by Sofia Daniel
Melding myself into his hot, hard body, I surrendered further into the kiss, and let his tongue slide between my lips and meet mine. The sensation sent my knees buckling, and I was suddenly glad the wall was at my back to stop me from collapsing like a broken marionette.
He drew back and brushed strands of hair off my face. The pupils of his blue eyes were blown, and he said between panting breaths, “Stay with me tonight. Just the two of us. You won’t have to do anything you don’t want.”
My throat dried, along with all my resentment about not having been forgiven. “A-alright.”
A high-pitched cough sounded from behind. Edward glanced over his shoulder, stiffened, and stepped away, keeping his back to the interloper. It was a little first year, dressed in burgundy P.E. clothes, whose flush clashed with her strawberry blonde pigtails.
“Umm…” Heat rushed to my cheeks. I slowed my breathing and fastened the button on my school blazer. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Emilia Hobson?” she squeaked.
“Yes?”
“Miss Shinty says you’re to report to the hockey field after lunch.”
The hockey uniform consisted of items I already had in my cases: a white polo shirt, burgundy gym knickers, a burgundy hockey skirt, long socks, and black sports shoes. I walked over to the hockey field, past the now empty International House building, and around the back of the tuck shop. A group of girls were already running from one end of the pitch and around the goals, guided by a tall hockey coach clad in a 70’s style burgundy tracksuit with two white stripes down the sides.
I jogged up to the woman. “Miss Shinty?”
She turned around, revealing buck teeth sent within a gaunt face. “Miss Hobson, I presume?”
“Yes, Miss.”
“Your housemaster has already explained your enthusiasm for the game. If you haven’t played before, I expect your teammates will get you up to speed.” Miss Shinty jerked her head toward the jogging girls. “Run a few laps. When I blow the whistle, put on a blue vest, and you’ll join us for a practice match.”
I jogged over to join the girls and spotted Patricia, who shot me a nasty glare and ran ahead as though it was a race. It wasn’t as if I cared what she thought, so I jogged at a steady pace behind her.
A voice from behind hissed. “What did you do to Henry?” Charlotte appeared from behind and jogged at my side. “He and the others wouldn’t spend so much time with a trollop unless you performed some kind of trick.”
I shrugged. “If I told you how to ensnare him, what would you give me in return?”
“You’re disgusting!” she hissed.
“Says the girl who only knows one type of currency.” At her blank look, I added, “According to video evidence, it’s not pounds sterling.”
Her cheeks turned the color of a baboon’s ass. “You pig!”
“You’re the one whose mind keeps going to the gutter, not me.” I continued around the goal post and quickened my pace. My longer strides should have created some distance between us, but Charlotte sprinted at my side and glared up at me as though I’d taken something that was rightfully hers.
After a few laps of ignoring the self-proclaimed Queen of Mercia Academy, Miss Shinty blew her whistle, and we all separated into our teams. Fortunately, Charlotte’s vest was red, meaning I didn’t have to play with her.
The game started off with a member of the blue team, a girl from Hawthorn House, whacking the ball toward me. While another member of my team accelerated toward the goal, I dribbled the ball, waiting for the right moment to pass. Someone stuck a stick between my legs and yanked. Hard. I tripped and fell onto my hands and knees.
“Whoops,” said Charlotte. “You always seem to land in that position. A trollop should be more careful about sticking out her arse.”
Miss Shinty blew her whistle, and growled, “Underwood!”
“Sorry, Miss!” Charlotte ran ahead.
I picked myself up and clenched the stick. The petty little bitch would get a fist in the face if she tried that again. Our team scored, and we continued the game. The girls at Mercia Academy played a little more competitively than we used to at Park Prep, and it had been nearly a year since my last game. Around halfway through the match, another team member passed me the ball again. As I was close enough to the goal, I aimed to score, only to receive a sharp whack across my back.
Pain lightning-bolted across my shoulder blades and I cried out. Memories of being thumped across the back during the gauntlet resurfaced, and I pivoted around and smashed the butt of the hockey stick into my attacker’s face.
Charlotte clutched her nose and howled. Blood poured from the spaces between her fingers.
Miss Shinty blew her whistle. “Five demerits, Hobson. Get out!”
I threw down my stick and stormed out of the hockey field. What a bunch of bitches. Always looking after their own.
By dinner time, the entire dining room was filled with rumors that I had maimed Queen Charlotte, she would need reconstructive surgery on her face, and she’d already instructed a lawyer in Manhattan to sue Rudolph Trommel for millions in damages. Even though it was clearly the mutterings of overexcited doppelgängers, I hoped the last part was true. Rudolph had made a profit by associating with me, and I would welcome any excuse to see him bilked.
Later, the servers produced several baked Alaskas, and everyone sang happy birthday to Edward. My jaw dropped, and I leaned into him and whispered, “That’s the second important thing about you I’ve learned today.”
He grinned. “What’s the first?”
“You’re a Viscount.”
“A courtesy title because it’s one of the titles I’ll day inherit.” He blew on the flaming pavlova placed in front of him, which turned a delicious shade of caramel.
