Maddie. At the moment, Gia and I were currently in tiny dresses, ankle breaking heels and make up. After redoing my assignment and sending it in to Professor Asshole, I had had some extra time on my hands. Gia had been surprised when I had told her that I was down for hitting the club. She had after all been trying to convince me for days without any success. "What changed your mind?" She had asked, eyes wide with shock. "Today was emotionally draining because of you know who. Coupled with the fact that after hours of walking around, we couldn't get a single job. What a bummer. It's my birthday and I'm over here feeling blue. I need a pick me up." I had told her. "Liquor and margaritas coming right up." She had whooped. I had laughed. "Chill, party animal. We're not going to overdo it. We have school tomorrow. This isn't the weekend." "Okay, okay. Buzz kill." She huffed. "Wear that gorgeous lilac dress. You'll turn so many heads tonight." I didn't want to turn heads and attrac
Maddie. The day after my birthday was a Friday, my new favorite day of the week and not just because it was the beginning of the weekend. It was my new favorite because Friday was the only day we didn't learn English literature, which meant that I wouldn't have to see Buford's face for the rest of the day. Gia and I celebrated the good news of the day by buying overpriced caramel macchiatos that morning. "We're going job hunting again today." She told me as we made our way out of the coffee shop. "Ugh." I groaned. I knew that logically we needed these jobs if we had any plans of feeding ourselves on food that wasn't instant ramen, but I had also never worked in my life. Call me spoiled, I didn't care. Even when Gia had gotten a summer job back in high school, I had signed up for a drama class. "Fine. I didn't think getting a job would be this difficult though." One of the owners of the restaurants we'd walked into the other day had been ready to employ Gia at the spot because she
Lucian.I was already in a shit mood. I suspected it had something to do with a certain red head in a slinky dress that I had run into the previous night. After getting her and her friend thrown out, I had tried to go back to the bar to have another drink only to find my legs carrying me out of the bar and straight to my house.I refused to listen to the tiny voice in my head telling me that my bad mood may also have a little something to do with the fact that I wasn't going to be seeing her today. I bashed the horrifying thought on the head hard enough to kill it. That was nonsense talk. If anything, I was glad not to have to see her today. Friday was officially the best day of my week. It was the truth. Dammit. I told myself that I didn't feel my stomach clench when her name popped up on my email. It must have been indigestion or something. It most definitely wasn't excitement. Nothing about Madison was exciting. She was a brilliant writer, the best in the whole class. I could a
Maddie. It had taken over an hour for Gia and I to select what to wear. Her, for her evening out with Ethan and I, for my date with Cam. "We want to look hot as hell, but not like we are trying. Like effortlessly hot. Instagram model I just woke up like this hot. If you catch my drift." She said while ruffling through our closet manically. At this point, it was safe to say that Gia and I didn't have individual clothes. We shared clothes so much that even my wardrobe back home was a mixture of her things and mine. I held up a black leather skirt and a red crop top. "how about this?" She looked over her shoulder and shook her head. "No. That's like house party wear. It'll look too desperate for a first date."I rolled my eyes. "Where's he taking you?" She asked. "Nooban. I've never heard of it." I told her. "Oh, that's nice. Good for him that he's making an effort. It's a nice restaurant. Not one of those frat boy greasy burger places." She suddenly stood up and whirled around, a
Maddie. I went to bed furious, I woke up even more furious and I dressed in the date clothes I was supposed to have worn the previous night on the verge of combusting with my fury. "Uh uh." Gia said worriedly as I marched into the kitchen that morning. "You look like you're about to do battle.""I am." I bit out. "what time did you get home last night?" She grinned saucily. "I didn't. I just got home this morning." I gasped scandalously which made her burst into laughter. "Stop that. We didn't do anything. Just a few kisses here and there. Oh God, Mads, he's such a good kisser. I was about to ready to throw him down and jump him, but he was being such a gentleman and I didn't want to mess that up for him." I smiled at her. "I'm so happy for you." "Thanks, doll. And also, I got a call back from one of the flower shops. They've asked me to come in today and check the place out. More like they want to check me out, but it's okay." "Meanwhile I've made no front on finding a job. I'
Maddie.After the first thirty minutes, I was angry. When an hour passed, I was pissed. Four hours later and I was ready to blow a gasket. I had been a minute late and he was punishing me by making me wait for four freaking hours. Thank God Gia had made me eat something. At the four hour thirty minute marker, my phone rang and it was Gia. "Where the hell are you?" She asked immediately I picked. "You won't believe me if I told you.""Surprise me." She said. "I'm at Buford's office, waiting for him to show. Just cause I got here a minute late, he's torturing me by making me wait hours." "Oh my God, Mads. For real? What the hell? What have you been doing since then? Just sitting around waiting for his royal assholiness?" I giggled at the title. Why had I never thought of that? "Scrolling through Pinterest, I tried to watch a movie, but I'm way too pissed and uncomfortable." "Do you want me to come there and keep you company?" She asked. She was the best friend anyone could ask f
