The only man for me

The door clicked shut, sealing in the suffocating silence of the bedroom, but the phantom weight of Aaron's presence lingered like smoke.

Mr. Wade didn't look at me. He couldn't even meet his own reflection in the dresser mirror as he scrambled to button his shirt with trembling, uncoordinated fingers.

The man who had possessed me with such fierce, commanding hunger,just minutes ago had dissolved into a pathetic coward,desperate to salvage the illusion of his respectable life.

"Jessica,I.....I'm sorry," he muttered, his voice hollow and stripped of all authority as he grabbed his jacket and practically fled the room.

I didn't answer him, I couldn't. I just lay there tangled in the rumpled sheets,staring up at the ceiling as the bitter, taste of defeat coated my tongue. My body still ached from the raw pleasure I felt waking up in my bed, but the warmth curdled into ice. In less than an hour,my life had been completely dismantled. I was now Aaron's pawn.

*************

Monday morning arrived with the crushing weight of an impending execution.

St. Augustine private college usually buzzed with the lazy, entitled chatter of wealthy heirs but today, the courtyard felt like an arena. Word travelled faster than wildfire among the elite, and although Aaron hadn't leaked the video yet,the air was suffocatingly aware that something monumental was about to shift.

I walked through the double doors of the main lecture hall with my chin held high,forcing my spin to stay rigid despite the tremor in my knees.

I had always been the girl who walked alone, the proud ice queen who didn't need anyone. But today, every pair of eyes felt like a physical weight pressing down on my skin.

Then he walked in.

Aaron Adams strolled into the lecture hall with that effortless,arrogant swagger that made half the girl in room sigh and the other half hold their breath.

He was flanked by his usual squad but his dark, sharp and predatory eyes cut straight through the crowd and locked onto me.

He didn't head to his usual seat in the back. Instead, he walked straight down the aisle, stopping right before my desk. The entire lecture hall went dead, pin-drop silent. You could practically hear the collective intake of breath from students waiting to see how the infamous playboy would retaliate against the girl who smashed his flowers a week ago.

Aaron leaned his hip against the edge of my desk, invading my space so closely I could smell his expensive cologne, the exact same scent that had filled that bedroom while I was still trapped under his thumb.

"Did you sleep well,Jessica?" He asked, his voice low enough for only me to hear,though the wicked amusement was broadcast for everyone else to see.

My stomach churned, I gripped the edges of my notebook so tightly my knuckles turned white. I remembered the terms of my sentence. Accept me publicly. No more playing hard to get.

"I..... I didn't sleep well at all," I forced out, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

Aaron's smile widened, a slow, triumphant curve of his lips that sent a shiver of pure dread down my spine.

"Good. Because you've got a lot of catching up to do."

He straightened up, raising his voice so the entire hall could hang on his every syllable.

"So, Ice queen...have you reconsidered my offer from last week? Or do I need to prove myself to you again?"

The humiliation was a physical burn across my cheeks,but I swallowed the lump in my throat. I thought of my father, of the career he had poured his entire life into,and the flashing screen on Aaron's phone. I could easily steal the phone later and delete the video and make this bad nightmare disappear but what if he already had it saved elsewhere? How would I even unlock his phone?

I looked up meeting Aaron's dark, mocking gaze, and delivered a line that signed away my soul.

"I was wrong," I said,my voice carrying clearly across the silent room. "I.....I realized you're the only man for me,Aaron.

The lecture room erupted into absolute, deafening chaos. Gasps, cheers, and disbelieving shouts ricocheted off the walls. St. Augustine's untouchable rebel had finally conquered the approachable ice queen.

But as Aaron stepped closer,sliding a hand down to brush casually against my thigh beaneath the cover of the desk,his finger gripping my skin with a possessive, bruising heat, I knew the public humiliation was only the opening act.

"Class is going to be a bore today, sweetheart, " Aaron whispered against my ear,his breath hot and thrillingly wicked. "Pack your things. The campus locker room is empty during third period.....and I'm feeling very, very hungry.

****************

Lunch break

The midday sun beat down hard on the sprawling courtyard of St. Augustine, turning manicured lawns into a shimmering expanse of green.

Students clustered in noisy, laughing circles near the fountain, but the noise felt miles away to me. I sat on a stone bench under the shade of the sprawling oak tree,staring blankly at the black coffee I had no intention of drinking.

"Are you even listening to me Jess?"

A sharp snap of fingers right in front of my face pulled me out of the suffocating fog. Isabella my ride or die,my partner in crime, and the only person in this school who knew half my secrets, was staring at me with wide exasperated eyes. She dropped onto the bench beside me, crossing her arms over her designer top.

