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."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. 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. 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
Maddie. "Don't look now, but that guy at the bar is totally checking you out." I immediately turned to look and Gia grabbed hold of my elbow and held me in place. "I said not to look now." She hissed at me. I winced. "Sorry sorry. What guy?" "He's wearing black, at seven o'clock. I can't really see his face, but I can see his watch and it is definitely expensive." She giggled, head bobbing to the beat of the music pulsing from hidden speakers. I rolled my eyes at her. Georgia and I had been best friends long before we were even born. I know you don't think it's possible, but let me paint you a picture of the scenario. Gia's mum and mine had been best friends who had met two best friends, Gia's dad and mine and got married within a month of each other. I was only six days younger than her, and we had practically grown up in the same house. Different houses sharing a single fence. Need I say more? We were attached at the hip and she was my sister in everyway that mattered. It di
Maddie. I realized I had been staring and had completely snubbed him moments too late. "Uhh." I stammered. "Hey." "Do you want to dance?" He was standing super close to me, his head bent to breathe his words directly into my ear. It was an effective method to avoid having to shout to be heard over the music, but I couldn't help but feel that he also did it for another reason. "Yes." I replied. The words were barely out of my mouth before one of his big hands settled on my hip and pulled me closer till we were just a hairsbreadth away. He smelled like expensive cologne and pinewood. It was earthy and refreshing. Especially as I was constantly surrounded by college boys who thought drowning themselves and choking everybody around them in cheap, cloying perfume was appealing. The man staring down at me with singular focus was entirely too much man for me. Nothing about him was boy. He looked like he could eat me for breakfast and I wondered what madness had possessed me to say yes
Maddie. It was Monday morning, more than twenty four hours since my amazing night with Luc. True to the dark promise in his eyes, he had blown my mind. I had screamed till I had lost my voice. The only roadblock we had encountered during the night was when he found out I had been a virgin, but luckily, I was able to reassure him that I hadn't been keeping my virginity for any mysterious special person and I was more than ready to lose it to him. And boy had I lost it. I had also lost my mind and my senses that night, both burned to ashes with the heat of our passion. Gia had once tried to describe what an explosive orgasm felt like to me and I had thought she had been exaggerating for my benefit. With Luc, it had been more than explosive. The best word I could use to describe it was combustive. I had passed out afterwards. Gia had snuck into the room by past two and we had both snuck out. I had been sad to leave Luc alone in bed, but I knew it was just a one night stand and I'd p
Lucian. I had assumed she was an adult. So, it was nobody's fault but mine. Her and her friend hadn't looked like freaking college newbies. I didn't make it a habit to take strangers to my bed. It never happened in fact. Ever since the drama with my ex fiancee, I had lost all interest in women. Until her. There had been something electrifying about her. Something that kept my eyes glued to her all through the night. The air around her seemed to shimmer, that was the only way I could explain it. As soon as she had walked into that club Saturday night, I had taken notice. Gage never let anyone below twenty one in and he had a sharp eye for fake IDs so I had felt secure that she was an adult, old enough to drink and all. The club was also quite a distance from the college campus and much tamer too so it was a safe haven where I didn't have to worry about running into coeds. But not only had I run into one, I had approached her, felt her up in a public area and fallen into bed with