Zook

by Bex Dane

  My lips moved from her ear to her mouth. The taste of coffee and her warm mouth made me moan. I peppered kisses from her collarbone to her cleavage. "You taste good upside down."

  "Really, Zook." She was breathless. "I could get in so much trouble. There's only two weeks left."

  "Mmm." I rolled her chair out and kissed over her blouse to her belly button. "Okay. I'll leave your clothes on. Just in case."

  Moving to my knees in front of her, I slid up her skirt and kissed up her gorgeous thigh. She sighed and groaned but didn't stop me. Pressing her legs wide, her scent hit me. CeCe's unique smell always made me want to come in my pants.

  "Heaven right here between your legs."

  She wiggled her hips to help me get her skirt high enough so I could get to what I needed.

  "Damn, so beautiful. It's all one hundred percent perfect woman right here." I kissed her mound through her underwear. Navy silk today to match her skirt.

  She squeaked and her hips surged up.

  "Come here, girl." With my hands on her hips, I tugged her forward. If anyone walked in, they'd think she was slouching in her seat, which she never does. My girl has rod-straight posture.

  I slid the crotch of her panties to the side and dove in for a kiss. She was already wet for me. "I can see you're relaxing."

  She laughed and sucked in a huge sharp breath when I licked her slit from bottom to clit. "So good. So damn good, CeCe. Every time." I slid two fingers inside her hot wet cunt and teased her G-spot while licking her clit.

  "Oh!" Something slapped the desk, presumably her hands.

  I chuckled. She was totally losing it up there. Hell, I was losing it down here. I unbuttoned my jeans and palmed my dick.

  Her thighs clenched and her knees closed around my head. Was she coming already? That's my girl.

  "Hey, can you talk?"

  Huh? She wanted to talk? No, wait. Not her voice. Someone had entered her office.

  "Um, can it wait?"

  Oh shit. CeCe had a visitor. Sounded like her roommate, but I couldn't be sure. Either way, I had to get CeCe off quick so she could talk. I pushed her knees against the insides of the desk and drilled my tongue in, sucking hard.

  "Oh. Oh. Ahh…" Her hips flinched and shook.

  "Are you okay? You seem out of breath," her friend asked.

  "No. I'm uh, fine. Just surprised to see you here."

  I loved listening to her stumble. Her short breaths told me she was close. Normally I'd tease her, but since we were in a clinch, steady firm pressure would get her off fastest.

  "I need to talk to you." Her friend started talking. Good, give CeCe some time to come on my face.

  Finally, CeCe gasped and pulsed on my lips. Her legs closed around my head as I lapped up every last drop from her, dragging out her orgasm as long as possible. I squeezed the base of my dick. I had to wait. Couldn't jack off under her desk without being heard.

  CeCe's muscles relaxed and I caressed her knee.

  "What's going on, Soraya?"

  Ahh, yes. Her roomie. Not so bad if we got caught.

  "I'm thinking I made a mistake with Cage." Soraya's words dropped off at the end, like she was holding back tears.

  "What's wrong?" Cecelia forced her skirt down as she stood up. "Why're you wearing sunglasses in here?"

  "It's just bright," Soraya responded.

  "Bullpuckey. Take them off." Cecelia walked out from behind the desk and sucked in a quick breath. "Oh my gosh. What happened to your eye?" The alarm in her voice snapped me out of my haze. "Your cheek is swelling."

  "Nothing." Soraya's voice broke and cracked.

  "Did Cage do this?"

  "He lost his temper." She spoke quietly.

  Holy shit. He hit her? I knew Cage. I'd seen him at their apartment. Jarhead. He seemed like an okay guy to me. A little distant, but never thought he'd hurt Soraya. My throat tightened, and I dug my nails into my jeans to hold back the shit I wanted to start screaming.

  "Oh my god, Soraya." Cecelia's voice was deep and scratchy.

  "I pushed him. Asked him about marriage again. I shouldn't have, but there's only two weeks to graduation. I blew it. I screwed up the whole plan. If I'd waited till it was time to leave, he probably would've asked me. But I was getting nervous. So I pushed it. He flipped out. Said I was a golddigger. Trying to trap him."

