by Mallory Fox
“Good, well done. I’ll inform you when we’ve signed. I might need you here in the war room if it goes south, so keep your phone close by.”
As soon as he dials off, I pocket my phone and unwrap the towels around my right hand. The throbbing has become unbearable and blood, running down my forearm, has soaked the edges of my rolled-up shirt even as I kept it elevated.
I’m going to need stitches. Fuck.
Maybe it’s the injury, but the usual feeling of euphoria I get for fucking over the competition is well and truly muted. I should be on a high right now, feeling invincible. Instead, I feel sick to my stomach, my hands are shaking, my legs feel as though they’re about to give way, and every time I think about Pearl there’s a tight clenching in my chest like I’m having heart attack or something.
Maybe I am having a heart attack, I wouldn’t be the first Montford heir to have a heart attack… although not at this age, surely?
I stifle a laugh.
Unless Jonesy was right. And Pearl is a fucking heartbreaker.
“Pearl Darlington, please head to Principle Vaughn’s office right away,” the teacher announces.
It’s the last day of term and everyone in the class watches Pearl leaves with a scowl on her face. She doesn’t give me second look as she walks by my desk.
I make a mental note to do something about Vaughn. He’s had it in for her ever since Royce made his complaint. I paid my dickhead cousin a visit soon after he left Ravenwood and broke his right hand and his nose for what he did. Brompton had to haul me off him to keep me from killing him. Cousin or not, the fucker crossed the line.
The call I had from Grandfather soon after that wasn’t pleasant but hell, it was worth it.
Still, why would Vaughn want to see Pearl on her last day here?
I really don’t trust that shady fuck.
Even if we’re about to screw her for billions, no one fucks with her but me.
Pearl Darlington is mine.
I get up from my desk.
“Mr Montford, are you going somewhere?” I hear the teacher drone.
“I’m going to get some air,” I say calmly, and head out the door, walking in the direction of the Principal’s office.
I don’t wait outside, I walk right in like I own the place. Vaughn is standing on the near side of his desk, looking away from me. He’s holding Pearl by the throat… on her knees, while his trousers are down by his ankles. Tears stream down her face as our eyes connect. Her shirt is ruffled and one of her shirt buttons is missing.
The dirty fucker.
My nostrils flare and all I see is red.
I must have blacked out because the next thing I know is Pearl is pulling me off him and Vaughn is on the floor with his face smashed in, pleading with me not to kill him.
I look down at myself.
There’s blood on my hands and over my shirt. My knuckles fucking hurt and the stitches on my right palm have split open. I must have beaten the shit out of him.
“Go, you need to go.” There’s blood on her face.
I reach out and smear it away. It’s not hers. “Did he touch you?”
“Get the hell out of here.” She shoves me towards the door and whips out her phone.
I’m going to kill him.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” I hear myself say out loud and the bastard cringes on the floor, trying to get away from me.
Pearl’s sweet voice cuts through the pounding in my ears. “Sully? I need you now. There’s a problem. Ravenwood, I’ll be in the principal’s office.”
“Seth,” she says, and I flick my gaze to her as she hangs up. The look she gives me helps me focus. “Sully’s on his way and you’re bleeding all over the floor. If you don’t piss off now, I’m going to castrate you for real.”
I blink a few times, air coming back into my lungs. I walk over to where she is and grab her and kiss her so hard, she’s panting by the time I let her go. I don’t care that Vaughn is watching. Her cheeks are red, her breath is short, and the look in her eyes is pure turmoil.
Why can’t we keep away from each other?
Then I’m leaving the room.
I head to my room to shower and change, wrap a bandage around my stinging hand, and put on a new shirt. I’m just about to leave and go back to find Pearl when she comes in. She doesn’t say a word to me, but her eyes are haunted as they meet mine.
She walks straight into my bathroom leaving the door open and takes off all her clothes before stepping into the shower.
The sight of her naked body wet and lathered up has me staring at her so hard, I must be making holes in the back of her head. I walk over and close the bathroom door and then sit on the bed checking my phone. Finally, she steps out of the steamed-up bathroom wearing nothing but a hand towel.
“Pearl,” I choke.
Her eyes widen. “It’s all I could find.”
I shake my head. “You’ve got plenty of towels in your room?” Not that I’d want her to go to her room alone and I feel like a right prick the second I say it.
“I just…” She turns away so I can’t see her face, but I get a full view of her bare ass sticking out from underneath the smallest towel in the world. “I didn’t want to go back there.” Her voice sounds small. So unlike my Pearl.
I massage the bridge of my nose, resisting going over there and wrapping my arms around her, if only to stop her shaking. But that would be a mistake.
Instead, I scrub my uninjured hand through my hair and exhale. “Want me to wait?”
She sniff and nods as she dries herself off, taking her time getting dressed. I’m almost ready to put my hands up, tell her I’ll do whatever the fuck she wants, when she starts untangling her wet hair with her fingers.
The whole time I can’t take my eyes off her.
“Will you come to my concert?”
Her words break me out of the oblivion I fall into every time I look at her. What a thing to ask at time like this.
“Christmas Eve? Right?”
