“You really should speak to him.” He gave it to me and took a step back while I answered it.
“Ally?” I heard my dad’s worried voice and immediately I felt bad.
“Hi, sorry I…”
“Where the hell are you?” it was the first time I’d heard him be even remotely angry since I’d arrived to stay with him.
“I’m fine, I’m okay. I…”
He cut me off almost instantly.
“I got a call from Mr Creswell when he was told by Mrs Bews that you didn’t show up…”
“I know, I had…”
I heard him sigh heavily.
“Do you know what kind of hoops I had to jump through to get you a place at this school?”
I gave Harry the ‘one minute’ sign and walked further up the path away from him, out of earshot.
“Dad, I’m sorry. It wasn’t my intention to cause any trouble and not turn up, I just… I had to see her…”
I paused while I waited for the information to sink in.
“Her?”
I looked back at Harry who was resting against his car door, looking at his phone.
“I had to see mum on my terms. I had to see that she was okay, and I had to do it now.”
He was silent for a moment and I thought I heard Beth whispering to him in the background.
“Your bag’s here, Ally,” he said slowly. “In fact, so is your purse. How…? How did you…?”
I took a deep breath.
“One of the Crest Club leaders offered to take me and I’m…”
“Where are you now?” he demanded, his tone changing instantly. “Tell me where you are, and I’ll come and get you.”
“No, I’m with Harry. We’re…”
“Damnit Ally. I’m not playing around,” he near shouted. “It’s important, tell me where you are. You have to stay away from…”
I took the phone away from my ear, panicked and hung up on him before I stood and looked at it for a moment.
I’d never hung up on anyone in my life, let alone one of my parents.
“Everything okay?” Harry asked from his position by the car.
“Um, yes. Yeah, it’s okay, its fine. He’s okay,” I lied. So, what now?”
He opened my car door for me.
“Why don’t I take you back to your place and tomorrow…”
“…we go back to being strangers,” I finished for him. “Is that what you want?”
He regarded me carefully as I got into the passenger seat. He reached up and kissed me on the tip of my nose.
“I was going to say that we could pick up where we left off…”
“Why wait?” I asked feeling a firm boldness overtake me and I threw caution to the wind. “I don’t want to go back home yet…”
His eyes darkened somewhat, and he walked around the car, keeping his eyes on mine as he got in beside me.
“Then I know exactly where you need to be.”
Harry’s car crunched over the gravel of the boarding house carpark and around us was the who’s who of luxury vehicles. Even ones that I’d only ever seen before on TV were carefully parked beside us.
He helped me down and took my hand firmly as he led me across to the door. The plaque beside it read ‘Orchard Rooms’ and I looked over my shoulder as he carefully punched in the code.
We were just further back from the main school and with the sun almost having set on us, the carpark lights were on underneath the murky blue sky.
“Coming in?” Harry asked and I realised I’d been daydreaming.
I followed him inside and quietly we ascended the stairs until we got to the top where I held onto his arm to stop him before he went any further.
“Should I be here?” I asked. “I mean, am I allowed in your room?”
He gave me a wicked smile.
“Technically, no, but I think we’ll cross that bridge if and when we have to?”
I nodded and he continued to guide me further along the dimly lit corridor until we got to his room, and he used his key to open it.
I hadn’t always been one to break the rules and there was a part of me that knew once I went inside that whatever happened beyond his door, I couldn’t undo.
I could hear my best friend from London’s voice in my head, warning me that guys like him didn’t mix with girls like me. We weren’t cut from the same cloth. He was miles and miles out of my league and guys like him only existed to look at from a far.
Going into his boarding room with him was a recipe for disaster. As much as I wanted to go there with him, was I setting myself up for disaster?
“I’ll take these…” he said carefully removing the blazer and my phone from my grip. He set them down on his desk and I thought of my dad back at home going mad. Especially after learning that I was with a Crestie. He’d been at the school long enough to know their reputation, but did he know Harry? Did he know that underneath his school ‘king’ persona he seemed to have a heart of gold?
I lowered myself onto his bed suddenly feeling self-conscious.
Out by his car, it had seemed easy to get carried away, but now with all the thoughts loading themselves onto me, I felt slightly overwhelmed.
He sat down beside me; his eyebrows furrowed as he looked into my eyes.
“Despite what you might have heard,” he whispered, moving his face closer to mine, close enough that I felt his breath on my cheek. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not one of those guys.”
I felt myself shudder at his closeness.
“But you’re a Crestie.”
I stiffened with pleasure as I felt his fingers glide up my bear thigh.
“That doesn’t define me, Hughes,” he said, and he pressed his lips to my neck, making me moan into the dimly lit room. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
I nodded, bending my head so his lips met mine and he kissed me, gently pushing me back against the bed and he pinned my hands out either side of me as he straddled me.
I looked up into his eyes, wondering how I’d managed to end up here in his room. I wanted it, I knew that much, but never did I imagine that a couple days after starting at Atherton, I would find someone I connected with so quickly.
I reached up and unbuttoned his shirt, telling myself to slow down, but I wanted him. I wanted to break that barrier we had, and I wanted to feel as close to him as I could.