  Cage would pay for this. He would fucking pay.

  "I told you this wasn't the way." Cecelia's voice muffled like she was hugging Soraya.

  I rose to one knee, preparing to stand up and talk to Soraya when she said, "Zook's your last chance."

  I froze.

  They were quiet for a long time.

  Zook's your last chance?

  I'm her last chance? Chance at what?

  What the fuck?

  "No. Don't bring Zook into this."

  "He's your ticket, Cecelia. You have to get him to marry you."

  Holy hell. Her ticket? My heart stopped beating in my chest, and I swear I could hear Cecelia's pounding on the other side of the desk.

  "Shh. Stop. You're upset. Let's get out of my office."

  No. Let's stay here, Cecelia. Why am I your ticket? Your ticket to where? I'd love to hear all about it. In the last six months, she'd given me bits and pieces about her life. She told me she'd dated a guy named Max, and it wasn't a healthy relationship. That's as far as we'd gotten with her trusting me.

  Soraya sniffled, and I heard the tear of a tissue from a box. "This is such a mess. Marry Zook. Stay here in America."

  Stay in America? Was she leaving?

  "Get away from Maksim once and for all."

  Maksim. Max.

  The name hit me like a sledgehammer.

  "God, Soraya. Please be quiet."

  "Did you tell him?" Soraya whispered.

  "No." Her voice was sad, broken.

  Just like my heart hiding under the desk, dying inside listening to every damn word of her fucking secret. No, she didn't tell me anything.

  "Zook will take care of you. Go for it. Please. At least one of us should."

  My back hit the desk with a thump.

  "What was that noise?" Soraya asked.

  "Uh, nothing. I just remembered I'm supposed to meet Zook at the bistro. Let's go."

  Another lie.

  "Ask him about marriage. He won't hit you. He loves you."

  No. I won't hit her. I was planning to ask her to marry me. Before this. Before I knew… What did I know? Nothing. Nothing except I had no idea who Cecelia Boujani was. I had no proof she really loved me. No way to know she wasn't using me as a ticket. A ticket to stay in America.

  "No. Not that way. He's not the answer."

  The answer to the question she never asked and never will.

  "Let's go get you some ice."

  Their feet shuffled toward the door.

  "Wait in the hall for me. I need to get my purse. I'll take care of you. Don't worry."

  "I love you, Sissy. You're all I have."

  "I love you too, Soraya. We'll get through this. Together."

  Yes, those two together in their charade. Cecelia and I apart. Over.

  Her heels appeared before me. As she bent to remove her purse from the drawer, she peered down at me. I could barely look at her.

  Guilt. All over her face, dripping from her eyes.

  "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way," she whispered.

  I didn't reply. If I hadn't overheard her conversation with Soraya, she would've never told me. After all I'd done to earn her trust, she couldn't tell me the truth.

  "We should call the cops," I said.

  Her eyes widened. "We can't. Please don't call the police."

  "Why not? Cage needs to pay for this."

  "We'll talk later. Just please don't call anyone."

  "Go see to her," I said.

  She grabbed her purse and ducked out with her head low.

  Climbing to my feet, my head thumped against the desk. "Shit!"


  What the hell just happened? Whatever it was would have to wait. I needed to pay Cage a visit first.

  Chapter 16

  Three hours later, I parked my bike in front of her apartment and rang the bell. My fingers throbbed and my knuckles ached. My jaw pulsed where he'd gotten a few in. Big motherfucker. Using his strength against a woman…

  Smashing Cage to a bloody pulp didn't calm my anger. The adrenaline in my veins could pilot a jet plane across the Atlantic. I should go back and beat his ass again.

  Nothing would change the fact Cecelia had been lying to me. Why? That one question repeated in my head more than any of the other bazillion questions I had.

  She opened the door slowly. Tight leggings, an oversized sweatshirt, no makeup, hair tied in a loose ponytail, eyes red and puffy.

  God, she looked exquisite.

  My fingers itched to pull her in my arms and kiss her till she screamed in ecstasy. But instead I said, "Hey."

  She stepped back and motioned for me to come in. Her eyes stayed focused on the floor as I walked past her. "Hey."

