MasukHe bottomed out and held still, giving her a second to adjust. His breathing was rough against the back of her neck.āYou take me so fucking well for someone who pretends she doesnāt want this.āāMove,ā she demanded. He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in. The desk rocked. Fiona moaned raw and open, the sound punched out of her on every thrust. He set a hard, steady paceā¦deep, punishing strokes that made her see white at the edges of her vision.āHarder,ā she gasped.Daveās hand fisted in her hair and pulled her head back. The new angle made every thrust hit deeper. She sobbed with pleasure.āListen to you. Quiet little nerd, begging for it.āāFuck you,ā she moaned, but she pushed back to meet every stroke, greedy for more.āYou are.ā He fucked her harder, the slap of skin on skin loud in the room. āYouāre taking every inch like you were made for it. Look at you dripping down your thighs.āāMoreāpleaseādonāt stopāāHe reached around and found her clit, rubbing tight ci
Fiona stepped back into the living room with the empty soda cup still in her hand and the conversation in the study still looping in her head. The music had shifted again and the crowd had thickened. Bodies moved closer together. Laughter came sharper. She kept to the edges, the way she always did, but the wall no longer felt like safety. It felt like the place people put the girl they expected to leave.Dave was easy to find. He stood near the kitchen doorway with Marcus and a girl Fiona didnāt recognize, gesturing with his cup while he talked. When his eyes landed on her he paused mid-sentence, then finished whatever he was saying and detached himself from the group.He stopped in front of her, close enough that she had to tilt her chin up.āStill here.āāStill here,ā she echoed.āMost people wouldāve bolted after Tylerās little commentary.āāIām not most people.āDaveās mouth curved. āNo. Youāre not.ā He glanced at the empty cup in her hand. āYou want the better bottle or are y
Fiona took the campus shuttle to the edge of the residential streets and walked the last three blocks. Maple was a quiet road of older student houses, most of them with porches and uneven lawns. Number 214 was the loudest. A few people stood on the front steps with red cups. Someone had strung cheap string lights along the railing.She paused on the sidewalk and considered turning around. The rational part of her listed every reason this was a bad idea. The smaller, quieter part kept her moving forward.A girl she recognized from her literature seminar was on the porch and waved her up with the vague friendliness of someone who had already had two drinks. Inside, the house was warmer and louder than the night outside. The living room had been mostly cleared of furniture. A table near the kitchen held bottles and a stack of cups. People clustered in groups of three and four, talking over the music. She found a wall near the entrance and did what she always did: observed. Tyler wa
Fiona Langley had perfected the art of becoming invisible by the time she reached her junior year at Westbridge University. It was not a dramatic invisibility. She did not vanish in a puff of smoke or duck into shadows like a character in the novels she preferred to the campus social scene.Hers was quieter: the careful choice of seats at the back of lecture halls, the habit of walking with her chin slightly down and her earbuds in even when the playlist had ended, the way she timed her arrivals and departures so that the loudest clusters of students had already moved on.She was twenty, five-foot-four, with straight dark-brown hair she usually kept in a low ponytail and glasses that were practical rather than stylish. Her wardrobe consisted of well-worn jeans, oversized cardigans, and sneakers that had seen three semesters of rain. She carried a battered canvas tote instead of a backpack because the tote held more books and made less noise when she set it down. In high school the
By the third morning the house had settled into a loose rhythm. Guests appeared for breakfast at different times, disappeared onto trails or into the library, and reconvened only when the light began to fade. Dianne woke before Rhys again. This time she did not try to slip away. She watched the slow rise and fall of his chest and let her hand rest lightly over his heart. When his eyes opened he covered her hand with his own.āStill here,ā he said.āStill here.āThey stayed in bed longer than caution suggested. Only when the sound of voices drifted up from the kitchen did Rhys finally rise and dress. He kissed her once at the door and left.Downstairs, Lena was already at the table, black coffee in hand, watching the doorway as if she had been waiting. Tomas sat beside her, peeling an orange with methodical care. Julian had claimed his usual corner with a book. Claire was absent.Lenaās gaze flicked from Dianne to the stairs and back. āSleep well?āāWell enough,ā Dianne answered, pour
Morning light slipped through the gap in the curtains and settled across the bed in a narrow gold band. Dianne woke first. For a few seconds she did not remember where she was. Then the weight of an arm across her waist and the steady warmth of another body against her back brought everything back in a rushā¦the porch, the locked door, the way Rhys had looked at her when he pushed inside, the sound of her own voice saying his name.She lay still, listening to his breathing. It was deep and even. Careful not to wake him, she shifted just enough to look at his face. In sleep the controlled lines of his expression had softened. She studied the faint silver at his temples, the small scar near his left eyebrow she had not noticed the night before. Her body ached in places that felt earned rather than sore. She smiled against the pillow.Rhys stirred. His arm tightened briefly, then his eyes opened. For a moment he simply looked at her, as if confirming she was still there.āMorning,ā he