He climbed off me, eyes filled with desire and undone the zip of my skirt, pulling it down over my thighs. He kissed his way down my leg as he did it before our eyes reconnected.
“Harry…” I breathed. Not knowing exactly what it was that I wanted but knowing the only thing I needed was to feel him inside me.
He pressed a hand to my stomach, bent down and kissed it, leading a fiery trail over my skin as he edged closer to my heat.
I gasped as he hooked two fingers in my knickers and pulled them down ever so slowly. My body arched towards him and I heard a small laugh from him as he teased me.
I reached down and pushed the material away quickly and threw it onto the floor.
Harry wasted no time in burying her face in between my legs, his tongue reaching out to taste my hidden depths.
I clasped a hand over my mouth to stifle my cries as he sent shivers over my body. I squirmed against his face, arching my back and bucking my hips into him, but he couldn’t be deterred, and I felt myself falling to the edge. Getting closer to the point of no return.
I pulled at his hair, impatient to feel him inside me. There would be other occasions for us to explore each other’s bodies, but today, after our build up at the beach I needed to feel him inside me.
Regretfully, I pushed his head backwards, moaning as he pulled on my clit before he let go and looked up at me, his floppy hair falling forwards.
“Come on…” I tried to say but it came out in a broken tumble of words. It didn’t matter though as he understood exactly what I wanted and without further protest he undressed and pointed to me.
&nb
sp; “Take it off,” he said gruffly, and I did as I was told, taking off my shirt and bra under his intense stare.
I saw him grow harder once I was fully naked and he took a moment to admire my body laid out beneath him before he lowered himself onto my and found my mouth with his.
My arms snaked over his back as he pressed his cock into my stomach, and he broke the kiss to groan against my neck.
“Not too late to back out…” he mumbled.
“Never,” I whispered in response. “I want this.”
Urgently, he reached out to the side of us and fumbled around in his drawer, pulling out a condom.
“Are you a…?” he asked as I watched him put it on.
I shook my head and he smiled ruefully, but slowly guiding his cock to my pussy. He held it there, sliding it up and down, coating himself in my wetness as he looked down at me and then he thrust himself into me, so deep that my body half sat up with the intense pleasure.
I whimpered his name as I clung to him and he withdrew slightly, before thrusting in again.
He groaned above me, working himself into a rhythm and I squeezed his arse as he pounded me, the bed heaving under the sheer power behind his thrusts.
I opened my eyes to look at him, at his furrowed eyebrows and clenched teeth and he opened his to meet mine, watching me receive and enjoy him.
I wrapped my legs around his hips, holding him into me. I could hear his breathing fasten and he bent his head back, groaning loudly and the sounds that came from within him ignited the fire in me.
I lifted my legs up and he murmured something as he went deeper, hitting me so deep that I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold off for much longer.
The power in his thrusts pressed me deeper and deeper into the bed and when he reached down between us, touching his finger to my clit, I felt the wave of pleasure erupt and my legs tightened around him and my body stiffened. I let out a cry, much louder than intended as I came.
He groaned as I jerked against his cock, the catalyst for his own orgasm and he growled into my neck as he shuddered against me, his own climax rocking his body, shaking him and I held him close to me until he collapsed into me arms, exhaling deeply.
He peppered my neck and collarbone with kisses before he rolled off me to my side.
We look at each other in silence, trying to catch our breath.
He pushed the hair from my face, and I kissed his hand and without another word, he curled me into him, pressed his lips against the top of my head and with heavy eyes I allowed myself to drift off. Content that he was one of the good things that had come out of being in Atherton and I hadn’t felt so happy and content in a very long time.
I woke up to the sound of a phone ringing and it took me a moment to remember where I was, but the feel of Harry’s body curved into mine reminded me of what happened and then I remembered the time. Fuck.
I jumped up and scrambled around on the floor to find my clothes.
Harry, bleary eyed, woke and ushered himself up before reaching for his phone that had been the one ringing and I saw Geri’s name before he ended it.
Geri? Why the hell was she calling him. He ended the call instantly and put a hand on my arse.
“Hey, where are you going?” he paused as his phone rang and once again, he ended the call. “It’s nearly eleven, I think you should stay the night…”
I reached for my own phone and saw ten missed calls. Fuck, fuckerty, fuck.
I got up quickly and pulled my knickers and skirt on along with my shoes as Harry followed me.
“I can’t stay,” I said quickly, panic running through me. I hadn’t intended to punish my dad and his awful wife Beth for this long. It wasn’t my intention and I could only imagine how worried he was.
I sent him a quick message: ‘On my way home. Sorry x’ before I turned to Harry who pulled a jumper on over his t-shirt.
“You don’t have to come,” I said to him. “I’ll be okay. Sorry I have to leave so fast.”
He held onto my arm to steady me.
“Hughes,” he said, his rational voice calming me down somewhat. “Its okay. If you insist on going, let me walk you.”
