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The thought of it is enough to push me over the edge, to let go.

“God!” I cry out through the pencil as the orgasm slams through me, shaking my limbs, making my body feel like it’s rising off the desk. An exorcism. I keep writhing, my eyes pinched shut but seeing stars, my nails clawing wildly at the wood, the air squeezed from my lungs. If he wasn’t gripping my hips so hard, if his mouth didn’t continue to eat with abandon, I think I might shatter into a million fragments.

At least the pencil does.

It snaps in half and I have to spit it out, the taste of wood and lead mixing with the highest point of ecstasy.

Finally he pulls back, breathing hard and I’m delirious with glee. My body twitches, effervescent.

He swallows audibly, a ragged exhale, and I raise my head to look at him, my abs burning.

His eyes are unfocused, the glassy grey of the inlet, as he grabs me by the elbows and pulls me forward so I’m sitting up right, then cups his hand over the back of my head. His forehead touches mine and we both try to get our breaths back.

No words are spoken.

None need to be said.

Not now.

Finally he lets go and straightens up.

My gaze drops to his crotch, seeing the wet spot.

I look up at him with a brow arched. He did come, didn’t he?

He gives me a chagrined look that saysyesand clears his throat. His mouth is shiny with my desire. “Some things can’t be helped,” he says, by way of explanation.

He’s said this before and I have to agree.

Him, me, us,this…it can’t be helped.

CHAPTER 20

“Today, we’re in luck,”Nick announces from the front of the Learning Centre. We’ve only just found our seats, tablets at the ready. “And it’s a nice change of pace. We’re going on a field trip.”

“More foraging?” Rav says with a heavy sigh, leaning back in his chair as if he’s being crushed by the thought.

“No,” Nick says pointedly. “We’ll leave the foraging for when we go on the camping trip to the peninsula next week. This morning I’m taking you to the—drumroll please.” He does an exaggerated imaginary one that makes my eyes roll. “The propagation lab.”

Oh? I sit up a little straighter. So does everyone else.

Thatisa nice change.

“Finally,” Lauren says tiredly. “I thought we’d never make it over there.”

I glance at her. Dark circles ring under her eyes, her face ashy. I look over at Munawar and Rav. They don’t look much better. Even Munawar’s shirt isn’t a fungi-pun. Instead it’s the Madrona Foundation’s logo, which still features mushrooms, but somehow that’s worse. Like he’s becoming one ofthem.

Is this place getting to us all?

If this is what three weeks of fog will do to you, what will three months?

Or is it more than just the weather?

I swallow the pit of uneasiness in my stomach. It’s something I’ll have to talk to Kincaid about after lunch. I have a session with him, and it will be the first time seeing him since our tryst in his office.

I’m still not sure how I feel about what happened, though I’ve literally done nothing but think about it.

On one hand,fuck.