Very Twisted Things (Briarcrest Academy #3)

by Ilsa Madden-Mills

  His words moved me, but I didn’t want to go there. It hurt too much.

  I flicked my eyes back up at his face, taking in the softened jawline, the careful way he touched my hand. I snuggled into his side. “You smell amazing,” I murmured.

  “Yeah, well, you’re trying to change the subject, but I’ll go with it—because you may not know this, but I love to talk about myself.”

  “You’re a cocky bastard,” I said on a laugh.

  He inclined his head. “Thank you.”

  I grinned. “And, I see what you’re doing … making me laugh when I really just want to hide and never have to face those people again. I’m probably fired, too.” I looked down at our now intertwined hands.

  “Meh, this place sucks anyway. Plus, I didn’t like how your boss looked at you. I say you let me find you a real gig somewhere.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded and we were quiet for a moment until, “So, how do I smell?” he asked.

  The words tumbled out. “Like the brine from the ocean just as the sun is coming up. Like the softest, most expensive man’s shirt I’ve ever touched. Like the most delicious piece of chocolate I’ve ever had on my tongue—” I stopped short and buried my face in his shoulder. “Gah, I went too far, didn’t I?”

  He tipped my chin up. “You sound like you’ve put some thought into it.”

  “Maybe.”

  “So you think about me?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Mostly at night when I play … and then later when I go to bed. I see your face, and it helps me sleep.”

  He pushed a stray hair out of my face, his fingers tracing the curve of my cheek. “You’re different, V, not like anyone else I’ve ever met.” His voice was husky.

  “Different like I might need to check myself into a sanitarium? Different like I might need to use stronger deodorant?”

  His gaze captured mine. “Different like I’ve never met anyone with eyes the color of lavender. Different like hearing you play, then seeing you nude was the highlight of my year.” He stroked my lips with his fingers. “Different like your mouth is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “What about Blair? She isn’t your girlfriend?”

  He paused, a struggle on his face until he seemed to come to a decision. He exhaled heavily. “It’s just pretend for the media so I can get more clout in Hollywood, specifically a Hing move.”

  “Oh.” That was a surprise. “So you don’t want her?”

  “You’re the one I want, V. I want to take you to the fucking stars with my mouth. I want to make you come so hard you can’t even think of me without wanting my hands on you …”

  I moaned. He’d escalated fast.

  “Exactly,” he whispered as his lips took mine. His hands held my face, his fingers splayed out against my cheeks as he explored my mouth with a gentleness that broke me.

  But I wanted more. Heat. Sharpness. Roughness.

  “Harder,” I managed to say when our lips separated.

  His chest rose as he stared at me intently. “I didn’t bring you back here for this, but if we start, I can’t promise I’ll stop this time.”

  “I didn’t ask you to stop.”

  He growled and came back at me. Desperate. Clutching his hair, I gave it back to him tenfold. Our lips were wild, greedy, hands and mouths and teeth demanding payment from the other, as if we’d waited an eternity to find each other.

  This is what I’d craved since the moment I’d played for him.

  “Can I touch you?” he breathed, his eyes heavy-lidded, imploring me to say yes.

  I nodded and unbuttoned my dress until it slipped down my shoulders and drifted to my waist.

  “V, you’re too much,” he hissed and tugged my demi-bra down until my breasts spilled out. He traced light circles around my areolas, making me crazy until finally he fingered my nipples and twisted.

  I gasped. “Just like that,” I whispered. “Again.”

  His mouth captured my breast, his tongue lashing at my tender skin, teasing me with flicks and pulls. His teeth nibbled at me, and I arched my back. Closer. Yes, yes, yes. I bit his neck, and he dug his fingers into my waist and groaned.

  “Yes,” I breathed as he shoved my dress down further, his fingers teasing the waistband of my panties.

  He pressed his forehead to mine and stared into my eyes. “I’ve been dreaming of this since you played that first night. I’ve wanted my cock inside you while you played … you on my lap, my hands on your ass, your tits in my face … damn, it sounds weird when I say it out loud.”