He grabbed his keys and I followed him out into the corridor, down and out into the dark night. It was eerily still as we made our way over to the main school drive and all the while I couldn’t shake the image of Geri’s name on his phone. Why? Why had she been calling him? Was this what he did? Did he make a habit of befriending the lonely outcast, making them feel as though he understood their issues and then shag them and move on?
I felt a sick feeling in my stomach that stemmed into instant regret. Perhaps my dad had been right all along. Maybe he was privy to something that I was yet to understand.
I rubbed at my eyes to stop the sting at the back. No, I wasn’t going to cry. I’d enjoyed what we’d done and even though it might have been part of a ploy just to get me into bed, I could let that thought destroy me.
“Everything alright?” Harry asked, stopping me short of my Dad’s gatehouse. “You haven’t said a word since we left my room...”
I swallowed, trying to keep the possessive Ally from erupting. I had a hundred questions that came to mind, a hundred responses, but I chickened out on most of them.
“Hughes?” he pressed.
I swallowed, noticing the light was on in the downstairs lounge telling me that someone was still awake, and I just hoped it wasn’t Beth.
I turned back to him, thankful that I had my blazer on as the night had turned nippy in comparison to the warmth of the day.
“What does this mean for you?” I asked. “Like, we had a great day today and we connected on a whole new level. I enjoyed it…” I blinked away the image of his eyes clenched shut as he came.
“I enjoyed it too. You know, I don’t make a habit of taking girls back to my room, fucking them and then pretending they don’t exist the next day…”
I thought of Geri calling him at such a late hour and her face as the other guys spit-roasted her. Was she the Cresties plaything? Had they all been through and used her. Was that their thing? Had my dad known and that was why he’d been so desperate to pick me up?
I pushed her out of my mind, wanting to only concentrate on the both of us, but his phone rang again in the silence.
He rolled his eyes and we both looked down at his pocket.
“Are you going to answer it?” I asked after a few seconds.
He shook his head.
“It won’t be anything remotely important,” he answered. “I want to make sure that we’re okay first.”
“We are,” I lied, because as much as I wanted to be fine with him, the niggling thoughts in the back of my head were starting to take over and I clenched my fists into a ball to prevent from freaking out as it dawned on me that I’d made a big mistake by sleeping with him so soon.
His phone stopped ringing and almost immediately it started again, and I saw his jaw clench in the dim light.
“If it’s Geri, get it,” I said harder than intended.
His body stiffened at my words.
“Why would it be Geri?” he asked suspiciously.
My own phone rang in my hand and I looked down at it. Dad. Saved by the bell.
“I should go,” I said without answering his question. “Thank you so much for taking me to London. I’ll never be able to repay you. I just…you’ve been amazing for me today.”
He took a step closer his brow furrowed into what I could only describe as confusion.
“Has something changed?” he asked. “Because back at the dorm, I thought…”
His phone rang again cutting him off.
“For fuck’s sake!” he growled angrily taking it out of his pocket. I caught the name before he turned the screen off and tried to suppress the sick feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach.
It was Geri again and that was enough of an answer to me. There’d be absolutely no reason for her to be calling him at nearly eleven at night so eagerly u
nless…
I took a deep breath and reluctantly stepped out of his one-armed grip.
“Sorry, I have to go, perhaps I’ll catch you tomorrow.” I watched the disappointment cross his face. “Thank you again for everything you’ve done.”
And before he could get a chance to say anything else, I turned and ran down the gavel drive towards my dad’s gate house, all the while feeling his eyes on my back. I wanted to turn around, but pride forced me not to. That and the sinking feeling that I’d let my guard down far too easily and quickly. I should have known that a boy like him with the world at his fingertips wouldn’t really have been interested in something real with a girl like me. The school’s charity case. The girl who’s mum couldn’t afford to put food on the table a mere three weeks ago, let alone buy her child a kitted out Range Rover Sport.
This place was a joke and now more than ever I was determined to do exactly as Tre had said to get through until my mum was back at home and staying away from the Crest Club Boys had now jumped to first on my agenda.
I got to the front door and used the key under one of Beth’s vibrant plant pots to open it. Once inside I closed it behind me and rested back against it to catch my breath.
So, this was it.
I heard shuffling from the lounge and then the hall filled with light and my dad was there, looking rough and dishevelled as though he’d dozed off.
“Ally…!” he said firmly, and I shook my head.
“Not now…” I whispered. “I…I have to go to bed.”
I tried to walk past him to the stairs, but he grabbed my arm.
“Not so fast. Where the hell were you? Tell me you haven’t been with that Von Bevik boy all this time?”
“Dad…”
His mouth set into a small thin line and his eyes narrowed.
“He didn’t…did he?”
“Hurt me? Really?” I tried to walk out of his grip, but he tightened it.
“Ally!” he scalded.
“No, dad! He didn’t, okay?” Apart from use me, no dad I’m not hurt. I thought as he finally let me past and I took the stairs two at a time until I was at the top.
“We’ll finish this in the morning!” he shouted up at me as I closed my bedroom door with a bang, my heart pounding loudly in my chest.
Diamond - A British Academy Rich Boy Bully Romance (Atherton School Crest Club Book 1) Page 8
