Sinful

“I don’t care what she says. I know what I saw.”

Montford looks down at me. “You watched for a while, didn’t you? Did it turn you on seeing me with another girl? Did you want it to be you?” He leans in, body inches from mine as his lips brush the shell of my ear. “I bet if I put a hand between your legs, I’d find you wet.”

I glare up at him, not quite trusting myself to speak.

The shock of his hand sliding up my skirt, fingers grazing the damp cotton of my panties, has me frozen in place. I can’t move, even when he grips me to press his thumb against my clit, making me tremble as pleasure and warmth spreads from my core. “I was right,” he muses as he pulls me in tight. “You’re soaking.”

He takes my wrist and pulls me closer. I’m numb when he drops a kiss on my neck and then moves to my mouth. In the back of my mind, my common sense is screaming at me to snap out of it. But I can’t quite break free of the spell he’s woven over me at that moment. I wanted him back then…and I still do now. His lips hover over mine, breathing warm air as he stares into my eyes.

Then he looks down, eyes blazing momentarily before he collects himself. I’m left wondering if I imagined it when he shoves me away roughly away. “Horny little slut, just like the rest of them.

I blink as his friends laugh.

Lacey is looking at me now, confusion and…annoyance on her cherub face.

What have I done? What did I let him do?

Shame burns through me like a raging wildfire.

I glance once more at Romain, looking into the hate-filled, dark pools of his eyes as he turns away from me and walks out of the clinic. Zane and Carter, both leering at me, follow him out with Lacey in their midst, leaving me standing there with nothing but revulsion for myself for giving in so easily.

I don’t knowhow I got out of there so fast, walking quickly as my heels would allow down the vaulted hallways. I burst into one of the private bathrooms, lock the door, and lean against it, dragging in deep breaths. After a few minutes, I walk to the mirror and look at myself. My makeup is smudged, so I swipe it with my fingers.

I slept with a student, and now I’m letting him grope me in front of his friends.

Damn. I’ll lose my job over this. That’s what he wants. He wants me running scared. He wants to punish me.

I shake my head, slowly breathing in and out. Whatever panic is rising, I push it deep down until my hands stop shaking like I’m a junkie suffering withdrawal. The water from the tap is cold when I turn it on. I shove my hands under it anyway and scrub them and my wrists with soap until my hands are red and raw.

I can still feel where his fingers slid between my legs. And I hate that I’m not disgusted by it but turned on.

You’re pretending like you didn’t let him fuck you senseless for seven sinful days over two years ago, Bella. A flash of memory intrudes my pity party like a slap in the face—Romain’s pretty blue eyes staring into mine while he brought me rushing headlong into ecstasy. No schoolboy should be that experienced.

I still want him.

My body still remembers him.

Once I’m feeling calm, I take a minute to adjust my blouse, buttoning it up to the top. Then I take my cardigan out of my satchel and put it on, and button it up to the top too.ThenI force myself to leave the safety of the bathroom and go straight to Helen’s office.

I can’t back down on this one. I need to report what happened, regardless of the consequences.

Blake and Romain are both right.

It’s his word against mine.