“You could have at least told me it was your birthday.”
“I don’t usually celebrate it.” He reached under the table and squeezed my thigh. “Stay with me tonight. Maybe we can start a new tradition.”
Wendy shot out of her seat at the head table and shrieked, “Charlotte!”
Charlotte hobbled in on crutches and groaned over the students’ chatter. A thick bandage wrapped around her head, and an even thicker brace covered her neck. Giant strips of adhesive tape covered the bridge of her nose from one cheekbone to the other. I pursed my lips. How much of that was fake?
“Why does someone who didn’t even fall need crutches?” I said out loud.
Charlotte raised a crutch in the air for attention. “I have an announcement.”
Henry snorted, and Blake rolled his eyes. “Here we go…”
“I was going to announce this later, but I think now is a better time.” Her voice was oddly clear for someone requiring reconstructive surgery on her face. “I’m holding a party to top all previous attempts. Perhaps that’s why I was so viciously attacked today.”
Grumbles filled the dining room, and I shook my head with disbelief. The girl was utterly shameless.
“Anyway, only the beautiful and the best will be invited, and all elements who have previously subverted the natural order of things will be excluded!”
Male cheers broke out across the room. I was pretty sure she had been referring to the triumvirate, but what on earth did she mean?
Chapter 11
The four of us left the dining room shortly after Charlotte’s announcement to drink cognac from wide-bottomed snifter glasses in Edward’s study. I sat next to Edward on the Chesterfield sofa and sipped from a cup of Irish coffee, made with a sweet, cream liqueur. Blake sat at the armchair on my left, and Henry lounged on Edward’s left. A small fire crackled in the fireplace, creating a lovely warm light to the dimly lit room.
“Another year.” Henry raised his crystal glass.
Blake glanced at me through the corner of his eye. “An interesting one, though.”
I narrowed my eyes. If anyone wanted to throw shade tonight, I would go straight to Edward’s room and wait for him outside. “If
you don’t celebrate your birthday, what do you do instead?”
“Most years, we sat in Edward’s room, drinking cognac he either swiped from home or got from Paul.” Blake grimaced. “Sorry.”
I raised a shoulder. “Hearing about him doesn’t affect me at all.”
The conversation continued about previous years’ birthdays, but they didn’t mention Edward’s first year, which was around the time his mother had died. I sat back and listened to the boys chat among themselves and discovered that Edward had lost his virginity to Charlotte in their third year, but the experience had been so disastrous, neither of them had touched each other since. Blake’s first female lover was a girl who had later been expelled in the third year when they backpacked around France together in the summer term.
Blake turned to me, his eyes dancing with mischief. “And you’ll be seventeen when you lose yours.”
Edward smirked into his glass, and I flashed Blake a grin.
Blake narrowed his eyes. “What aren’t you—” Then his eyes widened. “No! Why didn’t you tell us?”
Edward sniffed. “A gentleman never divulges. Besides, we weren’t really in the mood at the time to wax lyrical about our wayward fourth.”
I sipped my creamy Irish coffee. “You’ve been quiet, Henry.”
He leaned forward and gave me a wistful smile. “I always liked the much older girls. No one in my year or the year above ever appealed, until now.”
Edward set down his drink and placed his hand on my thigh. “I’m taking my present up to bed.” He yanked me to my feet. “Hurry up and make amends before I decide I don’t want to share.”
We spent the rest of the evening in Edward’s double bed, exchanging slow kisses in our underwear. Edward laid me on my back with my hands on either side of my head and our fingers interlaced. We lay chest to chest, my nipples pebbling against his hard pectoral muscles, as he slowly devoured me with deep strokes of his tongue as though claiming my mouth as his territory.
When he drew back and stared into my eyes with such love, it reminded me of the last time we had been together alone, when he had told me he loved me, and I’d left him to discover that I was his betrayer.
At the time, I’d held back my feelings, but now I was free to say, “I love you, too.”
He closed his eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved into a little smile. “Thank you. That’s the best gift I could ever have received.”
The next morning, I awoke to strong arms wrapping around my middle, muscular legs curled behind mine, and an erection pressed into my ass. A lazy smile spread across my face. Edward. I pushed back against his hardness, making him groan. One of his hands snaked up my front and cupped my bare breast, its thumb and forefingers rolling my nipple. Arousal sparked across my body and through my core in a wave of heat, making me press my legs together and groan. We’d only had sex once, but I missed his touch.
Reaching back, I wrapped my fingers around his erection. “I want it from behind.”
He chuckled low and deep and reached for something on the bedside table. “I thought you’d never ask.”
The hand not teasing my nipple slid under my waist, and his fingers slipped between my folds, gathering up the moisture. Then he rubbed gentle circles around my clit that made my eyes roll to the back of my head.
“I love how you’re so ready for me,” he growled.
“Less talk. More dick.”
“As my lady commands.” He drew back his hips. “One second, while I slip on a condom.”
I huffed out a laugh, just as he lined himself up against my entrance and stretched me open. My muscles clenched around his thickness.
He shuddered and stopped moving. “O-oh, fuck.”