Lucian."You don't own me. Sir" the whispered out statement was my undoing. I didn't know what was happening to me and I wasn't sure I liked it, but neither could I stop it. Madison Lane had woven a spell over me, one that was impossible for me to resist. I didn't know what it was about her. I had encountered beautiful women of course. Beautiful, experienced women that knew exactly how to wrap a man around their finger and bring him to his knees. They had tried, but their efforts had been wasted on me. And yet here, I was, being brought down to my knees by this slip of a thing. This tiny, too young, woman who stared at me with wide, doe like, innocent eyes. There was something about her that called to me. Something about her that was so irresistible to me. She was beguiling. It was the only word I could think that even began to encompass the way Madison made me feel. And dammit, I hated it. I hated what she did to me. I hated this power she had over me. And I hated her a little for
Maddie.I raced across the campus as fast as my legs could carry me. My head blaring danger signals at me the whole time. What had I done? Oh God. What would have happened if we had been caught? And more frighteningly, why did I want to run back and kiss him again? I dialed Gia immediately. "Hey, did you end up-""I kissed him." I cut her off urgently. "You did not!" She gasped, sounded way too delighted for my liking. "Gia! This is serious." I groused. "I know. Why do you think I'm currently grabbing my purse and making my way back to the apartment? I have to hear this in person. Oh my God, this is gold. You've made my day." "I'm glad this is entertaining for you." I grumbled. "Extremely. See ya soon." I hung up on the sound of her roaring laughter. It was official, I didn't have a best friend anymore. I was disowning Gia, ASAP. I walked into our apartment, into our bedroom and collapsed face down on the bed on top of a pile of clothes. Probably ones Gia had tried on and d
Maddie. I was sitting on a bench a little distance from the food truck inhaling the best shawarma on the planet. It seemed that everything that came out of the food truck was simply amazing. I didn't know their secret recipe, but honestly at this point even if I found out it was the blood of crickets, I wasn't sure I'd be all that bothered. "Good right?" Cam asked. We had planned to have lunch together but Cam had had to run to track practice and I had had to hurriedly study for a class test I had forgotten all about. So here we were, after school, having lunch by past five. "Good is an understatement." I told him. "I'm tempted to kidnap the cook and lock him in my basement so he'd work for me day and night." "I rue the day you're powerful enough to actually go through with that diabolical plan." He laughed. "You laugh now, but when I'm eating perfection day and night, you wouldn't be laughing anymore." "I'd be knocking at your door day and night." He grinned. "speaking of day
Lucian. There was no argument of whether I loved Lucinda Buford. She was my mother and my rock and I loved her. It didn't mean that there weren't times I just didn't want to strangle the fuck out of her. Like now for instance. She had called me at seven thirty while I was driving to work to tell me she needed me. She hadn't needed to say more. I had turned my car around and headed for her house which was approximately a two hour thirty minute drive. I made it two hours on the dot. Two hours that I spent thinking of all the worst case scenarios and trying to call her over and over again. Each call that went to voice mail only sent my blood pressure higher and higher to the roof. I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to call the school's English department in the midst of my panic. I immediately rang up Tina Bertram, a substitute who had filled in for me once before. "Hello?" "Tina, Good morning, it's Lucian Buford." "I know it's you, professor. Do you need something?" S
Maddie."Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked Gia. She was lying in bed, hands folded behind her head, giving me a shit eating grin. "Nothing." "Georgia!" She giggled. "You're so cute, Mads. Are you having a little fashion crisis over the professor, sweetie? Do you need help?" I scoffed. "I'm not having a fashion crisis over Lucian. I'm just confused about what to wear. It's normal. You get confused about to wear all the time." "Yeah, that's me, it's literally my whole thing. But you on the other hand, it takes you a second to pull out something from the closet and be ready to dash out at a moment's notice." She swept her gaze to the multiple outfits I had hanging over one arm pointedly. I felt my cheeks go hot and I was sure my face was flashing red with guilt. "It means nothing. Okay? Don't try to find a deeper meaning in all of this." "Just wear the black pants and green tee. Problem solved." She shrugged. "You're welcome." I made a face and turned away. I bit my l
