by Mallory Fox
At least the boys are only trying to physically hurt me. Their methods are extreme, but they make sense. They want to make me cry and scare me off. They want to make me submit. Whereas the girls, all they do is slut-shame me behind their hands whenever they think I’m not looking. No female solidarity whatsoever.
Outside my room, someone shrieks and there’s banging on my door. I crank up the volume of the music I’m playing so I don’t have to listen.
“Pearl, we know you’re in there.”
Casting my eyes upward, I open the bedroom door to see Flick dressed to the nines. While I’m still in a pair of leggings and sports bra, complete with an added layer of sweat from a virtual workout with my personal trainer. I must look a right mess compared to her.
“So, you’re really not coming,” she says, looking me up and down.
I blow a stray lock of damp hair out of my face and tuck it behind my ear. “I’m just not in the mood.”
“Clearly. Is it because of Seth?” she asks, raising a brow.
“No. It’s just been so stressful lately, what with the takeover and my father’s announcement.”
She laughs. “You’re such a liar.”
I still haven’t told Flick what happened with Seth’s cousins. All she knows is that something is going on and she won’t drop it.
I fold my arms across my chest. “I promise you. It’s not Seth.”
Her face softens. “But the boys are being right dicks about it all, aren’t they? Stealing all your underwear is so childish; and planting that dead squirrel in your locker… Well, that was just disgusting. I don’t think they’re going to try anything tonight though, not with Seth around, unless…” She cocks her head. “Seth didn’t have anything to do with those awful pranks, did he?”
“No. He told me it wasn’t him, though I still don’t trust him.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re not worried about him becoming your stepbrother after… you know.”
I breath out a sigh. “Flick, no I’m not, because nothing happened. We got drunk, I stayed over. No big deal. I promise, I’ll be back to myself after the wedding. I just want an early night tonight after everything that’s happened.”
She stares at me for a few beats, as if trying to see the truth behind my words, then exhales. “I get it Pearl, if you change your mind though, call me, okay?”
* * *
After I close the door on Flick, I finish packing quickly, shower and go to bed. Most of the girls have left already taking their noise with them, but I still can’t quite drift off. All very normal for me ever since mum died. Though, this time, I can’t stop worrying about tomorrow.
Seth Montford is going to be my stepbrother.
What does that even entail anyway? Will he be looking out for me now like he did the other day? Are we going to be traveling home for the school holidays together? Will we be living together?
Living together…
My mind drifts back to the night in the pub and my cheeks burn red at the thought of what I let him do. How can I be his stepsister if I want him to do that to me? The thought of Seth doing bad things to me, and how much hotter it is now that it’s kind of taboo, has me tossing and turning for the longest time.
Yesterday, you almost got raped and now you’re having indecent thoughts about your stepbrother. That’s fucked in the head, Pearl.
Maybe Grams is right. There’s something wrong with me. Since Mother died, I don’t seem to care about things in the same way. I should be needing therapy over what almost happened, not wanting more of it.
But I can’t help that I’m turned on.
Like really and truly turned on.
Maybe I could just have my wicked way with him and be done with the whole virginity thing. It has a certain je ne sais quoi, losing it to Seth just before he becomes my stepbrother.
Daddy would be furious, that’s for sure.
Unless, I can help him get Montford International…
I finally feel myself drifting off when a noise, a creak of wood and a rustle of paper, has me sitting up spinning around in the dark. I flash my phone light over to where I caught the edge of movement. There on the floor under my door is an envelope.
I stare at it for a few seconds. If I get out of bed now, I might not be able to get back to sleep and could miss the flight altogether. It’s probably just the details of the car booking from the house matron. I lie back down and squeeze my eyes shut, willing the tail end of sleep I almost caught to come back.
It doesn’t.
I need to see what it is.
After a lot of huffing and tossing, I stumble out of bed not bothering to turn the light on. I’d rather my body not think it’s time to get up yet. The light from my phone is enough to walk over to the door. The envelope is just like the one Father’s pin came in. Thickset and cream but this time with an embossed and elaborated M on the front instead of an R.
M for Montford.
I get back into bed, switch on the lamp, and tear it open. Inside is a contract several pages long. Several pages…. My sleep pattern is going to be well and truly messed up.
It takes me a while to read it all the way through once, going back through the parts I need to be clear on. Then I stuff it back in its envelope and throw it across the room. It lands with a gentle thud on the floor next to my suitcase. I curl and uncurl my fists before getting out of bed again. After reading that, there’s no way I’m going to be able to go back to sleep. I head to the wardrobe and pick out a few things and start getting dressed.
I need to see Seth, right now.
If he thinks I’m signing this crap, he can go fuck himself.
I’ve just finished curling my hair and applying the finishing touches to my makeup, when my phone buzzes. I answer without looking at the screen. Very few people have this number, so it’s either Flick, Charlotte, Janie or my father.
Seth speaks, smooth as silk, down the line first. “Get dressed and get your ass to my party, now.”
Heat flares throughout my body at the sound of his smug voice and the presumption of his words. “Why the bloody hell should I?”
