Second Chance Soul: a paranormal reverse harem steamy slow burn academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 2)

by Ella J. Smyth

  “Get a room,” I called out, grinning so hard my cheeks hurt. They were adorable together, and Beth always seemed a lot happier when Kenzy or Luke were around. Before the term break, Beth had told me her father had insisted on no sex before marriage for religious reasons. I hadn’t believed her then, and I certainly didn’t believe her now. Not with the way her body was pressed against Luke’s, and the two of them tangled like amorous octopuses. Octopi? Whatever. Way too cuddly for my liking, anyway.

  I went back to reading my book, trying to give them a little privacy. But slowly, I became aware of a throbbing between my legs. Moving my body to relieve some tension, I bit back a groan. This was so weird. Waves of arousal pulsed in my groin, and I could feel myself getting wet. What was going on? I tried my best to tune out the two love-birds, but the feeling grew, as if fingers were caressing my nipples and others traveling lower along my skin.

  “Seriously, can you stop?” I bit out, trying not to give away how turned on I was. Just as suddenly as the heat had erupted, it stopped when Beth and Luke stepped apart.

  “Sorry,” Luke muttered. Beth threw him a shy look, her cheeks and ears bright-red. Yep, adorable but also annoying.

  Smiling to myself, I went back to reading my text, underlining some sentences, and taking down notes. I sank into my revision routine for the next half an hour while Beth and Luke talked quietly on Beth’s bed.

  I looked up from my book when Beth’s voice grew louder. The last time I’d paid attention, they’d been close together and whispering. Now they’d scooted apart and were glaring at each other.

  “Why would Kenzy and I want to push you out of the relationship?” Luke asked, irritation and anger bleeding into his tone.

  “Because I can’t do what you want me to do,” Beth responded. My eyebrows shot up. Was this still about Beth’s insecurity about her relationship? Didn’t Luke realize all she wanted was a hug, a kiss, and reassurance she wouldn’t be left out? It was so obvious to me, but Luke seemed to be taking it personally.

  “Do you really think I’m so shallow I’d use you for sex? And if you wanted to go slow, I’d dump you?” His voice had gone dangerously quiet, as if he was trying to stop himself from blowing up. I watched him, my eyes tightening with fury.

  In the back of my mind, a voice argued, “Why are you so angry? These aren’t your feelings. Something’s wrong,” but I couldn’t stop it.

  Beth’s eyes were brimming with tears. “I don’t want to go slow. But I can’t have sex. I told you.”

  Luke got up off the bed. “We shouldn’t have this discussion without Kenzy present. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  The anger in my gut had been replaced by the most terrible sadness I’d ever felt. Worse than when I’d first gotten here. Worse than when my mom had disowned me. The feeling cut through my body like a sharp blade, making me feel like I was bleeding inside. I wrapped my arms around my midriff and suppressed a groan.

  Slug, who’d had a nap while I’d been busy, lifted his head, staring at Beth with the strangest expression on his face. I had no idea cats’ faces could be so expressive. He looked scared and angry at Beth in equal parts. But before I could say something to relieve the tension, another wave of sadness washed over me and shut down my thoughts.

  I blinked at Beth, whose eyes were brimming with tears. Impatiently, she wiped the back of her hand over her eyes and got up. “I’ll go for a walk to calm down.”

  The moment she left the room, the pain stopped. Just like that. I sat up straight and took a deep breath. What the hell had happened? Why had I felt all these emotions that weren’t mine? The anger had been Luke’s, and the sadness had been Beth’s.

  I picked up my pen where I’d dropped it and stared at my shaking fingers. And what about Slug? He’d always gotten along with Beth just fine. In fact, he’d spent more time with her than with me last term. So why was he acting so strangely toward her?

  9

  “Sharon’s back.”

  At Beth’s announcement, I dropped my fork with a theatrical flourish. “Oh, great. There goes the neighborhood.”

  Beth giggled. “She brought a bag full of candy, and I know where it’s hidden.”

  “Really.” I pinched her midriff playfully. “I don’t think you need any more sweets.”