  The guilt in her voice socked me in the gut harder than anything Cage could dish out. Sometime in the middle of teaching Cage the lesson of his life, I'd convinced myself it didn't happen. I must've misunderstood the conversation in her office. The shock made Soraya talk nonsense. It couldn't be true.

  Because my girl loved me and I loved her. No way she kept life-changing secrets from me at the same time she bared her soul to me. But the defeated way she said hey made the sand of betrayal pummel my head again.

  "Soraya okay?" I asked her.

  She closed the door and nodded. "She's resting."

  "Cage won't be a problem anymore."

  Her head snapped up, and she met my gaze for the first time. Her eyes scanned my hands and face, bloody evidence all over me.

  "Thank you. You don't owe us anything."

  Oh really?

  I rushed her, and my torso smashed her to the door. She gasped and turned her head to the side. With my lips close to her ear, I asked, "I don't? I'm not obligated to protect you?"

  "No." She whimpered.

  I had to know. How far back did her lies go?

  "Tell me something, princess. Who pays for your schooling? Your Mercedes? Your fancy clothes?"

  "My uncle."

  "Is his name Maksim?"

  "No."

  Fuck. This was so confusing.

  "Are you leaving the country?"

  "Yes. After graduation."

  "Where're you going?"

  "I can't tell you."

  "What's your uncle's name?"

  "I can't tell you that either."

  "Why're you here going to Hale?"

  "My uncle sent me to America for my schooling. Please stop asking these questions."

  "Stop asking? Stop asking questions about why you lied to me for nine months? Nine months I fell in love with you? The whole time thinking you were mine?"

  She shook her head.

  "We were living the dream, babe. You were it for me, and I was it for you. I knew you had issues with your family you weren't willing to share with me, but this? Fucking blindsided by this."

  "I'm sorry."

  "Oh, you are? Does that change anything? You had no plans to tell me you're returning to this unnamed country after graduation?"

  "No."

  "Fuck! Who is Maksim?"

  She flinched and looked to the floor. She didn't need to answer. The drop of her shoulders told me he was the one who had taught her to kneel and perform oral sex like a slave.

  Rage seethed through me. "You won't tell me? Show me." My hand wrapped around her neck. "On your knees. Show me who Maksim is."

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. I took that as my invitation to shove my tongue in there. Damn CeCe. She kissed me back, and our tongues battled. CeCe's kisses were always desperate. Now I knew why. She was thinking of him.

  I tore my lips from hers. "On your knees."

  And damn, damn, damn. She did it. She got down on her knees, head down.

  "Open my belt." She hesitated a split second. I'd never forced her to do anything before, and I'd never allowed her to kneel before me. I always let her climb me and find her way to what she wanted. Always gently guided her, trying to avoid exactly this situation.

  And I hated it, but seeing her like this made me hard. I bet Maksim liked it too.

  "Suck my dick like you suck his."

  She whimpered, and the windows to her soul closed in her eyes. She opened my belt, lowered my briefs, and pulled out my hard cock. She wrapped her lips around my head and… fuck me. It was pathetic. Nothing like the times she was on top of me, suctioning my dick. It lacked passion. It was automatic. She performed her duty.

  "I asked you if you were spoken for and you said no. Did you lie then too?"

  She shook her head no as much as she could while keeping my dick in her mouth.

  Bullshit. She belonged to Maksim.

  "I fell hard for you. I wanted to marry you. Was I your ticket out? You want to move on from Maksim to me? Your next meal ticket?"

  She kept bobbing her head, performing her half-hearted blowjob like she wasn't ripping us apart.

  "Tell me the truth now. Last chance, babe. Last fucking chance and I'm gone. Your meal ticket walking out the door."

  The first tear dropped down her cheek.

  Enough. I'd had fucking enough.

  With my thumbs behind her ears, I pulled her head off my dick. "I don't believe it. Not one second. I may be stupid, but I don't believe you were after my money."

  "No. I loved you when you had nothing." More tears fell to the carpet. "I haven't slept with him in six years."

  What the hell? "What power does he have over you? Tell me and I will fix this."

