Chapter 33
Sadie
“You will meet your fate next week, dear students,” says Professor Worthington. “Midterm exams are upon us. I hope to revel in the progress you’ve made thus far. Sadie Marlowe, I’m talking to you as well as your classmates.”
My head snaps up. I had only been half listening, because I was scrolling through posts about Lucan and me on a particularly snarky online gossip account.
“Yes, Professor. Sorry.” I stuff my phone into my bag. “Exams. I’m ready.”
He nods. “Glad to hear it. Right then, everyone, you’re dismissed.”
Marco sits at the classroom table behind his usual stacks of paper.
The dinner with Lucan’s family has made me determined to find more clues about the killer. Poor Gareth was in bad shape, and I would dearly like to move on with my life without worrying someone might end it any moment.
I linger to ask Professor Worthington and Marco about Hannah again. My theory is that she might’ve shared insight into her life in her stories. The professor and his TA could know more than they think.
Getting them alone is difficult because Zahra stays behind to chat with Professor Worthington today, like most days.
Marco leaves the moment class is dismissed, shoulders hunched and eyes cast downward, so I settle for the professor.
“Can I have a hint about which themes you’re putting in the hat for the exam?” asks Zahra, batting her eyelashes at Professor Worthington.
He shakes his head like a disapproving father.
“You’ll have to try harder than that, Zahra.” He notices me. “Are you here for a hint too, Sadie?”
I hesitate. Zahra shows no signs of leaving, turning her expectant gaze on me.
“Professor, you knew Hannah Hale,” I say.
He inclines his head. “I did, as we established the last time you asked me.”
I bite my lip. “Do you—”
What do I want to ask exactly?
Did she happen to name a potential killer in any of her stories?
Zero subtlety, but maybe the time for subtlety has passed.
“As Hannah’s teacher, you would’ve read much of her work,” I say. “You never noticed any details that might explain her death? Someone bothering her, a secret plaguing her? Things like that?”
The creases in his forehead deepen. “If I did, I would’ve certainly informed the police officers and Hale detectives. No, there were no clues in her stories.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that you would withhold information—”
Professor Worthington pushes the bridge of his glasses. “And yet.”
Behind him, Zahra flashes me a sympathetic wince.
“Sorry to bring it up,” I say. “It’s just—”
“You’re in danger,” he says, his voice softening. “I understand. It disconcerts me that another of my students is under threat. But you’re in good hands, no? Lucan Hale is on the case. We should all be so lucky.”
“Sorry again,” I say, gathering my belongings.
“Not at all.” His eyes crinkle with a tired smile. “It’s natural to want answers, but I’m afraid I won’t be the one to help you.”
Zahra grins. “I hear Lucan’s your boyfriend, Sadie.”
“I hear you’re late for your next class,” I say, poking out my tongue.
She makes kissing sounds, which I take as my cue to leave. My classes are done for the day, but I still have a mountain of reading to get through.
As I hurry back to my dorm, I check my phone. Lucan has sent me a message, inviting me to study at his apartment.
I really shouldn’t go. We’ll just end up having sex, and then more sex. Fun, but bad for my grades.
In my dorm living room, I find Juliette and Clara practically levitating on caffeine. Empty energy drink cans cover the table as my roommates fire practice exam questions at each other.
Pop music blasts from Clara’s portable speaker. She says it helps her focus, and I wish I could relate.
Rethinking Lucan’s offer, I hastily accept via text message. He replies fast, telling me that Cormac is already waiting for me out the front of Darkbloom.
Sighing in exasperation at Lucan’s boundless audacity—though I’m also lowkey grateful—I collect the books I need and say goodbye to my friends.
On the drive to Ember Falls, the forest leaves glimmer in the late-October gloom, arcing over the road to create an orange tunnel.
Frowning at my phone, I get an error message from my bank when I try to make my monthly debt payment. Maybe I have insufficient funds?
I swear I had enough though. Even with college and Lucan consuming my time, I’ve worked all my shifts at Ink & Ivy Books.
