seems to already have the guy enthralled.
I let out a soft scoff. People are all the same, aren’t they? Always have been and always will be.
Put them in a dark room and they’ll want light.
Give them a neighbor and they’ll start a war.
Try to teach them something and somehow they’ll find a way to make you out to be the enemy.
I throw a sneaky glance up at Bane. Maybe he was right all along, saying the world can’t be saved. It’s simply because people are and always will be petty, selfish little animals.
So why bother.
There’s a lull in the conversation when the vampire turns his focus onto me, motioning at Bane before he asks me with a knowing smile, “You like ‘em handsome, don’t you?”
I give him a wide, lazy smile. “Oh he’s not just handsome,” I reply as I squirm a little in his arms. “He’s the kind of guy who takes what he wants, no matter the risk. Just yesterday, he invested in this private island thing—”
“We don’t talk about that, babe,” he cuts me off with an awkward laugh, squeezing me tighter.
Oh he’s good. He’s making me believe our lie.
“Don’t worry, I won’t say too much,” I protest, pretending to be that stupid. I turn my focus back onto the vampire. “Anyway, he got involved with these really sketchy types, but now, whenever I feel like soaking in the sun, he can just whisk me away to our private island.” I look up to grin at Bane and I crane my neck a little, catching his eyebrows pull down just before I give him a kiss on the mouth.
It knocks the air out of my lungs, when he tugs me closer and I feel his tongue part my lips. He keeps kissing me and before I even realize what’s going on, I’m putting my hand on his thigh, reveling in the way he groans into my mouth when I start to stroke it.
“I want to leave,” a bored female drawl snaps me out of it. I pull my hand back and break the kiss. He tries to catch my eye, but I ignore him, nestling back in his arms instead. My gaze is now on the wife, who’s standing right in front of me, impatiently waiting for the vampire as he scrambles to get ready to go.
“We should get going, too,” I hear Bane say, and still, I ignore him.
My heart is sinking at the thought of this little escape coming to an end and the two of us going back to our group.
The vampire finishes grabbing his stuff and comes to put his arm around his wife, but she just coldly backs off.
He lets out an awkward laugh and turns to the two of us. “Why don’t you two join us? We have a fully stocked bar back home. Maybe we could even talk about that investment thing.”
Hell yeah. “That sounds like so much fun,” I say, turning to beam at Bane.
To my surprise, the look on his face is a dead serious one. Maybe even a little pissed off. “It does,” he says as he gets up, “but we’re leaving.”
“But I want to keep drinking,” I reply as I look up at him.
He shakes his head and folds his arms, waiting for me without throwing another glance in the couple’s direction.
Way to ruin the whole thing.
I get up, throw the vampire and his wife sorry looks and come to whisper in his ear, “It’s not like I was actually planning on going through with it.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just walks around me and starts leading me through the crowd with a firm hand on the small of my back, making me frown when I realize he’s not going back to our group.
Just before we pass the bar, he stops, opens a door I only now notice and nudges me out into the warm night air, onto a cramped back space dominated by some kind of wooden crate.
Still frowning, I watch him lock the door and get in my face. “If I tell you we’re leaving,” he says through gritted teeth, “you start hauling your ass out.”
My frown grows deeper. “Excuse me?” I hiss.
“If I call you,” he keeps going in a voice growing more and more pissed, “you answer the fucking phone.”
Heat washes over me, when I realize exactly what’s happening. Even before he grabs my hand, puts it on his thigh and says, “And if you touch me like that in public, guess what happens?”
It’s a little breathlessly but with my lips tugging into a smile that I say, “I get punished.”
“Good girl,” he says.
He mercilessly spins me around, fills his hands with my breasts and takes a bite out of my shoulder. My spine arches with pleasure, my ass pressing into his crotch. He lets out a groan and starts dragging his hands down my body.
But we won’t be doing things his way again. I break free of his grip and I turn around, watching his eyebrows pull down even before I ask, “Oh that’s what you want, huh?”
I walk him backwards, shoving at his chest to make him sit on the crate with his legs spread wide. I’m enjoying the confusion on his face so much. “You want a good girl?” I whisper as I bend to get in his face.
I stand straight, lift my right leg and bring its heel down between his legs, the hem of my dress sliding down my thigh. “Don’t think you got me fooled for a second, big boy,” I whisper as I press the tip of the boot against his crotch, making his jaw clench and this feral look flash in his eyes.
He tries to grab my leg only to have it mercilessly slapped away. “Oh you think you’re allowed to touch?” I press the tip of my boot harder against him.
For a second, he just looks at me. As if in a trance, he shakes his head.
“You know when you’ll be allowed to touch?” I ask, leaning to breathe in his ear.
He seems to be speechless at the moment, so I don’t wait for his answer. “When and only when I tell you you deserve it.”