"I said," Isabella repeated, her voice laced with disbelief, "the project lists for the senior thesis went up on the dean's board five minutes ago. And you're not going to believe who pullled the strings. "

I didn't blink, I already knew,the ghost weight of Aaron's hands still seemed burned into my skin from our third period encounter in the damp, echoing silence of the campus locker room.

"Aaron," I said flatly,my voice completely devoid of the fire Isabella was expecting.

Isabella blinked, her jaw dropping open. "Wait. You already know? How? Did he corner you in the hall again?" She let out a frustrated hiss,throwing her hands up. "I swear to God, the man is a walking stalker. But get this Jess, it gets worse. I talked to Mr. Henderson at the academic office, and he swore up and down that the original roster had you paired with David Silva. But on Friday afternoon right before the weekend lockdown, the system logs show someone overrode the entry from an admin override code."

She leaned in close,her eyes flashing with protective rage. "And guess whose IP address or override clearance it traces back to? Aaron Adams. He literally hacked or bullied his way into swapping David out so he could force you on the project group! Can you believe that arrogant manipulative prick?"

Isabella paused,bracing herself. She was waiting for explosion. She was waiting for me to jump up, smash another cup,curse Aaron's lineage,and storm off to the dean's office to raise hell. That was what the old Jessica, the proud ice queen who didn't take crap from anyone would have done.

Instead, I just took a slow sip of my cold coffee. Silence stretched between us,thick and uncomfortable. Isabella stared at me,her expression shifting from fierce anger to deep,creeping confusion.

"Jess?" She asked,her voice dropping, losing its manic edge. "Are you......are you okay? Did he threaten you? Because if that bastard did something, we're going straight to the security..."

"I'm fine,Isa," I interrupted, my voice unnervingly calm.

Isabella stared at me like I had just grown a second head. She reached out, pressing the back of her cool hand against my forehead. "You're not fine. You're acting entirely weird. Normally, you'd be spitting nails right now! He hijacked your project Jessica! You're going to be locked in study room with the school's most notorious playboy,working on a grade that dictates our entire graduation status,and you're just sitting here sipping coffee?"

I looked up meeting my bestfriend's worried gaze.

How could I tell her? How could I explain that the man she thought was a campus menace held a video that obliterate my father's career, ruin my family,and turn me into a permanent hostage? How could I tell her that I wasn't just working with him,I was bound to him body and soul, every single time he snapped his fingers?

"People change Isa," I murmured, offering a thin ghost of smile that didn't reach my eyes.

Isabella slowly pulled her hand back, her eyes narrowing with sharp suspicion. "No. People don't do a complete 180-degree personality in seventy two hours. First, you publicly take him back after humiliating him, and now you're just rolling over while he forces you into his project team?" She grabbed my wrist, her grip tight. "What's going on with you? Tell me the truth. "

Before I had to scramble for an excuse,a shadow fell over the bench.

The air suddenly felt thick, the temperature dropping a degree familiar,expensive scent of sandalwood and leather drifted into my space.

"Everything alright here, ladies?"

A low,rich voice cut through the afternoon noise. I didn't even have to look up to know who it was. Aaron stood right beside the bench, his hands tucked casually into the pockets of his tailored trousers. He looked entirely too relaxed, too gorgeous,and too thoroughly pleased with himself. His dark eyes flicked from Isabella's tense, defensive posture down to me,a slow predatory smirk curling his lips.

Isabella instantly bristled, dropping my wrist and glaring up at him. "Back off, Adams. Some of us are having a private conversation. "

"Is that right?" Aaron chuckled, stepping closer until his thigh practically brushed the edge of the bench. He didn't look at Isabella at all,his gaze locked onto mine, burning with a silent possessive command that made my pulse spike. "Well,your best friend has a lot of group work to prepare for. And we have a meeting to get to. Don't we,sweetheart?"

The pet name rolled off his tongue like a velvet leash.

Isabella whipped her head around to look at me, her eyes screaming ' What's he calling you?!'

I swallowed hard, feeling the invisible strings of his control yank taut around my throat. I stood up slowly from the bench, smoothing down my skirt, and forced myself to meet Aaron's dark, amused eyes.

"Yeah, Isa, " I said quietly, my voice steady despite the storm raging inside my chest. "We have a project to work on, I'll see you later. "

Without waiting for her stunned reply,I turned and walked side by side with Aaron away from the courtyard, leaving Isabella frozen in the grass, utterly bewildered by how much her best friend had changed over the weekend.