The police officer had waited for him to calm down, but Asher wasn't done yet. "I thought I was here to give you details about what I remembered that night. I didn't think I was here to answer ridiculous questions about someone who I know is innocent."
What happened next nearly sent him into a rage. The woman sitting opposite him and taking statement notes looked him dead in the eye and said, "We have reason to believe that Lucent Storme is involved, Mr. Landseer. On behalf of the entire city, I thank you for your cooperation so far, but if you're hiding evidence in order to try and protect a man who committed a violent, startling crime, you could be arrested for aiding and abetting a felon, along with perjury."
The rest was a blur. He remembered staring at the woman, unsure if he'd heard her correctly. Did she really just say that? That his answers to her questions, his statements of fact, were aiding and abetting a felon? What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Outside of this room, that's what he'd been told, but apparently once he was alone with the police, in privacy of their inner sanctum, where no one else could hear, he was suddenly allowed to hear the truth; or their version of it.
Yes, if he continued to believe that Lucent was innocent, then he was acting as an accessory to a felony. The most insane part about that was that the felony charges he was being accused of acting as an accessory for involved setting fire to his own home. Why would he do that? To collect the insurance money? He could make a few phone calls, liquidate some minor assets, and have more money in his pocket by tomorrow morning than anything the insurance agency would pay him.
What kind of place was this?
He ended up leaving. It was over now. He finished his business with a curt nod and a gruff exchange of forced pleasantries with the officer in charge of collecting his statement, then he stormed out of the police station, irate beyond belief. She wanted him to stay to finish with more questions, but he told her he had nothing more to tell her.
They'd be in touch. Someone would get in contact with him soon. It would take everything he had not to punch whomever they sent. Was the satisfaction of giving a police officer a black eye worth the assault charges? No, probably not. Asher wasn't even a violent person, but this entire situation was gnawing at every last fragment of patience he had.
At least Jessika was safe now. That was all that mattered. After the talk at the police station, he'd gone to his lawyer and discussed matters there, and then he went to Landseer Tower to get some work done.
Now he was back home, finally. Having just arrived, he immediately went to his bedroom to wind down and dress in something more comfortable. Maybe a pair of those expensive sweatpants Jessika had made fun of him about earlier? That sounded good to him.
Before he finished taking off his dress pants and button-down shirt, his cellphone rang. He recognized Jeremy's number immediately and answered the call.
"Hey," Asher said. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, worked like a charm. We're back. I'm heading to the main house now. Going to get some food. I'm starving," Jeremy said.
"So Jessika is...?" Asher asked.
"She's where she should be, I guess? I don't know how that whole thing works. Kind of crazy, to be honest. I don't know what's going on, I just live here."
Asher laughed. "Seems like a good gig for you."
"Yeah, my boss and the boss lady are a little strange, but mostly it's good. The food's amazing, and they pay me well, so I can't complain, right?"
"Wow," Asher said, grinning. "That's the only reason you stay? The food and the money? I'm hurt."
Jeremy chuckled. "Nah, you guys are really great. I appreciate everything you've done for me, Asher. Jessika, too. If either of you ever need anything, I'll always have your back. I'll be there no matter what. Even if she wants me to drive to get ice cream and pickles in the middle of the night."
Asher blinked, unsure if he'd heard that correctly. "What?"
"Oh, uh... sorry, I've got driving on the mind. Ugh. Had to drive so much yesterday. And then last night when I went to get Elise, and then Lucent, and the ice cream? I need a nap, seriously."
"Well, you're officially relieved from duty for the rest of the day. I'm going into hiding. Can you make sure no one comes looking for me? I'll leave my phone on the bed, if you don't mind grabbing it and taking any calls that seem important. Or you can just let them go to voicemail. I don't care anymore. I'm taking the night off from everything."
"You deserve it. Go have fun, boss man."
Asher grinned. He was definitely planning on it. "Thanks a lot, Jeremy."
