Page 22 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

I meet him in the library. It’s really busy and there aren’t any reading rooms available, so we end up having to work at a small desk on a bank of them on the top floor.

There’s only just enough room for our laptops and he’s so close that his arm is constantly brushing against mine despite all my attempts to move away from him.

How does he take up so much space? He’s nowhere near the size of Mav and I’ve never had this problem with him .

But maybe that’s because I like it when he touches me whereas the near constant feel of Bennet’s forearm on mine is more than a little bothersome.

That coupled with the smell of his overpowering aftershave, and the fact that I was already extra tired after my horrible shift at Grinder, means that I feel like I’m going to scream or cry or both.

I’m uncomfortable and tired and keeping a pleasant expression on my face is sapping what’s left of my energy.

Without realizing what I’m doing, I shake out both my hands vigorously, trying to dispel some of the stress I’m feeling, and freeze when Bennet asks me what I’m doing with an odd chuckle.

A few other students working nearby turn their heads to stare at me.

The years of Heath rules make my stomach drop and my skin flush.

I mutter something about my hands falling asleep and change the subject, but I feel sick that I did it in public even though, rationally, I know there won’t be a correction for it.

I swallow hard and let out a slow breath, recognizing the signs that I need to decompress soon. Screw it. I’ll find the time to meet up with him again in a few days. I can’t sit here any longer.

‘We’ve been here almost two hours,’ I say carefully. ‘Shall we meet up again later this week to finish?’

‘No can do,’ he says, not looking up from his typing. ‘I’m busy the rest of the week and next week is Thanksgiving. I’m pretty slammed with school and hockey and then I’m leaving Wednesday night to see my folks. We need to get it done today, babe.’

I wrinkle my nose slightly at the endearment, but he doesn’t say anything else, so maybe it was a slip of the tongue.

I grit my teeth and we work some more. When I next look up, I see him peering around. ‘It’s really cleared out now,’ he says. ‘Do you want to grab a reading room for the last part? Might go faster if we aren’t being interrupted constantly with other people’s conversations.’

‘Sure,’ I reply, just wanting to get this over with.

Anything to go home to the quiet. Plus, I keep hearing loud giggling from somewhere close by which is making it impossible for me to concentrate.

I stand up, leaving my coat on my chair and the rest of my books on the table, and I follow him into one of the rooms with my laptop and the text we’re working from.

We sit down on opposite sides of the table, thank God, though he does get up a minute later, complaining about the glare from the windows that make up the wall that faces into the library.

He brushes against me as he passes me to close the blinds and turn on the light.

I ignore him as much as I can after that.

When we’ve done as much as we need to do, I shut my laptop and give him a thumbs up. ‘Well, I think that’s everything we need to work on together. The last part we can each do on our own and turn it in before Thanksgiving.’

He nods but doesn’t make any attempt to get up.

I stand and grab my laptop. ‘Well, see you around.’

I feel him rise and assume he’s leaving as well, but instead he moves my chair away and presses me into the table from behind, a hand sliding up my shirt to my bra.

He squeezes roughly and I freeze, not sure what to do, not sure what’s going on.

I open my mouth to say something but, like the night in the games room, nothing comes out. I’m in here alone with him, and as I look at the glass wall, I realize the blinds are completely closed and the door is locked. No one can see inside. No one can get in.

‘You smell like a latte,’ he murmurs.

His other hand pulls down my pants a little and I realize he’s got them undone in the time that I’ve been thinking and not doing anything.

‘Mmm, did you wear these for me?’

His hand grabs the elastic of my underwear and pings it back on my skin, making it smart.

I hear his zipper.

I feel a finger push inside me and I gasp.

How did we go from doing our project to this?

‘Stop!’ I squeal, whirling around and pushing him away.

I’m breathing heavily. I yank up my pants and pull down my shirt, my eyes darting around, not sure where to look. My thoughts are spluttering, I don’t know what to do or how to feel. Did I do something to make him think… This must be a misunderstanding!

‘Stop?’ he snarls, taking a step toward me. ‘You little fucking tease!’

‘What?’ I ask, horrified.

‘C’mon! Everyone wondered who you were fucking to get into Chem.

And Physics too! I was next on the list for that lab spot, but you got it.

You definitely fucked Applegate. I mean Jesus.

You live in a frat house! And the way they all said hi to you the other day.