  Desire knifed through me. “I like it,” I breathed. “Say it again.”

  “Straddle me first,” he said.

  I did and he shuddered as I ground myself against his hardness.

  He tossed his head back. “V, don’t ever stop what you’re doing.”

  I didn’t plan on it. My dampened panties slid over his jeans as he massaged my breasts, his fingers plucking my nipples, stretching them out. I arched my back, my body burning to have him inside me. Yes.

  He tore out of his jacket like a madman, and I helped yank his shirt off, until finally our flesh met skin to skin. His muscled pecs quivered as he clutched my back and held me, his breath coming in gasps.

  “You’re shaking,” I murmured.

  “I’m fucking dizzy over you, V.” The words came out haltingly as if he didn’t understand it.

  “Me, too.” I unzipped his pants, eased my hand inside and stroked him. Full disclosure: his cock was a monster, at least eight inches and as wide as my wrist.

  “Scared?” he teased as I paused to take him in.

  I licked my lips. Maybe a little. I didn’t know if he’d fit.

  “I’ll go slow,” he promised huskily, cupping my face.

  Tapping noises seeped into my consciousness, voices invading our sanctuary.

  “Fuck!” Sebastian said on a groan as someone called his name and then mine.

  Then a softer voice whined. Bubbles.

  “V, we have to stop,” he said, his voice laced with heavy disappointment. He pressed his lips against my neck, bit me gently and then kissed the spot. “Spider’s liable to burst in on us.”

  “Tell them to go away. I want to put my mouth on you first.” I stroked him, my fingertips ghosting over the head and twirling, rubbing the wetness from him down his length.

  “V,” he ground out, swiveling his hips closer to me as I used both hands to pump him.

  More knocks. More yelling from Blair.

  “Dammit!” He stilled my hands. “Look, we have to stop, okay? Not only are they waiting, but this is your boss’s office.”

  Reality hit. Fine. I rubbed my face and pushed down my need for him. Why did I always do the wrong thing when it came to him? First, I’d kissed him, and now I’d practically begged him to fuck me. I sat back. I needed to breathe.

  He kissed me gently and stood to tuck his shirt in. “Plus, I need to check on Blair. We’re supposed to go to a club tonight for pics.” He touched my face. “You wanna come too? Maybe we can sneak—”

  “What? Sneak in another office? A bathroom?” I stood as well. Nope. This was all wrong.

  “Okay, if that’s out, then let’s meet back at my place later, then. What do you say?” He cupped my shoulder and tried to pull me to him, but I resisted.

  I pulled out of his touch and adjusted my bra, refusing to meet his eyes.

  How could he be so cool now?

  “I don’t think so.”

  He stiffened at my sharp tone. “Hey, don’t be mad at me. I was up front with you about her.”

  The old me reared up. She’d been doing it more and more lately, and I was glad to see her. “Yeah? Well, let me be upfront. I don’t play second violin. I play first. Always.”

  He groaned. Exasperated. “Listen to me. I want you in my bed. I’m done trying to stay away from you, V, but we have to make sure the press doesn’t know. It would look bad if I was caught ‘cheating’ on her.” He stroke
d my face, his hands trailing down to my breasts where he thumbed my nipples.

  My heart dipped. “Wait. So this is just about sex and you want to keep it a secret?”

  He shrugged, a wary look growing on his face. “Don’t you? You don’t seem like the type to like the kind of attention I garner.”

  “I won’t share you with Blair, even if it is pretend.” I inhaled a sharp breath. “I’ve been running from relationships for two years, Sebastian, and I’m ready to stop. I didn’t even realize it until now but—I want something more. I’m ready.”

  He stiffened and took a step back from me. “Don’t make me choose between you and her, because she’s my career.”

  “You don’t need her to make it big, Sebastian. Make other movies.”

  “This one will make me a star.” He paced around the room. “My brother gave up his music for me. He quit his band and raised me, and I—I want to make him proud, V. I don’t expect you to get it. Apparently, you’re an heiress.”

