Chapter 19
LANEY
T he fire came from inside the house.
Neenan’s words rang in my ears, the resulting anxiety almost drowned out his next words. “Kenna’s enhanced background check came back sparse. She’s not registered at any school district in England and her family records show little relatives. I’m running her intake picture through facial recognition to be safe. I know you like her but don’t give trust she hasn’t earned.” I never let her out of my sight. Not even when he pulled me away.
I stayed standing in the hallway long after Neenan had left. My defence was weak as I listed all the facts I knew about her. Her family, her homeschooling, her dreams, but truly, I knew nothing. As that thought set in, my heart rattled thick pumps of blood in my chest, each thump marking the slow steps I took to return to Kenna.
Coming up behind her, I observed her eyes wander around the surrounding area, not focusing on anything.
Deep breath in.
“Tell me about your family.”
Deep breath out.
She dropped her shoulders. “Laney…” Coming to her feet, she faced me and reached a hand toward my face to push a lock of hair behind my ear. “Don’t make me go through it again.”
Don’t give her trust she hasn’t earned.
I pulled my head back, away from her.
“Be honest with me.”
“They were strict with me.” Kenna stared into space over my shoulder. “Sometimes cruel.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“Where are you from, Kenna?”
“Bilham.” She answered too quickly, but at my angry expression she continued. “Princess, what’s the matter?”
“Don’t lie to me, Kenna. I need to know. You were at that school. This isn’t the first time we’ve met.” The corners of my eyes stung with the exertion of not letting tears fall. I needed screams, not tears. “Don’t make me feel crazy.” My voice broke.
Resting a hand on my arm, she stepped closer to me. “I was homeschooled. I didn’t lie.”
“Stop it!” I burst. “Stop lying! Just trust me, please trust me.”
“I’m not, look–”
The tension in my body pulled tighter. I reached down to my ankle, whipping out my trusty mini weapons.
“Okay, okay, look,” She paused, the glint of the blade catching in her eye still her shoulders were set back. “I was at St. James's Academy.”
A relieved sigh struggled to release from my lungs.
“Briefly.”
I shut my eyes and pressed my lips together. “At the same time as me, Kenna. You said it couldn’t have been you. It was though, it was you. ”
“It was.” She lifted her hands as if calming a stray cat.
“ You remembered me.”
She nodded with me, a declaration that perhaps I wasn’t the only one haunted by the interaction. We were a dyad. I believed it.
“Why did you say those words to me?” Beware the assassin. No, that’s not right. Your mother warns you to beware the assassin. I scrunch my eyebrows. It didn’t make any sense. “You didn’t know my mother.”
“No,” she pleaded almost in prayer. “Just you.”
“Why can’t you just speak the full truth? More than a sentence, please!”
“There are things that I need to protect. Foremost, you.” She pulled me in for a hug, and I rolled my eyes. “Secrets have thorns, and I don't want anyone to be pricked by information they didn’t have to suffer.”
“Why do you say that? As if revealing just the tiniest thing about yourself will bring others pain. They won’t. Quite the opposite, it would make me happy.”
“There’s not much there worth knowing.”
“Not true.” I tried my hardest not to hit my foot on the ground like a petulant teenager, but I think it looked the same to Kenna.
“Oh really?” She joked. A small smile played on her features.
“Yes, really. You’re a wonderful and engaging person, just hard as a rock trying to squeeze information from.”
“Seems you’ll have to squeeze hard. I know some parts of me that would like that very much.” It clicked a moment too late.
I groaned. “Ew, no, stop that.”
She leaned down to the point where we shared breath, suddenly serious.
“Never.” She sighed softly before landing a wet kiss to the side of my mouth.
“You’re distracting me,” I said in a singsong tone.
The journey of her tongue from my mouth to my chest was wet and her voice was deeper than I’d ever heard it, when she said, “No, princess, I’m seducing you.”
My blood thrummed at the prospect as my pussy became hot and damp.
Fuck it.
I wanted her more than my brain wanted answers. This was her game, and I was losing, but what a privilege it was to be completely undone by her. I never lied to her, I dreamt of this. Roughly, I grabbed her chin, lifting it so that our mouths almost met again so that I could say, “Then seduce and destroy me, baby. I’m all yours.”
Then, devoured her whole.
Our mouths clashed and my back hit a wall. I couldn’t see it, but it felt cold behind me as Kenna grinded into me with impassioned aggression that was sure to leave bruises in the morning.
Warmth spread over my body again as her hands wandered over every inch of exposed skin. I grabbed her arse with both hands, and with all my might lifted her further into me, bringing us closer.
I was keenly aware that the cameras were watching but too intoxicated to care. For once, I could do something for myself. Consequences be damned. Yet, somehow, it felt like the family was always involved in my sex life.
