by Marian Tee
Everything was just so odd, nothing happening like I had imagined it would.
“Kassia, I need you to sign something.”
My heart leapt in my throat as Kimberley handed me a sheaf of documents. Adoption papers, I thought dazedly. I was pretty sure someone as beautiful as my mother wouldn’t have remained single. She was married now, and the nice man she had married wanted to adopt me so we could be a family.
I was just about to read the contract when Kate asked, “What’s it for?”
“Oh, just a trust fund for her, in exchange for a confidentiality agreement.”
The last words threw me off, and I lowered the contract back to my lap. “A confidentiality agreement about what?” I couldn’t think of anything I know that was worth hiding except, maybe, for the Fifty Shades of Grey DVD I had hidden under my bed.
“It’s all in there,” my mother answered, still smiling her odd smile.
“Just spell it out, Kimberley. What is in it?”
“Can’t you just read—”
“Kimberley!”
My mother’s face whitened.
I was shocked, too. I had never heard Kate raise her voice before.
The odd smile disappeared from Kimberley’s face. “This is how you want to play it?” She didn’t wait for Kate to answer. “Fine, then. The contract is for Kassia to receive a hundred thousand dollars in exchange for promising she will never contact me after this and never tell a living soul about the relationship between us. Once she’s signed this, we can all be dead to each other.” Her gaze never waved from Kate as she spoke, and this time I realized what the oddness was about.
In fact, it wasn’t oddness at all.
Her smile, her tone, everything that made her seem odd was all because she was empty.
Kimberley Dresden was completely devoid of love, and I hadn’t ever met someone like her until now.
“For God’s sake, Kimmy, don’t speak like that.” It was Chris, coming to us from behind, and I had never seen such despair on my grandfather’s face. Beside me, Kate drew in her breath sharply, and I knew she had seen the same thing, too.
All of us were hurting, but my mother remained…odd. An odd stranger, able to look at Kate and Chris like they weren’t the parents who made her, raised her, loved her. In fact, my mother acted like they didn’t even exist at all, looking at me with one arched eyebrow as she asked, “Are you going to sign it or not?”
I remembered all the days that I had dreamt about meeting her, remembered how I would imagine all sorts of things we’d be doing together as mother and daughter. I remembered telling all of it to Kate and Chris, and I wondered if that was the reason why they had allowed this meeting, why they had allowed themselves to be hurt again.
Picking up the pen, I scrawled my name on the lines, over and over, until all twenty pages of the contract were signed. “Please don’t send us any money. We don’t need it.”
She laughed, oddly. “You’re just like them.” She threw a disgusted look at her surroundings. “And how can you seriously say that when you’re living in this dump?”
Chris flinched, and I knew that the insult hit him raw. My grandfather was a very traditional man, someone who thought it was his duty to be the breadwinner of the family simply because he was the man and Kate and I were women.
“We don’t see it as a dump.” My voice drew her attention back to me. “We’re happy here, so thank you for your concern, but we really don’t need anything else.” I stood up, and Kimberley stood up as well. “Thank you for coming. Rest assured none of us will ever bother you again. But if you ever make the mistake of sending us the money, I’ll just ask the bank to give it back to my mother.”
Her lips tightened at the threat. “Bitch.”
“Kimberley,” Kate cried out.
I didn’t even flinch. It seemed her oddness was rubbing off on me. Like mother, like daughter, and all that crap.
“Is that all?” I asked quietly.
“No. Not quite.” She turned to her companion. “I’d like you to take a photo with her. Make sure you look happy, too. I’m going to show it to my husband, let him know that my love child’s in a good place and we’d only be guilty of ruining her life if we let her know about the truth.”
Without a word, I took the phone she had in her hand and came to stand beside her companion. “Please smile, ma’am.” I lifted the phone up, smiled, and took a selfie. It was pretty easy, thanks to the oddness spreading inside of me.
And just like that, she was gone, leaving nothing but oddness behind her.
I watched my mother drive away, in an obviously expensive car, and I felt odder and odder—
Behind me, I heard my grandmother speak.
“Oh, Chris.”
I whirled around, alarmed by the tremor in Kate’s voice. My grandmother wasn’t crying, but my grandfather was, and the sight crushed me.
I saw it all in his face, saw that he blamed himself for the way my mother turned out, saw the way he couldn’t understand why his own flesh and blood could be like that to them.
And Kate, my lovely, strong grandmother…
I could see it in the way she was hugging her husband, the way she wished she could take all his pain and absorb it inside of her.
All of this because of my mother and how odd she was.
Rushing to them, I wrapped my arms around Kate and Chris. “I’m sorry.” The tears started to fall, and the oddness started to disappear. “I’m so sorry you had to meet her again because of me.” The more I spoke, the harder I cried. But I didn’t stop because it also made the oddness go away, and I wanted that. I needed that.
“I love you, Gran, love you, Gramps, always.” Closing my eyes, I hugged them more tightly, destroying the oddness by allowing the pain of love to fill me.
My mother was odd because she only wanted love without the pain.
