Darkness Falls (Darkness Series Book 3) (22 page)

“Seth,” she moaned as her chest rose and fell, “please, I can barely take it.”

I grinned and pushed in deeper. My fingers gripped her thighs as I buried my head further. She bucked and grabbed my hair, tugging hard. Fuck, this drove me crazy. I stood without warning, lined up, and sank deep into her tight velvet hole. She cried out, which fueled my lust even more. All that could be heard was the sound of our skin and Emily’s little squeaks every time I hit her walls.

“You’re mine, Emily,” I grunted in between thrusts. “All mine to worship, to own, to love forever.” I glanced down at her face, held her gaze as I felt her shoot off screaming into the night, filled to the max with me.

***

Emily

My head leaned heavily against the cold window as Seth drove me to school. He was lost in thought and was pretty quiet this morning. I was worried about him. He had always had a difficult relationship with his father—a bad one, in fact—but this was worse and affected them all.

“Hey, baby.” Seth shook my leg to bring to me back.

“Oh.” I felt exhausted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

He grinned, which made his eyes light up. Lord, this man had a one-way path to my heart. “Here.” He handed me a coffee. He must have stopped at a drive-thru. I took the wonderful smelling brew and granted him one hell of a kiss before I headed off to my class.

***

I glanced over at a very nervous Scott. I had waved at him to take over his part of the presentation, but he just shook his head.

Taking a step forward, I kept going, filling in for him. “So if the man was found here and given the evidence we have provided you with, who did it?”

Professor Dean squinted at the projector that showed the crime scene and the list of facts on the screen. I could see he was trying hard to piece the puzzle together. I saw the moment when he spotted the twist we had tossed in. He looked over at me and winked with a thumb up. I looked back at Scott, who was still stuck in his frozen state, his eyes glued to the floor.
Come on!

“Emily, since you seem to have stumped the class, would you please explain who the murderer is?”

“If you look at the man’s shoes,” Scott broke in as he finally moved up next to me, “that’s where all the answers lie.”

I grinned and let him take over. He needed the credit, and he was doing a good job now that he had come back to life.

“Great job, Emily.” Professor Dean hurried to catch up with me in the lobby. “I think the fact that you stumped the class gets you a well-deserved A.” He held the door open so I could walk into the library first. The place was dead, no one in sight. Even the cranky librarian who worked the floor wasn’t at her desk. “I wanted to propose something to you. Can you spare a moment?”

“Sure.” I shrugged and followed him to his office in the back of the library. He closed the door behind me and motioned for me to take a seat.

“Emily, I have to say, the work you did on this project was over and above, even more than I expected you were capable of.”

“In all fairness, Scott helped too.” I felt I needed to point this out.

He smiled and leaned back in his chair. “How have you been?”

My phone alerted me to a text, but I silenced it so as not to be rude. “I’ve been pretty good, thanks.”

He shifted some paperwork around on his desk. “You know, I was a little worried about you last year.” I nodded, not really sure what to say. “Are you working right now?” He shifted the subject.

“No.”

“Okay,” he leaned forward. “Would you be interested in becoming a TA for me?”

“Umm,” I stumbled and wondered if now was the right time for that.

“You’ll be working long hours.” He pointed to a desk off in the corner. “That would be your spot. It will look good on a job application.”

He had a point, but things were a little stressful in my life again. I really wanted to be there for Seth, and right now he needed me more than anything. Professor Dean’s office phone rang, and he held up a finger while he answered it. I took that moment to check my text message.

Seth: How did the presentation go?

Emily: Got an A, and just got offered a TA position!

I fiddled with the phone, nervous of what he’d say.

Seth: Amazing! That’s my girl.

My lips fought the grin that pulled my attention away from the fact that Professor Dean was behind me.

“Will your boyfriend be all right with you working long hours?”

“Yes, he’ll understand.”

I turned to see him pull a book off a shelf. “So is that a yes?”

“Yes.” I forced down my excitement as I jumped to my feet and offered a hand to shake on it. He gave it an odd squeeze. My eyes moved up to his to see his facial expression had softened.

“I think we’ll work well together, Emily.” He twisted a piece of my hair between two fingers. “You’re a beautiful woman.”

I stepped back and saw all the warning signs why this would be a bad idea. Disappointment followed as quickly as my excitement had built. His hand dropped, and I knew he realized he had crossed the line.

“Actually, Professor Dean, I don’t think it would be a good fit for me. Thank you for the offer, though.” I grabbed my bag and headed toward the door.

“Emily,” he called out after me, “I’m really sorry.”

I didn’t stop, and my nails drove into my palms as the last ten minutes played in a loop in my head. Scott caught me at the coffee cart, but I didn’t want to see anyone right now. I tried to flag down a cab while I sent a quick text to Seth.

Emily: Not feeling the best, heading home.

“Emily.” I heard my name and saw Avery pull up next to the curb. He leaned over Riley, who looked irritated. I bet they wouldn’t be partners for much longer. “Hey, how are you?”

I rubbed my head and wished I had my car. “I’m not feeling that great. I was just going home.”

Avery’s face dropped a little. “Umm, why don’t we drop you off at Connors’s mother’s place? It’s not far, and with that guy on the loose, you know Seth will feel a lot better if you’re at his mom’s.”

Closing my eyes, I let out a long, deep breath to steady myself. “Yeah, all right, if you don’t mind.”

Riley opened the door and gave me a tight smile. I raised a questioning eyebrow, but he just shrugged. I wondered what was going on with him.