Gliding in the elevator to his apartment, I check my debt balance, but there is none. The account is marked as deactivated.
“What’s wrong?” asks Lucan, a dark silhouette as the elevator door opens.
“The bank made a mistake.” I glance at the time. “They’re closed now, so I’ll have to deal with it tomorrow.”
He sucks his teeth. “I think you’ll find there’s no mistake.”
“Come again?”
“I took care of your debt for you.”
My hand tightens on my phone. “You did?”
I knew I shouldn’t have mentioned the debt. I wanted to be honest, but he didn’t need to know that.
“Sure.” He wraps his arms around my waist and kisses my forehead. “Come in, I’m making you coffee and food. Did your Halloween costume come?”
His books are strewn on the dining table. I place mine down too, along with my bag.
“Yeah.” I bring up the photo on my phone of the dress and black-feather wings. “This is it.”
Lucan takes his time looking at the photo, as if he’s imagining how every aspect of the costume will look on me. “Good choice.”
I can’t focus on the costume though. I’m stuck on him interfering with my finances, unable to decide what I’m feeling exactly.
“You paid my debt, just like that?” I ask.
He presses buttons on his fancy coffee maker. “It’s not a big deal. Why struggle for no reason? You’re my girlfriend.”
“Not a big deal to you, maybe.”
I identify the feeling I’m having as oddly deflated.
I fought to pay that debt, and believed I’d be fighting for years to come. What was a mountain to me was barely a blip to him. It makes me and my efforts feel like they mean very little.
But how can I say that without sounding ungrateful?
“It was nice of you to pay it off.” I unwind the scarf from around my neck.
He crosses to me, beckoning. “Good, because I got you something else. In my study.”
Following him down the hallway, I chew my lip. First a family heirloom necklace, now a debt paid? What else could he possibly have for me?
“Lucan… I can’t get you anything in return,” I say.
He throws a puzzled look over his shoulder. “Why would you need to? This isn’t a transaction, Sadie. It’s a relationship.”
Inside the study, he slips his hand around my waist. “You’re the new owner of Ink & Ivy Books.”
“Pardon?”
He taps papers on his desk. Four sleek computer monitors with dark screens take up the rest of the space.
“You heard,” he says. “I bought the shop for you. My lawyers are preparing the deed for you to sign. It’s in your name only. No matter what, it’ll belong to you. I wanted you to have that security.”
My head spins. “You bought me the bookstore?”
“The whole building actually. The income from the other shop leases can cover any new employees you might want to take on, to free you up to study and write, if you want.”
Oh god, he’s changing my life with snaps of his fingers. Is this what it means to be the girlfriend of a billionaire’s heir? Everything’s moving so fast and so much.
“That’s a very generous offer, but I can’t accept,” I say.
“I’m not offering. It’s already yours.” Tilting my chin with his thumb, he brushes his lips against mine with an exhale, like he’s been waiting to do it all day. “It’s done.”
In fairness, Lucan has never hidden who he is—it’s me who’s experiencing culture shock. Just because this situation is unfamiliar to me doesn’t make it bad. This is how he lives.
Should he pretend to be broke to soothe my anxieties about money? Of course not. Why should I be upset? Why can’t I just enjoy good things happening to me?
Especially when he’s stroking my neck with his fingers, heating my insides with desire.
“Your existence is all I need from you,” he murmurs against my flaming skin. “You’re more valuable than anything on the planet.”
My eyes flutter closed as he presses his lips to my throat, alternating soft kisses with sharp bites. I stop thinking about money or anything else. Running my hands up and down his muscular torso, I need him greatly all of a sudden.
No one lights me up the way he does, not even close. That level of chemistry has to mean something.
He kisses my lips, pushing his tongue past my teeth to enter my mouth. I welcome it because it feels too good to ignore.
His eyes dark with lust, or maybe something even more primal, he undresses me, pulling my sweater and blouse over my head and throwing them across the room. He unhooks my bra with a twist of his fingers and tears it off.
