Synopsis:
Layla Dahamrai has just begun her second year at university. She's acing every class and is one of the department's best students in her cohort. However, she's not getting along with her professor in her East Asian Regimes & Empires class, not that it's really her fault. It doesn't help that she's hot for her teacher either. Sebastian Henderson expects the best out of his students, given he's teaching at one of the most prestigious universities in London. He's had enough of Layla stumbling into his class late at the beginning of the semester. In the six years he's been teaching in academia, he has never desired a student until now. Layla and Sebastian will soon come to realise they have more in common during, and definitely out of, office hours.
Chapter 7: Conquering the Club
01/12/2017
Bringing my arms above my head, I stretch out my back, then return to sitting on the sofa in Sebastian's library. I'm currently bombarded with assignments as the end of the first semester approaches. The start of December will always be a nightmare for students. However, Sebastian's library is a peaceful place to study and complete my assignments. I can still be near him without needing to be in the same room as him since he prefers to work in his office.
When he walks into the room, I'm finishing an essay, legs tucked under me on the sofa. Sebastian has a bright smile when he walks into the room. I lick my lips and check him out as he reaches for a book for his own research paper. He is wearing a black, thin turtle neck top that hugs his lean body and muscles in all the right ways. It goes especially well with the khaki wide-leg trousers as they defined that delectable ass of his very well. Sebastian always looks fantastic and my toes curl at the sight of him.
With the two books in his hands, he sits next to me and looks over at my screen. "How's the assignment coming along, my love?" Sebastian puts the books down next to him, wraps his arm around my waist, and kisses my cheek.
"It's just a building analysis for European Architecture. I've finished proofreading it. I was just going to submit it."
"Let me take a look," he takes the laptop from me, "I'll give it a second glance." Sebastian looks at the essay with one hand on the laptop and another squeezing my thigh.
"Thank you, Professor Henderson," I say then thank him with a kiss on the cheek. I don't pay attention to the screen but rather to him and how he concentrates when he's working. I brush my hand through his hair and play with the long waves that frame his face. I bring my fingers down to his ear and begin playing with the subtle piercings in his lobe and helix that were always hidden by his hair. Sebastian only had them in one ear and they are so small you wouldn't notice them unless you lifted his hair from his face and actually tried to see them.
Sebastian looks at me minutes later and gives me his grin that makes my heart burst out of my chest. "This is an excellent piece," I roll my eyes at him. Of course, he'd say that. "No, I'm serious, this is good." He hands my laptop back over to me.
"Thanks," I submit the piece and place my laptop on the table next to the sofa. I turn my back to the armrest of the sofa and place my feet in Sebastian's lap. "I need to head back home soon," I say as I look at the clock in the room.
"Oh yeah?" I nod my head and giggle at his intimate and playful tone. He lifts up one of my feet and begins rubbing it. I lean my head back and groan with satisfaction. "What are you up to tonight?"
I look back at him and smirk. "It's a girls night out in Piccadilly."
His hands still and I feel the tension enter his body. It usually does every time I mention a girl's night out at the club. Sebastian becomes alert but he never interrogates me or tries to put me off the idea of going out. "What are you planning on doing?"
"It's just the same old stuff every week. Drinking too much. Dancing a lot. Then I take care of one of the girls when they go too far." Sebastian resumes the massage on my feet as he contemplates the same rundown of plans I give him every week over the phone. "Why do you always tense up whenever I mention a girl's night out?"
"Are they manhunts?" I smile at his little display of jealousy. Sebastian looks up at me when I don't respond.
"They never are -- for any of us -- the most scandalous thing you'll see is Alice or Delilah making out with someone then running off with us at the end of the night. We usually just end up with each other." I move my feet from his lap and scoot forward so I'm sitting there instead. "Why are you evading my question?" I ask as a stroke my fingers through his hair.
"I just get worried. I'm ten years older than you. You're attached to me now..." I know he wants to say more, but he won't because it summarises enough of his fears for me.
"You're not holding me back from anything. If you were, I would tell you, that goes for any other problem that could potentially come up. The only thing I held back from you was the fact that I love you, but you know that now, so..." I kiss his jawline and he gives me that rare shy smile of his.
"I'm sorry," he says as he looks away from me, clearly embarrassed by his own confession.
"You shouldn't be. Just don't wait three months next time." I press my lips to his head and brush the locks away from his face. "Since we've been at this for almost three months we should celebrate," I whisper against his ear. His eyes light up at the idea. "It'll have to be tomorrow though."
