Page 81 of Lesson Learned

“No.” I pull away but his free hand clamps onto my wrist, squeezing so hard my bones grind against each other. “Let me go.”

“Should I report you to a teacher?” His lips part to reveal his incisors, sharp as fangs. “Or how about the head? I’m sure she’d love to hear what her new English instructor gets up to when you two are alone.”

And there it is. The threat in black and white. No space for misunderstanding.

Do what he wants or he’ll ruin both our lives, mine and Conner’s.

“Come on,” he says, his voice becoming instantly agreeable now he sees he’s getting his way. “The sooner we get started, the sooner I’ll finish.”

He laughs at the small joke while I try to find an expression to paint over my features so no one can see the stark horror I feel inside.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask, still wanting to find an alternative way out, an escape route. “What do you care?”

But he doesn’t answer. I suppose I don’t need him to. James tags just slightly behind me all the way through to the student housing block, then crowds me as I unlock my door, shoving me inside when I try to hesitate.

“That’s all kinds of better,” he says, locking the door behind us. “Your present’s on the bed.”

I feel exposed, knowing he’s been in here already. My eyes flick to the corners of the room, trying to see if there’s a glint from a camera anywhere. Wondering if he has eyes in here somehow, the reason he knows the things he shouldn’t know.

“Chop, chop,” he says, clapping his hands. “Stop stalling or I’ll think you like drawing things out.”

The bag is branded with the school logo. When I upend it, a couple of items fall out. A set of butt plugs, a bottle of anal lube, and an enema kit.

My skin itches, prickly with heat. It feels like a mass of hives is bursting out all over me.

James moves behind me, putting an arm around my waist, chin on my shoulder, a companionable gesture that triggers a wave of nausea so bad, I put my arm to my mouth to quell the sickness.

“Do you like it? Marnie’s always saying I get her the best presents.”

I want to tremble. I want to scream.

Instead, I shut my eyes, inhaling a slow breath. “You should give these to Marnie, then.”

The laugh in my ear makes my knees shake. I clench my hand into a fist and dig the knuckles into my thigh, hard, trying to stop my body betraying me.

“Tried that. It didn’t go well, and I thought, why should my girlfriend be in pain when she has this useless clutch of hangers-on around her that could remove that burden?”

My stomach burns with acid. I tip my head to the side, trying to get away from the warm gust of his breath against my neck, but he pinches me with his free hand, digging into the meat of my shoulder where the nerves from it and my neck bunch together.

He presses deep enough to bruise. So deep an ache jolts all the way along my spine, making me jerk away from him.

Not that he lets me go.

“That’s so sweet,” I try in a saccharine tone. “But I’m sure Marnie would hate to find out you’ve been screwing around on her, even if she can’t stand sex with you herself.”

“I doubt we’ll find out.” He sucks my earlobe into his mouth, the wetness adding another layer of disgust. “She didn’t find out about last time, did she?”

An arrow of guilt twists into my gut. I should have been stronger and confronted her with what James had done. I should have gone to her straight away. We could have gone to a teacher. We could have sought help.

You would have been sent home. Your one shot would be gone.

And that threat is still a very real and present one.

The school board is impossible to get an audience with. They won’t be swayed by charm or promises of better behaviour in return for second chances.

“These need preparation time,” I say, barely able to get the words past my clenched jaw. “You don’t seriously want to watch me do an enema, do you?”

His fingers splay across my lower belly, digging in, pressing me back against him. He reaches for the plugs, fighting with the packaging until the largest is free.

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