  Beth slapped my fingers harder than necessary, but to be fair, my comment had been a bit mean. I blew on my injured fingertips and grimaced. “Sorry, that sounded funnier in my head than when I said it out loud. You’re perfect and gorgeous.”

  Beth nodded, mollified. “Damn right. And don’t you forget it.”

  Her expression turned thoughtful. “I saw Sharon this morning. She was coming out of the boys’ dorms.”

  “Oh?” I glanced at her, sipping some water. “Why is that unusual? Doesn’t she stay over at her boyfriend’s room all the time?”

  “Yes, but Brett and her broke up. Apparently, he caught her having sex with Tom. Then she cheated on Tom with Steve, and now she’s got a thing going with Lamarr.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Are you slut-shaming her? I thought you magical folks were okay with people sleeping around?”

  “Excuse me? Number one, I’m not slut-shaming anybody. I’m only pointing out she’s got a lot of boyfriends lately. And number two, polyamory is not the same as sleeping around. Just because you’re in a committed relationship with more than one person doesn’t mean you can cheat on them.”

  Oops, I put my foot in it.

  “Sorry,” I said, raising my arms in surrender. “Blame my non-magical upbringing for not realizing the difference. I know better now.”

  Beth waved her hand. “Apology accepted. Anyway, what I was trying to say is I’m worried about her. Haven’t you noticed how tired she looks?”

  “Well, wouldn’t you look tired with all the sex?”

  Now my best friend glared at me. “Can you stop making jokes? She’s got big bags under her eyes and is losing weight. And what is it with all the days she’s missing? Every time I ask her, she gives me some bullshit story about being on ‘secret missions’ for the head witch. I’m telling you, something weird is happening with her.”

  I tapped my teeth with my fingernail as I thought about it. I hadn’t paid attention before, but now that she’d mentioned it, I had to agree. There was something odd going on with our roommate. And even though I wasn’t a big fan of the girl, we were sharing the same living space for the time being.

  “Maybe we should talk to her together,” I finally suggested.

  Beth had walked over to Sharon’s bed and pulled a book from underneath the clothes piled up on it.

  “There it is.” She held up her Advanced Elemental Magic textbook. “I’ve been looking for this.”

  Then she wrinkled her nose. “What the… Why are the pages damp?”

  She turned back toward Sharon’s bed. “This is so weird. All her pant legs are wet at the bottom. Why would she leave them like that?”

  Beth opened her mouth as if she wanted to say more, but then she shook her head and murmured, “Couldn’t be.”

  “Couldn’t be what?”

  “It’s nothing. Just something that popped into my head.” Beth shrugged and tried to smoothen out the pages of her book. I knew she’d tell me when she was ready, so I didn’t push her.

  “We’ll add this to the list of things to discuss with her. It would explain the damp smell in our room. When’s the last time she did laundry?”

  “No idea, but you’re right. Her stuff reeks.” Beth sniffed the pile of clothes and reared back. “Ew. Reminds me of the pond we have in our garden at home. Disgusting.”

  I was flabbergasted. “Why would you sniff her stuff?”

  “I don’t know, but now that I have, we can’t leave them here. They really stink.”

  Between the two of us, and a pair of rubber gloves, we moved Sharon’s clothes into a trash bag and set it inside the little bathroom. Then we left her a note in case we weren’t there when she came back, telling
her if she didn’t wash them right away, we’d put the bag into the hallway.

  Sharon didn’t return to the room until long after midnight. Beth was fast asleep and never stirred, but I woke up the moment the door snapped into its lock. Or maybe it was Sharon’s giggles and the hushed conversation she had with somebody who followed her into our bedroom.

  By the time I’d woken up completely and was ready to bitch her out, two bodies were writhing on Sharon’s bed, and muted sighs had turned into full-on groans. Lying in the dark, I stared at the other side of the room.

  I couldn’t see much, but the noises and the heaving lump under Sharon’s bedclothes left nothing to the imagination. At one stage, a male voice shushed, followed by a suppressed giggle that quickly descended into another long-drawn-out moan.