Sebastian gives me a fake pout. "Tease."
I give him a dramatic sigh. "If only you were at the club with me," I laugh as he lunges to tickle me.
----------
Alice and Delilah are throwing shapes on the dance floor as Aurelia, Florence and I check out who is around us. "He looks tasty!" Florence turns to Aurelia and points to a group of men at another table. "His friends don't look so bad either." I roll my eyes bored of them checking out potential guys they could hook up with, mainly because Aurelia was pushing it when she clearly didn't want to make-out with anyone, but also because I couldn't alleviate my arousal until I had Sebastian under me.
I have thrown back almost an entire bottle of Dom Pérignon by myself while the girls steadily made dents in the other bottles. I was also polishing off the Belvedere without a second thought. The club was exclusive, to say the least. Alice had gotten us a VIP table, but she was still disappointed that she couldn't get the ultra-exclusive spot or whatever it was. I didn't pay attention to her whining before we entered the club. I recall her pointing out the skywalk that no one could get into which also housed the table she wanted at the club.
The club is like ecstasy. There are neon lights stripped everywhere with a huge plexiglass runway between the tables of the club. I lean my head back as I throw back another shot of vodka. I feel the thumps of the heavy bass from the rap music. I watch as Florence leaves the table to persuade Alice and Delilah into helping her approach the table she pointed at earlier. Bodies are dancing in a frenzy without a second thought all around me.
"You okay, Layla?" I turn to Aurelia and give her a smile. She looks beautiful in her blue satin mini dress. I look down at my own gold sequin dress and check if I need to adjust my neckline. I play with the choker around my neck and bring my hand down to fiddle with the necklace Sebastian gave me a few weeks ago.
"I'm going to go wander off. I'll text you if I see something I like." I get up as I notice the girls bringing some of the men from the other table back to ours instead.
"I have known you for more than a year, you rarely find something you like," she rolls her eyes and grimaces when she notices the boys coming over, too.
"Who knows? Tonight may be the night I find someone for us to share," I say as I whip my hair back. I move past the grinding bodies and swat the hands of men who try to grab me in the club. I finally find the queue for the loo and wait for an age to get into a cubicle. I pull down my inexpensive panties and groan at how wet I've become from sitting there and thinking about Sebastian fucking me. I stopped buying expensive lingerie since he keeps on tearing mine every time he gets his hands on them. I ditch them in the bin next to the loo and walk out to freshen myself with a napkin.
My face is covered in glitter and sweat, my mascara has smudge from the heat, and my hair was in a mess. I look like a woman in heat. I walk out and pass the skywalk when I'm stopped by the bouncer guarding the entry to the walkway. "Layla Dahamrai?" I recoil in surprise.
How does he know my name?
"Yeah?"
Shit, am I about to be kicked out? I'm not even that drunk!
The burly man unfolds his arms and opens the door that cuts off the skywalk from the rest of the VIPs on the floor below it. "Come on in." I contemplate turning around and heading back to my table. However, if it's as cool as Alice makes it out to be, I may as well explore what is actually up there.
My feet are throbbing as I make my way up the staircase. It was still just as packed as the club downstairs. I looked at the glass surrounding the room. I could see the entire club from here which was exhilarating as no one downstairs could see us. There were still a few tables but they weren't as packed as the ones near my own table.
I walk around the dance floor, weaving in and out of the bodies, looking down at the view. I make it across the room and stop in my tracks at the large door that cuts off the full panoramic view of the floor below us. They have been cut off from the rest of the crowd. It's guarded by an additional two bouncers and no one can see in. The men open the door for me, I raise my brow in suspicion and peek inside. "Doctor Astor?" Freddie looks at me, not in surprise, but rather with a smirk on his face. Four other men were sitting there, checking out the scene in front of them, not really taking part but enjoying the view. I look back and realise you could see out but not in.
"Layla!" Freddie takes my hand and seats me next to him between one of his friends. There are two men on either side of me. They're all smiling at me seductively. I'm about to get up and leave when two hands hold me down.
"What do you think you're doing?!" I look at Freddie and the other men as my eyes fill with fear.
"You have a phone call to make." Freddie takes my hand and puts his phone in my palm. I read the screen and find Sebastian's nickname on there. They let me go so I can talk to him.
"If you wanted me to come out all you had to do was ask. You didn't need to drop hints for me here and there," Sebastian tells me, his words coming out slowly and seductively. My toes curl in my sandal heels.