  I threw up my hands. “You live in the Hollywood Hills. Isn’t that making it?”

  “I want more, V. I always have. Maybe it’s because I started with nothing.” He rubbed a hand through his hair, straightening it where I’d mussed it.

  “Are you sleeping with her?”

  He crossed his arms. “This feels like an interrogation. You don’t own me, V.”

  He didn’t answer me. Which meant yes.

  I wiped at my lips. Trying to scrub him off me.

  His chest heaved, an uncertain expression on his face. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I just want to have fun.”

  He wanted to get laid.

  I gave him nothing but silence as I buttoned my dress.

  He sighed. “I’m trying to give you honesty here.”

  “Well, it hurts,” I whispered.

  A mask fell over his face, distance building in his eyes as he stared at me. Regret and perhaps even sadness flashed over his face. “Shit. I never want to be part of your pain, V.”

  More knocks. More whining. This time I twirled around and opened the door.

  Spider bounded in with Mila and Blair right behind him.

  “Cover your eyes, girls, they’re naked,” he exclaimed and then laughed at our expressions. “What’s up with the weird faces? Wait, were you two shagging? For reals?”

  “No,” we both snapped.

  Sebastian slipped on his jacket and nodded his head toward the door. All businesslike. “What did we miss out there?”

  Spider smirked. “Ah. You missed dessert and Blair’s scintillating conversation; Harry had to leave, it’s past his old-man bedtime; and most everyone in the room took pics of you carrying V around like some kind of modern day Rhett Butler. I predict a full-color spread in the Hollywood Insider tomorrow.”

  Sebastian groaned.

  “You and I had a deal, and you’re ruining it with this girl,” Blair bit out. “No one crosses me, Sebastian.”

  “Chill out with the drama. I had a panic attack, and he was helping me,” I said to her. “That was it.”

  She gaped at me like I was an idiot. “Reporters spin what they want, and him leaving me for some upstart is huge. Hello, Brad and Jennifer? Demi and Ashton?”

  Please. No way was she that big.

  Spider swatted her on the butt. “Come on, Blondie, I’m sure there will be more pic opportunities for you and Sebastian later. Let’s get you to the club where you can shake that arse.”

  She sent Spider a cutting look and took Sebastian’s arm. “You ready? I’m sick of this place and your friends.”

  Sebastian exhaled heavily, his eyes on me. Of course, he’d chosen her—we barely knew each other.

  He looked at Mila. “You mind making sure V gets home?”

  “I drove here. I can drive home,” I snapped.

  He tried to argue, but I ignored him until he gave up.

  They walked out the door. Beautiful stars going out to follow their dreams.

  Once, I’d been a star, too, with my music, but I’d allowed the darkness to swallow me up.

  Phil swept into the room and tossed my violin case at my feet. “You’re fired,” he snarled and showed me the door.

  I gasped and ran to the case and opened it, running my hands over the strings, checking for injury. I let out a sigh. Thankfully, everything seemed fine.

  My heart was another story.

  “I’d helped my brother Leo find his one true love, but I’d never told a girl I loved her. Not even Emma.”

  —Sebastian Tate

  THAT NIGHT I arrived home from the club around two. Grouchy and tired, all I wanted was to crash in my bed. But as soon as I walked in the door, I got energized and put Monster on her leash and headed out for a walk.

  I was going to V’s to check on her. That was all. No kissing. No messing around.

  Spider claimed I was off my trolley when it came to her, and maybe he was right. Sure, I’d had plenty of pretty girls in my life, but this morning when she shared that she’d lost her parents, my gut recognized there was more than just lust between us. Something deeper connected us, a natural instinct.

  I came to a halt at the bottom of her drive. Judging by her dark house, she was already asleep. Disappointed, I paced around on the street, debating if I should wake her. I fingered my phone. I could call her. But what if she was still angry? What if she never played for me again? What is she was still upset from Harry? I wanted to see her; I didn’t want to see her. It was fucking ridiculous.

  As if Monster knew my thoughts, she tugged me up V’s drive. I came to a halt at the big front door and stood there, shifting from one foot to the other.