“It would mean a lot to me. It’s going to be the last time…” She breaks off.
Fuck, why am I such a dick at times. Of course, it will probably be the last time we’ll see each other.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I say, still admiring how gorgeous, poisonous, and ethereal she is… every nightmare and every wet dream I’ve ever had all rolled into one. Even now, I’m fucking hard as anything. It takes one look from her and I’m straining not to bend her over and shove so deep inside her it hurts.
I really want to hurt her.
And the fucked-up thing is… she wants me to.
Chapter 14
Pearl
Father is upset.
I peeked at him through the curtain after the last round of applause and all I could see was the murderous scowl on his face. Well, fuck him. It’s his own fault if he’s late for his stupid charity dinner. He hosts it every single year at our estate. He can afford to take one year off and arrive later than his esteemed guests. The concert went really well, and the girls outdid themselves this time, the least he could do is look like a doting father, even if he isn’t one.
I’m huffing in the dressing room getting changed into my dress for the dinner when I almost knock over some flowers. There are way too many bouquets in here. Flowers surround me at every turn. Most of them are from family and board members wishing me luck, but there’s one bouquet that came with no name. An arrangement of beautiful oriental lilies and nothing else.
I know Seth sent them. I also know why he did.
Because he’s not bloody here.
I’m not sticking them in water. I’m going to let them rot and wither away. He’s pissed me off that much.
I may belong to Seth…but we haven’t slept together yet.
Despite signing my innocence away, Seth has been behaving like that moment never happened.
What the hell is he waiting for?
A knock at the door brings me back to myself. Shi
t. I’m only half ready.
“Come in.”
I’m not expecting Seth to walk in with Nicole and my father. And from the look on his face, he’s in a foul mood too. Well, that makes three of us.
Nicole smiles and hugs me first. “Beautiful performance, Pearl.”
“Your apology had better be good,” I hiss at Seth as he comes into hug me second.
“Sorry, board emergency. I got a car here as fast as I could.” His eyes flick to his car keys on my dresser. “I assumed it was you who took mine.”
“Well you weren’t around so we left without you,” I say swiping up his keys in my hand before he can retrieve them. “And I still need to borrow it.”
Nicole steps closer to her son and pats him on the arm. “Seth, you don’t mind if we borrow it again? To get home? Henry isn’t working over the holidays and we have a charity event to host that we’re already running late for.”
“Sure, she’s yours for the night.”
My father gives Seth tight smile. “Much appreciated.” He barely looks at me and holds out his hand like I’m his pet dog. “Pearl, the keys?”
I frown. “I’m not ready yet.”
My father glances at me for a split second, then his eyes are back on my stepbrother. “Seth, will you see to it that Pearl gets home okay? Unfortunately, we can’t wait any longer. The concert was a lot longer than my assistant was originally informed.”
He can’t even be bothered to look at me, never mind congratulate me after singing my heart out on stage. Why did I even want him to come tonight? I needn’t have bothered.
I clench my jaw and put a hand on my hip. “I’m sure Seth has other things to do, Father. And I’m quite old enough to get a car by myself.”
Seth nods his head a few times and flashes a smile at Nicole and my father, not before giving me a look that says he’d rather jump off a bridge. “I’ll see that she gets home.”
I flick my eyes upward and sigh, passing my father the keys and then turning away from the lot of them, back to dressing table mirror. I need to finish getting ready.
Almost as soon as I hear the door close, I shoot Seth a shitty look.
“Don’t blame me,” he snorts, pacing towards where I am in front of the lit-up mirror. He leans against the countertop, disturbing some of the mascaras and eye pencils I have out on top so that they roll about.
“I’m not,” I scoff, clipping in an earring, ignoring the mess he’s making just by being here. “There’s no room in the stupid back seat of your car anyway.”
Seth doesn’t respond to me teasing him about his car like he should, and there’s an anger radiating off him that I haven’t seen before. I catch his icy blue eyes in mine and fan the flames. “You said you’d be here.”
“I had more important things to do.”
“Oh right, another deal to close. What was it this time? Did Lana need a good seeing to in exchange for the rights to her next album?”
“Fuck, Pearl, I already told you. I had an emergency board meeting in fucking France. Do you know how long it takes to fly back when there’s a storm warning across the channel?”
Normally, I would enjoy the sparring, but I’m too curious.
I breathe out a sigh. “Fine, tell me, is it the acquisition? I heard that my father pulled out at the last minute.”
He grimaces, all dark and brooding. “Let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant meeting.”
“Maybe it’s for the best,” I say with a shrug as I clip the remaining earring to the other ear.
“Oh, you would say that,” he says, rounding on me with cold, dead eyes and a cruel twist to his mouth.
I look back at him coolly through the reflection in the mirror. He can look at me like that all he likes, I’m not intimidated. Not anymore. “You had a row with your grandfather, didn’t you? Is that why you’re being like this? What did your grandfather do?
His lips pull into a thin line and he stares at me for a heartbeat or two, and then he shakes his head. “No, I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fine,” I look back at my reflection. In the mirror, Seth is watching me. There’s a look in his eye that I’ve come to know as his ‘evil glint’. His gaze travels the length of me in the glass, taking in the royal blue, backless little number I’m wearing.
