by Sofia Daniel
I twisted in my seat to find Bianca standing over me with a bruised eye. My stomach plummeted as my mind skittered back to the conversation I’d had with her father. What I’d told him had been the truth. Bianca had left an enormous sum of money on my bed while I was out of the room, which got stolen or burnt.
My chest tightened, making my breaths shallow. The old me might have covered up for Bianca and Ashley’s actions, knowing that Mr. Byrd would turn his anger to me, but those two had hurt me numerous times and in numerous ways.
“I need to talk to you,” Bianca said in a small voice.
Hardening my heart, I said, “If it’s to shove me down the stairs again, don’t bother. I already made a report to the police naming you as the culprit. It won’t take a forensic examiner to work out who did it the next time it happens.”
She huffed out a breath. “It’s important, or are you too busy being smug to care?”
Despite what I had told myself, guilt wrapped its claws around my heart and twisted. I glanced at the bulge in her blazer, which likely contained a contract.
An exhausted breath eased out of my lungs. This was so fucked up. Mr. Byrd hurt Bianca, and she lashed out on girls she considered more fortunate than her. “I wouldn’t wish your predicament on anyone.”
“Then help me.” She reached into her inside pocket.
“But I also can’t sign a document that would render anything I reported to the police null and void.”
For a moment, she said nothing. Her eyes darted from Prakash to Sebastian, and then to Leopold, who sat up and stared at her with the most intense of looks.
Her lips curled into a snarl, and she bared her teeth. “You’re a self-righteous bitch. You know that?”
I shook my head. “If you ever want to make a complaint to the police, I’ll back you all the way and give them my witness statement. Otherwise, I’m not interested in engaging with you. Ever.”
“You fat—”
“That’s enough,” Sebastian snapped.
Bianca backed away, nostrils flaring. “What do you all see in her?”
Prakash placed a hand on my knee. “Beauty, kindness, intelligence, integrity.”
“She’s just a replacement for Corrine Gibbons,” Bianca spat.
“Kash missed out another important trait,” said Leopold. “Sanity, which is something lacking in you and the late Miss Gibbons.”
Her eyes flashed, and she fixed Prakash and Leopold with hateful glowers. “I was going to save this morsel for the right moment. But since Pigsty is acting like the Queen of Virtue and Light, let’s see what you think about her when you hear her ugly secret.”
I tilted my head to the side, thinking through every embarrassing thing that had ever happened to me since I could remember. Nothing was bad enough to make the kings turn against me. So, what had Ashley told the queens that could possibly be so bad?
Turning to Leopold, she curled her lips into a wicked smile. “She wasn’t a virgin when you fucked her.”
All the blood drained from my face, and bile rose to the back of my throat. Had the girls brought a boy with them to Ashley’s initiation?
I glanced at Prakash, who looked like he was going to vomit. Then I turned to Sebastian, whose face hardened into a blank mask. Leopold scowled, and his chest rose and fell with rapid breaths.
The entire common room went silent except for the tumble of items moving through the vending machine.
Bianca placed her hands on her hips and rocked back on her heels. The jubilation shining on her bruised face made me want to lash out and blacken her other eye, but my mind raced with possibilities.
The longer she stretched out the silence, the harder my insides trembled. Why hadn’t the forensic report mentioned semen in the genetic samples? Would I need a round of STD testing?
“Bianca,” Sebastian growled, “If you’re going to say that Bruce Wilmington or the Riley twins—”
“It was a twin, alright!” She folded her arms across her chest and smirked. “But not Barrett or Jarrett.”
Cormac. She was going to drag Cormac’s name into this and create an even bigger rift between us. Perhaps she tired of all the attention Geraldine was giving him and wanted her friend to bring forward his pigging.
Shallow breaths wheezed in and out of my lungs. I had to tell myself that Bianca was a liar, desperate to hurt me because I’d refused to fall in line with her father’s demands.