“Because I don’t want to have to come and get you later.”
“Well that sounds worthy of my time,” I snark.
“Just get dressed and don’t be late. You have ten minutes.”
No girl can get ready in ten minutes.
That’s the thought that fuels my storming of the Coldhart castle. Lucky for me I was already dressed, hair and make-up done, when he called. All I had to do was message Flick and Charlotte to meet me outside in the allotted time, totally ready to be my wing girls.
Honestly, men are dicks.
Felicity, in her signature red corset and jeans, threads her arm through mine looking stony-faced and determined. Charlotte on my left, wearing her faded ‘born to ride’ tee tucked into an animal print mini skirt, links arms with me on the other side. She glances about, catching my eye with a grin and licks her lips.
I’m dressed casual in black jeans, a khaki wrap around crop top, studded Chelsea boots, and my favorite vintage leather jacket. It might be a party, but the first rule of heartbreaker club is not to try too hard. I’m also sick of people shoving their hands up my skirt and stroking my pussy like it’s a stray cat they found in the woods. Jeans offer much better protection from drunken boys….
…and from Seth.
As we march into a packed Coldhart house, the party is under way. Music thrums and groups of boys, juniors and seniors, are drinking or daring each other to down disgusting-looking concoctions of shots. There’s the odd girl here and there in twos or threes, sitting and gossiping, dancing on tables, or grinding up against some red-faced tosser while he spills his beer all over her dress.
Overall, this party is pretty lame.
“Where can we get something nice to drink around here?” I say over the music, my stomach already doing summersaults as I scan the crowd for Seth. I’m going to need some Dutch courage to talk to him after
the last two times didn’t go so well. And this… this is Seth’s domain, through and through.
Flick looks at me and Charlotte, lifting her palm and shoulder up in a one-sided shrug. “Kitchen has cocktails?”
The boys in our path part like a sea of vipers waiting to strike as my girls ferry me through, protecting me from all sides Anyone daring to stop and leer is shot down with looks of disdain. That said, most of the boys don’t even glance my way. Too busy trying to get into the pants of any Arcadia girls that happen across their path.
After a few minutes of pushing through bodies, we locate the kitchen. Easy to do when Coldhart house is identical to ours in every way—exposed brick and parquet flooring throughout, three storeys high and twice as long with a private dining room, gardens and a lounge area, all leading off from a grand hallway complete with a winding staircase up the middle.
Bottles of every liquor known to man are indeed loaded onto the kitchen bar. There are also hundreds of bottles of wine and champagne neatly stacked in glass fronted fridges and five kegs of beer set up to the side for easy drinking access.
Ignoring the pre-mixed jugs, Charlotte expertly mixes vodka, passoa, lime juice and sugar syrup in a shaker and pours us each a martini.
Flick grabs my hand. “Don’t look now, Pearlie, but six o’clock…”
I do what she tells me not to. I check behind me.
Looking extra hot out of his school uniform, sporting a sleeveless black t-shirt and ripped jeans is my beautiful nemesis. Oh sorry, I mean off limits, can’t touch this, stepbrother.
I avert my eyes and take a sip of my cocktail. It’s so delicious and sweet, I take another sip.
Charlotte looks over and then back at me, eyes glinting. “He’s definitely staring at you.”
“Good. He can stare all he likes.” Even turned away, Seth’s eyes are burning holes into my soul from across the room. I’ve no idea how he does it, but I’m aware of every single move he makes… I don’t even have to look.
“He’ll stare even more if you dance,” Charlotte adds, tasting her martini and nodding. “Oh, that’s good.”
I love dancing but not straight up without the buzz of alcohol. I raise my chin and indicate to a nook just off the side of the kitchen and away from Seth. “How about we find a seat over there?”
“That looks fun. And I guess, if the stepasshole wants you, he knows where you are,” says Flick eyeing a group playing drinking games at one end of the U-shaped seating area.
It doesn’t take long for Seth and his three friends to make a beeline for the same nook, or well, to the other end of it, and sit down. Brompton is with him and Charlie with what looks to be a hell of a lot of drugs, hidden in pockets, that he just throws on the table as he takes a pew. Arcadia girls suddenly materialize and crowd around the boys wanting either the drugs or the boys, or both.
I’ve heard the rumors but I’m surprised to see it in action. Charles is an exemplary student on the outside. But on the inside… that’s another story. He’s the one to go to when you need something or need someone fixing. He can get you what you need… drugs, fake IDs, an alibi, you name it. The fact that Charlie comes from one of the wealthiest, most upper-class families in England and that he has a criminal side to him makes me wonder about his home life.
“If you’re going to speak to him, you’d better get in there quick, Pearl. The vultures are circling,” says Charlotte.
Him. She means Seth.
I haven’t told the girls what Seth has proposed because… it’s totally fucking crazy. My initial reaction is that he can piss off. Why would he even think to offer to buy my virginity in return for half his share in his mother’s billion-dollar company, is beyond me.
He’s got balls, I’ll give him that.
