“Excuse me, sir! You can’t just take that book! It’s stealing!” I snap around to the help desk lady, the receiver in her hand. “I’m calling security!”
“For fucking what?” I bark. Fuck her and her prejudice assumption, the kid from the wrong side of the tracks needs to steal a fucking book. I take a menacing step toward her, wiping the color clear from her haggard face. Megan wraps her small hand almost halfway around my large bicep to pull me back. “Mason, you have to check the book out is all.” She turns to the lady. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Willard. That’s my fault.”
To hell it is. She doesn’t have to take the blame for me because this hag lady thinks I’m a fucking thug thief or some shit. The woman’s attempt to humiliate me sets me off more. I continue, but Megan digs her nails into my skin, stopping me. “Listen, it’s no problem, I’ll just check it out for you. Just make sure to get it back in on time, okay?”
“Miss Benedict, you cannot do that,” she spits, disapproving of her attempt to help me.
“I believe I can. Now, we would like to check out this book. I’d truly hate to discuss my experience here today at a family dinner. I’d hate to admit what a displeasure it was to see one of St. Augustine’s veteran staff behave with such animosity toward a fellow student.”
Her face blanches, losing any color she has left. With hesitancy, she takes the book and scans the barcode, mumbling about late fees. Megan grabs the book, and with her sweet-as-pie smile, wishes her a good day.
“Thanks. You didn’t need to do that,” I say, embarrassed I didn’t even know how to check out a goddamn library book.
“I know. But you can thank me by reading it and giving me a report on what you learned.” God, I want to grab her face, without a care of who sees, and kiss her until her knees buckle, allowing me to carry her back to my place and fuck her—
“Well, well. Look who we have here.”
My mood shifts the instant I hear her voice and the blood in my veins turns to ice. My muscles tighten as I face the devil herself.
“Aunt Lillian, what a surprise!” Megan exclaims and steps forward as they embrace in a warm hug. She then steps back, smiling wide. “How’ve you been? Sorry I haven’t been able to make time on campus for lunch. Will we see you at Dad’s for dinner on Sunday?”
Someone as sweet as Megan wouldn’t notice the simple twitch at the mention of her brother. But I do. There’s definitely no love lost for her sibling. She puts that fake smile on and her eyes gleam with fondness, but I know her. The devil wears many hats and the one she wears for her niece is deceit. She hates her brother just as much as she does his daughter. And that sure as fuck sparks my curiosity.
“We’ll see, hon. Chastity has a competition which might hold us up.” Which is a lie. At one of God’s recent parties, Rhett mentioned he had plans with her. Dear old Lillian is avoiding her family duties. Interesting.
“Oh, well that’s too bad. Dad misses you.”
There it is again. The simple twitch. No amount of Botox can hide the strain in her eyes.
“Same, sweetheart.” In need of a subject change, she veers her hateful stare on me. “And Mr. Blackwell, good to see you again. How is your new class coming along? Accomplishing everything you need to be?” The hidden meaning in that question is clear.
“You know Mr. Blackwell?” Megan jumps in, turning to me with proud eyes. I wish she didn’t look at me like that. The moment Lillian notices, her smug grin becomes even more evil.
“Of course. He’s one of the many I counsel. Such a promising student, this one.” My stomach coils at her words. Even more so at the way her glare feasts on me. Megan doesn’t see it. She’s blind to the evil that surrounds her.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Megan says. “By the way, beautiful scarf.”
Her eyes flicker to me before she replies. “Yes…well, perfect time of year for them.” Bullshit. I know it’s because she’s hiding the bruises I left on her. She’s going to be hiding more too with these games she keeps playing. “I must get going. Meeting with a student to go over his future. Mason, I look forward to hearing about your progress. Do stop by my office in the morning and we can discuss it further.” She doesn’t stick around for me to reply. She leans in, kisses her niece on the cheek, her eyes creasing in the process, and she’s gone.
Megan holds up a conversation as we continue our trek to her car, but my mind is elsewhere. Murder, new identity, the fucking Elite. How the hell do I juggle all this and stay sane? How do I continue this charade with this perfect girl knowing I’m embedding myself in her life only to ruin her?
