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Chapter 112

last update Last Updated: 2023-04-15 00:20:54

Through the crisscrossing metal, Cole could see the dark smudges of pedestrians and cars, the streets turned into ribbons, the buildings into toys. Sweat burst across her palms and between her fingers, and she tightened her grip on the scaffolding before she was chasing pavements in a terrifyingly literal fashion. For a moment or two, she just clung there with her eyes closed. Going up and going down both seemed equally unpleasant just then…so she sucked in a breath of startlingly cold air and pulled herself onto the next bar.

Climbing was hard work once the novelty wore off. And even the fear got boring after a while. All she could hear was the clunk of Ellery's boots and the wheezing of her own breath. If she survived, she'd probably have to do something about her general fitness. Yoga just wasn't cutting it.

Finally—somehow—Cole made it to the top. Hot, sweaty, on the verge of a heart attack, but triumphant. Ellery was sitting on the edge of the roof, feet dangli
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  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 113

    They took a cab to Euston Station and then made their way down a rather gloomy stretch of road. Cole couldn't help glancing around nervously—it seemed like the London you might see on an episode of Crime Watch—but they weren't mugged or murdered.So…yay. They came to a corner marked by a derelict Victorian building, its turrets and balconies and crumbling grandeur more than a little bit out of place on the Hampstead Road. A plaque on the wall, between the boarded windows, proclaimed the place LONDON TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL, ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS IN HUMBLE DEPENDENCE UPON THE BLESSING OF GOD, FOR THE TREATMENT OF MEDICAL AND SURGICAL CASES WITHOUT THE USE OF ALCOHOL. Good grief. From what Cole knew of Victorian medicine, practicing it on the sober was practically an abuse of human rights. "Cole." Ellery gestured impatiently at Cole from the other side of yet another barrier. "Come on." Cole slipped under it and into an overgrown ca

    Last Updated : 2023-04-16
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 114

    Sometimes Cole danced, sometimes she hugged, sometimes she was being hugged. And it was all good. So good. The heat and closeness of bodies stripped of the threat or promise of sex. She was vaguely aware she was On Drugs. Blatantly high. But it didn’t feel like anything bad. It was gentle. Tender. Drawing her closer to the music, to the dancers, to Ellery who had her arms around her, her body nestled against hers, her lips against her neck. They were so with each other right then. Cole loved her very much. She wanted to hold her forever. Like this. Nothing but this. It was perfect. Beautiful. The music was their heart. The light their blood. They were shining. They were turquoise and emerald and purple and amethyst and electric blue. Jewels inside them. Sparking where they touched. This was what Tagore wanted. This was how they should be. Everything was so very clear. Not like the blurry happiness of alcohol or the fuzzy warmth of weed. And Cole understood Ell

    Last Updated : 2023-04-17
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 115

    As soon as Aiden was gone, Cole actually eeeeee-ed and did a little dance. That had gone better than she could ever have imagined.And tonight…oh my God. Her brain went a little haywire with potential scenarios. Most of them sexy as hell. But, honestly, if he just wanted to have dinner and an early night, as long as it was with her, she didn’t care. Once she’d calmed down, she went to shower. It wasn’t as exciting as she’d thought it might be when she was completely high, but it was still nice to wash the night from her skin. Also the water drops were noticeably pretty—the way the light defined them in silver filigree—and they did feel unusually good. Afterward she felt she probably ought to rest, so she went to bed. Except she couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the bad not-sleeping, like when one is restless or anxious. She was just…awake. As if she hadn’t been up for a day and a night but had, instead, arisen in buttery sunlight to a chorus of bluebirds.

