Vengeful Heart: Fighting Heart Erotic Bad Boy Romance Series Book 3 (5 page)

His body tensed. Then the last button came free, and I literally felt his cock burst free of their denim prison.

“Down boy,” I said, and shifted my hips back to reveal what I wanted to see. His throbbing manhood was exposed before me, the helmet of his penis gleaming with the excitement of pre-cum. I watched him and bit my lip flirtatiously as I lowered my hand onto his hot throbbing shaft. I slid my fingers down his length and felt the skin pull back lower. I leaned against his body and kissed his face.

“Is that what you want, Professor?”

“Ashley…”

“Is that the reason for this meeting?”

“No, more than that…”

“I’ll suck it if you want me to”

I felt his throb again at the mention of it.

I chuckled. “You want my mouth, don’t you sweetheart? But only for a minute, Prof. Because Miss Pearson needs a lesson from the master…”

He laughed and sighed and squeezed my hips. I began to lower my head towards him, planning already how to pleasure his swollen head with my lips and tongue.  I was looking forward to feeling him in my mouth, making Professor Ridgley a sweet hot putty in my hands…

But there was a knock at the door. Quick and impatient. Then the door handle was yanked down. We froze, my pussy engorged with arousal, his swollen cock in my hand. “Quick!” he whispered. I slid off him and sat down opposite him, by his desk. I grabbed a folder from his desk and a pen. Ridgley tucked his cock away and buttoned up. He wiped his brow and tucked in his shirt.

“Who is it and what do you want? My office hours are on the wall,” said Ridgley.

“Is Ashley Pearson in there, Professor?”

He looked at me. The voice was male, and I shook my head, telling the Professor to say ‘no.’ He was flustered and stressed. I mouthed the words ‘It’s Brandon,’ to him. I guessed Amanda had betrayed me. But there was no time to think about that now, we were in survival mode. The Professor made a decision – the wrong one - opened the door. He unlocked it, and there was Brandon with that sullen sulking look on his face. He looked at me. He looked at Professor Ridgley.

“If its past office hours, then why is Ashley here, Professor?”

“Because,” he said, but had nothing else to say.

“Because I needed help with my piece on Balzac. I asked the Professor for help.”

“I bet you did, Ashley. I bet you did. And it looks like Professor Ridgley was willing to help you out of hours.” He used the words like a euphemism. He wasn’t buying it at all, I saw that, and now I dreaded the evening ahead.

“Are you done here, Professor?”

“Not quite. Give us five minutes, will you?”

Brandon scowled. “Oh, you are done here, Professor.”

“Mr Lynes, go and wait out in the hall. When I am done, you’ll know about it. Now go!”

“Yes, Professor. Chances are I’ll know before you.” Brandon turned and stormed off down the corridor, his angry footfall echoing away.

Ridgley closed the door and pressed himself against it.

“We took too many risks.
I
took too many risks?”

My heart sank. “Is that it? This is finished?”

“Oh no, Ashley… I put you in danger.”

“And yourself. You understood that threat, didn’t you Tom? Brandon said he would know you were done here before you did.”

The Professor nodded. I saw him dismiss the thought with a smile. “That was going to be wonderful, wasn’t it?”

“It was. It still can be.”

In the meantime I had to somehow deny my body.  I walked up to Ridgley and kissed him on the cheek. “Are you still going to help me, Tom?”

“Of course… whether we
kissed
or not…I’d help you.”

“That’s good. Because I need your help to fix this. I need you too, Tom.” I kissed him on the cheek again, then opened the door. I stormed towards Brandon, not knowing how I was going to take him on, but knowing I had to. There was no choice. I had to prevent him from harming sweet Professor Ridgley too. 
Oh, Tom.
And I had to find a way to get my private time with the Professor. I needed him badly.

Brandon scowled at me as I caught up with him.

“What the hell were you doing in there with him?”

“Nothing,” I said, walking past him.

“Yes you were!”

“Where’s your proof, Brandon?”

I walked away leaving my one time hero cussing at my back, knowing there was a long night ahead for all concerned.

After Brandon tracked me down to Ridgley’s office he gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. Sometimes he seemed on the verge of shouting and at other times he looked ready to ask me a question. I saw his eyes glance my way more than once. I was ready for a huge row, the kind I had always feared since things started going bad between us, but it never came. In the end he stayed teetering on the brink all evening, with Luke supplementing his bad attitude by giving me his own evil glares. It didn’t make for a comfortable night. Part of me wondered if there were some evil intentions behind those looks. Were the verbal threats about to spill over into something worse? Amanda’s female presence in the flat made that unlikely, but at the same time I knew she wasn’t so strong and would sacrifice me if she had to. When sleep time came I blocked the living room door with my bag and the magazine rack, hoping the noise of their movement would alert me if anyone tried anything funny.

The next day I checked the emails on my phone before I was even out of my sleeping bag. I’d eventually fallen asleep with swirls of delight and despair, as I recalled the moment I nearly had Ridgley in my mouth, and the moment when Brandon found us together. Cody appeared looming in my dreams too. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and by morning a shower was the only thing to set me half on my feet. I took my shower long before anyone else was up. I drank coffee. I checked my emails again, but still no email from Tom.