’ He laughs. ‘Is there a system to decide whose room you’re sleeping in each night?

And you’re a Novelle too? Fucking figures.

You little rich girls. Always spreading it around to get what you want!

Whatever you can’t buy with money, you get by sucking dick. ’

‘N-none of that is true,’ I stammer.

‘Please!’ he snarls incredulously. ‘It’s not like you’re pulling your weight in this project. I’m carrying you. I’ve been carrying you for the entire damn thing. All you’ve done is flirted with me the whole time!’

I gasp at his lies, but before I can say anything, he steps even closer and I shrink back, wishing that I hadn’t as soon as I do, angry with myself that I have.

‘And I’ll tell you what else. I’m having a slice like all the others. Unless you want me to go to Dean Wallis about you, you’re going to spread your legs for me too!’

All at once, fury envelopes me. He’d make me sleep with him in return for not ruining my college career? Why do all these entitled pricks think my body is for them? It’s mine! My eyes narrow to slits. How many other girls does this happen to? How many others has he done this to?

He lunges forward and I don’t back up again. I smack him across the face as hard as I can, so hard my palm feels like it’s bruised.

He freezes, a hand on his cheek with wide eyes while I stand in front of him, my chest heaving.

The door.

I turn and lunge for it, twisting the lock and tearing it open only to be met with Laurie, Jolie, and a couple of other girls I only know by sight as belonging to their sorority of clones.

‘Having a little fun in one of the reading rooms, huh?’ Laurie says loudly and then feigns a gasp. ‘Oh, my! That isn’t Shade .’

I hear the click of a phone camera and some tittering.

Attempting to pull myself together, I skirt around them to where I was sitting only to find my coat covered in something dark and wet.

My coat. My present.

Tears fill my eyes. I blink them away immediately.

Not here.

‘Oh, yeah. Some maintenance man spilled black paint all over your jacket. You probably shouldn’t leave your stuff lying around, kid-killer,’ I hear Jolie say, and they all giggle.

My fury is palpable. I want to lash out. I want to throw my bag in her face, fling books off the shelves, destroy something. My body hums with the need.

I can’t give in no matter how much I want to.

Without a word, I pick up my bag and shove my laptop inside, checking that all my books are still there. I pick up my sodden coat and leave, noting that Bennet is no longer in the reading room.

I keep my eyes open as I leave the library, not wanting to see him. But I will have to at class tomorrow. I shudder as I relive his hands on me, in me. All those horrible things he said. Is that what everyone thinks? That I slept with Applegate? Is that why this keeps happening to me?

It can’t be a coincidence. It must be me.

I’m doing something. I must be acting a certain way for them to think I’m interested somehow.

This is my fault. And after last night… I thought Blake had been with someone else and I was angry .

What just happened…he has every right to be furious. They all do.

And my coat! My beautiful coat he got me is ruined!

I look down at the sticky black mass in my arms. My lip quivers and I can’t hold it in anymore.

A sob explodes out of me, and I put my hand over my mouth to silence it as I walk, feeling eyes on me as I go across the Quad, the freezing autumn wind like a kick in the teeth, a rotten cherry on the top of this awful day.

I shouldn’t have left my coat out in the open. That’s my fault too.

Clutching my bag and my coat tightly, I walk faster and faster, needing to get away from everyone and everything. I begin to jog and then all-out run as fast as I can.

I just want to get home.

MAV

‘What the fuck is this?’ I hear Shade snarl at his phone.

‘What is it?’ I ask absently, making sure the calculations I need are correct.

‘See for yourself.’

My phone buzzes and I glance down, my lip curling up over my teeth in a snarl I can’t control.

It’s Daisy looking wrinkled and tousled coming out of a room in what looks like the library.

Her shirt is pulled to the side exposing part of her bra.

Her pants are unzipped. Her expression is surprised and behind her in the background is a smirking Bennet.

‘What the fuck is this?’ I parrot. ‘Who sent it?’

‘Not a number I know,’ Shade says, sounding furious beyond words.

I look back at him. His fists are clenched so tightly, I wouldn’t be surprised to see blood dripping from them in a few seconds.

‘This doesn’t mean anything.’

I push that other tiny voice away that whispers that I thought that we were special, that I was special.

‘What’s going on in here?’ Blake asks. ‘You both look like you’re about to either throw up or destroy something. Which is it?’