“What?”
“You’re still so tight. I thought Bachmann would have—”
“He was a perfect gentleman and only ever kissed me on the cheek.” I backed into Edward’s erection, causing him to groan. “Now, are you going to give it to me good and hard, or will I take it for myself?”
Edward’s chuckle rumbled across my back, and he thrust into my core, giving me that wonderful stretch I craved. He pumped in and out, building a rhythm that made me want to howl.
“Is this what you want?” he rumbled.
Humming my approval, I pushed back and forth against him, increasing the friction. His fingers, which made maddeningly light circles over my clit, quickened and the pressure increased until my muscles rippled around him.
“Carry on like that,” he said, voice strangulated, “and I won’t last long.”
With each sweep of his finger, pleasurable tingles built up around my core. I pulsed and spasmed around the length thrusting into me and gasped out, “I’m getting close, too!”
Edward changed the angle of his thrusts, grazing a spot that deepened my pleasure and made it wind and coil like the lever of his gramophone. Panting hard, I dropped my head back onto his shoulder, and clutched at his thrusting hips. He continued teasing my aching, pulsing clit with heavier caresses until the coil snapped and released an eruption of pleasure that kept going and going.
Edward rocked back and forth, his movements prolonging my climax. “Emilia… Fuck.”
“Yeah,” I said through pants, the spasm of my core muscles showing no signs of ebbing.
His arm clamped around me like a vice, and he thrusted hard and fast, making me cry out. Then he stilled and a tremble wracked his entire body. “F-f-fuuuuck!”
I huffed out a laugh. “I never thought I’d hear a viscount use such naughty language.”
Edward snickered into my shoulder. “Neither did I.”
When Edward softened inside me and withdrew, I sat up and propped my back against the headrest. The first rays of sunlight streamed in through the chink in the curtains, but they were so weak, they provided the barest of illumination. “What time is it?”
“Five, the last time I checked. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be seen leaving my room, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to go before everyone woke.”
I ran the back of my fingers down his stubbled cheek and gave him a gentle peck. “Thanks.” I leaned over the side of the bed and glanced down at the rug. “Ummm… Where are my clothes?”
“I placed them on the chair hours ago.”
“Did you sleep?” I eased myself out of the rug and padded across the room to his desk and chair.
He glanced away. “I… I wasn’t sure if you would leave in the middle of the night.”
Just as I had the last time we slept together. The thought of him waking to find that I had left Mercia Academy and betrayed his confidence made my heart twist.
Edward closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“Your interventions brought everything with International House to a head before anyone got hurt. After the end of term, van-loads of police and immigration officers stormed the campus and cleared out those too old to belong to a high school. Since the police arrested Mr. Chaloner and exonerated Father, I’ve slept easier.”
Nadia would probably be back home with her fiancé, just as she had wanted. I wrung my hands. “Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”
Edward pulled back the sheets and slid out of bed. The morning light accentuated his high cheekbones, sexy cupid’s bow, and strong jawline. My gaze meandered down his smooth, alabaster skin and over the contours of his prominent pecs, tight abdomen, and a dark treasure trail that led to a thick, flushed penis.
“Emilia?” He crossed the room and grabbed my hands. “Some of the so-called international students were very dangerous people who should never have been allowed in polite society, let alone near children. At the end of the raid, the police brought out evidence bags of drugs and weapons… It was a disaster waiting to happen.”
My gaze flickered up to meet his earnest, blue eyes, and I blew out a long breath. “Wow.”
“Indeed.” He clasped my head in his hands and pressed a kiss on my temple.
/>
“Then why were you so angry with me?”
He ran his fingers through his hair and glanced away. “I’m more angry about the mess I’d created and irritated that it took an American girl I had bullied to fix things.”
It took me a few moments for his words to sink in. There was one thing I didn’t understand. “Why are you blackmailing me, then?”
“Henry and Blake are your blackmailers.” He tweaked a nipple. “I’m just along for the ride and to give them a bit of moral support.”
I pressed my lips together to hide a smile. “That’s not very nice.”
His face split into a grin. “Don’t tell me you’ve hated the things they’ve made you do. I’ve watched you carefully, and you seem to be having fun.”
“That’s beside the point.” I turned to the chair, took my skirt and slipped it on over my head.
Edward pulled up the zipper. “Play along with them. I’ll make them back off if you cause a fuss. It’s just taking them a little more time to forgive you.”
Irritation flared across my skin. “Even though they—”
He placed his finger on my lips. “I know… None of this would have happened if we hadn’t allowed you to take the blame for Henry’s kidnapping. And we did a lot of awful things to you before then.”
“I’m glad I’ve gotten through one of your thick heads.” I shrugged on my shirt and fastened the buttons.
Edward lay back on his bed with his hands resting behind his head and smirked. “A really good fuck can clear the mind. Blake and Henry would probably tell you the same.”
I snorted and stuffed my bra, hose, and panties into the pockets of my blazer, then slung the garment over my shoulder. “They need to adjust their attitudes.”
He sat up on the bed and blew me a kiss. “See you at breakfast.”