Lucian. The worst part about doing the right thing was wishing you had done the wrong thing instead. I wasn't familiar with this feeling. I had always been a resolute person. I made decisions and I stuck with them and hardly changed my mind about that. And yet, here I was, my mind swaying in the wind. I could as well just change my name and dye my hair pink because I didn't recognize myself at all. I sighed. This wasn't me. I was different these days and there was only one way to resist this change effectively. Unfortunately for me, I wouldn't accept all the money in the world to cut Maddie out of my life. Not that I even cared about all the money in the world. I had more money than I knew what to do with. More money than a single person should ever have sitting somewhere in a bank idle. I could do more than survive on my professor's salary and that was good enough for me. I wasn't exactly scraping the bottom of the barrel without my sperm donor's blood money. I was doing fine. Per
Maddie. I was furious. It was crazy how since I had met Lucian, I was always in one state of extreme emotion or the other. While before I had been a generally laid back, easy going person, now I was totally maniac. All thanks to a certain grey eyed man. When I banged into the apartment, Gia looked up at me from her place at the kitchen table. "Uh oh. What did he do this time around?" She asked, raising a single brow at me. "What are you talking about? Who?" I feigned confusion. Of course, I knew exactly who she was talking about. I just didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was so spot on. She simply rolled her eyes at me. "Don't play dumb with me, carrot top. What's up? Why do you look like you're about to start ripping this apartment apart?" "It's Lucian." I growled. "Who?" Her face wrinkled in confusion. Not that I blamed her, he had been professor asshole and other not-so-favorable names to us for a while now. "Professor Buford." I explained. She immedi
Lucian. "If you want this, I'll be waiting for you in my office. Think long and hard about it, miss Lane." I told her. "If you walk into those doors, you're saying yes to me. You're saying yes to belonging to me. Do you understand?" She nodded, expression entranced and probably just as hungry as mine was. "Use your words, firecracker. Do you understand?" "Yes, Sir." She whispered. "Good girl." I said enjoying the shiver that rocked through her at my words. Then before I could do something stupid like kiss her right there where anybody could see us, I turned around and walked out briskly. The librarian who must have been close to sixty batted her lashes at me as I passed by her table. I just gave her a curt nod and continued on my way. If she thought my presence there at that time of the day was suspicious, she didn't show it.Fuck, but we really needed to be more careful. The attraction between us scrambled my senses but as the adult or rather the more experienced one between us
Maddie. I was supposed to be doing research for a paper that was due the next day, but instead, my mind kept replaying both that kiss and Lucian's words from the other day. My stupid brain had even gone right ahead to interpose the two, so it was Lucian growling the words at me in between our kisses in my mind now. I tried hard to concentrate. I really tried. I plugged in soothing music, I fixed my eyes on the books I'd collected from the shelves over two hours ago, and yet nothing. It was getting late and I should really be packing up and getting home since it wasn't safe for me to walk in the dark across campus but I hated the thought of leaving here without achieving anything. It meant that all the time I had spent here was a waste of time. Another thing that was distracting me was my phone that was annoyingly silent. For some reason, I kept refreshing my mail waiting for another illicit message from Professor Buford, but so far, nada. Not only that, but he had been completely
Maddie. Hours later and I can't seem to fall asleep, my brain too wired to manage three seconds of shut eye. My heart hasn't stopped racing since that kiss and well, I was going to give myself a heart attack at age twenty. Wouldn't that be a way to go, I thought wryly. Killed by a kiss. With a sigh, I climbed out of bed and made my way to the kitchen. There had to be some milk somewhere around here. Mum used to give me milk when I was much younger and couldn't sleep and it always worked like a charm. I searched through the bare pantry and eventually found a carton in the fridge. I checked the expiry date. A week ago. I groaned and tossed it in the trash. I had no intention of dealing with food poisoning for the sake of sleep. With an irritated sigh, I decided that I'd just as well study. That'd put me faster to sleep than anything else. I'd find the most boring subject I could think of and read it. Mind made up, I quietly made my way back to the room and grabbed my laptop before t
Maddie.I raced across the campus as fast as my legs could carry me. My head blaring danger signals at me the whole time. What had I done? Oh God. What would have happened if we had been caught? And more frighteningly, why did I want to run back and kiss him again? I dialed Gia immediately. "Hey, did you end up-""I kissed him." I cut her off urgently. "You did not!" She gasped, sounded way too delighted for my liking. "Gia! This is serious." I groused. "I know. Why do you think I'm currently grabbing my purse and making my way back to the apartment? I have to hear this in person. Oh my God, this is gold. You've made my day." "I'm glad this is entertaining for you." I grumbled. "Extremely. See ya soon." I hung up on the sound of her roaring laughter. It was official, I didn't have a best friend anymore. I was disowning Gia, ASAP. I walked into our apartment, into our bedroom and collapsed face down on the bed on top of a pile of clothes. Probably ones Gia had tried on and d