With my hands in his hair, he takes my pebbled nipple in his mouth. He sinks his teeth into the pink flesh while torturing it with his tongue.
Raindrops hiss and spit at the polished windows, but in here, with Lucan, the air is heavy and warm.
My hands grapple with his belt buckle and unzip his pants. Before I can release his cock, he grips my wrist and spins me around so I’m facing the desk and windows.
He plants my palms on the desktop. “Don’t move, beautiful, unless it’s to arch your fucking back.”
His foot collides with the inside of my ankle, forcing me to widen my legs. He tugs my skirt up, ripping apart my stockings and underwear with his hands. I’m soaked, and he growls with anticipation as he buries his face in my pussy.
He laps and licks me without discrimination, pushing his tongue into my entrance, rubbing my swollen clit with his fingers, and then running his mouth up to my ass and teasing the tight hole.
“I don’t know whether to fuck you or devour you,” he says.
His tongue and two fingers thrust into my pussy, building the heat within my core.
“What do you want?” he asks. “Tell me.”
“Don’t stop,” I say with a gasp.
His mouth slides along my folds, his tongue lashing at me. His fingers dig into the soft flesh of my ass cheek, pulling it aside to expose my pussy further.
“Are you going to come on my tongue like a good girl?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Say it.”
My hips roll. “I’m going to come on your tongue.”
I breathe rapidly, moments from climax. The desktop dampens under my palms as he drives another finger into me, stretching me.
“Tell me how it feels,” he says.
The sting and sensation of fullness combined with his tongue lashing my throbbing clit sends me over the edge, blurring my vision and scrambling my thoughts. Pleasure crashes through me in violent waves.
“Like heaven and hell,” I say with a moan.
He shoves his fingers in further, licking the wetness soaking my inner thighs.
“Damn fucking right,” he says. “Don’t move, sweetheart.”
Before I’ve caught my breath, he rises behind me, grabs my ass cheeks, and angles the hot tip of his cock against my pussy.
“I know your hungry little cunt needs me to fuck it,” he says, hitching my skirt higher, out of the way.
With a hand still on my ass, he winds the other through my hair, jerking my head back with a sharp twist. Tiny jolts of pain shoot through my scalp. He hooks his fingers into my mouth and slides them over my tongue, and I taste my own salty arousal.
His breath is heavy on my neck. I’m trying to steady myself on my feet when he nudges at my entrance. Lucan shows no hesitation or mercy—he just pushes into me in one long, incredible thrust.
My hips slam forward into the desk. I’m anchored to him by my hair, so there’s nowhere for me to go. I have to take all of him, and the intensity rocks my body. My inner walls struggle to accommodate his girth.
His breathing becomes ragged, like he’s more beast than man, and he pounds me without pause.
The strokes are fast, deep, and uneven. He pumps me so hard my feet keep lifting off the ground, so that most of my weight is held up by his erection.
I’m incapable of speaking, because it’s all I can do to breathe.
His pace increases. Without warning, his fingers release my hair, and I catch myself on the desk with my hands when I fall forward. I bump into his tech equipment, probably breaking something, and he seems beyond noticing.
“Sadie,” he says with a growl, covering my bare back with kisses that morph into bites.
His hand reaches around my hip to touch my aching clit while he fucks me. The pleasure is so intense it’s all I can feel. He twists and torments the swollen bud as my juices slick his desk.
My body trembles with the orgasm, my inner walls clenching around his cock as he thrusts. He buries his face into my back, sinking his teeth into my skin while he floods my core with his hot cum.
How does sex with him just keep getting better? It’s like our bodies are meant to find pleasure in each other’s, heightened by growing emotions. I seem to want him more every day, whenever I see him and whenever I don’t.
With messy hair and tears in my eyes, I lift my head to breathe properly.
The rivers of ecstasy still trickle through my body as I try to focus on the lit screens in front of me. We must’ve woken them with our movement, because they’re no longer blank.
And what I see horrifies me.