by Sofia Daniel
Wrapping my arms around his broad back, I said, “Please… I need you inside me.”
He drew back and stared down at me with his dark eyes wide and his jaw slack. “Do you know what you’re saying?”
“That I want to have sex?” I ran a hand down his muscular back and wrapped it around a deliciously hard buttock.
“Are you still a virgin?” he asked.
My teeth worried at my lip. “Not by choice.”
Prakash drew back, taking all that sweet friction away. I wrapped my hand around his erection to keep him in place. “Don’t you dare run away from this.”
With a chuckle, Prakash kissed me on the nose. “Not even to get a condom?”
“Oh.” I released my grip and relaxed. “That’s alright, then.”
He rolled off me, taking away his warmth. I sat up, brought my knees to my chest, and wrapped my arms around my legs. His muscles rippled as he strode to a cupboard and searched through its contents.
Inhaling a deep breath, I stared at one of the landscapes on the wall. It depicted a green mountain, which I guessed was where his family grew the tea.
Prakash turned around, his eyes stormy. He held a pack of condoms but didn’t move any closer. “Are you sure about this?”
I stretched out my arms and curled my fingers, beckoning him closer. “Am I sure I want to make love with the boy who looked out for me from the first day we met? Or am I sure I want to make love with the boy who saved my life?”
Rolling his eyes, he drew closer. “Don’t make me sound like a hero.”
“There are other reasons.” Licking my lips, I swept a lingering gaze down his muscular torso and let it settle on a bronze erection with an impressive, bulbous tip. “Maybe I’m also motivated by the sight of your glorious body.”
With a snort, he pulled out a foil wrapper from the box, ripped it open, and placed it on the bedside table. He stared at me with eyes so hungry, they made my heart stutter.
I swallowed hard. This was it. I was going to lose my virginity.
“You have such pretty lips,” he murmured.
My gaze dropped to his dark, glistening cock head that looked too thick to breach my opening. A panicked thrill shot through my insides. “A-all the better for kissing you?”
The smile he gave me was predatory. “Everything about you is beautiful.”
My heart pounded as hard as the pulse between my legs. Part of me wanted to chicken out, but I shoved it aside and told myself this was the right time with the right person. Although spending time with Sebastian and Leopold had been fantastic, I hadn’t felt whole until Prakash’s return.
With as much bravado as I could muster, I said, “Why don’t you come here and show me?”
Prakash sat beside me at the edge of the bed and pressed a kiss on my bare shoulder. “No matter what happens, I want you to know my feelings for you are and always have been genuine.”
My stomach tightened. “What do you think is going to happen?”
“Nothing.” He ran his fingertips down the arm I wrapped around my knees and back up my thigh. “But I want you to know I’m not playing a game.”
“I know.” My gaze locked onto his.
“Good.” Leaning forward, he cupped the side of my face with his large hand and kissed me so gently, it made my heart melt. “Because once I have you, I won’t want to let you go.”
“That’s fine with me.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and straightened my legs.
With a sexy growl, Prakash straddled my body and laid me flat on the mattress. He kissed one corner of my mouth and then the other before giving me a gentle peck on my lips. I wrapped my arms around his broad shoulders, enjoying the attention and appreciating that he wanted to take things slow.
He ran kisses along my jawline, down the column of my neck, each press of his lips a sweet caress that made my heart flutter. How could anyone believe this gentle soul capable of hurting Ashley? How could he be so loving when my sister’s confession had gotten him locked up?
Prakash cupped my breast and rolled the nipple between his fingers, causing pleasant shudders to run down my spine. I pressed my thighs together and whimpered.
His kisses reached my collarbone, and he moaned. “This time, I’m going to memorize every inch of your delightful body.”
“There’s no need,” I said with a giggle. “We can do this again tomorrow and the day after.”
When he didn’t reply, I wondered if he thought he would return to the juvenile detention center. I had assumed that the police had dropped the charges based on the butler’s alibi and Barrett’s confession, but what if that had only secured his bail and he had a pending trial?
A question formed on my lips, but he sucked my nipple into his hot mouth.
Pleasure exploded through my insides like fireworks, blanking out all thought. I cried out and dug the pads of my fingers into his shoulders.
The hand playing with my other nipple went between my legs, and he rubbed slow, maddening circles around my clit. Pressure built up between my legs and my core spasmed and clamped, needing to be filled.
“K-Kash!” I cried out.
“Mmmmm…” He continued sucking on my nipple and reached for the condom on the bedside table.
I rolled my hips, trying to get one of those fingers to breach my opening.
His hips lifted off the bed, presumably to slip on the condom, but I was too lost in pleasure to pay much attention. My entire world coalesced into the finger on my clit and the mouth on my nipple.
A tiny part of me wondered what it would be like to have all three kings worship my body at the same time, but it soon fell away when he lined his erection up to my opening.
“Willow,” he whispered. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Are you sure you want to do this?”
I bucked my hips, rubbing my slick folds over his condom-covered prick. “If you don’t get inside me now, I’ll bite you.”
His chest vibrated with a low chuckle that made my nipples tighten. “Try not to maul me too much, tigress.”
