by L. J. Woods
With his looks, calm voice and the eyes of someone who’s supposed to care, it's second nature. That's what got me in trouble the first time.
Profs try to calm students and usher them to class as the receptionist steps out of her office to hand Drake a clipboard.
“You’re not the new counsellor, are you?” I confirm.
He smiles, a tight one, as he goes over the list in his hands. Then he laughs, a lighthearted one but to me, it sounds menacing. "Not anymore. I'm taking you off the list."
Professor Tsang’s voice pops into my head.
“If your counsellor tells me you’ve been keeping up your appointments, I’ll do what I can to help.”
And after arriving an hour late to this morning’s class, I know I can’t let that happen.
Lowering my voice, I take a step closer to Drake. “Listen, I know things ended badly—”
“Badly?” He cocks a brow and everything comes back to me. After hours in his office. Weekends in “treatment.” His touch. His skin. “Badly is an understatement, don’t you think?”
“It wasn’t my fault!” His thick brow raises when my voice does and with a glance behind me, Isaac’s brows knit.
Drake nods. “Still impulsive, I see.”
“What happened, is not what you think.”
“So you didn’t end my entire career?”
“No! I didn’t!” My eyes widen, the words flying out of my mouth. “And I never thought you’d try to end mine. Drake, I … I need this.”
Putting his clipboard under his muscular arm, he towers over me like he loves watching me plead. “Is that right?”
My nose scrunches, a chill washing over me. “Forget it. I’ll figure this out on my own. Thanks for fucking nothing.” But when I turn to walk away, I hit a hard chest instead. Looking up, Isaac stares into Drake’s eyes.
"You should keep her,” he says. And that causes my brows to lower.
“You’re trying to help me now?” I ask, heat boiling inside me.
I’m trapped between my past and present and I don’t know which one is worse.
“Would you rather I not?” he retorts.
My lips tighten. Counselling is the one thing keeping me out of trouble with Professor Tsang, my most important class.
Am I willing to throw that all away because of this?
But Doctor Drake Donovan as my counsellor will only end in chaos. Destruction. And I have enough of that. "No, I wouldn't."
“I’m sure Drake would be willing to consider your file … given the details I know.” Isaac stares over my head, and when I glance behind me, Drake is staring right back. His eyebrows furrow as Isaac approaches him.
Whoever’s around whispers, their eyes on our trio.
Isaac shows Drake something on his phone that makes Drake's eyes widen. But it’s only for a second before he regains that Doctor Drake Donovan composure.
“Miss Lyon.” Drake glances at his clipboard, his cheeks a hint of red. “I’ll see you tomorrow at two.”
Isaac brushes by me, nudging me with his shoulder. “Thank me later.”
But I don't know if I will.
Stepping into the room, it’s not like the first time.
My skin is still clammy and my heart still races but there’s a heavy aura, like a dark cloud hovering above us.
This isn’t worth it.
But it is.
I thought about not coming today and why Isaac would use his power for me. Thought about if he was feeling remorseful, or if this is his way to apologize.
But then I realized this isn't about him. It's about me. And I'd be stupid if I ignore Hera Tsang's help and fuck this up even more.
So here I am.
“Lexi.” The door slams when he calls my name. My body stiffens. “Can’t say that it’s nice to see you again.”
When I turn to face him, perched on the edge of his desk, it sinks in. I’m alone with Doctor Drake Donovan for the first time in three years.
He leans against the desk still decorated with some of Xavier’s things. A cute little V-day card from a partner. A framed photo of an elephant next to one of a colourful sunrise somewhere that’s not Eden—this town is too dark for that. But Drake suits this place fine.
“How?” One small step at a time, I move from the door, clutching my sketchpad to my chest. “How did you get this job?”
Drake crosses his arms. “Got an email about an open position, and considering that I haven’t practiced in years, I thought it would be good to rebuild my career.” He leans off the desk, my feet a few inches from him as I clutch my book tighter. “But it seems with you here, it won’t be that easy.”