“So, this is mine,” she says, and I snap out of it. We’re standing next to a simple Toyota Corolla. “Thanks again. And I hope you enjoy the book. It’s a great one to start with.” She’s smiling at me, but I find it too hard to return the gesture. Do I tell her now? Come clean that she needs to get out of here? Stay the fuck away from Lillian? How do I warn her that nothing, but destruction is headed her way? I stare down at her, contemplating, when my phone buzzes in my back pocket.
“So…well, I have to get home. I have papers to grade,” she says, suddenly looking uncomfortable.
“Yeah, cool. Well I’ll see you in class, Miss Benedict.” My voice is low as I say her last name. Her cheeks flush, and I know I struck a chord with her. As much as she fights to convince herself what we have going on is wrong, she wants it just as much as I do. She digs into her purse for her keys when I grab her phone from her hand and begin to punch in my number.
“Mason, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m storing my number.”
“Mason,” she warns. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Not worried about what you think. Worried about if you ever need it, you’ll make sure to use it.”
“I’m a big girl, you know,” she says.
“Yeah, I know. With even bigger desires. Use it if you need it.” With her mouth parted slightly, I leave her and head out. I grab for my phone to check my message, and my heart drops.
Cunt Griffin: Have you checked on your sister lately?
My hand shakes, threatening to drop my phone. I’m already running through the parking lot to the other side of campus. I barrel through the doors, knocking into a girl carrying a box of pizza. Ignoring her cusses, I take the stairs two at a time. I’ve been lucky getting on Evelyn’s floor since the girls tend to leave the doors perched open for other boyfriends, so I’m thankful when I push through it. Running down the hallway, I hit three-thirteen and throw the door open.
My sister is standing the in middle of her room, her squeal ear piercing as she jumps at the sudden intrusion. There’s no hiding she’s been crying. “You okay? What’s wrong?” I spit out, entering her room and throwing my arms around her checking for wounds, cuts—fuck, I don’t know.
“Jesus, what’s wrong with you? Why wouldn’t I be?” she says, wiping at her eyes.
“No, I…I just got a text.”
“From who?” My eyes whip to her bed and take in Micah who’s seated on the bottom bunk.
I stare at him a few seconds, sizing him up. “The fuck you doing here?” I ask, confused. Last time I checked, he and Evie weren’t the fondest of one another. I glare back at Evelyn, who refuses to make eye contact, then to Micah. “Anyone gonna fuckin’ answer me?”
“She needed someone to talk to. I ran in to her. Just thought we could catch up.” My ass. Something’s not right here. “Bro, I know that look. It’s not what you think. I was just trying to help your sister. You and I are all she has.”
“Oh, she has you now?” What the fuck? I turn my full body to Micah. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Micah stands nose to nose with me, but no matter our history, I won’t hesitate to take him out if he even thinks of messing with my sister. After last night, I refuse to have her caught up in any of the shit he’s involved in. “We’re in this together, man. I’d never do anything to hurt your sister. Or you.
I thought you knew me better than that.”
“I haven’t seen your ass in years, how the fuck should I know?” I bark, my defensive wall up high.
“That’s right. You haven’t. You left me just as much as I left you. Neither of us had control over what happened. And now we’re both trapped in this shitstorm. But we’re in it together. And, together, we’re gonna figure out a way to get out.”
My eyes dart to Evelyn. “What the fuck did you tell him?” Her guilty eyes tell me too much. “Goddammit, Evelyn.”
“He can help. Mason, I’m scared of what you’ll do. I’m scared to lose you again.” Her eyes swell with tears, and that stabbing in my gut returns at her grief.
I bring my focus back to Micah. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“I have an idea.”
“Do you, bro? Do you know that soon I’ll have to deliver you a task that’ll be fucking horrible? It’s gonna change you. It’s been changing us all.”
“I’ll just use the coin. It’ll be my get-out-of-jail-free card until I figure shit out.”
My laugh is deep and cynical. “That coin is worse. Trust me. What you turn down will be child’s play compared to what they come back with in return.”
“What are you talking about? What coin?” Evelyn steps forward, her voice laced with fear.
