by Eden O'Neill
Swallowing, I took quick steps but left a seat or two between us. This of course didn’t matter. He eased that big body up, and once he did, he hugged that massive frame of his right up against me.
I wiggled in my seat, a harsh heat perspiring sweat down my spine and jerking my belly. Especially when Knight settled his arm across the back of my chair and pushed his fingers under the strap of one of my bibs. He tugged at it. “Could you dress more like a little kid?”
Definitely not needing his fashion advice, I worked my shoulder to remove his fingers. I lifted my back off my chair. “Are you even in this class?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?” I faced him, those pretty eyes with a hint of mischief boring into mine.
His hand folding over my shoulder, he brought me closer, tugging at my tank this time. “I would have assumed that was obvious.” His finger played at the top of my joint, almost touching my bra strap when he reached in. “Checking on my little dove.”
Like fuck he was. My hands sweaty on my bag, I reached inside, taking out my laptop to ready myself for class. Professor Hershel had already made his way in, getting ready at the podium, and I turned on my MacBook. “Do I even want to know how you know my class schedule?”
“Probably not.” He played at my joint again, and when he leaned over, the heat of his lips ghosted over my top and bibs.
I sucked in a breath. “What are you doing?”
“Smelling you.”
“Why?”
A shrug and he pulled back, his smile coy. “Anyone ever tell you, you smell like candy?”
“Not lately, no.” I worked my shoulder away again, trying not to reveal how much I burned by what he said, did. My hands curled on my keys. “Why are you in here?”
“Like I said, checking on you. Making sure you’re okay and holding up your end of the deal.”
I fought myself from smirking at what deal. He told me something and I had no option but to abide by it. “You’re horrible at deals, you know? Usually deals require you to have options.”
“Oh, you always have options, Greer.” Pulling back, his wide chest stretched beneath his T-shirt. He dashed up his eyebrows. “It’s just up to you whether you want to do something stupid with them.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t threaten.” He honed in. “But I do always get what I want.”
“That sounds like a threat to me.”
“Call it what you want, but that’s how it is. I don’t know if anyone told you, but you’re in my school. You’re on my campus, so as far as this school is concerned, that makes me your king.” He paused just to flick up my chin. “Which means you, my subject, are whatever I want you to be on any given day.”
A heat pooled as his fingers danced under my chin, just as much fire in his eyes as between my legs. Again, this confused me, his intimidation making me shake as much as something else. I dampened my lips. “What if I don’t want to be whatever you want on any given day?”
He smiled as he pulled my lips apart, but then, it faded as he gripped my jaw, something he more than liked to do.
“Always that mouth,” he growled, his thumb reaching and tugging my bottom lip down. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get you in trouble.”
Trouble was nothing but him, and trouble seemed to follow me all through the rest of class and to lunch. Knight escorted me to the cafeteria in the quad, and though he opened doors and bought me food, he was nothing like a chivalrous knight. He was a demon king in his designer jeans that made his butt look like a muscular ass reel from PornHub. I ate my lunch with nibbled bites while he hovered his presence over me.
“So where you been?” he asked me, not eating anything at all. He seemed to get more pleasure watching me, his fingers laced across the table. “For the past ten years, I mean.”
Try everywhere? Grumbling, I faced anything but him. “Let’s not do this.”
“Do what?”
“Do this?” I passed a hand between us. “You sitting here making conversation with me like you care.”
“I do care.”
“Do you?”
He frowned. “I don’t ask if I don’t care.”
Rolling my eyes, I stared away. “We’ve been all over. Moved back to the state when my stepdad got a job on campus. He and my mom both work here.”
“Therefore, you go here.” He leaned back. “You’re lucky, you know. This is a hard school to get in to.”
“Well, I got decent grades.” I swung my gaze over. “What’s your excuse?”
The wrong thing to say, heated eyes as he got up and came to my side of the table. He draped an arm on my other side, hugging me between him and the booth. His eyes flicked right. “Grab one of those fries.”