    Last Updated : 2023-04-18
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 116

    It was nearly ten o’clock, and Cole was still sitting there, naked and alone, surrounded by melting ice and ruined sushi. She had tried calling, but to no avail. Her wrists were bound, but she still had her fingers and nose for emergencies. She wondered if something had happened to Aiden, and if it would be on the news. Cole also fretted over her predicament, and the fact that Bellerose wasn’t available for assisting with ill-advised acts of self-bondage. She wriggled her hands back and forth and discovered she’d done a really good job of immobilizing herself. The more she tugged, the more her knots held. She’d have to wait for Aiden. But he wasn’t coming, was he? After everything she’d said this morning. After she had begged him. Not in a hot, sexy, exciting way. In a pathetic, awful, humiliating way. Cole wondered if Aiden was laughing at her or bored of her. How could he have said everything he’d said and done everything he’d done, gone out of his way to be k

    Last Updated : 2023-04-19
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 117

    Cole was on the train a good twenty minutes before it pulled out of Euston. There had been a few berths still available but they were expensive and, while they were a nice idea in principle, she'd always found them a little claustrophobic. The seats were fairly comfortable - about as comfortable as first class on a nonsleeper - so she took off her shoes and curled up under her coat. Cole rested her head against the window and watched the darkness and the light slipping past. It was seven hours to Edinburgh. She must have slept for some of it. The important thing was that she didn’t cry. They were over the border when the sun rose. Misty gold and rumpled sky and Scotland’s indecorous beauty. So different from England’s neat patchwork. There was a knife-twist in Cole's battered heart: this longing for home. They arrived pretty much on time, and even though she was allowed half an hour to collect herself, she grabbed her bag and dashed across the platform in or

    Last Updated : 2023-04-20
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes     Chapter 118

    Eventually Cole calmed down. She wiped her eyes and her nose. Hazel gathered up Cole's things and led her off the path to the top of a little rise where they sat down. Cole took a deep breath. It was cold enough that the air felt almost sharp inside her lungs. Pure. Like she was the first person ever to breathe it. Hugging her knees, she let the horizon fill her eyes. The rock-stippled grass rolled away into sand dunes. And then came the golden sweep of Oldshoremore Beach and beyond it the impossibly blue sea, the turquoise waves turning silver-tipped, like something from a Caribbean dream. Except, y’know, way up in the north of Scotland where sun was something that happened to other people. Hazel nudged Cole's shoulder. “Better?” “Yeah. Sorry. I just feel like an idiot.” “Isn’t that what being twenty is all about?” “Being an idiot?” “No.” She grinned, looking all impish and twinkly. “I meant, falling for unsuitable people. Breaking hea

    Last Updated : 2023-04-21
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 119

    Welp, Cole was miserable. It was hard work for her to get over Aiden Crux. But at least being at home gave her time and space to do it. Endless amounts of both. She slept a lot, read every Georgette Heyer in the house in mad, weepy binges, and wandered the hills and shore in a fashion that would surely have made her Byronic locks and long black coat billow in the wind. If she’d had Byronic locks and a long black coat. Hazel must have said something to Cole's Mum and Rabbie because they didn’t bug her. Just let her come and go as she pleased. Talk when she felt like it. The days moved very slowly. It must have been a week later, Cole was sitting in the garden, on the swing Rabbie had strung from their gnarly old oak tree. It was the best spot because one could see all the way down to the sea. And if one went high enough and fast enough, it felt like they could drown in the sky. Cole had probably spent hours out there when growing

    Last Updated : 2023-04-22
  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 120

    Cole was sufficiently overwhelmed that even when he moved his hand, she didn’t pull away. She just stood there quietly while he kissed her cheeks, her eyes, and the tip of her nose. “I know you don’t, but I think we could have something good together. If you could just accept its—my—limitations.” “We already tried it your way, and you made me feel like shit,” Cole replied. “It wasn’t exactly straightforward for me, either. Being constantly aware of letting you down.” Cole stared at him, shocked and a little bit horrified. He always seemed so controlled and unreachable that she hadn’t really imagined the possibility of, well, affecting him at all. “You won’t let me down, as long as you try.” “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And here they were: going round this mulberry bush again. “Stop treating me like I don’t understand my own desires. Or like I can’t handle yours.” Cole dragged herself out of his arms with a frust

