by Marian Tee
Her teeth snapped together as she stalked away from the window. Astrid was so full of it! Did she really think she was the only one who could get her bike to do all sorts of tricks in the air?
MJ’s shoulders slumped.
Astrid might not be the only one who could perform tricks with her bike, but there was no way MJ could replicate those tricks. Not even one of them, and certainly not in time for the Sports Illustrated feature on the club.
MJ collapsed on Helios’ bed. If she didn’t do something soon, this was what she was doomed to do forever. Clean Helios’ bedroom and make up his bed so some other girl could enjoy it with him.
It was almost eight in the morning when MJ was done with all of the officers’ bedrooms. When she got to the kitchen, she found Leandro Christopoulos and Bobby Granger inside it, making out. The girl was seated on one of the counter’s stools while her boyfriend was on his feet, head bent down and kissing her very thoroughly.
The Greek biker, according to Hallie, used to be one of Greece’s most notorious playboys, being the son of a powerful politician and heir to a billion-dollar fortune. Tall, dark-haired, and blue eyed, Leandro Christopoulos was gorgeous by anyone’s standards, and MJ could see why girls in the uni were so enamored with him.
Bobby Granger, on the other hand, was just as popular but for the opposite reasons. She had recently been awarded Young Philanthropist of the Year and was known to be very snarky. A green-eyed redhead who wore glasses and had a preference for business-like clothes (she was the only one who attended the get-together party for first years in a three-piece corporate suit), Bobby was no biker chick, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble handling her man.
“I’m sorry,” MJ gasped even though deep inside, she was wondering how Bobby Granger was able to do it. She did not seem to be anything like Astrid, but it was obvious to anyone looking that Leandro had it bad for her. What was Bobby’s secret?
“Please do not leave on our account,” Leandro said gallantly when he saw the club’s photographer backing away. Sensing her hesitation, he smiled and said gently, “I was just here telling my mégaira not to be too jealous while I practice my routine with female riders.”
His mégaira only rolled her eyes. “What he means is he would rather I stay here, away from other men, because he gets jealous sooooo easily.”
Leandro said simply, “That, too.” He caressed Bobby’s cheek with his knuckles. “So be a good girl and stay here, hmm? You will be amply rewarded later if so.”
Bobby turned red. “God, you’re so…” She threw her hands up. “Just go!” But she couldn’t stop herself from smiling as she watched her boyfriend leave.
Turning back, she saw that MJ was still hovering uncertainly by the doorway. She grimaced. “Am I in your way here? Please be honest. I can just camp out in another room—”
MJ hastily shook her head. “Not at all. I’m just here to, well…” She smiled sheepishly. “This is where I hang out when I don’t have stuff to do.”
“Then let’s hang out together,” Bobby said promptly, waving the shy girl to come and sit next to her. She was insanely curious about MJ Cartwright. Leandro had said the girl and the club’s president, the aloof-looking Helios Andreadis, had a thing. It was quite unbelievable. The two could not look more like opposites, but then, weren’t she and Leandro the same?
“So…where are the other girls?” Leandro had also told her about the club’s so-called volunteers, which in Bobby’s mind translated to in-house groupies. No way was she going to let Leandro stay here, not even for a night.
“If they don’t have classes or tasks, they’re usually hanging out in the sun room.”
“And you don’t hang out with them?”
MJ shrugged awkwardly.
Bobby patted her hand comfortingly. “That’s okay. I totally understand. You’re probably too innocent for them, and just looking at you makes those girls feel ashamed of their sluttish ways.”
MJ choked back a laugh. Growing up, she never had a chance to have any friends from the same sex. No one in her school had wanted to be friends with her, knowing MJ’s background, and at home, all of the visitors she received were James’ biker pals.
Hallie had been her first female friend, and right now it seemed like Bobby could be the second.
She said shyly, “You and Leandro look very good together.”
Bobby seemed pleased. “Thanks for saying that. I’m sure you know we fight like cats and dogs all the time. But it’s not really that bad between us.”
MJ hesitated, the other girl’s words reminding her of the time when the uni was rife with gossip about the two weeks Leandro had spent in Greece being photographed with numerous women while Bobby remained here, pining for him.
She said haltingly, “Do you ever worry…about Leandro liking another girl?”
A shadow fell over Bobby’s face, making MJ say quickly, “I’m sorry. You don’t have to…”
Bobby shook her head. “Nah, it’s cool. I know you didn’t ask it idly.” She chewed on her lip, considering her words carefully. “I worry, but…I like to think I’m worth worrying about, too. So you know, it’s his loss. I won’t go after him. And I didn’t go after him when that happened.” She looked at MJ. “I hope you know…you are worth worrying over, too.”
Chapter Ten
Helios was about to kill someone. He knew, of course, that he was the only one who felt like that. Everyone around him was in the mood to celebrate. For tonight’s party, the yard had been transformed into an outdoor club, with a professional DJ in charge of the music and strobe lights installed to create just the right kind of mood.
But he didn’t give a fuck. Tonight was said to be the hottest party of the year, as far as students of Christopoulos University were concerned, but Helios didn’t give a fuck. All he knew was that he wanted to kill someone. Right now.
