Seven (14 page)

A loud weep escapes her and she all but practically falls to her knees at his feet. “Wesley, please forgive me. I came here to tell her I was done. That I love you, and I’m done. I want to be with you.”

His livid eyes look to me, confusion sweeping over his face. “Who the fuck are you?”

I inhale. “Don’t fucking worry about it,” I counter, standing tall. I have mace in my purse. He can go fuck himself.

“Don’t worry about it? You’ve been the one blackmailing me for months and then have the audacity to tell me not to worry about it?” his voice is low. Growling. Menacing.

I step forward, getting right in his face, not caring if he hits me. He can go to jail for that for all I care. “You’ve been the one fucking a student for months. I think who I am is the least of your concerns.”

“Wesley. I’m so sorry,” Aria pleads, trying to grab a hold of him.

He snatches his arm away and looks to her. “Don’t touch me! We’re done.” Then, he turns back toward me. “And, if you ever so much as look my way again, I will go to the police.”

Aria runs after Wesley as he marches toward his car. I watch from where I stand as she begs him, holding tight to his arm. She is trying to block him from leaving but it’s useless. He opens his door, ripping Aria off of him by her wrists before shoving her out of the way. She falls to the pavement and yells out in pain.

All I see is red fury as I run over. She’s still sitting on the ground when I get there, head down in defeat. Wesley hasn’t closed his door yet so I swing it all the way open and lower my face to meet his. He doesn’t cower away from me and his chocolate brown eyes would frighten a weaker woman. “Listen, asshole,” I start to threaten. “You ever grab her or any other woman like that again, I will personally fuck you up. Do you understand?”

He leans in real close and his voice lowers to a dangerous growl. “If I never see you or that slut again, I’ll be one happy fucking man. And, no other woman would be as deceitful as the two of you have been, so there would be no reason to put my hands on them. Now, get the hell away from my car before I run your asses over.”

I stand back, raising my middle finger to him. He slams the door shut, reverses quickly, barely missing Aria and me, before peeling out of the parking lot.

I spin around. Aria is now standing, blood trickling from a scrap on her forearm, texting on her phone.

“Are you ok?”

She looks up, her eyes not hiding the murderous thoughts on her mind, like she wants to drop me where I stand. “Much better now,” she responds, putting her phone in her back pocket. She says nothing else before pivoting around and walking away.

I stalk after her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

She stops and whips around so fast, I almost run into her. “It means that neither of you get what you want anymore. I just sent those pictures to the school district website. No fucking for him, and no more money for you.”

I try to hide my smile. It never was about the money. It was about the mental warfare on him. To make him worry, that every time he couldn’t control himself, that there was someone watching him. I know Aria is hurt, but I can’t help but be proud of her.

She saved me a step. A little earlier than I had planned, but I’m okay with that. I wasn’t sure I was going to show the pictures, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to let him get away with screwing a student, legal age or not. Wesley’s parent’s money got him out of a lot of trouble. There will be no way that he can keep his job now. At least he doesn’t have a family at home; a wife or a child to devastate.

“It wasn’t about the money,” I inform her. “It was about doing what is right.”

She shakes her head. Her tears are long since dried up. “What did he do to you, Embyr? Why was he even on your radar?”

I look away. I don’t have to answer her. She’s making me uncomfortable and after today I am done with her anyways. “We’re done here,” I tell her.

Aria gets toe to toe with me. “You know what, Embyr? Karma is a bitch and she has your name on the top of her list.”

Her statement shocks me, and I watch her walk away, probably for the last time.

When I get back to my car, my whole body feels heavy. I’ve always believed in Karma. You do bad things, bad things gets done to you. If you do good things, you will be rewarded. A long time ago, those men devastated me without any sort of consequence. Now, I’m giving to them what has been a long time coming, but up until a few minutes ago, I was feeling pretty good about what I was doing. Now, guilt has started to tangle its web within me. Now, I wonder if karma coming for me for all the chaos I am bringing into their lives. Do two wrongs really make it right?

My phone chimes from the seat next to me. I pick it up seeing a text from Casen.

Casen:
Double date with Reece and Trinity tonight. Sound good?

I guess that answers my question.

Patrick

Ian

Thad

Casen

Reece

Evan

Wesley

My hands are wrapped around my arms, but I’m not cold. I am fucking furious. For the past thirty minutes since Casen picked me up, all I can hear is Trinity and Reece kissing. It’s not a soft, quiet kiss. No, the drive all the way to a restaurant, in southwest suburbs, is filled with sloppy, loud, wet smacking of the lips from the two adults, acting like teenagers in the back seat.

A quick breath releases from between my lips, and Casen looks over at me. “You okay?” he quietly asks, taking my hand in his. He’s been on edge since he showed up to get me. I’m not sure what is going on.

I nod. How am I supposed to tell him that it’s more of who is doing the kissing than the kissing itself? He accepts the answer and—thank God—two minutes later, we pull up to an Italian restaurant. I’m grateful for our arrival, so I don’t have to hear anymore fucking spit being swapped.

Though there aren’t a lot of cars outside, it looks pretty busy inside. It’s brightly lit with red and white plaid table covers and candle centerpiece. Soft music plays in the background, and if everyone else wasn’t wearing jeans and casual shirts. I would think I was under dressed in my floral navy blue skirt and white blouse.

The hostess shows us to our table in the back corner of the restaurant. Casen pulls my chair out, but Reece sits down before Trinity has even gotten to the table.

Asshole.

