Page 16 of Wicked Ends (Hellions of Hade Harbor #4)

His hands landed on my hips, and he pressed himself to me. His athletic shorts did absolutely nothing to blunt the feeling of his hardness, straining toward me and digging into my navel.

“That’s it, Teach, tempt me, lead me fucking astray…” He smiled against my lips.

“Marcus?” I pulled back and tried to drag some air into my lungs.

“Hmm, yes, birthday girl?”

“We can’t do this. I won’t do it,” I whispered.

“Yes, you will,” he murmured back confidently. “You will… or life here might get very uncomfortable for you.” He stepped back and swiped my phone off my desk.

I reached for it. It suddenly felt dangerous for this volatile young man to have my number.

He held it effortlessly above my head. I reached for it again, colliding with his hard chest, and he chuckled.

“Stop. It’s embarrassing, unless you like shoving those magnificent tits into my chest, then by all means, go ahead.”

My patience snapped at those words. They were so inappropriate, so shocking and infuriating, and I had no one to blame but myself for walking into this. Still, I couldn’t stop my hand from flying and hitting his cheek.

I gasped after and stepped back, holding my hands over my mouth.

Marcus stilled and dropped his hands to his sides.

“Wow, Professor… adding assault to inappropriate sexual conduct. My, my, the list keeps growing.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

He shrugged and started typed on my phone. “No passcode? This is more like a brick than a cell. Be a good girl, and I’ll buy you a new one.”

I retreated farther, folding my arms and trying to look as stern as I could.

“Give it back.” I held my hand out.

“Keep your panties on, beautiful… until later, at least.” He held my phone to his ear. His vibrated in his pocket.

Great. Now, he had my number.

The doorknob rattled as someone tried it.

“It’s locked!” a muffled voice came from outside.

I sprang away from Marcus like he’d been the one who’d slapped me and clapped a hand over my mouth.

He smiled easily and moved closer to me. He slid my cell into my jacket pocket and then sauntered up the stairs toward the door. He put a hand on the knob and turned to stare at me.

“I trust we understand each other, Ari. I’ll see you later tonight. Text me your address.”

I shook my head faintly, and he tutted.

“We’re playing by my rules now, remember? So be good and follow them… or else.”

“Or else what?” I found the courage to ask.

He smirked, tapped the side of his nose, then flipped the lock, opening the door and disappearing into the crush beyond.

I didn’t have a lot of time to worry about Marcus and how the hell he planned to torture me with the reminder that he held my future and reputation in his hands, as I had back-to-back classes the rest of the day.

“You need to pick up the tempo in the later passages. The whole thing ends on a positive note,” I told a student who was struggling with an especially tricky Chopin piece for the piano.

“Like this?” she asked and tried again.

“No, more like… Let me sit for a second,” I offered.

She quickly moved off the stool and stood beside me. I sat. The room was full of the sounds of different instruments being played. Some students were practicing their solos; others were working on music theory. In my head, there was a comforting kaleidoscope of colors.

I raised my hands over the keys and froze. The colors stopped shifting in my head, my mind sliding to the past.

I rushed home from school, desperate to write down the last few bars of the song I was composing for my piano final. They’d come to me in the middle of calculus, and wouldn’t stop repeating in my head. As I’d studied music, I’d realized that this is what I loved the most. Creating new songs.

I spent hours and hours in the music room, both at home and at school, and today, I was finally going to finish my project.

A huge truck was easing out of the gates of my grandparents’ old place, and I stood aside to let it pass, then ran up the driveway.

Inside, I shed my bag and shoes, putting them away so that Dale didn’t lose it, and wandered through the house.

Humming the tune, I reached the doors to the music room and pulled them open… and then stopped.

It was empty.

Everything was gone. All the instruments lining the walls, years’ worth of collecting, gone. Most terrible of all was the huge gaping space in the middle of the room, where my piano used to sit. The place where I used to see her when I played. My happy place. Gone.

I tore through the house searching for my brother. Pain lashed at my heart, betrayal and disappointment and hate, hot and black. I hated him more than anything. I needed to leave here no matter what. I needed to get whatever I could together and go. I couldn’t stay.

I found them in the kitchen. My brother was sitting at the table looking at the racing papers, and he wasn’t alone.

A pretty woman stood at the island, making a sandwich.

She was young, a little older than me, I guessed.

She was pale, and fragile, and when she turned, her face immediately lit up with a hesitant smile.

I slid to a stop.

“Who are you?” I heard myself ask.

Dale glanced over and saw me. He stood and went behind the kitchen counter to wrap an arm around the woman.

“Oh, you’re home. Arianna, meet Claire.”

My brother had a girlfriend? It seemed impossible. As far as I knew, he filled our grandparents’ house every weekend with drugs, booze, and whoever he could pay to spend time with him… sometimes multiple women, all on his payroll. The sounds they made haunted me at night.

“Hi, I’m so happy to finally meet you,” Claire beamed at me.

God, she was young, and sweet. How had she fallen for my brother’s lies? But then, he wasn’t ugly, and he was wealthy and wearing his cop uniform. To outsiders, maybe he was a catch. It was hard to tell. I’d seen him for the devil he truly was for too long.

Dale squeezed her shoulder hard and pressed a kiss to her temple. Claire gazed up at him like he was a hero. I felt sick. I had to warn her. I had to let her know who he really was, before he trapped her somehow. I couldn’t leave until I’d helped her.

“Where’s my piano?” I cleared my throat to ask.

“Gone. I’ll get you a keyboard or something. No need to have that huge old thing just for you… and did you know how much that was worth?” Dale rolled his shoulders back and gave me a shit-eating grin. “Claire here doesn’t have any parents, so the piano will help pay for the wedding.”

Fear coated my mouth. I studied that beautiful young girl, not much older than me. No parents. That made sense. Dale knew how to pick his next victim.

“The wedding?” I repeated dully.

“Yes, we’re getting married.” Dale smirked. He stepped out from behind the kitchen counter and tugged Claire with him. “Next week, actually. I know it’s fast but…”

Free of the counter, I could see all of Claire, my brother’s fiancée, and my heart sank to my shoes.

“Before the baby comes,” Claire finished, putting a hand to her swollen belly.

The sounds of students packing up and shuffling out jolted me to the present. I blinked up at the student who I’d zoned out on. She was eyeing me curiously.

“Sorry, low blood sugar. I’ll play it for you next time,” I promised.

She nodded and headed off, leaving me sitting at the keys.

Slowly, the classroom emptied, and I was alone. Still, I turned and glanced over to the right, where my grandmother’s ghost used to sit and keep me company. I longed to see her, but she wasn’t there. No matter how much I wished for it, she never was.

My hands dropped to my lap, unbidden. My happy place was still hiding from me. And I didn’t know if I’d ever get it back.