LOGINBy mid-afternoon the campus had settled into its usual rhythm. Most people had already moved on from the morning’s comments. A few still stared a little longer than necessary when Isla and Freya walked past, but the energy had shifted from sharp to merely curious. The school, as Freya had predicted, was largely used to this kind of thing.
That didn’t stop one last attempt.
They were crossing the main courtyard w
Yes.Adrian had admitted he was attracted to me, and somehow the simplicity of it made my pulse race harder than any confession I'd imagined during those sleepless nights when I'd caught myself thinking about him far too often.I lowered my eyes to the bottle in my hands, turning the cap between my fingers. "You really shouldn't have said that.""Probably not."There was no regret in his voice.I looked up.He was still watching me.The darkness softened the sharp edges of his face, but it couldn't hide the tension in his jaw or the way his fingers had curled loosely against the desk. For the first time since I'd met him, Adrian looked uncertain.It was strangely reassuring."You always seem so sure of yourself," I said."I usually am.""Usua
I followed Adrian into his office, the soft glow from his phone guiding us through the darkness. Without the overhead lights, the room felt unfamiliar. The enormous windows had turned into black mirrors, reflecting our silhouettes back at us, and the usual polished atmosphere of the executive floor had disappeared. Adrian set my laptop on the edge of his desk before turning toward me."You can sit."I hesitated for a second before taking the leather chair opposite his desk. He remained standing, studying me with an expression I couldn't quite read."Are you nervous?"The question caught me off guard. "About being trapped in a building with my boss? A little."His mouth twitched.It was the first genuine hint of amusement I'd seen from him."You've never been afraid of me before."I stared at him. "Who sa
You're tired.""I'm not."His gaze shifted from the screen to my face. For a moment, neither of us said anything."You've been here since seven."I blinked. "You know that?""I asked security."Something warm crept up the back of my neck. I looked away first and pretended to be interested in the spreadsheet. "I wanted to finish.""I can see that."His voice had softened, and somehow that was worse than the usual coldness. I turned back to the laptop and began correcting the formula."I'll fix it.""You'll go home."I stopped typing and looked up. "I can finish first.""That's not a suggestion."There was the CEO again.I saved the corrected file and closed the laptop, unable to suppress the small sigh that escaped me. "Happy?"Adrian watched me stand. "Not particularly."My hand paused on the laptop. Before I could ask what that meant, he walked past me toward the windows.
Chapter OneAfter HoursAt 11:38 p.m., I was still sitting behind my desk on the twenty-sixth floor, staring at the same spreadsheet I'd been fighting with for almost an hour. I was pretty sure everyone else had gone home by now. The city stretched beyond the glass walls in a sea of headlights and glowing windows, and from this high up, everything looked small enough to control. Unfortunately, my spreadsheet had other ideas. I rubbed my tired eyes and stared at the numbers blurring across the screen, knowing that one stupid decimal in the quarterly projections could throw off the entire report. I dragged the cursor back to the column and checked it again, then a third time, hoping the mistake would somehow disappear. Instead, my stomach growled loudly enough to remind me that I'd been working for nearly five hours without eating."Fantastic," I muttered, leaning back in my chair.My phone sat beside
The box sat on the coffee table between them like an open question.Isla stared at it for a long time after Freya set it down. The slim curved toy, the small bottle of lube, the soft blindfold. Her pulse had already started its slow, heavy climb the kind that settled low in her belly and made every small shift of her body feel deliberate. She could still feel the ghost of Freya’s arm around her from earlier, the public defence in the courtyard, the quiet way Freya had held her on the sofa. All of it had left her warm and restless in a way that refused to settle.Freya didn’t push. She simply waited, one hand resting lightly on Isla’s thigh, thumb stroking in slow, absent circles that only made the ache sharper.“I want to try,” Isla said finally, voice quieter than she meant it to be.Freya’s eyes darkened, but her smile stayed soft. &ld
By mid-afternoon the campus had settled into its usual rhythm. Most people had already moved on from the morning’s comments. A few still stared a little longer than necessary when Isla and Freya walked past, but the energy had shifted from sharp to merely curious. The school, as Freya had predicted, was largely used to this kind of thing.That didn’t stop one last attempt.They were crossing the main courtyard when a boy from Callum’s old group stepped into their path, smirk already in place. “Hey, Freya. Didn’t think you’d go full lez for the quiet one. Bit of a downgrade, no?”Isla felt the familiar hot flush climb her neck. Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag. The words landed heavier than she wanted them to.Freya stopped walking.She turned slowly, expression calm in a way that made the air a