Still, part of me is intrigued. It’s not true that my father wants me to trade my body for his gain, but it is true that he would prefer me to be intact if I ever get married. But what happened with Royce only goes to show that there’s a time limit on what I have. Some guy here could drug me and drag me into that bathroom, and there goes my prenup bargaining chip.
There’s some logic to giving Seth my virginity in return for Montford International voting stock. And I don’t even have to marry him to get it. He’s so goddam gorgeous, it wouldn’t be a hardship. Would it? I’d have to get Sully to pull every single clause apart, because if I do sign his deal, it’ll need to be airtight. Imagine being able to hand my father Montford International on a silver platter…
I take a sip of my drink. “Like you said, if the stepasshole wants me he knows where I am.”
All of a sudden, Flick’s eyes widen, darting over my head.
“Shit. He’s behind me, isn’t he?” My heart chooses at that moment to do a little dance inside my chest.
“I do know where you are, Pearl Darlington, but I didn’t know your friend thinks I’m an asshole. That’s useful information,” he drawls, sending goosebumps running up and down my arms at the sound of his voice.
I twist around and come face to face with the Greek god himself, in the flesh. I’d forgotten how gorgeous Seth Montford is this close up.
“You wanted me here, so I’m here.” I take out the envelope containing the contract and toss it on to the table in front of me. His eyes follow it, but his face tells me nothing. “I’m not signing that,” I snap.
Yes, I’m grouchy. I never did go back to sleep and the coffee this school has in the house kitchen at one am is goddam awful. Across from me, I’m aware of Flick and Charlotte’s eyes trained on the envelope. They must be going out of their mind with curiosity.
But this is between me and Seth.
I feel the seat dip beside me as Seth sits down, his hand snaking up the back of my leather jacket under my hair comes to rest on my neck. He leans in so close I can smell his citrusy cologne.
“You said you wanted in, this is what it takes,” he says in a low voice, breath tickling my ear.
“Never mind the insult of what you’re asking, give me one good reason why I should trust you?” I hiss at him.
He gives me a look so dark, a thrill runs right through me. “You want to trust me?”
I give him an equally dark glare back. “You tried to blackmail me and get your pig of a cousin and his pals to scare me into playing your mind games. Try someone else. It’s not going to work on me.”
He raises his eyebrows. “You think I put Royce onto you?”
“I know you did. How else do you explain you being in the locker room at that exact time.”
I’ve no proof but I’ve thought over and over about the whole incident and I still can’t explain how Seth ended up being the one to rescue me.
He straightens and then stands up, gesturing for me to follow. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”
I’m not leaving the contract on the table for Flick and Charlotte to read, so I finish my martini and shove the contract back inside my leather jacket pocket. They both give me looks of askance as I stand up.
“Don’t wait up for me,” I say.
Flick’s brows draw together, obviously still worried. Charlotte just waves me away. “Just remember… he’s not your stepbrother, yet.”
Seth guides me out of the kitchen backdoor and into the garden, handing me a pre-mixed cocktail from the sideboard as we pass. I notice he doesn’t take one himself.
“Are you not drinking?”
“Not tonight. I have to drive.”
It’s cold in the garden. I rub one arm with my free hand to warm up, ignoring the envious looks I’m getting from passing Arcadia girls. They shouldn’t be jealous, I’ve no idea where Seth is taking me. I consider tossing the drink he gave me into a bush as we walk by one and making a run for it, since this could be a trap and the drink spiked to high heaven, but then curiosity gets the better of me.
“Where are we going? What is it you want to show me?” I say as I look over my shoulder at him, enjoying the view. The moonlight has softened his features mak
ing him appear carved from marble by angels with holy fire.
“You’ll see.” The corner of his mouth twitches as he speaks ruining the effect, but it makes me want to kiss him all the more.
If fact, his lips look quite kissable from this angle and a stray musing, one my Grams would be ashamed of, flits into my dirty little mind.
I also can’t believe I’ve not kissed him yet.
That thought consumes me as he guides me down to where a group of students are gathered, jeering and shouting ‘Roast. The. Pig’ over and over. As the crowd parts, I get a glimpse of who or what everyone is getting excited about.
In the centre, hogtied on the grass with their pants down by their ankles, knees out and bare bottoms exposed, is Royce and his dickhead friends. The instant they see me and Seth they start mouthing off into their gags, red faced, struggling hard. But it’s no use. They’re well and truly tied.
Three girls I’ve never seen before dressed in a lot of black leather are standing behind the hogtied guys, holding a flogging whip in one hand and a giant-sized dildo in the other. On Seth’s command, the girls start to make use of their instruments on the unfortunate boys. And they’re not gentle in any shape or form.
A smile forms on my face. “Is this what I think it is?”
“You wanted my cousin to experience all of them, did you not?”
“I did… Shame, humiliation, pain and regret,” I repeat under my breath.
He exhales. “See it as a peace offering. I think we got off on the wrong foot before.”
“Why?”
He looks me up and down, sending tingles from the top of my spine right down to my toes. “Because I want you to seriously consider my offer.”
I chew my lip, mind a whirl. “The pictures and videos you have of me,” I say, quickly. “I want every last copy.”