    Last Updated : 2023-04-23

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  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    188– The End

    “Hey now,” Cole protested. “He offered me money and the apartment.” “Like you were going to take it. How long was he with you? Did he know you at all?” “We were kind of in the middle of an argument at the time.” “Right. But it’s been over a week.” It had. And Cole had told herself she wasn’t hoping for anything. Except she must have been. Because now she felt silly.Ellery kicked the tree moodily. “Stop feeling sorry for him. I expect he’s feeling sorry enough for himself. Or Lancaster’s found him a new whipping girl.” “Don’t.” “Sorry.” “Did you really come all the way to Kinlochbervie to say ‘I told you so’?” “No.” She pulled her hood up and disappeared into its shadows. “I came to ask if you want to live with me.”Cole nearly fell off the swing. “Live with you?”“Yeah. Thought I should move out. Do some shit with my life or something.” “What sort of shit did you have in mind?”She kicked the tree again. And then, apparently finding

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 187

    Everything hurt. The hours seemed like wild horses. Dawn broke around Cole. She spent most of the day on the sofa, crying herself out of tears, watching the sky turn tauntingly through shades of silver and gold. She tried to be brave, to be strong, to be less pathetically embarrassing. But her inner Scarlett O’Hara was AWOL—tomorrow being another day seemed like scant consolation. And while she sometimes tormented herself with idle fantasies of Aiden coming back, of sweeping her into his arms, full of sorrow and declarations of eternal devotion, she knew it wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t sure she could ever bear pain like this again. Later… later… later… Her phone bleeped. And, like a fool, she scrabbled for it, wrecked with hope and fear and hope. It was Harper: “I MOVED MY FOOT!!!!!” **** She slept and didn’t sleep, and the hours sped and sluggished by. And finally, she rang home. Hazel picked up. “What’s wrong?” she said before Cole even had a chance to speak.

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 186

    Cole swayed exhaustedly where she knelt. “Well, I'm not. And I don't How many times is you going to ignore me telling you that I love you? Because I do. I really do. And you can think all these awful things about yourself if you must. But nothing—nothing, do you hear me—will make me believe them.” “You can’t love me. You don’t know me.” “You mean, because I didn’t know about this? That’s only because you lied to me about it.” He paced restlessly, up and down that pristine room. This lost creature in Aiden Crux's skin. “I didn’t lie.” “I asked you outright. In Kinlochbervie.” “No. You asked if someone had hurt me. And they haven’t.” “Oh fucking hell.” She rubbed her hands against her burning eyes. “I could have hurt you. Don’t you realize how completely fucked it feels looking back at all the times I’ve pushed you on sex stuff with no clue about what happened to you?” “Well,” he drawled, “I did warn you that I’m a cruel

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 185

    Cole glanced up. “I'm not. I mean, it wasn’t fun. But I trusts you. With the worst of me, as well as the best, and all the squishy ambiguous bits in between.” “Thank you,” he said, unexpectedly grave. “I hope to always honor that trust.” “As I will for you.” He didn’t respond. “So, y’know”—Cole nudged him gently—“your turn.” It took a long time, but he did eventually speak. The words coming slowly and painfully, like razor blades from his lips. “If I tell you, you’ll know what Eleanor said about me is right. That I’m sick and twisted and I ruin everything that’s good.” “She only said that because she was angry.” He shook his head. “No, she said it because it’s true. You see, she learned who she was when she was fourteen years old.” “What happened when—wait. When your father died?” “After that. When she seduced his business partner. His best friend.” Cole genuinely had no idea what to say. To