He wants me right now.
It must be the dress.
“What are you looking at?” I scoff at him.
“You.”
A thrill at what he just said runs right through me and I feel the heat fill my face, making me look away.
On the dresser in front of me, are Seth’s flowers still in their wrapper. I reach out and stroke the petal of a single Lilly. “Why did you never sleep with me after I signed your crappy contract?” Seth’s bought me, but hasn’t bothered to enjoy me yet… why?
He shakes his head. “Pearl, we’re not doing this here.”
“Why the hell not?”
“For a million reasons…”
“Let me guess, those reasons you can’t tell me about? You know what I think? I think you just don’t have the fucking balls. I think everything they say about you in the press is a load of bull. You’re not a player, you’re a pathetic loser.”
He glares at me darkness building into a storm behind his eyes.
“Do not tempt me, Pearl, you won’t like what happens after.”
“Why, will you punish me? What’s next on your list? Regret? I don’t think we’ve done that one yet,” I say scornfully.
He doesn’t wait for any more of an invitation than that, Seth slams me up against the dressing table with his hand around my neck before I can blink. He grips a handful of my hair and jerks my head back, claiming my lips with his, sending a deep shiver running up and down my spine.
I come up for air, shoving him back, my hand wrapping around the underside of his package. “So you do have balls.”
“Shut up and turn around,” he growls at me. “I want to see you in that dress while bending over for me.” He flips me around sending the lilies and the contents of my make-up bag scattering as he pushes me down onto the dresser. His fingers are rough as he hitches the skirt of my blue dress up. All around, the intense scent of lily, the sensation of him holding me down, takes my breath away. Everything else no longer matters.
“Are we doing it like this?” I ask him, breathless with my cheek pressed against the cold surface of the countertop,
“Why the fuck not?”
He bends down to bite my ass cheek, and then he slaps it making me yelp. I feel his other hand pulling at the laces my corset panties and moan as his fingers slip through the threads, unravelling them with a hefty tug. Then his hand is stroking me all over, cradling my now-exposed bare ass.
Slowly, gently, he rubs his fingers up and down my slit.
“Christ, you’re soaked through. You’re loving this, aren’t you?”
I shudder and give off little moans as his fingers circle my clit.
In the mirror, he looks like a demon as he unhooks his trouser belt with one hand and holds me down with the other, all the while his pretty eyes are burning into mine.
“Is this how you like it? Bent over for me like a whore?” He leans in, hard against me, his breath hot on the shell of ear. “Tell me you want it, princess. Tell me this is how you really want it.”
I’m shaking as he rights himself and unzips, pushing against my entrance. All thoughts dissolve from my mind until there is only one.
Is this what I want?
I’m aching for him so much that I can’t think straight.
“No… wait. Stop!” As much as I want him, it doesn’t feel right. Something is wrong.
The reflection of Seth hesitates, eyes half lidded. “You want me and then you don’t want me, which is it?”
“I’m not on the pill,” I answer honestly.
“I’ll pull out before.”
I glare at him, as much as I can while in such an undignified position. “I’m not getting pr
egnant this way.”
“I’m not going to get you pregnant.” He angles himself and rubs at my entrance. A desperate moan comes out of my mouth despite myself. “You want this as much as I do,” he teases.
“Seth…” Shit, great job, Pearl, for all your teasing you’ve awoken the beast.
“Do you trust me?”
But that’s just it. I don’t trust him, not with this. This is how my mother ended up. I can’t run a billion-dollar company if I’m the face of rich kid teen pregnancy. And if I’m honest, this is not how I imagined it. My first time should be glorious and beautiful, not hate sex that feels more like rape.
Don’t lie, Pearl. You’re loving this. You just don’t want to admit that you do.
His hand trapping me against the counter and the feel of him hot and hard against my opening has me squirming, telling a very different story.
I take those thoughts and desires and bury them deep. “If you don’t get off me, I’ll scream.”
“Christ, Pearl… fine.” He pulls away, releasing me enough that I can straighten up and pull down my skirt as he regards me behind a mask of indifference.
“Do you want me to…” I lick my lips as I glance down, admiring how pretty his penis is before he sheathes it back in his pants.
Pretty big and pretty gorgeous.
“No, it’s fine. Let’s just go,” he says, tucking himself back into his trousers, smoothing his hands over his shirt and suit jacket.
“I’m sorry… I just can’t.” I can’t follow in the footsteps of my mother. I just can’t.
“No need to apologize.” He straightens his tie and then runs his fingers through his hair. And just like that… Seth is back to being his cool, calm and collected self again. Like nothing just very nearly happened.
How does he block his emotions like that?
Do you even care about me or am I just another conquest to you?
I fix myself up and look at him through the mirror. Seven days. I need to take the pill for seven days. Or I could buy come condoms. “We can try again,” I say, ignoring the fact that I leave in less than forty-eight hours.
He taps at his phone and then looks up. “The cab is waiting outside, by the way, we should get going.” Then he walks out of the dressing room ahead of me.