It was a toss-up between Kellion and Yuri, with how they allowed MJ to fawn all over them. His teeth gnashed together. Just thinking about her was enough to make his mood worsen. She was the one he really wanted to kill. For days now, she had been ignoring him. She had the fucking gall to ignore him, and she had done it so subtly that Helios had thought he was going mad, wondering if it was all in his mind.
Yesterday, they had bumped into each other in the hallway and before he could say anything, she had been running away. “So late for school,” she had gasped over her shoulder without looking back.
Of course, he knew now that was a big fat fucking lie.
The other day, she had been trying to clean the top of the living room’s ceiling-high windows. He had asked her – he even had the generosity to ask her if she needed help, and what the fuck did she do? She packed her retractable ladder and duster out of the way and ran out of the room. “Vertigo,” she had gasped, also over her shoulder, and also without looking back.
That one was a fucking lie as well, but he had fallen for it, enough to order one of the rookies to buy pills for her vertigo.
There were so many similar instances, but only now – only now, when there was no way for her to escape his company, that everything was coming together.
It was his fucking birthday, and she hadn’t even come to greet him. When everyone sang him a birthday song, he had watched her. And he had seen her fucking mouth the song, like he wasn’t worth wasting her voice over.
Who the hell did she think she was, not singing ‘happy birthday’ to him?
And now…
Rage enveloped him as he watched MJ smile, chat, and trade jokes while she took snapshots of everyone but him. This was his damn birthday party, and she was taking everyone’s photos but him. Was she fucking for real?
“You should have a photo too, moro mou,” Kellion urged.
Helios’ gaze moved towards his dessert fork. Would Kellion survive if he poked his eye with the fork? Kellion should know better than to flirt with a woman who belonged to him. And what the fuck was up with Kellion, calling his girl ‘moro mou’? MJ
was not his love. She was…
Fuck!
He didn’t like where his thoughts were straying.
“Give me that cam,” Kellion said. “I’ll take a photo of you and Yuri as a souvenir of the old man’s party.”
Old man? Kellion was referring to him as an old man? Helios was just one fucking year older than him. Did that make him fucking old?
“I don’t want to have my photo taken.”
“Just one, come on. Be a good sport and pose.”
“Pose?” MJ repeated blankly.
“Do anything except stand there like a zombie,” Kellion said, rolling his eyes.
Aware for some time now of the deadly glances directed his way, Yuri said solemnly, “How about sitting on my lap and pretending to be—”
Before MJ could answer, she was suddenly spun around, and she found herself facing Helios.
MJ gulped.
She gulped not because of the anger flashing in his golden eyes and not because the hard look on his face promised retribution. She gulped simply because it had been days since she had allowed herself to look at Helios – to really look at him and now that she did, it was like that first day all over again.
Helios’ long golden hair was tied back like usual, but for once, he wasn’t wearing his usual shirt and jeans. Instead, he wore a white blazer, a striped shirt underneath, and matching trousers. Most likely at Kellion’s insistence, since the vice president also happened to be the club’s unofficial fashion plate.
His sophisticated clothing drove home two essential facts: he was indeed the most gorgeous man in her eyes, and he would not be the kind – as Bobby put it – to “worry over” MJ.
She said a quick prayer in her mind.
Dear Lord, do not make me drool. Please Lord, do not!
Helios was still gazing at her, which made her restless. Did he know that looking at her so intensely like that caused everyone to stare at them?
Taking a deep breath, she said weakly, “Happy birthday.” She was guiltily aware of the fact that she had not greeted him the entire day. With so many people greeting him – it had not escaped her jealous heart the number of cards, flowers, and all sorts of gifts from his female admirers that had arrived since this morning – MJ knew that he probably wouldn’t have noticed that one of the volunteers in his club had failed to do so.
Instead of thanking her for the greeting then moving away, Helios said coldly, “I’d like to talk you in private.”
And then he was dragging her away with him, back into the club’s main building. She could feel everyone looking at them, but no one said a word, not one of them – not even any of the girls – tried to stop them. But then, Helios looked frighteningly intimidating right now. He might not be scowling, but the tension in his body was palpable, and it made her MJ feel nervous and tense in return.
She expected him to take her to the library, which was usually where infractions against the club’s rules were discussed, but instead he took her all the way up.
To the penthouse floor.
Where his bedroom was.
He flung the door open and pulled her inside. The door slammed shut behind them, and the next thing she knew, he had thrown her on his bed, and he was looming over her.
“You didn’t greet me the entire day.”
Her eyes widened. “Y-you know?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snarled. “I know everything about you. Everything. When I’m not with you, I’m watching you. I’m obsessed with you. I want you with me all the time. Every fucking moment.”
Her head was whirling at Helios’ words. She couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“And you dare,” he said grimly, “you fucking dare to avoid me.”
“I didn’t think you’d notice.” With uncharacteristic bitterness, she said, “After all, most of the time you’re with her.” MJ’s voice cracked. “Astrid.”