With the greatest of care, he eased himself through my opening, and I clenched my teeth against the tight stretch. I’d used tampons before, and had two thick fingers inside me, but it wasn’t quite the same as the thick head of Prakash’s penis.
“Alright?” he asked.
“You’re bigger than I expected.”
With a suppressed smile, he asked, “Would you like me to open you up with my fingers?”
I shook my head. “Keep going.”
He reached between us and gently pinched my clit between his fingers, sending a sharp bolt of pleasure through my core. I cried out and arched my back at the intensity of the sensation. He released my nub and did it again, this time, making sliding movements with his fingertips.
Overwhelming sensations shot through my core, up my belly, and down my thighs. “K-Kash, that’s—”
“A distraction.” He withdrew his hand and braced his weight on both palms. The tip of his erection had slipped inside my opening, giving me what was now a pleasant stretch. “Are you ready for the rest?”
I gave him an eager nod, wrapped my legs around his hips, and placed my palms on his ass.
He rolled his hips, pushing himself a little further into my core and then withdrawing. It was the slightest of movements that massaged me with delicious, gentle strokes. With each forward roll, he entered a little deeper.
His gaze bore into mine, examining my features with rapt attention. “Are you alright?”
Nodding, I rolled my hips against his, deepening the penetration and enjoying the flutter of my muscles around his hard length. “This is perfect.”
He lowered his lips onto mine, devouring my mouth with demanding swipes of his tongue that matched the movement of his hips.
Moaning against him, I slid one hand up his spine and rested it between his shoulder blades, keeping him in place. It was as if holding him this tightly would keep him at my side forever.
We
continued moving against each other in this slow, sensual slide, taking pleasure in each other’s bodies. His chest lay against mine, and our hearts beat to the same rhythm, making me feel closer to him than I had been with anyone in my entire life.
Prakash broke the kiss and murmured, “Most nights, I dreamed of doing this with you, and I swore to myself that if I ever got the chance to see you again, I wouldn’t waste time driving you away.”
He had said something similar earlier, but this time, my heart fluttered at the thought of me consuming his thoughts. Maybe it was the deeper connection or the flood of oxytocin in my veins, but I never wanted to stop making love with him.
“What’s going to happen next with the police?” I asked.
His lips crashed onto mine with a dizzying kiss that matched his longer, deeper thrusts. Waves of ecstasy crashed against the walls of my core, making me cry out, but he swallowed the sounds with his kisses.
His back and forth movements quickened, making the bed creak and my breasts jiggle. My muscles clamped around him, and harsh cries ripped from my throat. It was like being pumped full of pleasure, and it had nowhere to go and kept building in pressure until it became unbearable.
His harsh, ragged breaths filled my ears, and he whispered, “You’re so wonderfully tight. A perfect fit. I love you, Willow.”
It took a moment for the words to filter through the haze of ecstasy, but when they did, it was like something snapped, and a bone-deep shudder seized my body. A sob ripped from my throat as wave after wave of sensation took control of my senses and had me jerking and spasming underneath his strong, powerful body.
Prakash continued those delicious thrusts, drawing out the sensations until he let out a low, sensual moan and collapsed on top of me.
We remained tangled together, our hearts hammering to the same beat, both breathing hard and catching our breaths. His last words echoed in my ears, but I shoved them to the back of my mind. Anyone could say anything in the throes of passion.
The next morning, someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Prakash groaned from on top of me.
“It’s Bianca,” said Leopold. “Someone’s pushed her out of a window, and she’s lying on the ground at the foot of the east wing!”
Chapter 12
Prakash and I froze, gazes locked in shock for a moment before the message finally sank in. He blinked, scrambled off from on top of me, and picked up the clothes we had strewn on the floor.
Scratching my temple, I pulled myself up and eased off the bed. This didn’t sound right at all. There were only windows on the academy’s higher levels, which meant that someone would have had to lift Bianca off her feet and push her out of the window.
Or she could have climbed out herself.
I swung my legs off the bed, watching Prakash dress. He turned around and stared at me, brows furrowed. “Are you coming?”
“Yes.” I stood, stepped into the center of my skirt puddle, and pulled it up my hips. “Are there any floor-to-ceiling windows on this floor or on the one above?”
Prakash smoothed down the front of his rumpled shirt and frowned. “None that I know off.”
I put on my bra, picked up my shirt, and he helped me fasten the buttons.
Leopold banged on the door. “Are you coming?”
“Where’s Seb?” I asked.
“He hasn’t returned from his run,” replied Leopold.
Prakash and I put on our blazers, which hid our less-than-pristine shirts. He unlocked the door, and we stepped out into a busy hallway of boys rushing out of the doors, presumably to catch a glimpse of Bianca’s strewn form. Leopold gave us a sharp nod and rushed toward the nearest stairwell. Prakash and I ran after him.
“Has anyone called an ambulance?” I asked as we ran down the wooden staircase.
“One of the third years did,” said Leopold from a flight below.
I ran past Barrett, who scowled and muttered something under his breath, but I continued running down the stairs. Scenarios whizzed through my mind, all of them involving an enraged Mr. Byrd pushing his daughter off the tower to punish her for misplacing his twenty-five thousand pounds.
