back in a strict ponytail, and with her dark glasses and white school shirt, she looks like the poster girl for academic excellence. She looks sophisticated, elegantâbeautiful. Iâm devastated to realise that even though itâs only been a few days, Iâve missed her.
But wanting Sophie and being angry at her are all mingled up, sending pure fire through my veins. Seeing her only whips my anger into a fervour. I cross the space between us in a few strides.
Before I can say anything, she glares up at me and exclaims, âYou canât talk to people like that!â
âI can if I want to, and I just did,â I retort. âWhat are you gonna do, report me for not minding my fucking manners?â
Her lips stretch into a smile that doesnât reach her eyes. âThatâs more your style, donât you think?â
âIâve apologised for that, though! What more do you want?â
Iâm standing in front of her, practically towering over her, and yet I still somehow feel completely helpless.
âI didnât want your apology then, and I donât want anything from you now,â she says frostily. âSo get out of my face and enjoy the rest of your life.â
Her gaze slides off me as if sheâs dismissing me. She looks down at her exam paper as if her work is the only thing in the room. I reach down and snatch the paper from under her pen.
She looks up with a frown and a grimace. âWhat did you do that for?â
âIâve not come here to be ignored!â
âToo fucking bad! I have work to do and youâre an unwelcome, unneeded and undesired distraction.â
She springs to her feet to grab the paper from my hand, but I yank my arm out of her reach. Now sheâs standing, her anger a mirror to mine.
âGive it back,â she bites out.
âWhy did you quit tutoring?â
The question spills out of me, uncontrollable. Itâs been eating away at me since I found out. It devoured me the whole time it took me to come here and confront her.
âYou donât care about tutoring!â she explodes, her rough voice rougher the louder she gets. âYou donât care about your grades at all, you donât care about anything but your stupid self and Iâm sick and tired of wasting my time on you!â
âHow is it a waste of time if Iâve been improving?â
âDoing decently in one exam doesnât mean youâre improvingâyouâre just too stupid to realise everyone just sucks up to you because theyâre scared of your parents!â
Heat rises in my cheeks. âMr Houghtonâs never sucked up to me. I got those grades because you helped me, and Iâm improving, andââ
âIf you wanted to improve, youâd be pulling your finger out and actually doing some work for once!â
âI have, though! Iâve done all the work you set me!â I stare at her, my heart beating so fast I almost have to catch my breath. âI donât get where this is coming from?â
âOh, you donât?â
She side-steps the desk, standing right in front of me, looking up at me with total disdain twisting her face.
âCould it be coming from the fact that youâve been making my life hell all these years? Or could it possibly be because you force me to waste my time tutoring you while you spend all your lessons fucking about? Or, I donât know, could it be because youâre a shit person and you cost me my fucking ?â
Now itâs my turn to sneer at her. âStop pretending that job was the be-all and end-all of your life, Sutton. You never even gave a shit about that job, I know you were just going there to flirt with that creep.â
Sophieâs face goes red so fast she looks like Iâve just slapped her across both cheeks. Her gaze falters. She takes a single step back, enough to tell me I struck true, enough to confirm all my suspicions.
Enough to make me hurt like shit.
âFreddyâs not a creep,â she says.
Freddy. His name, so common, so stupid, somehow makes him all the more real, like a deformed nightmare monster come to life.
My hatred for him bursts to life like a struck match.
âHitting on an 18-year-old,â I spit out. âThatâs exactly what I would call creepy.â
Her eyes are wide and incredulous as she watches me. For a moment, sheâs completely speechless. Then her eyes narrow. She tilts her head, and her voice is soft and deadly when she speaks.
â
âs why you reported me? Becauseâwhat? Because you were ?â
I swallow hard. My face is hotâmy chest is on fire. Iâm not even embarrassedâSophie is saying nothing more than the truth. I fucking jealous, so jealous it hurts. And it almost feels good for her to finally acknowledge it, like scratching an unbearable itch I couldnât reach myself.