“Why?”
He started to grab me, but then I took one. He backed off then, seeing he got what he wanted, his smile content. “Touch it to your lips. Taste it, but don’t eat it.”
Gazing around, I felt nothing but humiliation regardless that no one was actually looking over here. Breathing, I ran the fry across my lips.
“Slower.”
“Seriously?”
His eyes heated again. “Slower.”
I did, warm salt over my lips before opening my mouth.
“Only a taste.”
Doing that too my tongue poked out, touching along the tip of the fry. After I was done, he grabbed my hand. “Now feed it to me.”
“No.”
“Feed it,” he gritted, his fingers digging into my hand. “To me.”
I scanned his eyes, completely serious as he waited. He let go, and I had about two seconds to make a decision. I could tell him to fuck off, fuck everything, and go to the police like I should have days ago. To tell them about him, about what he was doing to me with his sick manipulation. My stepdad was a cop for frick’s sake. I should have told him.
So much warning was in Knight’s eyes as he stared at me, a dare as he watched me weigh my options. This was definitely a power play here, a choice he was technically letting me make.
“…you always have options, Greer… It’s just up to you whether you want to do something stupid with them.”
I fed him the fry, quickly but that wasn’t where this stopped. His hand grabbed mine again, and so quick, I couldn’t let go in time before he pulled my finger into his mouth.
He sucked, a grin and a pop as he pulled my digit out, then chewed the food I gave him. After, he took a napkin, rubbing his mouth, and my brain radiated, my insides twisted and chest fucking heaving. I couldn’t breathe.
Especially when he kissed me.
He pulled my head forward, a small kiss to my brow before standing up. He ran a thumb across my bottom lip. “Good little dove.”
Good little dove… What the fuck?
And I’d played right into it, had the nerve to burn and feel his lips on my brow after he walked away. He passed my roommates on the way out, and how did I know? Because they squealed as they made their way over to me.
“My God, was that Knight Reed?” Sophie asked, her lunch tray in hand. She and the others got Chick-fil-A and immediately crowded around me. “I heard there’s like a building named after him.”
“After his family.” Keisha squealed, pumping her little fists before facing me. “But still! Ah! Why was he here? And did we just see him kiss you? Are you dating? What the fuck?”
“We’re not dating,” I quickly cut, Knight at the entry doors and pounding a couple other guys’ fists. They all had a silver ring on like him, but before he left, he threw an arm around a girl. He got another on his other side, and that’s when he left, the whole party leaving the cafeteria. I frowned. “We just know each other from a long time ago.”
“Um, need to know! Oh my God.” Haley basically melted in her chair, another squeal before facing me. “He’s so loaded. So… hot. My God, how could you not tell us you know him?”
No, that man thought he was a god, and what did that say about me?
I’d let him suck my finger in front of the whole cafeteria…
Then had the nerve to get turned on by it.
Chapter Six
Knight
I grunted, spilling between Melrose’s perfectly plumped lips. I fought a good dick sucking for a couple of days, but in the end, texted her.
I kept thinking about that mouth.
Greer had stood up to me the other day, something I wasn’t particularly used to and hadn’t enjoyed. Shoving my dick inside Melrose now seemed to be the only way to relieve a raging hard on that’d been recurring lately, no matter how many times I rubbed one off, the very thought of Greer and her attitude giving me a semi. A good cock suck would keep the thing at bay for a little while, better than my own hand.
At least that was what I hoped.
My eyes rolled back as Melrose finished the job, taking all my cum and running her tongue along the shaft after she was done. I fell out of her mouth with a pop, and when she lay on my bare chest, she folded her fingers. “Good?”
She didn’t know how good, my hand falling to her back. I hadn’t fucked her, didn’t have the stamina. The moment I’d gotten her into my room, I’d forced her to her knees, modeling not the only thing this girl was good at. The girl was grade-A at giving head, something she not only loved to do but came ready whenever I texted. All girls pretty much did, but no girl gave deep throat like her. She moved off my chest to kiss me, but I pulled her back by her hair.
