Breaking Noah

by Missy Johnson

  In one swift movement I pull the T-shirt over my head, leaving me straddling his lap wearing only his boxers and a black lace bra.

  The feral look in his eyes heats me straight through. My skin flushes under his glare. The needy woman in me yearns for the demanding man in him.

  “Please,” I whisper in his ear, my lips grazing his lobe.

  “I couldn’t deny you right now if I wanted to,” he responds, and my heart leaps.

  Noah stands and I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me into the bedroom. Softly, he lays me back on the bed. Gently, he removes my underwear, sucking in a large gulp of air when I’m fully exposed to him.

  Noah pulls the cups of my bra away from my breasts and my erect nipples graze against his shirt. As if he can read my mind, he backs away and rips his shirt from his chest. Bringing his body down to mine, he nestles his erection, still covered with the softest cotton pants, between my parted thighs, teasing my already sensitive body.

  I desperately try to remove his pants with my toes, but it’s no use. Looking into my eyes, he laughs. “Needy much, are we?”

  “You have no idea,” I say, exasperated. “I need you.”

  “That’s all you had to say.” Without leaving the bed, he shuffles his pants down to his ankles and kicks them away.

  Reaching down into the slight gap between our bodies, he strokes himself and my mouth waters. Teasing my entrance with the head of his cock, he never breaks eye contact.

  “Have you been to the doctor?” I nod, unable to form a coherent answer if I’d tried.

  “And you’re clean?” Again, I nod.

  “You want this?” This question I can answer.

  “Yes,” I all but scream in response.

  His lip turns up in the sexiest grin I’ve ever seen, one that’s reserved just for me, and he thrusts inside me. My back arches, my feet plant firmly on the mattress, and my hands pull his head down to me. He begins to pull back and I moan in protest into his mouth, which is barely touching mine. Again, he chuckles as he slams back into me, harder than he did the first time.

  It feels heavenly. The fire starts low in my belly as he slowly, yet forcefully, rocks into me. I can feel myself growing higher and higher, but I still need more. Meeting him thrust for thrust, his tempo picks up, and within minutes I’m falling apart in his arms.

  Noah’s fingers tangle in my hair, his other arm under my ass at the perfect angle after my sated body gives up, and with a primal growl, his orgasm throws me into another one.

  Other times we’ve been together, it’s never been like this. No pretenses, no games, no ulterior motive—just two people maybe in love, making love. I’ve never felt, nor do I think I will ever will feel this complete again.

  I don’t register Noah leaving the bed, but when I feel the damp, warm cloth cleaning me, it brings me back to reality. As much as I was loving being in my own post-orgasmic world, this one is so much better.

  I curl up in his arms as the cool air hits my clammy skin, making me shiver. He kisses my forehead and holds me tight. I love the way his arms make me feel so protected.

  “You know,” he says with a chuckle, “there’s a pretty good chance I was conceived on this bed.”

  “Oh, yuck.” I giggle, slapping his arm. “I did not need to know that. I’ll never be able to look them in the eye.” If I ever meet them. At that moment, it occurs to me that they’ve probably seen the video. Everyone has seen the fucking video. It’s one thing for him to forgive me, but I hadn’t even thought about his family or his friends. I can’t even imagine what they must be thinking of me. I cringe at the thought of his dad seeing me naked. And in that pose…

  Oh, God, I’m going to be sick.

  “Where’ve you gone?” he asks gently. “You look a little green.” He tilts my head up, letting his lips graze mine. I sigh, the softness of his touch against me electric.

  “Just thinking about stuff,” I reply, dropping my eyes. I really don’t want to elaborate.

  “Like what?” he presses.

  “Like how I thought the hardest part was going to be gaining your trust again, when in reality that’s just the beginning. Has your family seen the video?” I ask.