"Yeah, no problem."
They both hung up. Asher tossed his phone onto the bed, stripped fast, and found a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt from the walk-in closet. He put them on right there in the middle of the closet, along with a pair of comfy slippers.
Heading further into the closet, he went towards his suit coats. They all hung next to each other, perfect and pristine. He didn't need a coat, but he needed what was in the interior pockets of one coat in particular. Reaching in and pulling out the slim remote pad, he typed in the bedroom password, then hit enter. The back of the closet shifted away from the rest of the wall and popped out slightly. Asher put the remote back, then headed through the hidden doorway.
He remembered the first time he'd gone to Jessika this way. It was long before any of this started. He'd been married to Beatrice at the time; if you could even call what they had a marriage. They'd been given a piece of paper stating they were married, at least.
Beatrice always slept in another room, never bothering to try and stay with Asher. He'd always wondered if there was something wrong with him? Was he not good enough for her? Should he be a better... what? Lover? Husband? Friend? He'd tried all of those things, and none of them worked. She shunned his attempts every time.
So, that one night, when Jessika was staying in the mansion guest house during quite a strange ordeal, Asher thought he'd go there. He didn't know why. He never planned on seeing her. He figured he'd spend some time in the smaller library built in the finished basement of the guest house, contenting himself with the idea that someone who didn't hate him was sleeping in the bedroom two stories above. Maybe it was a little weird, but it was better than sleeping in his bed, alone for more nights than he could count, trapped in the endless confines of an overlarge mansion. He liked the size of it during the day, and he enjoyed the fact that there was a room for any of his preferences, but at night, at least back then, it consumed him. It was too much.
Now he was going to see Jessika under much different circumstances. Not that the night he was thinking about before was too much different. If he remembered correctly, he'd spanked her. And then they'd watched each other masturbate by way of closed circuit cameras in separate rooms. God, he wanted to slam his cock deep inside her so badly back then. He refrained, but... she looked so scandalous and sinful, writhing on the bed, hand buried in her pussy, delivering herself to orgasmic ecstasy.
And then for whatever reason, they'd slept together. Actually sleeping, nothing illicit. He wasn't sure how that happened, to be honest. Jessika had an innocent sort of persuasiveness to her when she really wanted something. He had a hard time denying her, even then. Now that she was his wife, well... he thought he was in trouble.
She was, too. He didn't have to feel badly about spanking her ass until she was red and then pounding his rock-hard cock deep inside of her until she screamed in bliss. There was a little more to it than that, but he loved hearing her when she was lost in reckless abandon. His name, the frantic sound of her breaths, or anything else she unknowingly said; he reveled in the noise of their coupling and sexuality.
With those thoughts in mind, Asher traversed the hidden passageways, going from their bedroom to somewhere much different.
***
I'd been in the saferoom before, but never like this, never when I planned on staying for awhile. Not that I planned on staying here for too long, but... it was safe, right? The
safest place I could think of, actually.
Asher and Lucent spared no expense in creating it, either. It had a separate shower and water system from the rest of the mansion, using a hidden rain collection system buried in the middle of the mansion grounds as a reservoir. Slim solar panels placed on the rooftops of buildings half a mile away provided electricity, too. There were hidden wires going from those houses, down to the ground, beneath it, and straight to the tunnels and the saferoom, so we'd always have power here, no matter what.
I thought that was kind of extreme, but I appreciated the thought behind it. If, for whatever reason, someone intended to cut off the electricity from the mansion, they'd probably never think to search the rooftops of houses that presumably had nothing to do with us for solar panels and underground wiring. The same with the water, as well.
We even had a special satellite system for private internet, a landline phone, and TV, completely unconnected to the mansion or the guest house. There was a bed, cabinets filled with canned food that had a lengthy expiration date, spices for added flavoring, and drink mixes. I really didn't think Asher needed a fully stocked liquor cabinet and bar down here, but there was that, too. It was like its own mini apartment, hidden away from the world.