But I wasn’t going to be like her, I promised myself fiercely. I wasn’t going to be odd. I wasn’t going to hate. Instead, I was going to fall in love, find a man who would love me back, and with him, I’d give Kate and Chris a son, and we’d be a family.
Together, we wouldn’t ever be odd.
****
“We can’t always play this game,” the council member warned Alessandro from behind. “If you persist in continuing with such actions, a fine will no longer be sufficient. You need to remember, Alessandro: being a prince won’t protect you forever.”
The words continued to echo like a taunt in Alessandro Moretti’s mind even after he was already home.
Fucking Lyccan Council, he thought grimly as he reached for a fresh strip of gauze. All they wanted were peace talks and mediations, like that would really stop those stupid pups from talking shit about his family.
A knock sounded on the door then, and Alessandro said immediately, “Come in.” He didn’t need to ask who it was, the scent tingeing the air letting him know who it was without turning around.
Domenico Moretti walked in. Taller than the twins, Alessandro and Alejandro, by a few inches, he was also more powerfully built, as befitting the heir apparent to the Moretti clan. He also used to be considered the strongest and most respected member of their race, someone whose mere glance would have Lyccans quivering in fear.
But that was then.
Now, Domenico Moretti was a mere shell of who he once was. Now, he was a laughingstock, someone almost the entire race loved to ridicule because of the way he had allowed love to make a fool out of him.
Seeing Alessandro seated on one of the bar stools, applying a special salve to his wounds, Domenico came to a stop. Since most wounds, even those considered mortally fatal by humans, would have healed in mere seconds for Lyccans like them, Domenico knew there were only a few reasons to explain why there were still red gashes on his brother’s chest.
“How bad is the poison?” Domenico asked, his face and tone equally impassive.
“Nothing strong,” Alessandro answered dismissively as he finished applying the
salve and started bandaging his lower chest. “It’s just what I’d expect from cowards like them.” His lip curled as his spoke, his disgust evident as he recalled the way the pups had ganged up on him, thinking they’d win because they had the numbers on their side.
Idiots. Goddamn idiots, thinking that they could beat him just like that.
“As they were obviously cowards…” Domenico’s mildly spoken words drew Alessandro’s attention back to him. “There shouldn’t have been any point in beating them up, don’t you think?” His older brother paused. “And all eight of them, too?”
Another shrug. “You and I both know they deserved it.”
“Well, both of us also know it wasn’t truly you they were trying to offend.”
Teeth gnashing at the way Domenico was still able to stay calm after everything, Alessandro threw away the used gauze into the waste bin as he asked violently, “What the fuck do you want me to do then? Do nothing even if I hear them call you a fucking dog? Or maybe you want me to do it Alejandro’s way and get revenge by fucking their girlfriends?”
“Not quite.” Domenico’s voice remained even despite the fury displayed by his younger brother. “But yes, I would appreciate it if you do find a woman to regularly fuck.”
Alessandro’s head shot up.
Domenico’s gaze remained inscrutable.
His jaw dropped. So he hadn’t been wrong then. That odd note in his brother’s voice wasn’t something he had imagined, making him demand incredulously, “Are you threatening me?”
Domenico was unsurprised by the way Alessandro chose to interpret his words. For a moment, he debated with himself, knowing the risk he was taking. Once he gave Alessandro his word, there wouldn’t be any way he could take it back.
It was a huge risk, but if there was something he had learned since his wife had disappeared, it was how much power love could wield over a person.
Making his decision, Domenico looked at his brother. “I’m not threatening you. Rather, I’m offering you a deal.”
“A deal?” Alessandro fought to keep his wariness in check. Making deals up front wasn’t something Domenico was known for. His oldest brother tended to be a manipulative bastard, one who liked to pull everyone’s strings without anyone knowing it, not even the person whose limbs were under his control.
Domenico clasped his hands behind his back. “Yes. A deal. I want you to find a woman you can fuck regularly – just one woman, be able to fuck her every day for thirty days, and upon finding that woman, if you still want to kill everyone who throws insults at us, I give you my word. You will not have to defend me again.”
Only a moment of silence followed before his younger brother said disbelievingly, “You’re serious? You just want me to fuck someone for thirty days straight—”
“One woman,” Domenico emphasized.
“And that’s it?” Alessandro’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ll go back to being normal if I do that?”
“I have given you my word, haven’t I?”
Alessandro slowly shook his head. “What the hell is this about, Domenico?”
The fact that you have to ask only means I have done the right thing, Domenico thought.
“My reasons for it are immaterial.” Domenico started for the door, saying over his shoulder, “Just let me know when you’ve found her and we’ll start counting the days.”
PRESENT TIME
Don’t smile, don’t smile, DON’T SMILE…
But those maddeningly perfect lips still curved, and Kassia Summers’ heart sank as all the girls in her class released an audible sigh. She didn’t blame them for swooning over the smile. It was perfect. However, she did blame the professor.
Wasn’t he supposed to be hers?
“That is exactly the answer I’m looking for, Ms. Creswell,” Alessandro Moretti said with an approving nod.