Her words were entirely revealing, and it left Helios looking at her broodingly. She had been jealous. All this time, all these days she had driven him out of his mind with jealous fury, it had been the same for her. She was jealous. Did that mean she no longer liked her secret crush? No longer liked…Yuri?
Looking at her with hooded eyes, Helios finally started to notice the little things about her that changed. The hurt in her gaze that she tried to hide, the dark bags under her eyes that testified to sleepless nights, the wary note in her voice, and the trembling of her body, the effect of his closeness to her…even though she had tried hard to pretend she was indifferent to him.
“Astrid is nothing for you to be concerned of,” he said roughly. His body was beginning to stir. He tried to control it, but his cock was already erect and trying to burst out of his trousers. No surprise there when it was always how he felt when thinking about MJ.
MJ was gazing at him with unusual scorn on her face.
It took him aback, unused to anyone questioning him. Only she did that. Only MJ. He bit out, “I mean it, you distrustful little brat.”
She answered him in a roundabout way, muttering, “Astrid rides very well, doesn’t she?” Translation: Of course you’d like her more than you’d ever like me. She’s a biker chick. I’m…not even a chick.
MJ’s expressive face told him exactly what she was thinking, and Helios’ lips twitched. “She does ride well, probably better than you could ever ride in your lifetime.”
She gasped.
He only gazed at her with a bland look on his gorgeous face.
But then she felt it.
Something hard and insistent, something that was rubbing and vibrating practically all on its own against her belly.
Helios was having a hard time concentrating now. The scent of MJ was getting to him, her softness seducing him. She was in his bedroom, alone. His blood heated at the thought, and it was all he could do not to tear her clothes off her beautiful body and take her. Claim her. Possess her.
MJ heard herself saying, “I don’t think so.”
He said hoarsely, “You don’t think what?” It was so fucking hard not to move, not to rub his cock against her sweet little pussy. Would it be moist, warm, and ready for him? God, he hoped so.
Oh my God, was she going to really do this? Was she really going to say this?
Slowly, she raised her eyes to Helios. He was staring at her with need in his eyes, and the evidence of his desire – of his need for her – gave MJ the courage to take the plunge. Mouth dry, she whispered, “I don’t think she’s better than me in every way…I think…I think I can ride you…better than she ever can.”
For one moment, sexual tension, powerful and silent, dominated the room.
And then with a hiss, Helios crushed her mouth under him, his body settling over hers. He growled against her lips, “No fucking way will I let you go now.”
Chapter Eleven
The swiftness with which Helios got rid of her clothes took her breath away. But she should have expected it, really. Helios was the type of man who, upon making up his mind, acted without delay. A man of action, and oh dear God, the kind of action their nakedness promised had MJ torn between running away and gasping in excitement.
There was no time to feel embarrassed at her nakedness. Helios was also naked now, and his nudity had completely taken over her mind.
“Are you on the Pill?” Helios hoped to God she would answer yes.
She nodded. “The school nurse prescribed it for my period.” Her voice was distracted. She couldn’t stop herself from staring at Helios’ naked body. She had always known he would be sexy and muscular, but the reality of his body was way, way, oh my God, it was so much better than anything her imagination had been able to come up with.
He was tanned all over, and she couldn’t help but gulp at what that meant. Her heart twisted a little at the thought that other people had seen his naked body, but she pushed the thought away. That was before. What mattered was now.
Slowly, her gaze lowered, and she swallowed convulsively at the sig
ht of his cock. That was what had been pressing against her belly a while ago. It was…large. Long. Hard. She tried not to measure it, but her mind was stubborn, and she bit her lip when she realized that his cock was past one foot. She tried to measure it again visually. Oh my God, it was past one foot.
MJ raised panicked eyes to Helios.
Her worry reached him, and he asked hoarsely, “What is it?” The way she had been staring at him with such innocent hunger had him wanting to just take her. No preliminaries, no foreplay, just his cock driving into her pussy to break past her hymen and claim her.
But he controlled the urge with inhuman effort. He had to take this slow. He wanted to give her everything because he was damn well going to be her only lover.
“You…” She waved vaguely towards his cock. “Are you sure?”
He chuckled hoarsely, understanding her question. “Hell, yes.” He crossed the room and felt her tremble as the bed dipped under his weight. He parted her thighs, and after a moment’s hesitation, she allowed her legs to fall to the sides.
Her courage pleased him, and he gave her a sweet short kiss for it. “You’re amazing, brat.”
When he lifted his head, she could only look at him with mute desire.
He settled between her thighs, and her body started trembling again. “Sssh…it’s going to be okay.” He started kissing her face, raining them softly and sweetly over her face until he could feel her relaxing, her arms shyly going around his neck.
He kissed her lips, taking the time to woo her tongue into mating with his, and his body clenched with need when she started kissing him back, her tongue sliding against his. When he raised his head, she lifted hers, too, in order to suck on his lower lip.
He groaned. “That feels so good.” He nibbled his way down her throat, lingering on where her vein pulsed. MJ’s little cries of pleasure made him start rubbing and thrusting against her as he sucked on her neck.