  This was ridiculous. Our roommate had snuck some random guys into the dorm room to make out with him in her bed. I opened my mouth to protest when the squeaking of bedsprings started. Like, seriously?

  Whatever the guy was doing to Sharon, it sounded energetic. She certainly seemed to enjoy it, judging by the increasing volume of yelps. I feel like a pervert, listening to them. If I say something now, she’ll wonder why I didn’t stop them sooner.

  I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep, thankful that the darkness wasn’t giving away my red face. Whoever that guy was, he was showing Sharon a good time for sure. It didn’t take them much longer to finish, thank God.

  As heavenly quiet descended on the room, Beth’s voice was clearly audible. “Sharon, you randy goat, we’re going to have a conversation tomorrow about what’s acceptable when your roommates are present. You can thank your lucky stars I’m too tired right now. And get rid of whoever you dragged in.”

  I snickered into my pillowcase. Tiny, unassuming Beth had claws. I’d never been on the receiving end of her ire, but I didn’t envy Sharon come morning.

  After a long pause Sharon whispered an even more surprising, “Sorry.”

  10

  The next morning, I was still thinking about what was going on with Sharon. By the time we’d gotten up, she’d already left again. Her bed was made, and her dirty clothes had disappeared. I checked the laundry room on my way to class, but all the machines were empty. So what had she done with them?

  I didn’t see her again until the second class of the day. Sharon sat in the back of Elemental Magic. When I waved at her, she ignored me.

  Typical. First she wakes me up in the middle of the night, bumping uglies with some dude, and then she pretends to be better than me. Same old Sharon.

  But something was wrong. I glanced at her a few times as Mrs. Palmer talked. Sharon seemed listless and out of it. Her eyes were glassy, and her face looked gaunt. Was she on drugs? But where would she have gotten any inside of the academy?

  I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. Again and again, Mrs. Palmer was looking toward the back. As the lesson went on, her expression changed from questioning to concerned. Finally, she called on my roommate. “Sharon, would you come down here and demonstrate how to draw moisture from the air into a glass?”

  We waited as Sharon got up and walked to the front. Her movement was hesitant, as if she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing. When Mrs. Palmer handed her a beaker, Sharon stared at it as if she’d never seen one before.

  “Go on,” the teacher said, trying to encourage her. Sharon’s hand shook as she focused on something I’d witnessed her do plenty of times when she refilled her drink while studying at the dorm. Droplets appeared at the walls of the glass, sliding down and collecting at the bottom.

  There was about an inch of liquid in the tumbler when Sharon swayed. Her face lost all color, and if Mrs. Palmer hadn’t grabbed her arm, she would have fallen to the floor. Luke brought a chair to the front, and the teacher lowered Sharon onto it.

  The classroom was awash with concerned voices. I called out, “Is she okay?”

  Sharon might be a pain in the ass, but she looked awful right now. My roommate tried to smile. Mrs. Palmer said, “Lance, would you be so kind and take Sharon to the infirmary if she can walk?”

  She glanced questioningly at Sharon as she asked. Sharon got up as if to test her strength. Whatever weakness had overcome her, the color was returning to her face, and she smiled when Lance put his arm around her waist to support her.

  Lance nodded at Mrs. Palmer, and both my roommate and potential boyfriend walked to the infirmary. Once again I had the feeling that I was missing something. No doubt that Sharon had nearly fainted in front of the class. And she looked awful with big rings under her eyes. But when Lance had touched her, she’d seemed to recover very quickly. Too quickly.

  After dinner, the air was so cold, my breath wafted around my head like a dragon’s plume. My skin tingled as I entered the dorm building and made my way to my room. It was already dark, and the hallway light had been broken for weeks. Matt’s collapsed body flashed through my thoughts, but I pushed the images down. I hadn’t thought of him for a while. What could I do anyway? I was too scared to talk to anybody else. What if Lawson found me? I swallowed hard. Pull yourself together, Amber.

  When somebody moved out of the shadows, my heart jumped, and my hand flew to my mouth to hold in a scream. Julian stepped forward and pulled me into a tight hug. I grabbed on to his shoulders as if I were drowning.