“Thanks, guys,” I said as Riley helped me out of the back seat.

“Stay here,” Riley whispered in a low voice. “Please don’t go anywhere.”

“Okay,” I responded as I searched for my phone. I felt his hand touch my elbow. I looked up and saw he was worried. “What’s going on?”

He glanced at Avery, who was watching us in the side mirror. “Feel better? I’ll send Seth a text so he knows we dropped you off safely, and tell Martha I’ll drop off my mother’s samples later on this evening.”

“Ah, yeah, cool,” I replied, confused. I wasn’t aware that Martha knew Riley’s mother, but I didn’t press it. “Thanks again, guys.” I waved and headed up the stairs where Gretchen greeted me with a smile.

“Hello, dear.” She wrapped a warm arm around me. “How does a cup of tea sound?”

“That sounds lovely, thank you, Gretchen.”

Between Professor Dean, the fireplace, the homemade pumpkin soup, and the cozy blanket Gretchen gave me, it was only a matter of minutes before I drifted off to sleep.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” a voice shouted, and my eyes fluttered open. “I pay you a lot of money to find people, but you can’t find her? How does this make you the best there is?” I recognized Jack’s angry voice.
Oh no, oh no, oh no
. I knew he didn’t know I was there, and he would get angry if he saw me. “No,” he shouted again, “I don’t care how fucking much it takes, you need to find out who the hell is sending me these letters. Just fucking do it! And do it soon or you can say good-bye to your hefty new income!” My hand found my phone, and I sent a text to Gretchen to help me.

“Mr. Connors?” She quickly appeared and kept her eyes on him so she wouldn’t give me away.

“What?” he snapped.

“Could you help me with the sink? Something seems to be wrong with the hot water.”

“Do I look like the help?” He was such an asshole.

“No, sir, you don’t, but if you want the kitchen to be clean as per your request, I need hot water.”

“Fine, whatever!” His shoes clicked on the marble as he hurried out of the room. I jumped to my feet and made quick work of getting out of the living room and up the stairs to the safety of Seth’s old bedroom.

***

Seth

I headed down the hallway to make a quick call and hated that Ronnie followed my every move. I rolled my eyes when she grinned at me. Three rings later, and Emily finally picked up.

“Hey.” Her voice sounded a little off.

“Hi. Avery tells me you’re at Mom’s.”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad he was there to stop you from going home. It makes me feel better that you’re safe.”

“Umm…” I heard a door close. “When are you off tonight?”

I rolled my wrist to check my watch. “I should be off in an hour. What’s wrong?”

“I just need to talk to you, and ah…” she lowered her voice, “your father’s here.”

My stomach sank. I didn’t want her there with him. He was capable of so much damage. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

***

Something seemed off, although it always did when my father was home. I rounded the corner to find Gretchen waving at me. She pointed to his office. I hurried over and pushed the door open to find my father in conversation with Emily, sitting in chairs in front of his fireplace. He never moved his furniture, so this was new behavior for him.

“Oh, hooray, you’re home,” my father muttered and set his scotch down. I headed over, noting that Emily was stiff as a board. She gave me a nervous glance.

“Hey, baby,” I offered her my hand and helped her stand. “Can I borrow you for a moment?” She squeezed my hand as if to say thanks.

“Thanks for the company.” My father grinned at me. He knew it must have killed me knowing she was here with him alone.

“Sure, Jack.” She followed me out the door.

The moment we were out of sight, I pulled her into my side and kissed her head before I checked her over. “He didn’t do anything, Seth.”

“What did he want, or what did he talk about?”

“Just about school and my mother.” She cleared her throat, and I could tell he made her nervous.

“All right.” I let out a breath. “Anything you want to tell me?” She wasn’t forthcoming, and being familiar with Emily’s ways, I decided to be patient, knowing she would come out with it in her own time. I tried a new tack. “You hungry?”

Emily wasn’t hungry but sat with me while I ate a late dinner. I could tell something was bothering her, but I didn’t know if she was withholding something Jack said, or if it was something else.

“So when do you start your new job?” I asked as I rinsed my dishes in the sink.

“I decided now isn’t the time.” She fiddled with her napkin.

“Not the right time? Emily that would be amazing on your resume. I think you should rethink your offer.”

“It’s not for me—”

“Em, you love that class.”

“Honestly, Seth, just let it go.” She rubbed her neck and I studied her movements. Then I knew.

“What did he do?”

She closed her eyes and I sat back down at the table. “Nothing, really, he just made me…uncomfortable.” She looked up at me. “He played with a piece of my hair and told me I was pretty.” She folded her arms. I was sure she was waiting for me to blow up. Instead, I leaned over and pulled her onto my lap.

“What did you do?”

“I told him I thought it was a bad idea for us to work together and left. I know he realized he went too far, but it doesn’t matter.”

I brushed her hair out of her face and gave her a quick kiss. “I’m sorry, baby, I know you really liked him as a professor.”

“I did.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “It’s pretty disappointing.” Her head came up. “We should go upstairs and talk. I overheard something tonight you might be interested in.

There it was.

***

Avery

Things could not have worked better if I had held the strings myself. The professor was such an easy puppet to manipulate. His interest for Emily was always on the surface. With a shove in the right direction, he made his move, and now McPhee and Connors were at his mother’s house via my suggestion. I wanted both of them out of the house so I could have free rein when the buyer came back. I would be the boyfriend who lived there.