“It’s nothing. It doesn’t concern—”
“Hiding this shit from her won’t help her, man.”
My anger’s back, and I’m in his face. “Yeah and scaring her with details she doesn’t need to know about won’t help her either.” Micah doesn’t stand down. The air is thick with tension and fists are about to fly.
“Please, both of you stop,” Evelyn cries out, placing herself between us. It doesn’t go unnoticed how her hand presses against his chest for longer than needed or the way he instantly calms at her touch. What the fuck is going on between them? “Mason, please. Micah isn’t the enemy here. She is.”
Micah raises his hand, and I get ready for battle, but he presses his palm to my shoulder. “I’m on your side. I always have been. If I knew…if I had known what the fuck really happened, I would’ve fought for you. You’ve always been like a brother to me.” My emotions get the best of me. Life has been a whirlwind since I landed on this campus. Between my sister, Lillian, The Elite, reuniting with Micah, and now this thing with Megan…I dip my head in defeat. I’m not as strong as I appear to be. They’re both right. I can’t do this alone. We need each other to take her down.
“Thank you,” I whisper. Evelyn’s soft cries are heard as Micah wraps his arm around my neck and hugs me.
“We’ll win this one, okay? Lillian, my dad, anyone who gets in our way.” I want to believe him. But he doesn’t know the whole story. Nor does my sister. Micah knows what Evelyn’s told him.
“Mason.” My sister calls my name, and I break away from Micah.
“What is it?” I watch her hand me my phone. It must have fallen out of my jeans when I blasted into her room like a madman. I read the screen.
Cunt Griffin: Bonding time is over. But don’t worry, pet. Playtime has just begun. Time to take the life of another brother into your own hands. A philosopher once said, “Needs can always be met, but Greed can never be fulfilled.” Enjoy this one.
I raise my eyes to meet Micah’s. “You’re up.”
His face is blank. He nods in acceptance. “Let’s do this.”
One week later…
It’s been a week since I handed Micah his task. One that rattles me to the core. He showed no emotion by it, which messes me up even more. Since then, the week has been bizarre. Normal even. By some fucking grace of god, it’s been quiet and Lillian-free. She shocked me, canceling our one-on-one last minute, with no explanation, nor did she bother to reschedule. I assumed she was probably busy with one of her many pets, which suited me fine. The more she left me alone, the more time I had to spend with Evelyn, catching up and rebuilding the time we’d spent apart.
Surprisingly, I’ve spent a lot of time with the brothers. Especially Rhett. We may have come from different sides of the track, but our stories were the same. Absent parents. Loss. He opened up about the night shit went down with his dad and what led up to it. He sure as fuck didn’t need to explain to me. No one signs up to get hit by their parents. I told him I’d do it over again in a heartbeat. Maybe this time even feed his ass to the gators. He’d talked about the death of his brother. Chastity. His time was running out and I could see the pressure in his eyes to make a choice.
It also left me with more time to pursue Megan.
My sexy little theology professor is fighting hard to lie to herself about what’s happening between us, but we both know damn well it ain’t over, and I’m not one to give up.
I walk into the lecture hall a few minutes late to make my arrival known and sit in my usual seat up front. I love watching her shoulders tense and her hand slightly shake at my presence. Knowing I make her squirmy makes it all the more fun. But it’s not only me playing games. As I sit there playing the perfect student, my sexy little professor stands up front teaching her lesson, avoiding eye contact. I watch the struggle in her eyes, forcing them not to fall on me. Her hands rub together, the nervous sweat building with each passing moment. I know she can’t look at me without thinking how good we are together. We’re all guilty of our own demises, and I know it’s only time before her eyes graze over mine and she sees the heat in my expression. The want. The hunger. And when she does, I go in for the kill.
I take my pen and slide it into my mouth, sucking on the tip, when she gives in. Jesus, there’s nothing sexier than the blaze in her eyes as they lock on my mouth while I suck the tip of the pen in and out. The heat in her eyes threatens to light the entire building on fire. If we were alone, I know she’d let me—no, she’d beg me to give her what we’re both desperately craving. My dick is growing in my pants, and I need to rein in my own arousal before shit gets out of hand.