As I reached the bottom, Leopold held open the exit. Shouts and excited screeches carried in the wind—turning my blood to sludge—and the scent of blossoms wafted into the stairwell.
This part of the building backed into a frost-covered lawn, where the knights had initially pigged Ashley. For the briefest of moments, I wondered if Barrett had regretted his actions on that night. Prakash rushed out of the exit, and I shook off those thoughts and followed after him.
We stepped out into a gravel path about eighteen feet in width, which ran alongside the building’s perimeter, separating it from the gardens. On the far left, about a hundred students filled the pathway. They spilled out into the lawn close to the corner of the building.
I jogged toward them with Leopold on my left and Prakash on my side and muttered, “They’ve turned it into a freak show.”
“This lot wasn’t here when I found her,” said Leopold.
I was about to ask how he had found her body, when a first-year boy ran out of the crowd, screaming about zombies. A lot of younger students fled around the building, leaving plenty of room to see the spectacle.
A dark-haired figure, still clad in the bottle-green uniform, lay face-down in her own blood. The pool froze around the edges, turning pink where it touched the frost. From the way her arms and legs twisted at different angles, I could see why Leopold had said she had been pushed. I gazed up to the east tower, past the four stories and up at the roof, where the windows were smaller and would require her to stand on furniture if she wanted to jump.
A dull ache formed in my chest, and I breathed out my sorrow in a long sigh. I hated Bianca, but I wouldn’t wish something like this on an enemy. Whoever did this must have despised her.
“Is she alive?” someone shouted.
A fourth-year scholar prodded her leg with his foot.
I clapped my hands to my chest. “Stop that!”
“You there!” Cormac roared from the other side of the crowd. “Go to Mrs. Benazir’s office and report yourself.”
“She called me a filthy little sell-out!”
“That doesn’t give you the right to assault the injured,” I snapped.
“She’s probably dead, anyway.” The fourth-year sprinted a wide circle around Cormac and disappeared around the side of the building.
I huffed out a cloud of condensation. This was hardly the time to hold a grudge.
“Pick her up,” said one person.
“Turn her around,” said someone else.
More students piled out through the double doors and side entrances, and I looked out for signs of the staff. Not even Mr. Blunt, who seemed to be everywhere, had shown up. So much for Mrs. Benazir’s proclamation that there would always be a member of staff to help a distressed student.
Prakash placed a comforting arm around my shoulder, enveloping me in his warmth, while Leopold slid his arm around my waist.
I let my eyes flutter closed and sucked in long, deep breaths, trying to calm my frantic heart. How many students had died in this past year? Corrine, Bruce Wilmington, Jarrett Riley, and now possibly Bianca.
A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed hard. If Miss Claymore was still the deputy head, one of those casualties would be me.
Leopold turned to Prakash. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Not without exacerbating her injuries,” he replied. “If she’s still alive.”
Cormac crouched at Bianca’s broken form and placed his blazer over her torso and shoulders. I assumed it was to keep her warm while the ambulance took its time to arrive. He stepped back and wrapped both arms around his chest.
“Bianca!” Geraldine screamed from the door. “My soulmate. Dead!”
Cormac, along with everyone else, gave Geraldine a sympathetic look. Two younger, blonde sycophants I recognized from Ashley�
�s initiation propped her up by the forearms. She staggered across the frost-covered gravel with her head lolling to the side as though faint with grief.
Sirens wailed in the distance, and relief loosened my muscles. The space down the side of the building was wide enough to fit a truck.
Cormac spread out his arms. “Everybody stand back. Give the emergency services space to work.”
An ambulance car and a matching truck arrived, followed by two police cars. Prakash let go of my side and backed away, while I wrapped my arms around Leopold’s middle to steal his warmth. I guess whoever called the nine-nine-nine operator thought it was murder.
Everything happened at once. Some of the younger students tried to reenter the building, paramedics rushed out of their vehicles and crouched at Bianca’s side, and four police officers emerged from their cars. I didn’t recognize any of them, but a huge officer with a neatly trimmed beard looked directly at Prakash.
“Police,” Geraldine screeched from the edge of the crowd. “Arrest Willow Evergreen. She’s been blackmailing the Byrd family. Maybe they stopped paying up, and this is her revenge.”
I curled my hands into fists. “Of all the times to talk shit, why now? Are you trying to cover your own tracks?”
A burly police officer turned to me. “Miss?”
“Evergreen. Willow Evergreen.”
“Is there something you would like to tell us about this girl?”
“Her name is Bianca Byrd, and she’s a sixth-former here.”
“How could you describe your relationship with her?”
“Oh, come on,” snapped Leopold. “You can’t put any credence into the wailings of an attention seeker.”
The officer turned his cold eyes to Leopold. “And your name is?”
“Leopold Brunswick.”
The officer flicked his gaze back to me and stared. I met his eyes but noticed Geraldine in my peripheral vision rushing over to a female officer, diverting the constable’s attention from her so-called best friend. The policeman raised his brows in silent question.