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The grotesque carefully peeled my front from the desk and skillfully turned me to sit on it in one motion. “Are you alright?” Bane smirked. “That felt like one powerful orgasm. I swear your pussy tried to break my fingers clean off.”

Still fighting to slow my heartrate, I responded, my voice disturbingly breathy, “Fine.” I swallowed, the lining of my throat sticking together. “I’m fine.”

The jackass laughed, as if he didn’t just reduce me to a useless puddle of pleasure. “Now,” he said, amusement twitching his already too wide smile larger, then placed his hands flat on the desk, bracketing me with his sexy, veiny arms, “I’d love nothing more than to slip your soaked panties into my pocket and leave you here to collect yourself. Unfortunately for me,” he narrowed his eyes as if trying to be censorious and failing due to his grin, “a naughty student wasn’t wearing any.”

I sighed and fold my arms over my chest, not missing the way his eyes immediately dipped to the deep V showing off my breasts, and absolutely choked my next words with sarcasm. “Such a shame.”

A startled, booming laugh shook loose from his throat. “Not to worry, I have plenty to choose from already.”

What does he mean he has plenty already?

His words filtered through my post orgasm daze, my mind calculating the reasons at the pace of spilled molasses. But that would mean… “Did you steal my panties?”

Bane pressed a lightning-quick kiss to my lips, then stepped back several paces and bounced on his toes. “Some thongs too. I like the cotton ones especially; they soak up more of my cum than the silk.” He drew in a breath as I watched his hooded eyes dilate further, leaving only a thin ring of blue around the pupil. “But we both know no mere scrap of fabric should be expected to contain such a large quantity of spend.”

My mouth dropped open. That’s so hot—if a bit deviant. Why do I find the thought of him jerking off into my underthings so arousing? Shit, I think I even want to watch him as he chokes his cockhead with a pair I’ve already worn.

“Steal another pair, and I won’t be responsible for what happens to you. I have a set of high-quality chisels already on order.”

Bane released a booming laugh. “Miko, you just told me not thirty minutes ago, that you rarely wear them anyway. So, what’s the harm?”

“That isn’t the point.”

He darted forward causing me to suck in a startled breath, then caressed his thumb claw over my cheek bone in a barely-there touch. “No fun in stealing them if they’re willingly given.” Bane shrugged. “That would erase the taboo nature of taking them in the first place.”

A devious plan formed in the back of my mind, allowing a smirk to curl my lips.

“I’m not sure if the look on your face makes me want to fuck it or flee in terror,” the grotesque stated, wonder widening his heated gaze.

Before I could respond, my backpack vibrated obnoxiously on the other side of the room, the metal leg it leaned against amplifying the sound. My jaw clenched and sweat broke out on my palms as I shoved to a standing position and hurried over, eager to remove the source unsettling me. However, Bane got there and back well before I had a chance to place a foot on the first stair.

I blinked absently at the strap dangling from two of his thick outstretched fingers. “Uh, thank you,” I grumbled. The buzzing started up again causing me to flinch. Not wanting to see the look on his face, I snatched my bag, fumbled to retrieve my phone, rings clinking against the side of its case, and depressed the lock button, halting the noise entirely. Thank fuck. I blew out a breath, my muscles tightening up all over again as I glanced at the illuminated screen.

Trying to steel my nerves, I gripped my phone tightly and scrolled through the endless list of notifications demanding my attention. Fuck.

I jumped as Bane’s hands landed on my shoulders, his thumbs pressing deeply into my rigid muscles, and his tail wound around my calf. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything is marvelous,” I replied flatly.

There was no way I could fake my way into him believing the accuracy of my disinterested tone, but I tried anyway.

Bane scoffed. “Your neck and shoulder muscles are so tense they feel like stone.” He laughed shortly. “Shite, they might even be harder than mine.” My free hand balled into a fist, and I released an agonizingly slow exhale through my nose. “I said everything is fine, Grotesque.”

“Bullshite.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” A growl drummed in his chest as he pressed his body to my back. “Now, tell me what’s wrong,” he halted briefly, “or must I spank it out of you?”

My breath caught, but it still wasn’t enough to distract me from my plight. “The dean called,” I mumbled, “and left two voicemails. He’s going to fire me.” A self-depreciated scoff emitted from me. “He probably already did. It’s just sitting there mocking me while it waits for me to listen.” Anxiety spun into a tight, heavy spiked ball in my stomach. I didn’t bother mentioning the numerous missed calls, voicemails, and texts from Monstera.

While I admit they caused a fission of nerves to knot my intestines, because I realized, belatedly, that I didn’t even think of how worried she would be or bother checking to see if she reached out when we returned. Until I handled this, whatever this communication is from the dean, I didn’t think I could bring myself to listen, let alone reply to my fated bestie.

“Be easy, Honeybee. You’re clogging your head with too many thoughts at once. I suggest you listen to the messages from the gobshite and get it over and done with,” Bane said. I closed my eyes and attempted to slow my pulse. A panic attack would be really unhelpful at the moment.

To my utter surprise, my heart rate indeed slowed but not from my own efforts. Bane pressed even closer to my back and slid his hand between my breasts to collar base of my neck, his thumb circling over my pulse point then pressed a kiss to the top of my head as I gnawed on the inside of my cheek.

“Lean on me, I’ll always be here to support you if and when you need it,” he insisted, his seemingly sweet and genuine tone disarming me despite the fact that it sounded as if he’d swallowed gravel.