“Homework,” I lied, easing myself up. I found my jeans and shoved them on. “Maybe next time?”
Probably not as I couldn’t get Greer out of my head. I honestly didn’t even know if I could get hard if I called another girl over, but the visions of Greer and those fuckable lips of hers had proved not only to get the job done but bust a nut into Melrose’s mouth as easily as when I was a teenager. I had a feeling I was just biding my time. The more times I did it with Melrose, the less and less simple visions of Greer would suffice. The girl was obviously in my head, and I didn’t have time for it, all this with her ridiculous. I’d checked up on her the other day mostly to keep her mouth shut, but then she’d teased me with that little mouth and the little devil in my cock got excited. He wanted to play the game, play with her.
Christ, would this girl get off my bed?
Urging Melrose, I pushed her away to shrug my shirt on. She came with me, kissing my back, but after I told her I had homework to do again, she finally got up, giving me her little pouty lips and telling me how cute I was that I was being all responsible and shit. That alone had me kicking her out of my fucking house. I wasn’t cute, but whatever she wanted to fucking say. I let her see her way out, and after, I did grab some of my school stuff and head downstairs. I guessed Greer’s comment got to me a little bit about being a dumbass, and I could technically afford to put in a little more effort when it came to school. In high school, I’d been awesome at the tech stuff, but as a business major, I didn’t use any of that stuff so much now.
“You cocksuckers better not have drank all my juice,” I chided, seeing some of my frat brothers on the couch. They were playing video games with a couple of girls on their laps, and I tossed my bag on a section of the couch. “Make room.”
They did, groaning as they put my bag in my seat. I’d do work on the couch, but decided to take my juice in the kitchen. No one had gratefully touched it, good on them as they’d live another day.
I stamped a glass on the counter before filling it with OJ, as one of the younger brothers came into the kitchen. He was a new guy, not so much in our circle like those of us from back home, but he was cool, loyal. He had a bag of groceries with him, and when he slid a fresh bottle of OJ across the kitchen island at me, he got even more cool points. I pounded his fist. “Thanks.”
“No problem. I was out so whatever.”
I polished off the one, then replaced its space in the fridge with the new one, closing the door. I started to leave the kitchen before Chad got my attention again.
“I saw that girl you were talking to the other night,” he said, putting his own things away in the fridge now. “That one you and Bryce were both talking to with Melrose?”
Freezing, I shifted. “Yeah? Where did you see her?”
Seeing Greer wasn’t a big deal. I mean, she did go school here so whatever. Chad balled up the grocery bag, taking a beer out the fridge before closing it with his boot.
“Just saw her,” he said, cracking it open on the counter. “Thought it was weird because of where she was going into. She cool? She wouldn’t be trying to run her mouth about anything that went on here the other night, right?”
Not unless she was stupid. Now I was really curious about where he said she was going. “Where was she going?”
“Campus police,” he said, his brew doing him right when he breathed out a refreshed sigh. He pointed a finger. “The one on the east side of campus. But it was probably nothing. She wouldn’t be that stupid.”
He pounded my fist again, leaving the room. I snagged my car keys off the counter, then headed out the back door. Homework could wait.
My attention was obviously needed elsewhere.
Greer
I dangled my legs from Ben’s desk, dunking a dumpling into some soy sauce. I accidentally kicked a set of files, and Mom nudged me to get off my stepdad’s desk before he got back.
“Honey bug, you are not paying attention lately,” she said, eating out of her own carton of sweet and sour pork. She and I had picked up dinner for Ben tonight, something we used to do every week until more recent events.
Knowing that was all me, I frowned. “Sorry. Accident.”
Her brow lifted behind her carton before Ben came over in his cop uniform, a few cans of assorted soda beverages in his arms. I see he’d raided the precinct’s vending machines tonight. He grinned, putting out his display for us. “I got Sprite, Coke, and something that isn’t name brand. I think it’s basically Mountain Dew?”
