บททั้งหมดของ CLIMAX CHRONICLES ( A Compilation Of Raw Steamy Stories): บทที่ 21 - บทที่ 27

PEARLThe rest of the week felt like I was drowning in paper and ink while trying to keep my head above water. Being the group leader was not just a title; it was a full time job that kept me bolted to a library chair until my back ached and my eyes burned from staring at the glow of my laptop. I spent hours digging through online archives, pulling apart every syllable of the classic text we were assigned, searching for those sensory triggers Professor Tyler had talked about. My browser had about fifty tabs open, ranging from deep literary analysis to historical accounts of how scent was used in Victorian prose.Physically, my group was a disaster. We met up in the student lounge every afternoon, but it was like trying to herd cats. Miller, Vance, and the others would show up late, smelling like the gym or cheap cologne, leaning back in their chairs with their feet up on the table. They would look at me with these blank, expectant expressions, waiting for me to tell them where to put

TYLERI leaned back in the high-back leather chair, the woodsmoke scent of my own tobacco clinging to my skin as I stared at the clock on the office wall. 4:26 PM. The building was finally silent, the chaotic hum of thousands of students replaced by the low, rhythmic throb of the air conditioning and the distant, muffled sound of a janitor’s cart in the hall.I had planned this. Every name I read off the list this morning, every group I shuffled, had been a calculated move toward this specific moment of silence. I had watched her all week from the shadows of the faculty lounge and the back of the library stacks, a small, focused figure buried under a mountain of books. She thought she was being subtle when she lingered near my office, but I could smell her anxiety and that sweet, floral scent of her skin from a mile away.I had placed Group Four at the very bottom of that spreadsheet for one reason. I wanted the world to disappear before she walked through my door. I wanted no witness

PEARLThe second his lips crashed against mine, my brain went into a full scale riot. There was this loud, screaming protest in the back of my mind telling me to pull away, to remember my scholarship, to remember that this was my professor and I was in a faculty office with a locked door. But my body? My body was a traitor. The moment his tongue forced its way past my teeth, I felt my knees go weak, and the folder I had spent all week killing myself over just slid right out of my hands. I didn't even care. The sound of the papers hitting the floor was distant, a dull thud that signified the end of my life as a normal student. All that research, all those late nights in the library, they didn't mean anything compared to the way his hands were suddenly everywhere, claiming me.The heat coming off him was exactly like the one that had been scorching me in my dreams. It was terrifying and intoxicating at the same time. When he hoisted me onto that mahogany desk, the wood felt cold against

PEARL"Bridget, keep your voice down oh," I whispered, pressing the phone so hard against my ear I could feel the plastic heating up. I sat on the edge of my bed, the springs groaning under me, and kept one eye on the door to make sure Grandma wasn't lingering in the hallway with her "just someone" smile."Keep my voice down? Pearl, do you know what time it is?" Bridget’s voice was a sharp, wicked spike through the receiver. I could hear the distant, muffled chime of microwave in the background, but her focus was 100% on me. "I left you just a few hours ago to go pick my mom, and I know for a fact you were the very last person on that presentation list. That was meant to be over ages ago. You’ve been MIA for hours!""I told you, the submission took longer because the others weren't there to defend their parts," I stammered, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My face was still flushed, and my hair looked like I’d been caught in a windstorm."Lie to your grandma, not to me," Bridg