But not yet.
A smile, so dark and devious, spreads across my face. I pop the pen out of my mouth, causing her to snap out of her haze. I can’t help but chuckle as I get up, without saying a word, and walk out of her class.
I pull this cat and mouse game with her the next two classes. Each time, waiting ‘til she can no longer fight it and her eyes find mine. I toy with her in any which way I know how, watching her lose control. Not in a way that anyone may notice, but in a way I do. In the short time I’ve known her, I’ve learned her little signs of arousal. The flush of her cheeks. The way her lips part, or when she glides her tongue along her bottom lip. I work her up until I think she’s almost willing to jump me in front of her students, no fucks given, and then I get up and leave. And I’m loving every fucking second of it.
It’s Friday, and I’m in my usual seat, enjoying the view of Megan in her tight pencil skirt and pale blue collared shirt. Wondering whether she’s wearing panties, I wait ‘til she’s close enough to the row of desks before I drop my pen. Her body stiffens as the pen rolls to her feet. My smile is predatorial as I lean down and reach for it, no doubt grazing the bottom of her leg in the process. No one catches the intake of breath at my quick move since everyone is taking a test. I retract back into my seat and grab her eyes, loving the way they light up. Fuck, I want her bad. And little miss professor over here can’t hide that she does as well.
We’re just at the five-minute mark when I bend down to pick up my backpack—
“Okay, class! We’re wrapping up early today due to a building inspection. Enjoy your weekend. Mr. Blackwell, can I have a word before you leave?” The class begins packing up and leaving while we stare back at one another. Smart play, professor. She taps her heel, waiting for every student to leave until the door finally shuts, leaving only us in the room. “What’s your problem? You can’t do this in my classroom. What if people suspect—?”
I pop up from my seat, cutting off her words. She stands stone still as I prowl slowly in h
er direction. My dick begins to swell at her flushing cheeks. She takes a step back before pulling it together. “I’m serious, Mason. This has to stop. You can’t be—”
“Looking at you like I want to fuck you over your desk? Turn you around and pound my dick so far into that sweet cunt from behind while your perfect tits brush off your lecture notes of the day? Tell me, Miss Benedict, what can’t I be doing?”
I’ve rendered her speechless. Her pink lips part and close, wanting to tell me I’m wrong—scorn me for the wicked visual now playing in her head.
“Mason, you’re my student.”
“And a very, very bad one. Who wants to do bad, bad things to you.”
Her breath hitches, and my cock jolts. I prowl up to her until there’s no space between us, and she has no choice but to press her back against the chalkboard. I say nothing more and reach up, grip her perfect ponytail, and wrap it around my fist. My cock grows with a fierceness at the way her eyes blaze with excitement, and I bring her head forward until we’re nose to nose.
“I’m gonna fuck you right here. In your classroom. And you’re gonna let it happen. Because the way you’ve been eye-fucking me all week has me hard as steel. You’re gonna pay for what you’ve created. Are we clear, Miss Benedict?”
The warmth of my breath heats her cheeks even more. She doesn’t fight me. She’s completely forgotten we’re still in her classroom, where anyone could walk in and see. That or she’s aware, and it turns her on even more. She shows no signs of refusal, so I welcome the opportunity and bend forward, pressing my open mouth to her neck. I suck hard, not giving a fuck if I leave a mark. She allows it, her soft whimper egging me on.
“That’s my girl,” I praise, falling down my own rabbit hole of her scent and the feel of her. “Tell me you don’t want me to take you over your desk and spank you ‘til your ass is swollen and red. Or should I give you what you want even more and fuck you hard and fast?”
“Mason.” she moans my name bringing a triumphant smile to my lips. I nip at her neck and grind into her. I tighten my hold on her hair, but my dirty little girl doesn’t plead with me or beg me to release her. She whimpers in pleasure like a wild alley cat in heat. I work my free hand down her ribs and push up her grey skirt until my hand reaches down into her panties. She soaks my fingers the moment I reach her pussy. “Such a naughty fucking girl,” I growl, inserting a finger and thrusting as far as I can go.
Pride (The Elite Seven Book 2) Page 10