I was due for a lecture at 10am. At 9am Amanda started to surface. Thankfully the mean and moody duo stayed in bed as late as they could. Amanda appeared in the kitchen and found me staring at her.

“I didn’t get to talk with you last night. What happened?”

It was like she suddenly woke up.

“Yeah… it wasn’t my fault, Ashley…”

“You told him, didn’t you?”

“No, no. One of Brandon’s buddies told Luke that he’d seen us near the English corridor. When Luke caught up with me I told him you’d needed to go and see a lecturer for a tutorial meeting. I guess Brandon must have been around… they found you getting busy, right?”

I gave her a long hard look, assessing her for honesty.

“They didn’t find us ‘getting busy’. But Brandon is too suspicious for his own good. How many times do I have to tell him that we are over?!”

“You already know he’s never going to hear that,” she whispered. “He’ll never let go of you if he can get away with it. It’s the same for me. Besides, you dropped Brandon for Cody, now you’ve dropped Cody for Ridgley. Maybe he’s convinced himself you’re the kind of girl who will change her mind and come back to him.”

“What are you saying? Do you think I’m a floozy or something, is that it?”

Amanda hesitated before saying. “No. But Brandon will make his own judgements, won’t he?”

“His judgement isn’t worth shit.”

“You wish, Ashley. You know he has influence. I heard him speaking about it last night, with Luke. He’s absolutely sure now that you and the Professor are having an affair. He’s going to go after Ridgley, and he has the connections to do it.”

I was processing while I finished the dregs of my coffee.

“I’m not a floozy, Amanda. I wanted Brandon to be the hero he seemed to be. But you already knew he wasn’t. I didn’t know you were with him, remember? And it turns out Cody has moved on. I wanted him to wait for me, but he’s with the literary agent. I heard they’re going to get married.”

“What? The old brunette? I heard that rumour… But I thought it was a joke.”

“She’s older, but not old. That woman is gorgeous, I knew I couldn’t compete with her for long.”

Amanda shrugged. “What do you care, now? You’ve got the hottest of the lot.”

I emptied my cup and put it down.

“Are you coming to college? I want to get out of here before those two wake up.” I said.

“Yeah, but I need a coffee first.”

“I’ll buy you one there with foam, syrups and sprinkles instead.”

“Deal…” said Amanda with a yawn.

So I had ‘the hottest of the lot’. Ridgley was hot all right, and he had taken some very sexy risks to try and get me, and the memory of his swollen cock in my hand was enough to keep me going. But Cody was still there, like a ghost in my mind, a thorn in my heart that kept twisting over and over. Well, I couldn’t have him. I suspected the latest gossip to emerge would be that Ashley is a floozy… I could almost hear Brandon and Penny using that word and words far worse. But floozy or not, with a Cody shaped hole in my life, I needed Professor Ridgley to come and take away the pain as quickly as he could. But when I went to buy the latte I’d promised Amanda from the canteen coffee bar, events left me raw and reeling.

It was nine thirty when we walked into the canteen and headed straight for the coffee bar. Amanda picked the super frothy latte with all the trimmings (I had been joking, but hey) while I opted for a simple tea. As I was paying the counter girl there was in a commotion behind us, with lots of excited chirruping and talk. Amanda nudged me while I was collecting my change and I all but spilled my tea.

“Careful!” I said.

“You might want to be the careful one. Take a look.”

Cody Barnes walked into the canteen with a clutch of young ladies and a couple of guys in pursuit. One of the guys was the bearded hipster I knew was his friend, but the others I’d never seen before. They were talking at him rather than to him. Cody selected a table near the door, and in a force of will, laid his satchel down on the table as slowly and calmly as he could while all the others harried him. He looked smart and lean, his trousers drawing in around his waist and buttocks to show some very appealing definition.

“Alex,” he called over the people around him. “Can you keep an eye on my bag, I want to grab a coffee.”

The tall guy nodded. Most of the people around him got the hint, yet three girls, their ages ranging between a young eighteen and a mature late-twenties, followed him to the coffee bar. Amanda and I had moved a few steps away – enough to be part of the audience rather than Cody’s entourage. I couldn’t help it – my fingers looked for the engagement ring on Cody’s finger. It wasn’t there. So, what the hell was going on?

“
Seismic Girl
is going on the shortlist for the Smiths Award. Did you know that?” said the mature late-twenties student who swished her hair at Cody as she spoke.

“Cappuccino please. Medium,” said Cody at the coffee girl. “I heard something like that, but that’s all it is, right, a rumour? The book’s not even been properly launched, and today is a college day and I’ve got a lot to do before class…”

“You must be ecstatic, Cody. The Smiths award is a prestigious award, and you’re going to be nominated,” said another girl, a little young thing with a brown bob-cut. This little girl was all but in his face. I couldn’t guess how he was even going to put the sprinkles on his cappuccino with all that attention.  He paid the coffee girl and did an abrupt about turn which helped him buy some valuable seconds of freedom, before the trio caught up again. In his about turn he looked my way. I was standing just a few feet away, taking in the whole crazy scene. He had seen me, and now he looked my way again. He stopped walking.