“Let’s go to my room,” I said and pushed Kenna off me, grabbed her hand tight, and ran to the bedroom. The door slammed behind us. We fell on the bed in a brief giggle before ripping our clothes off.
She moaned when I pulled my jeans off, exposing my wet pussy to the gentle breeze coming in from the window. It gave me goosebumps.
“You nervous?” She asked.
I hooked my leg around her and flipped her. “No. I want to eat your pussy.”
“Oh, do you now?”
I nodded, laying her flat on the bed. This brazen character I was playing was purely selfish. For once in my life, I wanted to take and take without remorse for feeling. It wasn’t natural for me. It was instinctual.
When she attempted to lean herself up on her elbows, my firm hand pushed her back down. Kissing in light circles around her stomach and upper thighs, I teased her, my hand outstretched to roll her nipple between two fingers.
“Don’t think I haven’t forgotten your avoidance of my questions.” I pinched extra hard, and a breath caught in her throat.
Dragging my hand down her body, I moved my mouth up and over her heart. With my other hand, I dig a finger into where her heart sits, beating fast under the skin. “This. I want this. And to get this,” I moved my hand to her hair and pulled it taut. “I need this.”
It was a rare feeling. To be above someone. In control. Usually, I was taught it only as a vehicle for death, but now I have only pleasure on my mind.
Using one finger, I circled her clit, bringing some wetness from her entrance to swirl and glide my finger smoothly over the surface. “Were your brothers at the school?”
“Don’t talk about my brothers now.” She growled.
I slapped the inside of her thigh. “Answer.” I swirled my finger again making her keel forward.
“No.” It came out in a harsh breath.
I descended my mouth to hover above her pussy. My breath skating across the sensitive skin. “Why not?”
“They’re older.” It was a poor answer, but still I latched onto her clit, sucking and licking. When she said no more words, I grazed my teeth over it. “It wasn’t necessary.” She rushed out.
It was my first time going down on a girl. My rule book of female pleasure was her treatment of me. Well, that and the internet. Nothing prepared me for the moment. Fake it till you make it, I guess.
I dove down between her legs.
She lifted her legs and wrapped them round my head in a rough hold. Undeterred, I lapped and sucked at her clit, occasionally dipping my tongue into her hole. She moaned in response.
“Why did you go there?”
“Reasons.” She fell into a fret of shakes and pulses as her orgasm crashed into her. It was remarkable to see and know I was the cause. Her hand kept me in place as she effectively rode my face to prolong her high.
But I withdrew. “Good ones?”
She growled and flipped our positions so that she was now on top of me. “Family obligation.”
I let out a yelp as her fingers invaded my entrance. The palm of her hand hitting my throbbing clit repeatedly as she slammed into me. It wasn’t necessarily pleasurable but boy, was it needed.
“What’s the real reason?”
My attempt to pull away was fleeting. Her hands clamped down on my hips and pussy and held me still as her fingers’ pace escalated.
“You.” She breathed. I didn’t have the mental capacity to decide whether that was a line or not, but my heartbeat jumped at the notion.
With my eyes, I begged for relief as the relentless movement of her fingers had me climbing to a climax fast. The glint in her eye was suspicious as she maintained my gaze. Her lips found a nipple and bit down on it.
“Trust me, Laney. Trust me.”
“I’m trying.” Anger embedded in my voice. I bucked at her hand willing her to touch my clit more, but she didn’t. Her fingers on a rough pounding trajectory. “Please.”
“You like me, princess?” She said without mercy. “Prove it.”
I was too far gone to question her words. I just wanted her to touch my clit. Was that so hard? But Kenna was calculating, so I needed to change tact.
“I just want this to be genuine,” I said between moans and yelps. Her pace was unstopping. Some of the angles hurt. “I don’t want to doubt myself.”
“So, don’t doubt me!” She punched one last finger into me before grabbing my throat with one hand and pushing her mouth onto my mound, sucking hard. “Come for me.”
The first crash was sharp.
The second relieved.
“Good girl,” Kenna said.
And the third calming as my release faded.
We caught our breaths together as we came to lay side by side. I kissed her shoulder, and she kissed my head. Silence filled the space. The echoes of our pleasure are long gone, except for the evidence left by the stickiness of my sheets.
Then, the weight of the day fell on my head. My character unmasked. And I stared at the new artwork that hung proudly above my fireplace.
“I feel sick.” I said, a migraine was hitting the inside of my skull in a chorus. “I’m going to sleep.” I winced as my head touched the pillow but tried to focus on the way that Kenna’s fingers lightly massaged the top of my head. “Stay with me…all the time…don’t leave my sight, love,” I mumbled as I was consumed by the pity of sleep but dreamt of the girl in the bathroom as a tear slipped down my cheek.