Leaning back, I close my eyes and bask in the silence, which is quickly broken by my phone ringing. I glance at my desk, a tumbler of whiskey sitting beside the noisy device. The name on screen is one I don’t want to hear from, but I know if I don’t answer it, I’ll never hear the end of it.
“Hello,” I say after swiping the screen.
“I’m here.” Her voice comes through, clear and crisp.
My brows furrow in the dimly lit office. The red lights on my clock shout at me, telling me it’s past midnight. “Why are you calling me?”
“I wanted to surprise you. I got in a few hours ago,” she informs me as if we were planning on meeting. That’s the last fucking thing I want.
“You’re not making any sense.” Pushing to my feet as awareness shakes me right down to the core, I move to the window to pull the curtain shut as if she’s going to be standing on the other side of the door. Perhaps she is. This woman has bunny boiler tendencies.
“I’m in Black Mountain.” Her voice is bright and airy, and I swear to god, my hand clenches the phone so hard I’m certain it’s going to crack. No. Fucking. Way.
“Why are you here?” The question is bit out through clenched teeth. My jaw ticks, aching as I bite down hard to keep the rage from spilling into my response.
“I told you I wanted to see you,” she tells me, but the moment she says it, one face pops into my mind, and it’s not the one who I’m talking to. “I’ll pass by the school tomorrow. I think a man who likes to play games will understand that you don’t always win.” The line dies, silence greets me, and before I have time to think, I’m lobbing the phone across the room. It lands on the thick carpet with a thud. A sigh leaves my lips when I realize this is a problem. A big fucking problem.
“Fuck!”
Picking up the landline, I dial Ahren’s number and wait for it. A few rings later, his voice comes through the line. “What’s—”
“She’s here,” I grit out. My hands are still shaking with rage.
“What?” I can tell he’s sleepy from the grogginess in his voice, but when it takes me a moment to answer, he interrupts my thoughts. “Oh fuck,” Ahren mumbles as the noise of his bedding shifting comes through the line. “I’ll be there in a few.”
I hang up without answering him because I’m already deep in thought. I can’t believe she is back, but showing her face at the school is against the rules we set out. If it weren’t for the agreement Ahren and I came to with her, I would never have gotten the job at Black Mountain Academy. But now that she’s here, I have a feeling nothing is going to stop her from telling everyone about last summer. When Ahren fucked her while I watched.
Usually, that wouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t enter her, and she was eighteen, but what I’m most worried about is that she knows there was a video. And I have a feeling she’s here to get it back.
When I told Arabella I’ve done bad things, I wasn’t lying. But I wasn’t expecting the past to step right into my present and presumably fuck up my future. My phone rings once more, and I want to ignore it, but when I reach it as it beckons from the floor, I see Arabella’s name, and I smile.
I. Fucking. Smile.
“Hi,” I answer, keeping my voice low.
“Hi.” She sounds as if she’s about to pass out, but I can also hear the smile in her voice. “I wanted to see if you’re still awake.”
“So you called me after midnight?” I can’t stop the banter. It’s natural, nothing like I’ve experienced before.
“I figured if you weren’t awake, being an old man and all, I would have left you a naughty voice message,” she tells me with a giggle that’s both seductive and sweet. Jesus, this girl is driving me up the fucking wall. I wasn’t lying earlier when I told her my cock is always hard when she’s around. It’s true.
“Well then, what if I hang up and you call back?” I propose to her. “That way I can ignore your call and you can leave me that naughty message.” The anger slowly dissipates as I listen to her laugh. It’s boisterous, free, as if she’s not got a care in this world. Perhaps she doesn’t for this moment, and I settle in my chair and pray I can forget the rage that slowly took over me moments ago.
I know Ahren will be here soon, so I can’t be long, but for a moment, I think about giving her what she needs.
“Are you needy for me?”
Her breath hitches at my question, and I smile. “Yes, I am.”
My mouth tilts to her response. The breathy way she admits it only has my erection pressing against my zipper. “Good. Then I want you to take your index finger and slowly trace a line over your lips, top one, then lower one. And gently press your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. Imagine it’s my thumb.”
She doesn’t respond, but her breathing is hard and fast.
“Then I want you to take that almost-wet finger and slide it over each nipple, slow and steady. Don’t rush.” My own hand moves to my crotch. I can’t take my cock out, but I’ll enjoy the tension that builds from just listening to her. “Then I want you to trail it down to your stomach, lower to your panties, and under that slinky material I’m sure you’re wearing.”
“What if I wasn’t wearing panties?” Her challenge is clear. She’s losing her inhibitions and allowing me in. Something I wanted since the first day of school.
“Then you’re a bad girl, and when we’re alone again, I’m going to punish you with my thick
