I try to keep up with him, still wincing at every movement as we head toward his motorcycle, though the pain feels more than manageable now. In fact, I welcome it, because it’s tied to a memory that’s once more grown happy. Meanwhile, the naggingsensation that I’m being incredibly naive and stupid to give in to Quill so easily is fading with every second that I feel his touch on my skin.
Then we stop by his bike and I quickly try to rearrange my face so that I’m not showing any of my physical pain as he fits his one helmet on me.
But he notices. He follows my glance as I eye the seat ruefully. Any other time I’d be over the moon at the thought that he’s going to take me for a ride, but right now, all I can think of is that my ass is about to be in contact, once more, with a seat. This one is far more comfortable than the metal classroom chair, but still.
I try to disguise my reaction by saying, “We shouldn’t. We’ll be late for English.”
Nerd. I really hate myself as I see his mouth twitch into a smirk.
“You’re going to have to get used to skipping class, now that you’re with me.”
My heart skips a beat.Now that you’re with me.Yes, please. Yes. I don’t care what it says about me, I’m suddenly totally willing to skip all the classes in the world. I’ll happily destroy my GPA. My GPA’s meaningless, anyway. It’s not like I could afford anything but the local community college.
Everything’s meaningless but Quill, standing in front of me, his hand once more possessively wrapped around my wrist.
“You’ll also have to get used to…” He drags his eyes toward my nether regions. “Pain. I don’t know how to be any other way.”
I blush hard, remembering the spanking that had surprised me at first, but then had turned… pleasurable, in some weird way. Even though it still hurt like hell.
“I liked it,” I breathe out, so quietly that I wonder if he’s heard it. But his deepening smirk tells me he has.
“I didn’t mean for it to hurt this bad,” he says, repeating a version of the semi-apology he’d given to me before. I have afeeling it’s the closest thing to apologizing that he’s capable of, and my heart clings to the words. “Come on,” he adds.
“Where?”
“Home. I’m going to take care of you.”
Again, my heart seizes at those words. Everything that’s happening right now feels like some magical dream, far crazier even than this weekend. Because it’s not just his body anymore making me live intense sensations that are far better than anything I could have dreamed up in the solitude of my room. It’s his words, telling me that he cares.
Then I once more take in the motorcycle seat with a wry face. No matter how much I desperately want what Quill is promising, I think my ass will explode if it comes into contact with one more surface, after the three-hour-long torture session that was math class.
His hand still around my wrist, he pulls me to the motorcycle, but instead of making me sit down, he leads me over it, so I’m lying down across the seat, reminding me of the degrading way he kept me over his lap in the car ride to the lake.
But this time, it doesn’t feel degrading. Only awkward as I let out an embarrassed laugh. “Quill! What are you doing?!”
“Making sure I don’t hurt you again,” is his answer, and then he pins me to the seat with a hand to my back.
The engine roars and he takes off, clearly not caring about the surprised stares of the students lingering around the school. Well, if he doesn’t care, neither do I, and I sink into the delicious feeling of his body heat against me, his hand on my back, and his promise.
You’re with me. I’m going to take care of you.
This is the best day of my life.
24
Piper
Present Day
“Psst! Piper!”
I blink and train my gaze stiffly toward the window.
I’m stiff because I’m still firmly trussed up like a fucking Thanksgiving turkey, tape pressed to my mouth, my wrists bound together by duct tape, my ankles too.
God fucking dammit. Nancy Drew would never be so helpless.
But if I had any doubts before, they’ve vanished by now. I most definitely amnotNancy Drew.