"You didn't know I'd be here?"
"If I did, I wouldn't have come. I just got over you ruining my life.”
My shoulders fall. “I won’t say anything.” He takes a step towards me. “And I don’t know if you know it but I’m not the one that went to the board. That would be my mom.”
His thumb rests on his chin as he takes another step forward. My muscles tense but he walks by me, towards the door. Looking over my shoulder, he closes the blinds.
Just like before.
“I don’t believe you.” He leans his back against the door, trapping me. “I don’t know if I’ll ever trust you again. You broke me, Lexi.”
“And you broke my heart.” My eyes meet his as I move towards him. Dark and enchanting. Ones that can read you from the inside out while you’re lost in their spell. “I know I wasn’t the only one. All those girls? Drake, I-I loved you …” My head falls when I admit it, brown and blonde strands falling around me.
Drake reaches out, hand landing under my chin and while I wait for it, I don't get those tingles I felt before. No spark. No warmth.
It’s cold and empty.
And when he lifts my chin, I realize I’m not under that spell anymore.
I take a step back but he reaches for my hand, his grip tight. “You meant something to me, Lexi. You changed me. You changed my life for better or worse.”
“I can say the same.” I try pulling my hand away but his grip tightens.“Drake …” When I look back at him, he smirks, pushing me towards the desk. “Wait …” My back hits the edge.
“And I’ll never believe you again, but you know what, Lexi? Sexy Lexi?” That nickname gives me shivers as I look into those cold grays. “You need me. You said it yourself and after talking to Professor Tsang, I know it’s true.” But the look on his face is far from helpful.
“You’ve helped me enough. This isn’t what I want.” Not anymore.
“I know you need Tsang on your side.” He brings his thumb to my lip and when I try to pull away he brings me closer. “And the only way to do that is through me. You owe me, Lexi.” He lowers his head, his lips a few inches from mine, coffee reeking off his breath. Has it always smelt that way? “And today, you’ll pay your price.”
“This is how you treat someone you care about?” I ask, trying to pull from his tightening grip. “By trapping them? Dehumanizing them? I’m not a piece of meat, Drake."
“You weren’t saying that last time, Sexy Lexi.” My hands on his chest don’t stop him from pressing his heavy body on mine. “I know your body more than anyone else. Don’t fight it.”
“You’re not what I want anymore.” My free hand comes to his face, pushing on it as he leans closer and closer.
“But I’m what you need. And you liked it. Just like you’ll like this.” Drake forces my free hand against the ledge of the table and I hiss. But as he brings his lips closer, all I can do is close my eyes.
Will screaming for help get me out of this? Likely.
But will it help me get back on Tsang’s side? Unlikely.
Drake’s right. I need him. I’ve sold my body before so what’s another transaction? My mind on my career, my future, I suck in a deep breath, accepting my fate.
SLAM!
“The fuck?”
When I open an eye, Drake is a few feet away, like he didn�
��t make that move at all.
Blinking, Isaac stands at the door, his eyes glaring into Drake’s head. “Am I interrupting?”
“No,” Drake smiles. “We were only catching up.”
I have no time to figure out how Isaac knew I was here. So I run past them both, speeding out of the room as my heart pounds.
But I don’t get far before Isaac's hand lands around my wrist, and a spark shoots through me.
“The fuck was that?” Pulling away, I’ve had enough of being man-handled today but he blocks my path. “Were you and Donovan about to—”
“Oh, like you care?” The tears streaming down my face startle me. Great, so now it comes out. Right in front of my worst enemy. “If you wanted to torture me, you have company to do it."
With that, I rush for the school exit.
I need to figure out what to do because my life just got completely fucked up.
Twelve
Lexi
“Be a good girl, Lexi.”
The deep, menacing voice echoes down the dark concrete corridor.
“Don’t you want to be good for Doctor?”
A coat of sweat drenches my pink silk pyjamas as the wind blows down the hall. The cold air goes right through my bones.