With the most theatrical of movements, Bianca glanced from left to right, as though checking for eavesdroppers, then she cupped one hand at the side of her mouth in an overly dramatic whisper.
“Ashley.”
“What?” I tilted my head to the other side.
Leopold folded his arms across his chest. “She doesn’t have a prick.”
She wrinkled her nose in a way that indicated that she didn’t find Leopold’s comment remotely funny. “The final part of Ashley’s initiation was to stuff the pork ribs in her own sister’s twat.”
The words slammed into my gut, making my muscles stiffen. Beside me, Prakash gasped, and Sebastian sucked in a breath through his teeth. Bianca was too busy checking Sebastian’s reaction to notice mine.
The memory of Ashley lying among bags of designer items resurfaced. She hadn’t applied for a credit card under Mom’s name, after all. Mr. Selby had helped us close out all their accounts and transfer the utility bills to my name. All the credit agencies would have Mom’s name and date of birth listed as deceased.
Without thinking, I whispered, “Ashley won Geraldine’s ten-thousand-pound challenge.”
Bianca’s smirk was triumphant. “In cash, and we helped her spend it on bags and shoes and expensive makeup.”
I shook my head and breathed through the shock. Bianca should have unveiled that revelation before I’d learned that Ashley had made two boys die of a drug overdose. Right now, it was the least of her crimes.
Prakash squeezed my leg and lowered his brows into an are-you-alright look. I gave him a quick nod and made a mental note to ask the police to take a sample of Ashley’s DNA as soon as they caught up with her in Ibiza or wherever she had disappeared.
She stepped forward and placed both hands on her hips. “You’re no better than anyone else, Pigsty.”
I rubbed my chin, feigning disinterest. “Interesting… By your definition, I lost my virginity at twelve, when I inserted my first tampon.”
Bianca’s nostrils flared. She breathed so hard, her shoulders rose and fell with the effort. I gulped. Would she bellow out loud what Ashley had done to me in front of the whole common room? Despite everything, but I still didn’t want her blurting out something so hideous.
With a snarl, she spun on her heel, shoved a girl away from a vending machine, and picked up a can of Coke.
When she ripped it open, we all shot out of our seats. It was one thing to act cool, but another to be a sitting target.
“I’ll kill you!” she screeched at the top of her voice.
I curled my lip. “Better people than you have tried, and they’ve all failed.”
Students from different years streamed in through the doors to watch the spectacle. A few of them turned their attention to me, presumably thinking that this was my pigging, and I was the one crying murder.
Bianca ripped open the can’s ring pull and flung the entire can in my direction. As the can flew through the air, its contents spilled over the sofa and coffee table. I darted to the right but managed to get caught by a few stray droplets.
One of her sycophants handed her two more open cans, and everybody scattered to the far end of the common room. Laughter filled the air, but I couldn’t even smile. Not when I remembered Leopold mentioning that Bianca’s sister was still at home. Why didn’t she direct her anger at her father?
“Bianca,” I said.
She turned around. “What do you want, you fat slut?”
“You’re nearly three-hundred miles from London, and with Brittas Academy on your CV, you’ll be abl
e to study anywhere in the world.”
“So what?” she hurled the can straight at me.
I side-stepped most of the droplets, wondering if she’d spared a thought for her little sister, who was probably suffering Mr. Byrd’s abuse. “Think about someone else.” It was hard to spell it out with so many people standing around, but I had to say something. “Think of someone too young to escape that kind of hell.”
Chapter 11
Bianca threw down her cans and ran out of the common room, but the students crowding the door took their time in making a space for her to escape. Sebastian placed an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side.
The students stood around the doorways and walls and gaped. I scowled at them. How many people had overheard what Bianca had told us about Ashley? Did it even matter considering the scale of the subsequent school scandals?
“Are you alright?” Leopold rounded the sofa and placed a hand on my cheek.
“It’s not exactly a major shock,” I muttered.