“Thank you, Professor. So glad to help.”
Kassia’s teeth gnashed as she watched Natalie Creswell take a seat and made a show of crossing her legs. Kassia didn’t have to be in front to know that those crossing legs were sure to have revealed more than a flash of the girl’s underwear. The thought had her sneaking a look at the professor, but he had already turned to face the screen and pressed a button on the remote to show a new slide to the class.
“Everyone, consider this next set of conjugations.” He faced the class again, and for a moment the professor’s eyes met Kassia’s.
Her breath caught.
His handsome face was still unreadable, but even so, she couldn’t help hoping that he would give her a sign. Any sign would do, she just needed to know that he felt the same way she did—
Natalie raised her hand. “I have a question, Professor.”
The professor immediately looked the other girl’s way, and the connection – imagined or not – between him and Kassia was broken.
He was so unfair.
The thought made Kassia want to slump over her desk. How could the professor act so normally? How could his mind not be filled with thoughts of her? How could he look at her and not think of what they had done – how could he look and not want more, the way she did?
Even now, her mind was crowded with memories, all of them vivid, hot, and forbidden. Even now, without closing her eyes, she could easily remember the professor lowering his head before taking her nipple inside his mouth. Even now, she could remember the tantalizing contrast of his hardness against her softness. Even now, she could remember the sounds of her pants, his groans—
“—are you still with us, Ms. Summers?”
Holy crap.
Her head snapped up, and Kassia’s cheeks burst with fire when she found herself subject to everyone’s mostly smirking gazes.
The professor was speaking to her again. She watched his lips move, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Her mind was a complete blank save for one thought.
Last night, those beautiful lips of his had been on her. Last night, that mouth of his had been on her neck, on her breasts—
“Ms. Summers?”
Kassia mentally shook herself out of her reverie when she belatedly realized that the professor and the entire class was waiting for her to answer.
Clearing her throat, she mumbled, “Could you repeat the question?”
The entire class laughed, but the professor only sighed. “Never mind, Ms. Summers.” He nodded towards another student. “Melissa, do you know the answer?”
Melissa simpered, and the rest of the class switched its attention to her. It spared Kassia from further embarrassment, but not from misery. She had never been boy crazy, so why was she acting like she couldn’t live without the professor’s absolute attention now?
The school bell rang, and Kassia felt it couldn’t have come at a better time. She hurriedly pushed her textbook back inside her bag, intent on getting away as quickly as she could. But the moment she stood up, she heard the professor call her name.
“Ms. Summers?”
She stilled.
“I need you to stay behind so we can discuss your grades before midterms.”
****
Alessandro Moretti watched his student fidget on her feet, a multitude of expressions crossing her face. Anxiety, resentment, fear…so much emotion, but all of it amounting to one thing she was too young and inexperienced to realize.
He waited until he heard the last footsteps die down, making sure there was no one else near enough to interrupt them. Afterwards, he glanced at Kassia and said simply, “Come here.”
The way she hesitated made his lips tighten, not out of displeasure but more to prevent her from knowing how her fiery spirit only made him want her more. Even so, Alessandro hardened his voice as he repeated, “Come here.”
This time, there was no mistaking the authority in his voice, and this time she didn’t resist.
Her walk was pure sensual grace, made sexier by the fact that Alessandro knew nothing about it was contrived. It was a pleasure to watch her, and he savored it, knowing that ever
y inch of her body had only known his touch.
His.
Everything about Kassia Summers was his.
He didn’t know why that mattered to him so much, but it did.
She stopped in front of his desk, and he shook his head. “Closer, Ms. Summers.”
Her brown eyes widened, her fear of being caught made evident by the way she gnawed on her lip. “What if someone sees us?”
Ah, that voice of hers. He was sure she would make millions if she tried dubbing for adult films. Not that he planned to tell her that, of course. Kassia was his, after all.
Seeing that she was still worried, he said gently, “I own this school.” He didn’t say anything else, knowing that she was smart enough to understand the absolute assurance behind his words.
And so she was, with Kassia moving again, closer and closer, and every inch that disappeared between them had his cock hardening. By the time she stepped between his legs, his cock was fully erect, and his fists were clenched against his sides.
He watched her watch him, his arousal burning more fiercely at the way she visibly fought her attraction to him.
Silly little chick, Alessandro thought. They already had a taste of each other. There was no going back from there, no way to stop their passion from turning into a sexual conflagration every time they were alone.
“So…” Kassia looked at him with her mouth set in a defiant angle. “What do you want to speak to me about?”
She was clearly sulking, but instead of being irritated by it, Alessandro only found himself wanting her even more. “You sound furious,” he commented lightly. “Have I done anything to offend you?”
Her lips pursed, and the sight had Alessandro torn between laughing and forcing her lips to part with a kiss.
“Well?”
She shook her head, muttering, “It’s nothing.”
He lifted a brow. “Are you sure?” He looked at her, knowing that the lack of expression on his face would get to her. She was so delightfully easy to read like that.
