CHAPTER 1

Camille’s POV

My mouth twisted in displeasure as I stared at my boyfriend, his speedo shorts clinging to his body, barely covering his six-inch dick, yet he hadn’t even bothered to ask how I was or how I felt.

He was at it again.

Unable to pleasure me, despite all I had done.I had bent and twisted myself through so many positions, convincing myself that it would finally be enough and he would fuck me the way I wanted. In a way that would leave me gasping and begging for air.

But again, no.

Julian had fucked me with his mediocre abilities.

“Aren’t you even going to ask me how I felt?” I finally voiced, the displeasure spilling out after several minutes of suffocating silence.

He was in his same character as always, of never asking how the sex was nor even asking how I felt afterward.

Even during the sex itself, when I had voiced how unsatisfied I was with his efforts, he had ignored me, continuing to thrust into me with the same dull, uninspired rhythm he always did.

“Not today, Camille . I do not have such time for that,” he responded absentmindedly, already turning away from me, choosing his phone over the conversation we had been avoiding for far too long.

I felt as though he was trying to shift the blame onto me once more.

Julian and I had been a couple for months now, and I had thought that alone was reason enough for us to be able to talk about personal matters. We couldn’t keep shoving away issues that demanded to be discussed just because they made him uncomfortable.

“Come on, Julian. I’m not trying to cause any trouble. I just wanted you to know that…” I began, but he cut me off immediately, dismissing what I was trying to say before I could even finish.

“I’m always never enough for you, Camille. It’s either I don’t satisfy you, or I can’t fuck you the way you want me to. I seriously do not know what your problem is nor what….”

“But that’s the truth, Julian,” I snapped sharply before he could continue.

I knew without being told that he was already preparing to brush off everything I had said as nothing. That was what he did best.

Once he had achieved his own release, nothing else mattered to him and that had summed up our sex life from the very beginning of our relationship.

“It’s not my fault you have a high sexual drive, Camille! Stop faulting me for your own errors!” he snapped angrily.

I froze, his words forcing me to pause and truly absorb what he had just said.

Was that really his excuse? A cheap attempt to mask his incompetence?

“Having a high sexual drive isn’t a bad thing, Julian. Just admit that you were unable to satisfy me! Stop trying to put the blame on me!” I fired back.

This time, he paused, turning to stare at me with an anger so sudden and intense that I couldn’t understand where it was coming from.

“I’ve been with a couple of other girls, Camille. Even last week, I hooked up with a stripper from a club. She praised me for my performance and said it was the best sex she had in her life. Other women I’ve been with were also satisfied. No complaints at all. Everyone except you, Camille. You’re literally the problem here!.”

I stood frozen.

Just moments ago, I had only wanted to tell him that we needed to spice things up if this relationship was going to survive and now, he was confessing to cheating on me without even a hint of remorse.

The irony gnawed at the back of my mind as I remained motionless, staring at him and at the weight of his confession.

“Camille, it’s not what you think…” he began after a short while, when his words finally seemed to settle in his head.

He reached out for me, but only to realize I was already keeping my distance.

His hand froze midair before he dragged his fingers through his hair, pacing closer, trying again to pull me into his arms. I refused him without a word.

Just then, my phone rang.

Grateful for the interruption, I latched onto the excuse and walked away from the room, answering the call as I stepped outside. The moment the door closed behind me, fresh air rushed into my lungs, and only then did I realize how suffocated I had been.

What did this mean for Julian and me? Not once had I suspected him. I had trusted him completely, believed he was incapable of such betrayal while he was with me.

I was a hockey superstar at our academy, the leader of the cheerleading squad also. I had believed that alone was enough to keep him bound to me.

I was pretty and he couldn’t possibly say he had hooked up with another woman because I was basic or ugly. I was hot, so said the media and my fans. And on top of all that, I loved him. I sacrificed everything I could for him and for our relationship.

Finding out that he had been cheating on me all this while, right behind my back, left me completely hollow. I was at a loss for words to properly express how shattered I felt.

But I couldn’t afford to show it.

I stepped out through the door that led outside the hotel I had come to with Julian, still wondering why the school Dean had been so insistent on seeing me, and who exactly he wanted to introduce.

That was the information I had gotten from the call I had just finished answering.

Being part of the school committee made it mandatory that I be present whenever new teachers were employed.

“Be nice and cordial, Camille.”

My father’s voice echoed in my head as I forced my legs to move faster. My father, the college dean, would be furious if I disappoint him. And I still couldn’t wrap my head around why he had asked me to attend so early.

The campus doors slid open as the sensors detected my presence, granting me entry as I hurried inside. The hotel wasn’t far from campus.

Good riddance to rubbish, I thought bitterly.

I made my way toward the office I had been directed to, curiosity stirring despite everything weighing on my chest. Whoever my father had employed clearly mattered enough for him to summon me personally.

I knocked once and opened the door without waiting for a response. My father must have already informed him that I would be the one giving the familiarization tour, I reasoned.

The moment I stepped inside, a pair of brown eyes met mine.

They stared at me as though I had committed some unforgivable offense simply by existing in his space.

A lump formed in my throat as I swallowed hard. Why was I nervous?

He couldn’t possibly be annoyed that I was here. I must have already been introduced to him.

“Camille Crowe” I began before he could ask, lifting my chin. “College representative, cheerleading captain and three-time gold winner of the campus hockey tournaments. The management has sent me to help you settle into your new office.”

This was the first time I had ever needed to properly introduce myself.

My blonde hair and blue eyes had always done the job of drawing attention effortlessly. Once people noticed me, they quickly realized I wasn’t just a pretty face.

I wondered what cave this new teacher had crawled out of not to recognize me immediately.

“I’m sorry, Camille Crowe, but I do not need any help settling in. You can leave.”

It took him a moment to respond, but when he did, his voice was cold and stern, so much so that I glanced around the office, half-wondering if he was speaking to someone else.

“Let me help you, Mr. Ashford I’m used to doing this. As the college representative, I have…”

“Thank you, Miss Bella, but I can do things myself just fine,” he cut in sharply.

No one had ever dismissed me like that.

“Come on, Mr. Ashford, I insist. You probably won’t know your way around the school yet. I’ll just…”

“I said I can do that myself and do not need your help, Miss Camille.”

The finality in his tone made me shudder.

I lifted my head slowly and stared at him. There was no warmth on his face. And his voice was so commanding and dominant, that it sent an unexpected tremor through me.

I wanted to get angry and lash out. How dare he speak to me this way? How dare he treat me like I didn’t matter when I was the school’s golden girl?

But something stopped me, despite my anger.

Mr. Ashford was exactly what I wanted. His dominating voice, so different from Julian’s dismissive indifference, sent an unfamiliar shiver across my skin.

For the first time that day, I felt something other than heartbreak.