  “They have,” he replies. I can tell by the way his jaw clenches when he speaks that it isn’t good. “I don’t care about what my family thinks, Zara. I honestly don’t give a damn whether or not they approve of you. They’ve never liked any of my girlfriends, if that makes you feel any better.”

  He watches me for a moment before speaking again.

  “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  I shrug. “I just want this whole mess to go away, but I’m not sure how to do that. And I hate that in all of this, Dillon gets away with everything he has done with no consequences. That’s what bothers me the most. He continues on like nothing happened and there isn’t a single fucking thing I can do about it. And he knows that.”

  I watch as Noah’s lips slowly spread into a smirk.

  “You just gave me an idea.”

  Before I can question him, I’m interrupted by loud, persistent banging on the front door.

  “You better be in there, Bain!”

  Chapter 30

  Noah

  The perfect plan hatches in my head and I can’t wait to tell Zara all about it. Being a professor kind of gives you the inside track on who’s doing what and all that stuff. The students talk while they’re supposed to be working, and they never realize that I’m listening to every word they’re saying.

  In one of my lit classes, a few of Dillon’s frat brothers sit side by side near the front of the room, so all of their dirty little secrets they think they’re guarding so carefully are spilled right into my ears. I never wanted to violate their trust and all, but Zara’s right. If Dillon did send out the video trying to get back at her, and based on the fact that he was fucking her cousin and knocked her up, I’m going to go ahead and say I believe Zara. He needs to learn a fucking lesson.

  I’m just about to tell Zara what I heard those two boys talking about a few weeks ago when Derrick’s angry voice booms on the other side of the door, screaming something about driving all the way out here.

  “Shit.” I chuckle. “Looks like we’ve been rescued.”

  “Help me find my clothes,” she says, panic evident in her voice. That’s another reason I know it couldn’t have been her who’d sent out the video. If it had been her, why would she be so modest now? She’d assume all of my friends already saw her exposed, and her being wrapped in a sheet really wouldn’t matter.

  Jumping out of bed, I grab a clean T-shirt and a pair of boxers, tossing them her way. I wish she did fit the pants. As much as she doesn’t want Derrick to see her this way, I’m dreading opening the door. I wish we could just stay like this for a few days before going back to the crazy world of reporters who want to drag this story out for as long as they can.

  “You’ve got one minute, Noah, and I’m breaking down the fucking door.”

  “Sounds like that’s my final warning,” I joke, hopping into a pair of pants and making my way to the door. As I approach, I can hear Derrick counting. He really wasn’t playing about that whole minute thing. He’s usually the jokester, whereas I’m the more responsible one, but right now I feel like switching the tables a little. Purposefully, I wait until he’s reached fifty-eight before I turn the door handle and pull it open.

  Without waiting, Derrick storms into the living room, hands flailing around, a bunch of words coming out of his mouth at such a quick pace that I can’t understand anything he’s going on about. At that moment, Zara makes her entrance from the bedroom, her hair still mussed from our post-breakfast workout.

  “Really?” Derrick asks, looking back and forth between me and Zara. “You borrow my car, bring it up here, don’t bother answering your phone, and fuck the girl who’s ruining your life?” He pauses, turns to Zara, and takes a step in her direction. “You’ve got some nerve, you little bitch—”


  I cut him off, rushing to stand between the two. “Shut your mouth. You don’t know what’s going on, D. Give me a second to explain.”

  “Fuck that noise. This little shit sends out a sex tape to everyone you know and you’re taking her side? The pussy must be real good, sweetheart.”

  Zara’s eyes well with tears, and before I can think about what I’m doing, my fingers curl into a fist, and with as much momentum as I can muster, my hand flies toward Derrick’s face, catching him in the jaw. He stumbles backward and I follow. I’m about to strike again when a small hand grabs my wrist.

  “Don’t.” That’s all she says, and it’s all I need to take that moment I should have a few seconds ago. “He’s right,” she says, when she realizes I’m listening to her. “I messed up everything. He should be here calling me names and wanting answers. It’s not his fault. Don’t be upset with him. He’s right.”