“C’mon, Sexy Lexi, you know you want to.”
Arms coming across my chest, my heart pounds, taking a cautious step forward. “Doc—Doctor Donovan?” The floor is as wet and cold as I am but for some reason, I don’t feel it against my bare feet. “Drake?”
Rain pours in from above and when I look back at my bedroom door, it’s gone, a black abyss behind me.
“You did this to me.” His laugh echoes through me, a shiver up my spine.
“No, it was my—”
“It’s your fault!”
“No!”
Turning around, my feet patter towards the abyss and when I reach the end of the hall, I fall. Right into darkness.
A scream escapes me.
“Sssh, Lexi, relax.” My eyes widen, I can feel them but I can’t see anything. I’m sightless. Blinded or … blindfolded.
I want to scream again but it’s muffled by a palm slapping over my mouth, a familiar scent coming with it. One I can’t quite make out in my haze. The last thing I remember is crawling into bed after way too many shots and martinis but … am I still asleep?
When I wiggle, pressure sits on top of me. It’s both calming and harrowing and I don’t know if I should fight more until I hear that nickname. “Sssh, Sexy Lexi, I’ll take care of you.”
A weight lifts off my chest, a chill rolling through my spine. It’s a contradiction of emotions. One that tells me it’s him.
I want to say his name. I want confirmation.
Is this the man from my dreams? This dream?
That’s when I feel a warm breath on my neck, and when I make a sound, a stupid scared whimper, teeth graze my skin before they sink in.
Tingles explode on my body, his hand on my mouth silencing me as the other slides under my cami. It’s cold. The usual. And when those firm hands cup my breasts, it makes me quiver. A gasp falls onto his palm when his warm, wet tongue slides down my chest. When he pinches my perky nipple, I can’t hide my moan.
His touch feels better than ever. No hesitation. No second-guessing.
When his hand leaves my mouth, I’m already breathless when his fingers find my folds. “Are you wet for me, Lexi?” Dipping a finger inside me makes me gasp again, his firm touch as firm as his thick fingers. My body responds to his touch like an ignition and that familiar chuckle makes my skin heat. “Be good for Doctor. I’ll forgive you.”
“Dra—” His name turns into a gasp when his warm tongue lands on my clit and from the feel of it, he’s ravenous. When I reach for his head, wanting to feel my fingers through his stands, he grabs my wrist, keeping it against the mattress.
“Let me take care of you, Lexi,” he groans into me, his tongue teasing me with gentle flicks.
“We—” I try to say the words but his fingers push inside me and I’m a fucking goner. Always have been. He curls his fingers, tipping right at my spot before he buries his face inside me. He knows how to make me squirm. How to make me beg. “More!”
“I guess a doctor is good with his fingers.” His sultry chuckle vibrates my thighs as he pumps his fingers harder inside me. I’m completely in his control, the way he plays my body like an instrument. An instrument made for him. “I’ll put you back to sleep, Lexi. Just say my name. Once.”
He pushes those thick fingers deep inside me and I can’t help but grind against that face. Since I can’t see it, I’m imagining it in my head. Covered in my wetness, watching me as he waits for my release. He works his tongue like a motor, better than I ever remembered and he finds my spot with ease, making me grip the crisp sheets below me.
“Drake!” I cry, reaching my peak, reaching fucking nirvana. “You-You’re gonna make me come …”
“Who’s going to make you come?”
He flicks his tongue faster between his words, curling his fingers in the most perfect way that makes me arch against the mattress. Makes me see colours in the darkness.
“Doctor Donovan!”
My body shakes, legs closing around his face but he keeps going. He laps up my juices and those sounds drive me crazier. I try to reach for his head again, my sensitive nub unable to handle anymore but he pins my hand and pumps his fingers faster.
“You like when your doctor fucks you, Lexi?” He growls and I’ve never had him this way. But whatever brought him here tonight lit a fire and he’s extinguishing it with me. “You like his fingers deep inside you?”
