Her arms wrapped around my neck. She was shy; she didn’t push against me, didn’t wrap her legs around me or moan into my mouth like I was having sex with her rather than kissing her.
My hands moved down her corset to her hips, and I lifted her into the air and walked her backward toward the brick wall. The whole time, our masks collided. In frustration, I ripped hers off, then mine. The shadows of moonlight hid our faces as I kissed her harder, losing myself in her.
Her nails dug at the back of my neck as she jerked my head harder. Groaning, I let her fall to the ground as I placed my hands on the brick wall to keep myself from ripping the dress from her body.
Shouting started from the ballroom.
“Ten, nine…!”
“Eight,” I whispered against her mouth. “Seven.”
“Six.” She sighed, her breathing labored as her tongue found mine again. “Five.”
“Four, three.” I pulled back and trailed kisses down her neck.
“Two.”
We broke apart, both breathing heavy. “One.”
People burst out onto the balcony as the fireworks started, lighting up the sky. And our faces.
And the only thing I could say as she gasped in horror was “Oh, shit.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The pain completely stopped that night. I remember falling to the ground. I was smiling like a damn fool, and she was sobbing. I kept whispering, “Your fault, your fault…” when really I knew I was the one who’d taken the pills. But I also knew if she ever left me? I was as good as dead anyway. I needed to keep her with me at all costs. Even if it meant hurting her. See? I really did have to protect her from me, but in the end, I didn’t really want that. I was too selfish to want that. —The Journal of Taylor B.
Lisa
I COVERED MY mouth with my hands and almost passed out on the spot. Mystery man was my professor; professor was my mystery man.
The very same person.
Mr. Blake.
Or Mr. Freaking Blake.
Holy crap. I needed professional help. The one guy I was able to kiss in over two years without wanting to puke, and it’s my professor? REALLY?
The one who hates me. Oh no, I even told him my professor was a prick.
Tristan’s eyes turned murderous as he whispered, “Oh shit,” then looked down at the ground, then back up at me.
My mouth was still hanging open, and lucky me, my lips were still swollen and tingling from our kisses.
Could I get kicked out of school? Could he lose his job?
“I should…” He shook his head. “…go. I should go.”
He looked like he wanted to stay, like he wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth again, all that came out were more curses. Funny, the mask had protected me, given me one night as the innocent princess who could have a kiss with a prince.
The minute the mask was pulled off...
He saw me for what I was.
; Lisa, the notorious model, Melanie, who’d fallen off the face of the planet, changed her name, and couldn’t be on time to save her life.