  Just then an overhead light flicked on. Shit.

  Without thinking too hard about it, I knocked on the door gently. More than likely, the light was from a motion sensor and she was in bed.

  I got nothing but silence.

  Didn’t I deserve it? I’d gone too far with her at the restaurant. Again.

  A light in one of the front rooms clicked on. She was up.

  I knocked harder this time. “V, it’s Sebastian. I just wanna talk,” I said, resting my hand against the door.

  That was a lie. I wanted to do way more than that. I wanted her under me, calling my name while I pounded into her. I wanted her straddling me, riding me—I sucked in a sharp breath.

  I pressed my forehead against the door. “I know you’re in there. Your lights are on.”

  Soft footsteps approached the door. “Go away, Sebastian. It—it’s late and you shouldn’t be here,” she said, and I heard the hurt there, in the halting way the words came out.

  I stroked my hand across the door. “Let me see you at least before I go.”

  Nothing.

  “Please.”

  “Where’s Blair?” she asked.

  “She went home.” She’d been trashed and after a lot of coaxing from me, I’d gotten her in a limo and dropped her off. She lived a few streets over so it wasn’t uncommon for us to ride together to events where we wanted to be seen together.

  “Have you slept with her?”

  I closed my eyes and swore under my breath. “One time, before I even moved to LA. It was a hook-up, plain and simple. I haven’t touched her since.” I paused. “It’s crazy, but I haven’t been with anyone since I saw you play your violin.”

  Silence on the other side.

  “Look,” I sighed. “I’ve been alone for a long time, and a girlfriend isn’t part of my vocabulary, and if you don’t want to have a casual relationship with me, I get that, you’re at a different place than me. But for whatever it’s worth, I’m glad I was there when you had your panic attack, so I could be the one to take care of you—shit, I don’t know what all that even means—just let me see your face.” I’d had more to drink than I realized. I was rambling all over the place.

  She opened the door, and I sucked in a breath at how pretty she looked with her long black hair spilling around her shoulders. Some of it was in he
r face, and I reached out and tucked it behind her ear.

  “Hey, Violin Girl.”

  “Hey, Blond Guy.”

  “You look better.” I fiddled with my jacket, feeling shy for one of the few times in my life. “I was worried about you.”

  She stood there, fidgeting in her black dress.

  “I didn’t wake you?” I asked.

  “No, I was up having some tea.” Her eyes darted back over her shoulder.

  I nodded. “I know this is kinda spur of the moment, but let’s get out of town this weekend. Just friends. Spider and Mila, too. We can wear sunglasses and pretend to be tourists, maybe drive to Napa—”

  “I can’t go anywhere this weekend. Something unexpected has come up.”

  Disappointment ran over me, but I nodded. I shouldn’t have suggested it anyway. “Okay.”

  We stood there uncomfortably and I touched her forehead. “You’ve got this little frown right there, and it’s killing me to think you’re mad at me. Can we move forward, forget about Blair?”

  She let out a weighty sigh and flicked a glance over her shoulder. Again. “Can we talk tomorrow? I’m busy right now.”

  At two in the morning?

  My gut twisted. “Why? Is someone here?” I cocked my head. Listening.

  “No,” she said, but her eyes avoided mine.

  “No? You’re acting weird. You sure you’re good? Don’t need me to check any closets or look under your bed?” I eyed her foyer but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

  Rustling came from inside her house, and I snapped, adrenaline driving me as I brushed past her. She shoved back at me, and I stumbled backwards, my hand catching on a porch post.

  Her chest rose rapidly. “I don’t like this side of you, Sebastian. Now, please leave.” Two spots of color blazed on her cheeks.

  Fury swarmed in me like angry wasps. Who was she protecting?

  “Is Spider in there?” I bit out. He’d suddenly up and left the nightclub we’d been at. I’d tried to call and text him, but he’d never answered. Neither had Mila.

  She lifted her chin. “Why? I don’t own you and you don’t own me. Isn’t that right?”

  Then I saw it …