I wonder how my neck looks.
His eyes follow the markings, the blood draining from his face as he tracks the trail down to my heaving breasts.
Hastily, he throws himself off my body. Then, hands spearing through his crazed strands, he gapes at me with frantic eyes. I can read the apology on his lips before it can even make it in the air, and for some reason, that infuriates me more than his avoidance.
Like he’s disgusted by what we did.
By me.
Snatching my sweater, I hurriedly throw it over my head and jump down from the desk. He watches me with confusion as I push past him and pluck my backpack from the floor.
“Scarlett!” he hisses once I get the door ajar. I ignore him the way he did me and poke my head out, watching for anyone lingering in the hall.
The sound of his loafered feet stomp my way, but before he can reach me and drag me back inside, I slip out the door. His voice calls for me, but he won’t leave the safety of his office, not looking as he does. Not smelling like my cherry perfume with the heat of my lips on his.
He wouldn’t risk it.
I fly through the halls of the school, not giving myself time to think until I reach home.
“Scarlett?” my mom calls out as I rush up the stairs. I throw out a lame excuse like stomach pains and lock myself in the room.
Behind the safety of my bedroom walls, I allow myself to think of Mr. Ellis, of his dominating mouth and skilled tongue. The way he shamelessly drew my flesh into his mouth and marked me as his. His palms are imprinted on my bones. I can still feel his firm, calloused hands working my flesh. I’m weightless because of it.
As I lie here, I know one thing is for certain.
Things will never be the same again.
Scarlett Dane
CHAPTER XI
Lemon-scented bubbles seep into my skin. Its sharp, sweetly acidic scent relaxes me, lulling me into a peaceful state of mind as I sink into the bathtub.
Foam clings to my chest. It covers the array of bruises on my breasts, but I know where each one is by memory. I studied them in the mirror before I settled into the bath, those and the ones running up my neck to behind my ear.
Closing my eyes, I touch the one beside my clavicle, reminiscing on the sensation of his teeth grazing the delicate nerves of my bone while his hand held me down, pinning me to his Cherry Oak desk.
The pulse in his cock hammered against my aching clit. Its rhythm alone was almost enough to set me off, but then his lips circled my lace-covered nipple, and I knew I was done for.
A few more seconds of torturous euphoria, and I would have been a puddle on the floor. But then Mrs. Brown decided to knock, ruining everything.
Mr. Ellis stared at me with those eyes again, full of apprehension and confusion. But the more I think of it, the more I come to realize there was something different about that stare. Something else hidden in his unruly sea.
Want.
Mr. Ellis wants me.
Me.
The thought makes me deliriously excited.
Sinking under the lemon-fragranced water, I open my eyes and watch the bubbles with distorted vision.
Mr. Ellis touched you.
Mr. Ellis kissed you.
No one else.