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 184

    Cole pulled off a truly Ellery-worthy eye roll. “One cigarette a month is hardly going to kill him,” she said. “Is that what he told you? And you believed him?” Natasha asked. Now that she thought about it… he did tend to reach for his cigarettes once they’d sexed. And he’d smoked after dinner. And during Star Wars. And just now in the gCole. Oh fuck. Fuuuuuck.Natasha shook her head at her. “You poor, sweet girl. You don’t know him at all, do you?” “I… I’m in love with him,” she said, her voice barely audible. “I can see why you’d believe that. Aiden can be quite dazzling when he chooses. But you don’t understand anything about who he is. Or the damage you’re doing to him.” She tried to reply, to protest, to defend herself. Defend him. Defend them. But she had nothing. Aiden had de-clawed her with his secrets. Left her powerless and alone. “You deserve better,” Natasha went on softly. “He’s using you like his cigarettes. You

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 183

    “I love it when you hurt me. I love everything you do. And everything you are,” Cole said. And that was when Aiden turned and drew her into his mouth. It was the teeniest bit awkward—he even nicked her slightly with the edge of his teeth, suggesting maybe he didn’t do this all that often. He certainly hadn’t with her before. Not that she’d minded. He made her come just fine. But…wow. He could have been actively terrible and she wouldn’t have cared: Aiden Crux was sucking her pussy. No teasing. Only his tongue sliding tight round her, his mouth soft and hot and perfect.Ohfuckohfuckohfuck. She was…Aiden was… Cole turned her head into her shoulder in an effort to muffle her noises. Which were at least as loud as when he’d been torturing her nipples, and probably even less dignified. Pain was one thing. She could take pain. But she was pleasure’s bitch. Hone

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 182

    His fingers closed around her through her dress and squeezed until she bucked and moaned. Some of the anguish faded from her face, the tight lines of her brow and mouth yielding to desire, and something tender she might have called hope. “Don’t move,” he whispered, as he stepped away. “Okay.” Her heart thumped as eagerly as a puppy’s tail. She loved the anticipation that came with his commands. And she loved pleasing him. Of course, her nose started itching almost immediately. But she was determined and ignored it and held still as he had told her to. Aiden circled the pillar, leaving her standing there like Andromeda. Well, Andromeda if she had a massive erection. Then he drew her hands behind her and she felt the cool brush of silk against her skin.It encircled her wrists. Pulled taut. Oh my God. His bowtie. He was bondaging her with his own bowtie. She made a noise of surprise and exciteme

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 181

    He didn’t quite flinch but he got that look: the closed down, I am a million miles away from you look I knew all too well. “I’ll leave you to enjoy it.” And, with that, he…went away. Again. Cole bit down on a gasp of frustration. She wanted to kick him in the shins. He couldn’t just fix what was probably years of hurt and misunderstanding with a single, and very small, gesture. Also, the fucker had barely spent five minutes with her. But she pushed all that aside and turned her very best and sparkliest smile on Ellery. “So what happens next? Do we all die of the plague?” Ellery sneered at the room. “Mm, here’s hoping.” “Wow, that’s the last time I RSVP to an invitation from you.” “I don’t mean it.” She sighed and with the air of a small child being forced to eat Brussels sprouts added, “Thank you for coming.” “I didn’t know you played the violin.” Ellery shrugged. “I’m brilliant. When I’m not rusty.” “

  • Miss Goody Two Shoes    Chapter 180

    “What do you look for?” Cole asked. “The thing nobody else sees,” He replied, propping his hip casually against a piece of furniture she didn’t have a name for—something ornate and impressive, probably a credenza or vitrine or whatever. “Society photography comes down to one very simple principle. Anyone can take pictures of Kate Middleton and Lady Gaga. The trick is getting a picture of Kate Middleton with Lady Gaga.” “And have you?” “Not yet. But she’s a long way from dead, and hopefully so are they.” Cole laughed. In a strange way, the woman reminded her a little bit of Aiden. The same conviction, the same merciless drive, although focused and expressed very differently. She guessed it was becoming pretty apparent she had a type.But mainly Cole was grateful. Now, when she looked across the room, she met smiles. Flashes of recognition in other people’s eyes. She knew faces and names. She could have joined some of the conversations. Instead of drifting around pathetically. Stil

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