I lounged on the overlarge king-sized bed and stared up at the ceiling. The only thing missing here were real windows, but even then, there were fake ones. They changed depending on the time of day and the weather, too. Using the solar panels as cues, they pulled a small amount of power from the battery backup cells that the solar electricity filled, and then showed sunrise, sunset, bright summer days, clouds, rain, and even snow. It wasn't real, but if you didn't look directly at it, they looked realistic enough. Even if I was standing in front of them and staring at them, I could pretend that I was just looking outside instead of into a false window showing me an approximation of what outside looked like.
I wanted food. I liked the food down here, because it wasn't exactly good for me. I didn't think it was the worst, either, but there was something like a hundred cans of beef stew. The big ones, too. Chunky, with huge, thick pieces of potatoes. Those were really good if you heated them up and poured them over a bowl of rice. There was so much rice down here.
I think I started drooling while I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I could cook some rice in about ten minutes or so, and heat up a bowl of beef stew at the same time, and then... yes. Yes, I would do that.
I started to sit up, but someone sat at the edge of the bed as soon as I did. Surprised, I jumped back.
Obviously it was Asher, though. He stared at me with the strangest look in his eyes.
"Hi," I said, feeling nervous all of a sudden. I didn't know why, because it was just Asher, my husband, but the way he kept looking at me...
"You really do look so different," he said, almost laughing. "What's with the outfit, though? You got that at the train station?" He gave in and laughed this time. "Go team, go!"
"Yes, well," I said. "I didn't pick this out. Jeremy got it. Apparently he thought I would look inconspicuous in college team-related clothes."
"I think it works. I don't know if I would have recognized you. You look like an entirely different person. Maybe a sorority sister vibe going on?"
"Are you insinuating I'm a dumb college girl?" I asked, teasing him. "I'll have you know that I was in a sorority back in college and I also had excellent grades."
"Did you?" he asked. "How about the sorority hazing? Anything good?"
"We didn't do sorority hazing," I said. "I don't think most groups do that now. I'm sure some might, but it's not really a big thing. It wasn't at my college, anyways. We weren't the most exciting sorority, to be honest. We just had small parties every now and then. Mostly just us. The fraternity guys weren't very cute, so we never invited them."
"Ah," Asher said.
"You're looking at me funny," I said. "Why?"
"Am I?" he asked, coy.
"Yes!"
"Just thinking of doing a little sorority hazing," he said. "Maybe make up for the fact that you never got to experience it in the past?"
"I can't believe you," I said, laughing. "Now I know what that look is. You're salivating, Asher! You're looking at me like I'm some sexy little college girl, just ripe for the picking. Do you want to pluck me, Mr. Landseer?"
"Something like that," he said. "Definitely rhymes with pluck, that's for sure."
I crawled across the bed to get closer to him. Asher grinned when I leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Do you want to play? I can be the innocent little college sorority girl and you can be my demanding professor? I've been a bad girl, sir. I can't afford to fail your class. I'll do anything for a passing grade."
Asher's eyes glimmered in glee and his smile spread so wide it took up most of his face. Oh, he liked that, did he?
I liked it, too. It sounded fun. And he was my husband, afterall. If we couldn't have fun together, what sort of marriage did we have?
We had a really good one. I loved him so much.
He sprang into action. His silly grin turned into something more wicked and mischievously malicious. He pushed forward, looming above me, eyes staring into me.
"Miss Fevrier," he said. "You want me to accept your excuses? You've been turning in papers late and not bothering to come to class half the time. Why should I help you get a passing grade? Why should I give you an extra credit assignment?"
I gulped. "Mr. Landseer, I've... I've been trying, though. It's just so hard."
"Hard?" he asked. "Hard? Did I hear you correctly? What do you mean by hard, Miss Fevrier? As hard as the football team's cocks on a Friday night when they're pounding into you and your little sorority slut sister's tight cunts?"