Pointing to that, I took it but didn’t open it, tapping my finger against the can while Mom chose the can of Sprite. Ben opened it for her before pecking her and sitting back down behind his desk, the two of them absolutely adorable. I’d admit I had been weird at first when my mom told me she wanted to start dating again, and when she had, it’d been really fucking weird. She went through a few losers before this guy came around, Ben actually pretty cool.
Especially for a cop.
He took really good care of us, care of my mom, and lounging back, he tossed an arm behind Mom’s folding chair. He jerked a chin at me. “Something wrong with the dumplings?”
I frowned. “No, why?”
I followed their gazes to the dumpling that currently dripped soy sauce on the campus precinct’s floor and cursed, falling to the floor with some paper towels. The curse got me a chide from my mom, who was well aware I’d been swearing since middle school. Hell, she’d been doing it with me until Ben came along. He came from old family values, i.e., a stick in the mud, but he was sweet, kind despite his need for nightly family dinners when I’d been in school and a curfew that saw me home by nine o’clock every night even when I’d been a senior. I shook my head. “Sorry.”
“No big.” Ben headed to the floor with me, getting some Kleenex from his desk. Between the two of us, we got it up, and using some of Mom’s hand sanitizer, we got the stickiness away too. Ben balled everything both he and I had up before trashing it and returning to his chair. He grinned again. “So you gonna let your mom and I in on why you’re so out of it?”
“Out of it?”
Mom tapped me with her sneaker, in her own uniform with the Pembroke University’s insignia on her polo. She’d just come off a shift before picking me up so we could get dinner for Ben during his evening shift. “Yeah, or why you’ve been missing family dinners?”
I hadn’t gone to one since this whole thing with Knight. I shrugged. “Nothing. Just busy with school.”
“Hardly.” She frowned. “Until recently, your Instag
ram account has been nothing but you partying.”
I frowned now. “You’ve been stalking me?”
“Actually, Greer, I believe it’s called parenting?” Ben raised a chopstick, waggling his brown eyebrows at his joke before feeding my mom some kung pao chicken. The two may be adorable, but really disgusting sometimes. I mean, it was my mom… He turned my way. “Everything, okay? You really do seem different.”
“Yeah, baby.” She folded her hand over my knee. “Maybe it’s too much partying? If it’s a problem, we can move you back home next semester. That’s okay, you know?”
God, no. Between the two of them, they might actually try to give me a curfew or some shit. I shook my head. “It’s not a big deal. Just stressful stuff with school.”
“Well, I only did some college, dear, but I think this way you’re acting is weird. Even for you.” She nudged me with a smile. “Tell us about it.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Only everything, the fact that I had a beautiful stalker the size of military vehicle threatening my life whenever he saw fit. I hadn’t seen him since lunch that day, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t see Knight Reed again. The campus was only so big, and he, well, was fucking large. I poked at my food. “Actually, there is something.”
“Yes.” Excitement dancing in my mom’s eyes, she scooted closer, Ben too with interest and I rolled my eyes.
“Remember Knight Reed?” I asked, being passive about it. I dunked another dumpling before popping it into my mouth. “That boy from Maywood Heights?”
“I do.” She frowned and when Ben looked at her, she shrugged. “He’s a boy who lived at one of the houses I used to clean. Greer and I lived at his grandfather’s estate for a while. I was one of their live-in housekeepers.”
“Ah…” Ben lifted his head before his eyes flashed. “His grandpa isn’t Gerald Reed, is he?”
My chest tightened at the thought he knew anything about the Reeds. “Yeah, why?”
Ben lounged back, his fingers threading across his chest. “Well, we have him to thank for our spanking new uniforms. Gear?” He flashed his utility belt, and I supposed his uniform did appear new. Honestly, I wouldn’t even know the difference since I didn’t really pay that much attention. Ben smiled. “I heard his grandson goes to Pembroke. Do you two know each other closely?”