  "No. Please. It's not that simple."

  "Explain it to me then. Spell it out for the imbecile who can't read and can't make heads nor tails of your bullshit right now. Do you regret us?"

  She pressed her lips together and finally whispered, resigned. "I'm going back. To protect you."

  To protect me? From him? Didn't she believe in me enough to keep her safe, no matter how powerful Maksim was?

  "I would fight for you." I pushed my bloody hands into her hair. "I'd kill for you. I'd go back to prison for you."

  She whimpered.

  "I'll kill him. I'll kill him for doing this to you. To us. Tell me who he is and I'll kill him."

  Dropping to my knees, I gripped her head, harder than I should. "Marry me and stay here with me. I'll give you everything. I'll protect you with my life."

  "No." Deadpan. Lost. My Cecelia was gone. I didn't recognize the girl on her knees in front of me. A vacant hotel room.

  I kissed her. Smashing my mouth to hers. Come back, baby.

  She didn't kiss me. Her lips were as dead as her soul. I pulled back and stared into the void of her eyes. "Say yes."

  "No." Still dead. Lifeless. Hiding.

  I had to bring her back. The only way I knew how. I kissed her. It was like kissing a corpse, but I pressed on. I couldn't give up on her. I couldn't lose her like this.

  Finally, with a whimper, life flowed from her again. She kissed me back, and we kept at it until we panted for it and fire blared between us.

  After endless minutes of hot and heavy kissing and touching and grasping, my CeCe returned. She squeezed my cock like she always did. Aggressive, assertive, my girl.

  I ripped her pants off and moved over her, guiding my cock and entering her. We both groaned. She couldn't deny this.

  "Did you ever love me?" I said with my lips by her ear, my thrusts slow.

  "Yes. I loved you. I love you. It was real." She cried against my lips as she came, the pulsing forcing me over the edge too. And for a moment, the world consisted of us alone. Nothing but our bodies and pure overwhelming bliss.

  But all too soon, it passed, and our breathing evened out. Tears covered her face. Blood coated my hands. Her wetn
ess engulfed my cock.

  With a final press of my lips to hers, she left me. She closed her eyes, and the walls came up.

  I pulled out and rested my forehead on her chest. "Tell me who he is, and I will do whatever it takes so we can be together."

  She shook her head. "I'm so sorry."

  I stood and she stayed on the floor, refusing to open her eyes as I buckled my pants. "I've learned one thing in my life. Don't allow fear to choose your future. Fight for your destiny even if you're afraid."

  Again, she shook her head, charring my soul with her tears.

  "There's no solution here if you don't stand up for yourself and for us. If you choose to return to this Maksim asshole, it's over. We're over. All we had is erased. Like a misspelled word. Erased. The dust swept to the floor and forgotten."

  She covered her face with her hands and wept. Lying half-naked on her floor. She wept, but she didn't stand up and fight for us.

  "Once again the student is smarter than the teacher. You know how many people out there dream of a love like ours? I've seen men rotting alone in jail with nobody to love them. Women stuck in marriages with men they didn't love. We had something true and free. And you're tossing it to the curb like spoiled food. Well, go ahead. Make that decision. I'll honor it. But when you're in your secret country, with Maksim, remember tonight and what pure love feels like. And know we had everything, and you threw it away."

  I left her lying like that, closing the door and leaving the ashes of my heart behind me.

  ***

  Two long weeks without Cecelia. Knowing she was at home or at school and I could still reach her, but couldn't call. It broke me.

  The last two weeks we could've spent together, wasted like trash. We could've been making love, milking every last drop out of it. Instead we were deep into the pain of losing each other. Neither one of us willing to break down and give in. Destry tried to convince me to go to her, but my stubborn pride stopped me every time.

  "Cecelia Boujani, master in education, magna cum laude."

  She walked up to the stage at her commencement ceremony. She'd earned her degree. An accomplishment she'd worked hard for and deserved. God, she looked stunning. Her chestnut hair shined in curls down her back. Hair I'd caressed every night as she fell asleep. She made the square hat on her head look like a tiara and the table runner look like a Miss America sash. Cecelia could wear anything and look like a million bucks.