Page 160 of Pervade London
“He owns my soul, Em. Sure you want that?”
“What should I do?”
“Ballad’s falling for you.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Use that to your advantage.”
“You love him,” I said.
“Fervently.”
“Has something changed between you both?”
He pulled me into a hug. “We’re wrong and yet so fucking right. You’ve merely glanced at the black star that is Ballad. I’m inside it.”
And once you were caught in the gravitational force of a black hole, there was no escape.
Xavier looked down at me. “He’s gotten to you.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I recognize that look in your eyes. Same one I had after I met him.”
“Does it bother you?”
“I’m hiding you beneath his wings, Em. Safest place.”
“I’m sorry about the shower thing,” I whispered.
Shame scorched my cheeks.
His hands wrapped around my waist and he lifted me up onto the countertop, his fingers working the zipper of my jeans.
I stared at him. “What are you doing?”
“You’re going to talk while I go down on you.”
“About what?”
“What happened in his bathroom…tell me everything in precise detail. Leave nothing out.”
“You mean…”
“Describe how he looked. What you saw him do.” He yanked my jeans off and dropped them on the floor. “And I’ll do this.”
He slid my panties down.
It was good to be back in class at the Royal Academy of Music. The familiar presence of my classmates had restored some normality to my life.
I sat clutching the Strad to my chest like it was a baby, trying my best to concentrate on the class. It was like trying to traverse two worlds—one with two men who consumed my every waking thought, and this, my old life of lessons, practice, and big dreams for a future in music.
I felt caught between these two worlds.
Stifling a yawn, I returned my attention to our instructor.
“Am I boring you, Ms. Rampling?” said Charles Penn-Rhodes, a retired orchestra conductor out of Vienna whose accent was as thick as his round-rimmed glasses.
Cringing, I said, “Sorry.”
Salme raised her hand. “We strive for perfection,” she answered his question brightly. “We become the violin.”