I step forward, covering the distance she ceded earlier. I draw closer to her, pulled into the gravitational field of her presence. The smell of her is intoxicating, flooding me with memories of her hot mouth against mine, her pretty pussy against my tongue and around my cock. Desire sears me, scorching my mind, burning away all the things I planned to say.
Instead, words burst out of my mouth, unbidden. âWhy would you pick some fucking creep, some complete nobody, when you could have ?â
Itâs not at all what I had intended to say, but I canât even control the flow of words pouring from my mouth. Her eyes are wide with frank shock. I want so badly to touch her I have to clench my fists to stop myself from reaching for her. Sheâs so tantalisingly closeâsheâs always so fucking, so torturously close, and yet always out of reach.
Why? Why canât I just fucking have her?
âI donât you,â she snarls, answering both my questions, spoken and unspoken. The shock in her eyes fades, replaced by dark, cruel triumph. âMust be hard to swallow, huh? All the money and abs in the worldâand I donât want you.â
I surge forward, finally allowing myself to touch her. Grabbing her by her waist, I pull her against me.
âLiar.â I take her face roughly in my hand, tilt it back. She stares up at me, unafraid. Something wild and burning is in her eyes. Her lips part wetly, as if sheâs expecting me to kiss her. âYou fucking liar.â
Instead of kissing her, I tilt her head back further, exposing her neck, and I sink my teeth into the pale flesh. A rasp tears from her lips and her body arches against mine, sending a bolt of brutal arousal through me. Her fingers curl against my arms, digging into my muscles as she holds on tight to me.
.
âYou fucking want me,â I growl against her neck, pushing her roughly down onto a desk. I grind my hips into hers, my hard cock craving the heat of her. âYou can lie until the day you fucking die, but your body doesnât lie. You want me.â
She makes no reply. Her eyes are hooded as she stares up at me. Leaning on her elbows, she relaxes back against the desk, as though this is to her. I wrap my fingers around her throat. I donât even want to hurt her, I just want her to feel somethingâanything. âSay it, Sutton.â
Her lips curl with scorn. âI fucking you.â
My cock hardens painfully at her words. I know she doesâIâm beginning to suspect her hate for me might be the only reason she has for fucking me.
So I squeeze her neck, and her smile widens. I shove her skirt back. Sheâs not wearing tights today, just thigh-high black socks, plain as they come, and plain black boxers. But the ribbon of exposed flesh between her boxers and her socks is enough to make me painfully hard.
She doesnât stop me when I slip my hand inside her boxers, and I quickly find out why. My fingers find the silken folds of her pussy; they are slippery with wetness. Savage triumph flares through me. She might hate me all she likes, but her body canât lie the way she can.
I roughly pull her boxers off her. I want to fuck her so desperately I can hardly breathe. More than fucking her, I want to claim her, to pleasure her. I want her to know Iâm the only one who could ever make her feel this way.
So I slide my fingers against her wet pussy, caressing her until sheâs squirming against my hand. I smirk at her. âDo you despise this, too?â
She glares at me as I trace the line of her pussy to where her clit is, rubbing my thumb over the tiny spot. Her hips buck and a tiny gasp of surprise springs from her mouth. She bites down on her lip, but I keep touching her, building a slow, steady rhythm.
Suddenly, she reaches up, covering my face with her hand.
Dark anger and raw pleasure burn through me: she wants to come, but she doesnât want to look at me. Because Sophie loves lying to herself so much, she probably wants to pretend itâs not me doing this to her.
âNo.â I push her hand away and pin her back against the desk with my hand pressed to her chest. She grabs my arm with both hands but sheâs not strong enough to push me off. I keep the pressure on even while I caress her clit, my gaze fixed on hers. âYou can despise me all you like, Sutton, but youâre going to fucking at me. Youâre wet because itâs doing this to you. Youâre going to come because the one touching you. Not some fucking random guy, not some nobody you think you like.
.â
She must be close to orgasm, because her hips have stopped twitching and sheâs grown very still, her entire body trembling, her eyes wide and glassy. Lowering myself against her, I pick up her hips, lifting her delicious pussy to my mouth.
