“I have some Advil for you,” he says as I walk up to him, and his eyes track the length of me, I feel exposed but it doesn’t leave me feeling raw like Darius did.
“Thank you,” I whisper, as I take them from his hand and throw them back with the water. He takes my elbow and leads me to the door.
Darius stands straight as we appear, and, unfortunately, he is now fully dressed. He says nothing as he falls into step behind us, my elbow still secure in Tucker’s grip. He leads me down the stairs, and into an office behind the desk in the foyer, but it’s a different one. I’ve never been in here before, it’s definitely not the place I found out Poppy was coherent or that Millie’s aunt had committed suicide.
Darius doesn’t follow us in, and Tucker closes the door before going around the desk. He takes a seat, boots up the computer, and says nothing. I just stand here, watching him. He glances at me before he pats his lap, and I slowly make my way over to him before taking a seat, and his arm comes around my stomach until his hand rests on my hip. His other hand on the mouse as he pulls up a file named ‘Academy’.
“Why are we here, Tucker?” I turn my head until my eyes are on his, our mouths only millimeters apart.
“I’ll tell you, but first, I have a few questions for you. Have you fucked Aeron, because I can’t understand why he would release you?”
He’s so blunt, and I’m not sure if I should hate it or love it. Although even thinking about the L word around these guys makes me feel as though I’m going to break out in hives.
“No, I haven’t been with Aeron. W-w-... Aeron and I have done nothing more than what you and I have.” It’s not a lie, and I have kissed them both now.
They also stopped coming after me once I did… Why does that thought cause so much hurt to arise in me?
“Okay, there goes my theory.” He strokes his chin before pinching mine between his forefinger and thumb.
“Are you really spiraling?”
“I think so, I-I-I-I’m t-t-trying so hard to be different. To find myself, b-b-ut I c-c-constantly feel as though I’m failing.” I don’t like admitting this to him, but what’s the point in trying to hide it?
“You don’t need to try to be someone else, I prefer you when you’re being yourself. Your innocence and honesty, you don’t need to change, Luna.” Fuck me, that’s the nicest thing he’s ever said to me.
“You avoided me, forgive me for not believing you,” I say back, my eyes never straying from his own.
“You kissed me, and I don’t kiss. That’s why I avoided you. It’s too fucking intimate, and I don’t plan on forming attachments in this place.”
“You should move your head then, because, despite myself… I want to kiss you again,” I breathe, and my chest hurts as he turns my head around to face the computer.
“This folder contains a sub-folder that belongs to your mother, that’s why I brought you here. You need to understand how much danger you are really in with Emmet,” he says calmly, before he clicks it, and the image of my birth mom fills the screen.
For the next half an hour, we work through it. My chest aches more and more, as I learn about a woman I can barely recall. She studied science, focusing on biology. Her file says she wanted to be a microbiologist, it lists her hobbies as singing and dancing, and she was a virgin when she started here. She started as Ten and worked her way to the top spot, walked away with a marriage proposal, and it was from Sir Arthur Harkwright himself.
“She turned him down, I can’t believe it,” I mutter as he clicks the mouse, and a picture of her in a jet black ball gown fills the screen.
My fingers reach out as they trace across her image, and how much we look like one another. I’m the image of her and in that dress, she reminds me of how I looked when I attended the masquerade ball.
“Sir was obsessed with Selene, he had monopolized her time, and claimed her halfway through the first year. He never let her go. When she rejected him, he had her followed, but she was hard to track down. When he found out she shacked up with one of the workers from here, he apparently washed his hands of her, and married someone else. Emmet’s mother.” I turn my head to look at him once more, and if possible, he’s even closer than he was before.
“Like father, like son, I guess.”
“Emmet is screwed up because of his father, and watching the relationships he forges, now you have your work cut out with Emmet. The thing is, your true danger comes from his father. You’re her in every way where appearances are concerned, if his obsession comes back, then nothing will stop him from claiming you. Not your age or his son. Don’t let Emmet claim you.”
“I can’t stop him, Tucker.” my fingers graze across his jawline, and his cheeks hollow out before they return to normal. “Ask me why I think Aeron released me.”
“Why?” He swallows hard as his arm around my middle tightens its hold.
“He said it was because he didn’t want to be the reason Emmet would finally have me, I told him it wouldn’t be. I’m not a… I’m not a virgin anymore, Tucker.” My air whooshes out of me, and his eyes widen before he takes his arm away from me, and pushes me to my feet.
The rejection is tangible, this place is full of hypocrites. Why am I the only one rejected for giving myself away?
He climbs to his feet and spins me round so we’re face to face, and then his hand is in my hair and his mouth is hard and bruising against my own.
It takes a moment for me to react, but a gasp has my mouth opening, and he takes the opportunity to slide his tongue inside. He explores my mouth, hard, demanding, and my hands squeeze his shoulders while one of his slides down my body. It lands on my ass and he pulls me hard against him. A moan escapes as he pulls away, and I can’t help but whimper at the loss.
“You’re really not a virgin?” he asks out of the blue, and my cheeks flush at the question.
“I-I-I w-w-wouldn’t l-lie about it.”
He walks over to the door, but instead of opening it, he clicks the lock in place. He strolls over to the desk and sweeps it clear, sending the items decorating the top to the floor.
“Thank fuck for that,” he says, before he descends on my mouth again.
He makes me step backward until my ass crashes against the desk, and then he breaks free and spins me around, seizing my wrists and placing my hands on the desk. He releases me before he lifts my dress up to my hips and yanks my panties down to my ankles. He puts a hand in the middle of my back and pushes me down until my cheeks rest on the cool surface of the desk. Then he pulls my hips back so my ass is further in the air.
He slides a finger along my slit, and I gasp at the feel of him. He pushes a thumb through my lips, spreads them, and rubs at my sensitive nub while also pushing a finger inside me. He thrusts in and out, once, twice, and then he pulls free.
I can hear a zipper being pulled down, and then the rustling of fabric before something else is lined up against me. Definitely bigger than his finger.
He rubs himself against me, covering himself in my wetness, and I am beyond ready to feel him deep inside me.
“Not that I need to ask, but… do you want this, Luna? To feel me inside you, say yes,” he growls, and the fact he’s even asking is leaving me breathless.