I didn't mean to, but I started giggling. "Asher! Did you really just say that? Sorority sluts and tight cunts? I can't believe you said that."
He changed from stern professor to my grinning, laughing husband in a matter of seconds. "It was the first thing that came to me. Was it too much?"
"It was kind of hot," I said. "Just don't use that word all the time."
"Which one?" he asked. "Slut or cunt?"
"Um, both!"
He laughed. "Alright. Well..."
His hand darted forward, grabbing the waistband of my tight sweatpants. He pulled roughly, yanking them down my thighs. I squealed and screamed, trying to slap his hand away.
"You think my class is hard, Miss Fevrier?" Asher said, returning to his role. "I'll show you hard, you little tramp. If you really want a passing grade, show me what it's worth to you."
I kept fighting against him, trying to stop him. It was fun. Asher was rough, but he wasn't being too rough; not enough to hurt me. I kicked at him, but he grabbed my ankle and held my foot in place. Slowly, fighting against me fighting him, he peeled my sweatpants down my legs, revealing my bare skin and...
"I can see you've got a lot of team spirit," he said.
I didn't understand at first, but I followed his gaze towards my crotch and my extremely inadequate pair of panties, if they could even be called that.
"Is that even underwear or a patch and a piece of string?" he asked.
"Jeremy bought it for me as a joke, because he's terrible and a pervert," I said.
"Jeremy?" Asher asked. "Is that your football player fuck toy?"
I couldn't help it; I giggled again. "Fuck toy? Really, Asher?"
"I'm trying to be the asshole professor that everyone hates!" he said. "Also, I'm going to have to have a talk with Jeremy about this. I don't know how I feel about him buying my wife this kind of underwear."
"I wasn't even there," I said. "It was kind of annoying, because I went to—" Did I want to tell him all about that yet? "—I was somewhere else, and he got me my luggage bag and some clothes, and, well, this is what he bought me. I really do look like some college girl, don't I? That wasn't what I had in mind before, but I guess it works."
"They look kind of cheap," he said. "It's sexy, though."<
br />
"Did you just call me cheap and sexy?" I teased.
Asher ignored me. Instead, he stuck his fingers beneath the string that was my underwear, and pulled them to the side, easily revealing my pussy. I forgot what I was saying and let out a loud gasp when one of his fingers began sliding up and down my slick folds.
Yes, well, we were playing before and I was aroused. What of it? Except now Asher had decided to take serious advantage of that fact. He coated the end of his finger with my glistening wetness, then pushed it into me. I gasped again, even louder this time.
"Asher..." I said, breathing out his name.
"This," he said. "This is how you're going to earn your passing grade, Miss Fevrier. Show me how much school spirit you have. Convince me that you belong at this university."
My mind fumbled for an answer. "Sir, yes. Mr. Landseer, sir, I do. I belong here. I have so much school spirit, I..."
He slid another finger along my slick folds, then pressed it in to join the other. He twisted them around inside of me, pushing them in deep, then pulling them out, slow at first, then a little harder. I didn't know where this came from, or what exactly was happening. I opened my mouth to say something, but forgot every word I knew.
Asher pushed himself forward the next time he pushed his fingers into me. He pressed his body against mine, guiding me towards the bed. I fell onto it, laying on my back, while he pushed against me. His fingers curved inside of me, pushing in and out. So much pushing, everything pushing, all of him against all of me.
He cupped my core in his palm, holding my sex. The heel of his hand pressed against my clit while his fingers drove into my inner depths. He moved like that now, back and forth. His lips found mine, kissing my open mouth. I tried to kiss him back, but like my words before that, I forgot how.
"You're really excited, aren't you?" he asked. "Are you going to cum for me, Miss Fevrier? Are you going to prove you deserve a good grade in my class?"
I nodded fast. "Please. I... please. I promise. I'll do anything."
His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3) Page 18