He’s pulling another orgasm from my core, my moans, and gasps filling the room. I want to see him but when I reach for the blindfold with my other arm, he pulls his finger out and pins that one too.
He thrashes that tongue against my throbbing clit until my core tightens.
And I explode again.
I’m out of breath, my body exhausted when I come back down from that cloud. Quivering against the sheets, his voice lands in my ear, “I knew you were a stupid whore.”
I freeze.
That’s not the same voice.
A coldness takes over me before I reach for whatever’s blinding my vision. It’s soft. Silky.
SLAM!
When I pull it off, I’m in my room.
A powder pink curtain hangs in front of a closed window, the cloud chandelier above my bed. The lights in my headboard make the dark room feel magical like it’s filled with faeries or fireflies.
But my reality is far from a fairytale.
“Drake?” I call. “Doctor Donovan?” Saying his name like that makes me feel stupid.
Did I dream that?
That wouldn’t explain the blindfold in my hand. A ribbon swirls at the ends, a bow where it’s tied. When I look down at my body, my silk cami sits above my tits and … I’m still fucking wet. So are the sheets.
The fuck?
Did I get into Isaac’s stash last night?
I gasp, a pang hitting my chest.
Looking back at the blindfold in my hand doesn’t make the queasiness in my stomach any better. There’s only one other man in this town who’d go as far as to get a designer fucking blindfold. Rubbing the lace on the edges makes my heart thud harder.
And there’s only one pretentious fucker that would get the one with French lace.
Moving into the hallway, the floor is cold on my bare feet but they’re not wet. Not like in my dream. My legs still wobble as I inch down the hall as if I don’t live here now. “Hel-Hello?”
The house is as empty as I remember. No one lingers around tonight. My mom and Lionel are in New York while Dom trains with Christian. So there’s only one other person in this house besides me and that’s Isaac Johnson.
My eyes gaze at his bedroom door, blindfold between my fingers. It’s cracked, a billow of smoke coming through and the dull thud of a bass-heavy song in the background. Or that
could be my heart.
Why am I so nervous?
Because if he did what I think he did, this changes everything.
“Isaac?” With a push, the door opens.
He sits in the dark, a joint to those thick lips.
With a small light coming from the bathroom, a shadow casts on the wall beside the leather chair he sits in. He looks at me, brown eyes dark and mischievous. He doesn’t answer but the tilt of his chin tells me he’s looking this way.
“Is someone else here?”
Even in the darkness, I can see his rippled abs under that robe, spread open. And the way his lips upturn like he’s giving me that stupid smirk when he’s too drunk to function. Or he has a one-up on me. The joint between his fingers, he reaches over to grab the glass balancing on the arm of the chair.
“Isaac?” My brows knit as I watch him bring the glass to his lips.
“You mean, Doctor Donovan?” he chuckles. “Oh, Sexy Lexi, you’re in deep trouble now.” Then it hits me, but his next words confirm it before I do. “Hell, when I got Doctor Donovan on campus, I didn’t expect it to be this juicy.”
“You?” My fists tighten, my heart still racing from whatever the hell happened back in my bedroom.
He did that to me? And I let him?
He brought Drake back?
I’m sober but the room starts to blur and redden like I’ve landed in hell. I can hardly get the words off my shaky lips. “You’re so fucking reckless …” But once the words start flowing there’s no stopping me, rage billowing through my bones. “You have no idea what you did. Do you know how much that means to me? My classes? My counsellor? Drake wants to ruin my life because I’m the reason he lost his job.”
“Oh, I know.” The moonlight shines in through the tall window, highlighting half of his face. “Well, now I do. I suspected it was you who stripped his title. Broke his family. But now I know for sure.”
“By licking my pussy?” Shivers spread through me when I say it.
“Tastes like victory.” He makes a smacking noise with his lips like he’s finishing a meal.
“You’re fucking sick.”
“I’m sick?” He chuckles. “You made him give up years of his training. His studies.”