Prakash approached from the other side of the sofas, disapproval etched in his features. “Still, it was vindictive of her to bring that up, especially when you’ve been so discreet about her own situation.”
Sebastian pressed a kiss on the top of my head. “None of this reflects on you. Sometimes shitty things happen to good people.”
“Yes,” I said with a sigh. It was too late to regret signing Mrs. Benazir’s bursary agreement. I was stuck here contractually, and because I didn’t want to leave the kings.
It took several minutes for the excited chatter to die down in the common room. Some of the younger students hung around by the vending machines, feigning interest in their contents while giving us a surreptitious glance.
“Out of the way, children!” said Mr. Blunt’s loud voice. “You shouldn’t even be in the sixth form common room.”
I turned to the door, where the caretaker stood with Mr. Pinkerton. The lawyer wore a red and black tie with his undertaker suit, but his cornflower blue eyes sparkled when he caught our gazes.
My heart flip-flopped, and I clutched Sebastian around the waist. “Did you arrange to meet?”
Sebastian shook his head.
“Do you have news?” Prakash’s voice trembled.
Mr. Pinkerton’s gaze swept across the room of curious students, most of whom had stopped looking at us to stare at him. “Perhaps a change in location?”
“I’ll lead the way.” Mr. Blunt headed down the hall with the lawyer at his heels.
We walked through the common room doors, out into the hallway and down the stairs. Leopold slung an arm around Prakash’s shoulders, and Sebastian continued to hold me at his side.
My pulse pounded in my throat twice as fast as our footsteps. This had to be good news because if it was bad, the police would be here to make a second arrest.
As we descended to the ground floor, Leopold’s whispered words of comfort echoed in the stairwell. Prakash kept his head down, occasionally nodding, but the slump in his shoulders indicated that he was expecting the worst.
My heart twisted. Damn Ashley for making a false report that got him arrested and damn Corrine for starting everything by accusing the kings of rape.
At the bottom of the stairwell, Mr. Blunt opened the door to the ground floor and stepped out. “It’s over the first on the left. I’ll be back in an hour to lock up.”
Mr. Pinkerton thanked him and stepped into the room, followed by Leopold and Prakash. Sebastian and I stepped inside to find the others sitting around a table in a room half the size used by the Board of Governors.
The lawyer placed his briefcase flat on the table and flicked open the latch with his thumbs. He turned to Sebastian first. “Thank goodness you made a statement to the police about Miss Claymore and submitted photographic evidence. It certainly sheds light on her statement.”
“Have they discounted it?”
“They’re viewing it as malicious and giving it the attention it deserves.”
Lowering myself into the seat opposite Leopold and next to Sebastian, I gulped. Hopefully, that meant none.
He turned to me. “The character references you arranged helped a long way to secure Mr. Kashaayah’s release, and in light of recent developments with your sister, the police have discounted her original statement.”
I turned to Prakash, who gave me a tiny smile.
“Is she going to be punished for wasting police time?” asked Leopold.
Mr. Pinkerton leaned back in his seat and raised his brows. “Considering a more recent statement submitted by the witness to a double-poisoning, I would say that wasting police time is the least of Ashley Evergreen’s problems.”
“What does that mean for Kash?” asked Sebastian.
“All charges regarding the assault of Ashley Evergreen have been dropped due to a lack of evidence.”
All the air left my lungs in a huge sigh of relief, and my muscles turned to mush. “Finally!”
“Thank you.” Sebastian pumped the lawyer’s hand up and down.
Prakash shook his hand next. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, Mr. Pinkerton.”
After Leopold and I thanked the lawyer, he excused himself and left the room, leaving us all standing by the door.
Prakash doubled over, resting his hands on his thighs. His breaths came in ragged bursts. “I thought he came to tell me something worse had happened.”
I rubbed circles on his back. “It’s over now.”
“Not yet,” he murmured. “Your sister might have done the right thing in the end, but nothing can take away what I’ve experienced since getting arrested. I want to have words with her.”