  Derrick rubs his jaw, looking again between Zara and myself when his lips turn upward. “Well, shit. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this little girl has you twisted, Bain.”

  A tear falls from Zara’s eye and she gives Derrick a weak smile. “I hope so,” she whispers, giving him the answer he wants.

  “Let’s get you two out of here and back to the land of the living. I’ll expect one of you to pay for my gas, though. And the damn tow truck to get my BMW home.”

  Quickly Zara and I grab our stuff and head out the door into Derrick’s waiting SUV. Stuffing Zara in the backseat, I climb in front. The ride back to town is quiet, knowing we’re returning to the root of all evil. Campus.

  On the bright side, though, when we’re back at my apartment, I can lay out the plan to make Dillon pay for hurting Karly and Zara. If all goes the way I want it to, he’ll be expelled before the week’s over and Zara and I can figure out how to make whatever this is work.

  —

  “You want to do what?” Zara asks, after I lay out the idea I had to get Dillon back.

  “It’ll work perfectly. Those guys have no clue that I know anything, so it’s safe to assume Dillon won’t be stopping his extracurricular activities anytime soon. All we need is for him to get caught.”

  “And how exactly do you think that’s going to happen?”

  “That’s the tricky part, but I think we can do it. Are you in?” The dean is looking for any way to make this stop or something else to take the attention off of me. I’d have to agree with her on this. She’ll be open to just about anything at this point. It’s all about changing the headline and making the university look good rather than bad.

  “Of course I’m in. That’s a stupid question. What do we do first?”

  Over the next hour or so, Zara and I talk about everything under the sun in regard to Dillon. What his schedule is like, where he goes after classes, who he hangs out with, how he gets around. Everything is taken into account, and finally the plan is starting to seem more and more logical.

  “You know that this isn’t going to clear your name, right?” Zara stares down at her lap. I’m sensing some guilt again, and I need her to stop.

  “Listen to me,” I say, kneeling in front of her and meeting her eyes. “I’m not trying to save my reputation. It’s already tarnished. Even if we found some crazy way to make people think Dillon is the bad guy, they’re never going to see me as anything more than a professor who slept with a student. This, what we’re planning, is to get Dillon back. You started this mission in hopes of giving Karly some justice. He’s the person who hurt her, and I’m going to help you clear her name. Or at least give you the peace of mind you need.”

  “But why are you doing this? After all that happened, Noah, there’s no way I can make it up to you.” She casts her gaze to the side, and I follow.

  “Stop it. We’re both a little twisted and kind of deserve each other. It’s done, it’s over. We can’t go back and change anything, so let’s just work with what we have. You started all of this to get justice for Karly. Well, you’re doing just that and getting the closure you need to move forward. Maybe when he matures, he’ll see what he did in a new light—realize he was wrong.” She nods and I take her hand in mine. “You ready to go right a wrong?”

  With a huge smile on her face, every tooth showing, she shakes her head. “Hell, yeah. For Karly.”

  “For all of us.”

  —

  Even though it’s pissing me off to see Zara so comfortable with another man, especially one who wants her as bad as he does, we need Luke for this plan to work. There’s nothing I can do, and the same for Zara. Dillon would be too aware of us, even for a dumbass. So we have to use the only other person we think can get through to him.

  It’s been known that Dillon is the man on campus to go to if the frat needs anything to party with. He’s not really into the hardcore drugs like coke and meth, but he’s got a pill for everything. GHB being his specialty. It also helps our case that for the last year, the number of date rapes has increased, each one being laced with the date-rape drug, but the supplier hasn’t been found. Dillon’s been questioned before by campus security and the local police, but with his father’s connections, he’s always been released. Hell, I would’ve turned him in before, citing the students who were talking about it, but they were never willing to come forward. With Luke’s help, we should be able to get him dead to rights and he’ll not only pay for what he did to Karly, Zara, and myself, but all the women he’s harmed over the years.