  “Dammit, you gave me such a fright,” I said, breathless from the shock.

  “Sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  We held each other for a few moments before I pulled out my key and opened the door. Sharon still hadn’t returned, and Beth was studying for at least another hour. We had the place to ourselves.

  Boys weren’t supposed to be in the girls’ dormitories, but as Sharon had demonstrated last night, nobody really cared. There was no senior student monitoring comings and goings. Sometimes it felt like we just weren’t worth it, or more precisely, as long as we didn’t try to escape or draw outside attention to us, the staff largely ignored what we got up to.

  Julian lost no time. I was grateful I’d made my bed for once before leaving for classes. He pulled me down on it, holding my hand as we sat. My heart was pumping faster, and my breathing sped up, just from being near him.

  Yet I felt a little shy. I hadn’t seen him in nearly six weeks until yesterday. Beth had suggested I write him and Kiernan letters throughout the break, but come on. I didn’t do letters. I mean, who did nowadays? So yeah, my nerves were on full display.

  But before I could say anything, Julian had turned my face toward his. “I missed you so much. So, so much,” he whispered before kissing me. Nerves? What nerves? His soft lips, his smooth tongue, the way his arms enveloped me, holding me tightly pressed against him. I never thought I’d be one to swoon like in an old movie, but he was all around me. He tasted wonderful, of cool mountain lakes and spring water.

  He hadn’t taken his dark-blue pea coat off, and the wool felt scratchy against my skin. The warm air trapped inside his outer wear smelled faintly of an aftershave I didn’t recognize. It was spicy and familiar, like seaweed and iodine. Ocean smells.

  He pressed me down onto the mattress, leaned on his elbows above me, and drew his lips from my neck to my collarbone. I stretched my head back to give him more space.

  “Let’s get these clothes off,” he murmured as he slipped out of his coat. Then he helped me with my jacket. I’d lost all track of time. The door opened at some stage, and Sharon said something. Then she left again. I couldn’t have cared less. All I knew was that I wanted more kissing, more cuddling, just more.

  Grabbing Julian’s shoulders, I pulled him back down on top of me, spreading my legs to allow him to slot in between. He pushed himself onto his elbows and smiled down at me. “Want to go a little further?”

  I grinned, hiding my nervousness. “Less talk, more action.”

  When he kissed me again, I could feel his amusement through his lips. But the moment he tangled his tongue with mine, I was lost again. Julian t
ook his time kissing me deeply and thoroughly. My whole body lit up with waves of excitement, and I wriggled against him.

  When I felt his hand against my breast, I broke the kiss and inhaled deeply. Julian stopped moving and looked at me with a concerned expression. “Hey, if it’s too much, I’ll stop. Okay?”

  I nodded. I didn’t really want him to stop. Julian skimmed his lips against mine before sliding them down my neck again, nibbling on my earlobe as he went. It felt funny, ticklish, but when his hand moved, the sensation turned from strange to exciting.

  Julian pushed up my T-shirt. His fingers brushed past my nipple and pinched it lightly through my bra. My breathing sped up, and I moaned as the feeling traveled from my breast to between my legs. Instinctively, I moved my pelvis upwards, rubbing against Julian’s body.

  His breath hitched, and he groaned into my ear. His fingers never stopped moving. “What do you want? Tell me.”

  What did I want? I wanted him to move or grab me or do something. I couldn’t say that, though. I was too embarrassed. Instead, I let my body do the talking. Grabbing his hand, I pulled it down where my pulse throbbed between my legs. We stared at each other, his desire evident on his face. His panting breath puffed across my skin, and I wondered if I looked as gorgeous to him as he did to me.

  Julian fumbled with my button but eventually managed to pull my zipper down and open my pants. He moved his hand lower until he cupped my sex. His middle finger slipped between my sex and stilled. He closed his eyes and tilted his forehead against mine.

  “You’re so wet already.”

  I bit my lips, too embarrassed to reply. When I tried to turn my head away to avoid his glance, he moved my chin towards him. “Hey, don’t do that. I know you’re not experienced, but don’t hide from me. We’re in this together, okay?”