âCome on, Sutton. Hate my guts and come for me.â
I flatten my tongue against her, tasting her, teasing her. Her hips roll against me, sensual, demanding, irresistible. So I kiss my way up her pussy, and stroke her clit with my tongue, slow at first, just to torment her. Her breath hitches, her thighs quiver around me. I sense how close she is to coming. Itâs utterly tantalisingâthe only time I ever have Sophie truly within my power.
This powerâthe power of keeping her suspended on the edge of an orgasm, the power of making her come so hard she crumbles into a trembling messâis like a fucking drug. I canât get enough of it. I pick up the pace, stroking faster. It only takes a few laps of my tongue to send her crashing into her orgasm.
A hoarse cry tears from her lips and she bucks against me, her fingers curling in my hair. She grinds herself against my mouth, her trembling thighs squeezing my head. Then she slumps back down limply. Sheâs shaking all over, but she immediately shoves herself off the desk.
Her cheeks are crimson, and her tidy ponytail is dishevelled, dark strands sliding loose. She throws me a look thatâs a mixture between shame and fury, and immediately begins to straighten his uniform.
âThis doesnât mean anything,â she says, her voice low and harsh. âWeâre both old enough to know that sex has nothing to do with emotion.â
My heart is beating wildlyâthe taste of her is still on my tongue, which is blurring the clarity of thought I need right now. In the end, the only thing I can say is the truth. The painful, horrible truth.
âDonât you know how much I like you?â My voice is barely above a whisper. âYouâre all I fucking think about, all the time. Iâd do anything you asked, Sophie, if only youâ¦â I stop to brush my hand back through my hair. Itâs damp with sweat. âIf you were with me, you could have anything you wanted.â
âRight, I could have anything I wanted,â Sophie rasps, and her voice is much quieter now, and her eyes are sparkling almost like sheâs about to cry, âup until the point you decide to move on and throw me aside like Iâm nothing.â
I recoil. âI would never do that!â
âYou fucking idiot!â she exclaims. She sounds furious, but tears are hanging like crystal pearls on her eyelashes. âYou do that!â
This stops me in my tracks. I drop her gaze because seeing her eyes full of tears again hurts like shit.
âThat was different.â
âSure,â she sneers, wiping her sleeve angrily across her face. âIâm sure you genuinely believe that.â
How can I tell her the truth? That I loved being friends with her, but that I had to choose between our friendship or Spearcrest? That I chose to keep Luca away from her over protecting her? That everything Iâve done so far has been a misguided attempt to keep her safe from him?
That even when I hated her, I still only ever wanted her?
In the end, between Sophie being happy and having Sophie to myself, I chose the latter. Thereâs no way I can explain any of this to her without sounding pathetic, and she already despises me enough.
She thinks Iâm selfish and stupid and a liarâand some of those things are trueâbut she doesnât need to realise every stupid choice I made was calculated to make her mine. Because ultimately, every choice Iâve made has only pushed her away.
Even making her come only seems to make her hate me more.
âIâm not going to beg you to be mine,â I say finally. âNot when I could have any girl I wanted.â
Hearing myself say this is like watching myself jump off a cliff into a shark-infested ocean. I watch myself hurtle to my doom without even being able to stop, knowing full well my pride, and not my brain, has just taken charge.
She smiles. Even before she can grab her stuff off her desk I can tell sheâs done with the conversation.
âThen do exactly that,â she says, quite calmly, her rough voice like nails scratching along my skin, sending shivers down my back. âHave girl you want, Evan. Enjoy yourself. And while youâre doing that, Iâm going to spend time with someone I actually like, who actually likes me, and doesnât try to hurt me at every chance he gets.â
She shoulders her backpack and then tries to barge past me, but I stop her, grabbing her arm.
âHeâll never make you feel the way I do,â I say in a low growl.
âNo, youâre right.â She shakes her arm free from my grasp. The flush of her orgasm is still colouring her cheeks and neck, but her eyes are cold. âHeâll make me feel so much better.â
And then she leaves, slamming the study hall door loudly behind her.