“Oh my,” said Amanda. “I think he’s going to come over.”

“Yeah, he needs an excuse to get away from those psychos,”

He made a polite smile and with a neat hand movement cut between his adoring fans.

“Please, please, I need to speak to someone a moment.” They stepped with him. “
In private.”

He stopped waiting and looked around at the girls.

“Okay,” said one.

“Sure,” said another and they stayed where they were while Cody moved beyond them.

Amanda stayed put, but as Cody moved closer I looked around. I saw the curiosity on her face.

“Wait over there, my protector. Rest assured, if there is gossip I will share it with you.”

“You get all the fun. Not fair,” said Amanda, then she walked away.

Cody joined me and took a long deep sighing breath of relief. Up close he looked stressed.

“What are you drinking?” he said.

“Latte. You?”

“Cappuccino.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. How come you’re hanging with the ice queen?” said Cody.

“Really? Well I don’t know if you’ve tuned into Gossip FM lately but it turns out that actually
I
am the ice queen. The whole student body is talking about it. Apparently I grabbed hold of Brandon and took him to the cleaners for my college fees, and as soon as I had my wicked way with him I dumped him for you because you look a better bet.”

“Seriously?”

“Absolutely. And you want to know what the worst part is?”

“What?”

“The next part. They say I dumped you. I left you hanging in York and went back to Brandon.”

Cody looked away. “They got one part right then.”

“Hey!” I said. Cody didn’t give me a chance to complain.

“I’m sorry to break it to you, Ashley,” he said “but the gossips have struck again. So, is it true?”

I looked at him, reading his eyes. Gossip FM had been on overdrive.

“Just you hang on, Cody. I’ve got to ask you the same question.”

The three puppy dogs lingered behind Cody. I peered around his shoulder and looked at them each in turn. “Mr Barnes, can you please ask your fan club to congregate elsewhere.”

Cody turned to face his adoring public. “Can you please give me a minute? Please?”

The girls moved away, the oldest one tutting like a teenager.

“Stardom treating you well, Cody?”

“I’m not a star. These girls are just early adopters. Some people love celebrity, but they don’t give a shit what people are famous for. That’s the culture these days.”

“Fame is making you cynical.”

“No. Life is making me cynical, getting published is making me realistic, Ash. What was your question?”

I looked at him, sad that we were so close to arguing, when all I really wanted to do was embrace Cody and kiss him and get embraced right back. I missed this guy so much, his touch, and his naked body next to mine. But it seemed there was a wall of fire between us and I couldn’t put it out. I asked my question.

“Are you getting married to Joanna Laws?”

Cody made a screwy face and looked skyward. “Are you crazy? Now who has been listening to the rumour mill? No way. That was a just a left field guess posted in some goofy tweet by a book review blogger chick who was in York. She could have just as easily said that you and I were getting married…” His last words hung between us like a big lazy helium balloon. I didn’t want it to float away. And then it did.

“But after you came back here, I couldn’t let you hurt me any further Ashley. My face is still a mess from that psychopath. I was there for you, Ashley, but you walked away.”

“Cody…” I searched for the heat seeking missile, the right combination of true words which would hit home and make him see that I had no choice. “Cody… please, you’ve got to hear me. He said he was going to break you unless I went with him. He said he was going to go after my family too. My family, Cody.”

Cody slapped a hand across his forehead and pulled it down his face. “And you went back with him after he said
that?!
”

“I wasn’t thinking straight, Cody. I just wanted to play for time until I knew what to do. I wanted to spare you and my family more pain. Honestly.  He thinks I’m still his prisoner, Cody. But I promise you, I’m going to get him back. I am going to turn this round and take him out. But until then he needs to think everything is going fine, that I’m right under his boot heel all the way until it happens. If he thinks I’m up to something he could carry out this threats before I have the chance…”

“Ashley, honey…” Cody put his hand up and blinked. I noticed how beautiful he was. “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself as much as me. Have you really got the power, the determination to go after this guy like you said? Because you went straight home with him and left me in York. Can you do what you’re saying, or are you just saying it to make things more bearable for yourself, Ashley? You need to take an honest look at yourself, Ashley.”

“Don’t say that, Cody.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I still believe in you, Ashley. But I’m not so sure you do anymore.”

“Please, Cody. Don’t give up on me. I never gave up on you.”

“Didn’t you? I heard the latest gossip already this morning.”

I nodded, fearing the worst.

“They say you’re seeing Professor Ridgley.”

I didn’t respond. I looked him in the eye. “I was told you were getting serious with Joanna Laws first.”

Cody sighed again and looked away.

“Cody. She’s a good looking woman. And you thought I’d left you. But I only left you because...”

“You only left me
because
. That’s right. And Joanna was there for me and Joanna is a great looking woman. Ashley,” now he whispered, “I asked you not to break my damn heart, remember? But that’s exactly what you did.”