I locked eyes with Sebastian, who grimaced.
“What?” Prakash straightened, turning his gaze from me to Sebastian, and to Leopold, who leaned against the door and rubbed the back of his neck.
“About Ashley.” Leopold’s voice trailed off.
I blew out a long breath and curled my fingers around Prakash’s hand. Where did we even begin with that girl? “Ummm… She meant what she said at the end of last term about wanting that money. Only she tried blackmailing the knights, and Bruce beat her up.”
Leopold’s brows drew together. “The twins must have helped. Not even Bruce could have dished out the amount of damage we saw.”
“What are you saying?” asked Prakash.
Sebastian leaned against the wall. “We gave her the money she wanted in exchange for signing over her half of the Evergreens’ cottage to Willow. Part of the agreement was to change her statement, but she didn’t.”
Prakash pinched the bridge of his nose. “Bloody hell.”
“Ashley didn’t send in the second statement,” said Leopold. “She handed it to us in exchange for half the value of Willow’s house.”
Prakash’s brows drew together. “What made the difference, then?”
“Barrett Riley’s witness statement. And Gilbert from the club also put in a good word.”
Leopold opened the door. “Come on. We’ll fill in you later.”
Sebastian and Leopold disappeared with an excuse about checking that no one was sitting on the royal seats, but it was clear that they wanted to give Prakash and me time alone.
We walked through the hallway with his arm around my shoulders and my arm around his back. Each glance I stole of his handsome, bronze features made my heart ache. For what he had suffered and for the kings and myself, who had worried for him all these weeks. I still couldn’t believe he had returned.
As we ascended the stairs, he asked, “Are you alright?”
“I missed you so much.”
“Didn’t you have your hands full with all the disasters and scandals taking place every few weeks?”
“It still wasn’t the same without you,” I murmured.
A trio of fourth-year boys opened the door leading to the third floor. They gaped as we passed, then they whispered and snickered to each other. Not for the first time, I wondered
if they had been present during Ashley’s pigging.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I continued up to the fourth floor, and Prakash let me into his room.
As soon as the door clicked shut, I pressed myself into Prakash’s broad, muscular body. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and I melted into his embrace.
“You feel so perfect,” he murmured into my hair.
I tilted my head up to stare into his obsidian eyes. “I could stay like this forever.”
A smile curled his full lips. “I was hoping to maneuver you onto the bed at some point during the evening.”
“Sooner or later?” I asked.
“In due course.” He cradled the back of my head in his large, warm hand and kissed me.
The slide of his lips against mine was soft and sweet and sensual, and I softened against him and sighed, desiring more. Prakash slipped his tongue between my lips with caresses so delicious, my toes curled.
A happy groan rumbled through his chest as I brought our lower halves together, and his thick erection pressed into my belly. The pulse between my legs pounded the beat of a war drum, urging me to strip him bare.
“Willow,” he groaned into my ear. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold back.”
“Good.” I yanked off my tie and let it fall to the floor. “Because I want it all.”
I slid his blazer off his shoulders, and he pulled off his shirt, exposing a defined chest that looked like Michelangelo had fashioned it out of polished bronze. In a flurry of shaking hands and popping buttons, we both ended up naked and kissing atop his ivory comforter embroidered in silky thread.
His hands roved my body, and he pressed kisses over my breasts and belly, making me yearn for more. An urgent hunger seized my core, and I spread my legs, ready for anything.
Gripping himself at the base, he rubbed the tip of his erection over my slickness and then up to my throbbing clit. A starburst of pleasure exploded up my belly, through my clenching core, and down my thighs.
“Do you like that?” he whispered.
“Yes,” I said with a gasp. “M-more!”
With every tight circle he rubbed around my clit with his cock head, pleasure mounted, making my core muscles clench. Molten heat gathered between my folds, and I sank further into the mattress, feeling like I would drop through the floor if he didn’t stretch me open, fill me, and give me what I needed.