We all agree on a bottle of wine, and I look over the candle centerpiece to see Trinity grinning wide at me.

I know she is happy we are out together. The entire time I have known her, we’ve never double dated and, if I had any say in it; we wouldn’t be doing it now. I was
told
what we were doing tonight. Not asked.

“So, Casen,” she starts talking first. Probably because it would be inappropriate to attach her face to Reece’s right now. “Reece tells me you all have been friends for quite some time.”

He sets his wine glass down, wiping his lips with a napkin before responding. “Yup. Since I can remember. We grew up together and went to the same college to study fire science. After that, he followed me to the fire academy and, just a few months ago, Reece was finally transferred over to my station. Six years in, and now we’re both up for Lieutenant.”

“Wow, that’s lucky,” she comments.

Reece’s chuckles. “That depends on who you ask.”

They all laugh and continue chatting, but I’m not participating. I just don’t care to engage in a conversation right now. Besides, having Reece in my face all the time now (something I wasn’t expecting when I took on the task of pursuing Casen), is adding strength to Aria’s words that are flitting through my mind. I believe that what goes around comes around, but am I setting myself up for something worse?

I look at Casen and Reece. What the hell else could be worse than what their crew did to me? Though I am thankful they never forced me to do anything sexual with them after I willingly slept with Ian, knowing that they could’ve asked me is bad enough. I’m not even sure I would’ve said no, just to keep that tape under wraps. Patrick had once said he would never want me to touch him. I was a virgin before Ian and probably wouldn’t do it right anyways. Maybe they thought blackmailing me to get their rocks off was going too far. I narrow my eyes at the thought.

Casen’s hand squeezes my leg. “Em?”

I shake out of my thoughts. “I’m sorry. What?”

“Trinity told us where she grew up. Where are you from?” Reece speaks up. The tone of his question concerns me. Like he is asking a question, knowing I’m going to lie.

My eyebrows furrow. I can’t think of what answer I rehearsed should something like this come up. “Oh,” I wave my hands dismissively. “I grew up in the northern suburbs. Pretty boring place; not worth mentioning.” It’s a vague answer but it seems to satisfy them for the moment.

The server comes to take our order. Casen’s hand hasn’t left my thigh and is slowly making its way north. I peer over at him and he seems less distant, less distracted than he has been. I squeeze my knees together trying to trap his hand but he’s forceful and shoves them back open. I lean forward onto my elbows, hoping to block the view of his hand disappearing under my skirt. I don’t want to draw attention from the waiter who is standing to my left.

“For you, ma’am?” he asks and as I turn, Casen takes the distraction to his advantage and hits his target. His fingers massage me over the material covering my pussy.

“Uhm,” I stutter. “I’ll, ah, uhm.”

His pinky finds the side of my panties and I let go of the menu to grab a hold of his hand. “I’ll have the chicken parmesan.”

The server nods while writing my order down and I squeeze Casen’s hand, silently begging him to stop. The waiter asks Trinity what she would like and Casen breaks free from my grip and slips his littlest finger inside the silk fabric. My nipples peak, and when I look over at Casen he’s still looking at his menu, unaffected.

His pinky glides over my clit and it makes my knees weak and my legs spread slightly. Trinity and Reece seem oblivious to what is going on just across the table from them. Casen breathes deeply, letting out a sigh as a distraction that allows him to push another finger into my panties and it finds its way inside of me. “I’d like what Embyr is about to get,” he informs the waiter when it’s his turn. “It sounds orgasmic.”

My eyes flash to his devious stare and cocky smile. The server leaves, and Trinity, Reece, and Casen start up a conversation. But, I’m not paying attention. All I can focus on is the feel of his calluses giving me glorious pleasure. Just enough to make me feel fucking incredible, but not enough to send me over the edge.

He continues his torture on me, for what feels like an eternity, and then excuses himself to wash his hands, pulling his digits out of my panties. I’m left completely turned on and bereft. I can’t eat dinner feeling this way. I excuse myself, as well, and head straight for the ladies room. Once the door is closed, I lean up against it and push my skirt up. Shoving my fingers down into my panties, I find my clit hungry and swollen. Relief washes over me. I’m so close and when I am done, I can go out there and keep his wandering hands at bay.

Someone pounds on the door, distracting me. “Someone’s in here!” I yell frustrated. The banging continues three more times before I finally give up, washing my hands and throwing the door open, I find Casen standing there. Déjà vu to the night at Jedi’s.

“You weren’t touching yourself were you, baby?” he growls, lifting my chin up and capturing my lip between his teeth.

“No,” I whisper into his mouth.

“You lie,” he states, slipping his hands down my body, cupping my ass, and pulling me into him. “I got you hot and bothered, and I’m going to be the one to take care of you. But not until when we get back to your place. Understand?”

He pushes back, breaking all contact, leaving me wound up, and then reaches for my hand. I place it in his and allow him to pull me back to the table where Reece and Trinity are eyeing us suspiciously.

“Have fun in there?” Trinity winks.

Reece laughs. “They were only gone a minute, Trinity.”

We sit down, and I place the napkin on my lap. “You grew up with him. I thought you knew he was a minute man.”

Trinity starts full blown belly laughing and Reece looks impressed with my comeback. I take a bite of the amazing cheese covered chicken, savoring the spices they have added, and trying not to think about the throbbing need between my legs. That was a low blow to Casen but he deserved it. He worked me up and wouldn’t help me relieve the tension or let me finish the job myself.