My feet hit the floor and my head swung from side to side, desperately searching for a solution in the faces of the two gorgeous blondes. There was nothing. They were looking to me, and I knew that I was the one who would have to solve this equation. This problem. This absolute clusterfuck.
"Shit!"
I hissed. Harrison's voice rang in my ears.
You're mine! Tonight!
The spinning, 3-dimensional, Rubik's Cube of a puzzle that had been tearing my mind apart for weeks had just slotted into place. At least... Some of it had. Like I'd solved three sides of the Cube and just needed a couple more twists to get the other three all lined up.
But there wasn't any time for that. Right now, there was a drunk, horny,
powerful
man banging on Lena's front door. And I needed to be gone by the time he arrived in this bedroom.
Bang!
"I know you're in there!"
My heart pumped and cleared the drowsiness straight out of my mind. I sucked in a lungful of air and grabbed Natalie's dress, crumpled on the floor next to my dress shirt and slacks. My mind was clear, rational. I hadn't been hit with my trigger phrase in a while and my analytical reason was starting to return. With it, a growing horror as I realized what I'd done.
Julia...
I thought, my heart trying to rip itself in half. But I shook my head, breathing hard.
Not now.
I reached up and felt the round rims of the LucidSpecs that still sat across the bridge of my nose. Despite our athletic, phenomenal sex, they'd stayed in place. I knew what I needed to do.
I shoved Natalie's dress into her hands. "Balcony," I ordered sharply. "Go. Quietly."
Her blue eyes were wide and uncertain, but she nodded. "Yes, Professor." She stumbled through the dark as I turned to Lena.
The girl's face was shocked and frightened in the semidarkness, like she was in the middle of a nightmare she couldn't escape. I knew how she felt. Her eyes were wide and her lips were parted and trembling. Strangely, I felt the urge to lean down and kiss them. To reassure her with affection. To tell her that I would be here, I would protect her.
As all the variables slotted together in my mind, I was starting to realize that my least favorite student had been acting that way for a reason. And now... Well, I had no idea who she really was, underneath. But I didn't have time to find out. I stepped closer, gripping the girl by her slim shoulders and staring into her eyes.
I recognized the glazed pupils, slackening features that meant the LucidSpecs were doing their work.
"Lena," I muttered, my voice hard. This was the only thing I could think to do. And I hated to do it. But it was necessary. I needed to stay safe. I needed to stay secret. This was the only way. "You're mine." The words were brief and cut off as I said them, but I could tell they were punching right into the depths of Lena's mind.
The elegant blonde swayed, like her mind was reeling, but my hands kept their grip and held her upright.
I gritted my teeth as another angry blow struck the door to her apartment.
Bang!
"Don't make me go back up and get the principal!"
I forced myself to ignore Harrison St. John. I had to hope that there was no one else around to hear his drunken bellowing. "Make whatever excuses you need," I ordered, fingers squeezing hard. "Do whatever he wants. But you're
mine.
You will not betray me or Natalie. You will not
mention
me or Natalie. You will distract your father however you need. But you will give me and Natalie the chance to slip away unnoticed."
You're mine.
I had no idea what I was doing to her, mentally. What hypnotic conditioning she'd been through, what forces might be at play or what psychological barriers and support structures I was smashing through. I couldn't worry about any of that. If I was going to figure out what was going on at the Brighton Barnsworth Academy, I needed to continue to be seen as the bumbling puppet, the thoughtless, unsuspecting professor who didn't notice anything going on around him.
"Do you understand?" My expression was tight, fierce, desperate.
The younger woman nodded slowly, her green eyes hazy. "Yes, Master..."
I did kiss her then, my chest surging with a sudden, unexpected affection. A protective kiss, almost, to give her courage. "Good," I muttered. "Go now."
I gave her a little push toward the door to her bedroom and watched for only a second as she hesitated, nervously pressed the front of her black, sequined dress down her elegant figure and then took a single, deep breath. Her voice, when it rang through the quiet apartment, was in her usual haughty, self-assured, condescending tone. "Jesus, Harrison. Can't you be quiet? There are people a few buildings over you haven't woken up yet."
She walked into the front room and I bent, hastily snatching up my slacks, belt, boxers and dress shirt. I clutched them to my chest and dashed for the balcony. Natalie's silhouette was obvious through the open, sliding glass door, waiting for me. Her curvy shadow cast a dark outline across the melding pool of pale moonlight and ambient cityglow.
"Shut the door," I hissed, stepping past her on the narrow balcony and stepping away from the glass panel. The balcony ran the length of Lena's apartment, one door opening onto it from her bedroom and the other from the main room. Massive sliding glass doors doubled as windows in each area, but between them was a section of wall several feet wide.
The only place for me and Natalie to hide.
As the door slid closed behind me and I ghosted across the balcony I realized I'd made two mistakes. The night breeze was cold on my bare skin, but the goosebumps I felt weren't because of the chill. I stared at the bundle of clothes twisted in a knot between my fingers.
I'd called Harrison Lena's father.
And I'd left my suit jacket inside.
* * *
"Took you long enough!" Harrison St. John's voice was just a little bit quieter now, but still at drunken volumes. His voice carried easily across Lena's apartment and through the glass door out onto the balcony.
A rectangle of yellow light from the outside corridor spilled through Lena's open front door and across the living room, tinting the glass door to our right. Natalie pressed herself to the wall beside me, her heavy breasts rising and falling swiftly as she tried to settle the torrent of worry that doubtless whirled through her lithe young body.
I knew how she felt.
"Oh pshaw!" Lena shot back. I could practically imagine her leaning her shoulder casually against the doorframe. "You've just had too much to drink. I came as soon as I heard your drunken bellowing. You giant buffoon. Can't you just—?"
But whatever she'd been about to say was cut off, and I heard the grunting, moaning sound of an uncomfortably desperate kiss.
I clenched my fists and pressed my back against the wall, fighting the conflicted emotions that raged in my body. There was the twisting nausea and discomfort that roiled at the taboo situation. Even though I knew now that Harrison couldn't possibly be Lena's father, my mind still hadn't fully integrated the fact. There was also a strange, protective feeling that churned, hot and angry, in my chest.
You're mine,
I'd told the slender, elegant blonde. And a Cro-Magnon instinct to protect
my woman
rose up on a tide of primal, cave man passion.
I heard the high-pitched cry of surprise and the gasp as Lena escaped. The sound of the door swinging shut with a
thud
as the two moved deeper into the room. I didn't look, couldn't let myself risk being seen to peer around the corner, but I could imagine the girl stumbling away and the short, chubby man stolidly pursuing.
"Harrison!"
Lena's voice was shriller, outraged. The high-society tone of contempt and anger perfectly fit the character she always portrayed.
"What the f—?"
"Slut in the sheets."