  I didn’t tell Zara about the GHB, because, after all, it’s just a notion I have, but I do have confirmation that he sells speed, Vicodin, and Xanax, so that’s what she thinks we’re going after.

  A few more moments go by with me keeping a watchful eye on Zara as she engages Luke, and then she’s sauntering back toward me. She has an uneasy look on her face and I’m finding it very hard to keep myself sane enough to not hurt Luke. He had to have said something to upset her again after I spent all that time making sure she was good.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, pulling her into my arms and rubbing her back softly.

  “Is Dillon selling the date-rape drug?” I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that little bastard. Of course he would know and of course he would tell her. And I can’t lie to her. I just can’t.

  “Yes,” I whisper, placing my lips on the top of her head.

  “You should have told me.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Does Luke think he can help?”

  “That’s the part I’m nervous about. He made a really good point and I think I’m going to help him. Luke said that if we want to ensure that he sells him the date-rape drug, he has to have me with him. Dillon will do anything he thinks will hurt me, and if he thinks Luke’s going to rape me, he’ll do it. Then we have him.”

  “No. Hell, no. I don’t want you within spitting distance of that asshole. I’d rather forget the entire thing and just leave. No.”

  “You’re probably going to get upset with me, but I’m going to do it. It’s for Karly.”

  “I don’t like it. This is going against everything my gut’s screaming at me, Zara.”

  “I’m not asking you to be a fan of this idea. I’m telling you I’m going to do it and I’m hoping that you won’t be too mad to still want to do this, but I understand if you don’t. Luke and I can handle it.”

  “We’ll meet Luke at the student union at eight tonight. Tell him not to be late.” This shouldn’t be happening. I don’t want anyone thinking that my girl is about to screw the football star that is Luke, but what choice do I have? The kid has a point. Dillon will do just about anything to hurt Zara. He’ll want to get back at her. I just hope this doesn’t put her in the way of too much harm.

  Even more than that, I really hope I can trust Luke not to hurt her. I’d hate to be known as the professor that fucks his students and kills the ones who are douche bags.

  Chapter 31

  Zara

  I check my reflection in the bathroom mirror for the tenth time, running my ha
nd down over my long, blond hair. I’m so fucking nervous something is going to go wrong. I check my watch. Noah should be here at any moment. Just as the thought enters my head there is a gentle knock on the door.

  Switching off the lights, I make my way down the hall, my heels clicking on the polished floors.

  “Hey,” I say, opening the door. He stands in front of me wearing a black leather jacket and a fitted pair of jeans. His dark hair is loosely styled and falling into his eyes. I lean forward for a kiss, my lips pressing against his as his fingers curve around the back of my neck.

  “I shouldn’t be letting you leave the house looking this damn sexy,” he mutters. “Especially when it’s all for another dude.”

  I roll my eyes at his jealousy, but part of me feels pleased that he thinks I’m sexy. I know the strapless black chiffon dress and chunky silver jewelry was a good choice.

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” I ask hesitantly. He takes my hand and squeezes it as we walk out to the car.

  “It will work, Zara. Just make sure you stick to the plan, okay?”

  “And you’ll be there?” I know he will be. I just need to hear him say it.

  “Me and campus security will be right outside. Anything goes wrong, I’m there.”

  I nod and take a deep breath. My heart is racing, because I’m scared. I’m so used to looking out for myself, the idea of relying on somebody else makes me feel sick. I have to trust Noah, because I owe him that much, but in the back of my mind I can’t help thinking…what if I’m the one getting payback here? What if me getting raped was his way of paying me back for ruining his life? Oh my God, I can’t believe I can even think that. He would never do that…would he?

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  I jump, his voice breaking through my thoughts. I turn to look at him and smile. We’re out the front of the student union, about to kick this plan into action.