Page 14 of Control

“Fuck both of you.” Family sucked.

“We’ll be more careful about how we talk about yourgirlfriendnext time.” Amelia managed to say through the fit of giggles she had fallen victim to. Even my boring-ass brother was doubled over in laughter.

Fed up with all these jokes at my expense, I stood up and pointed my finger in their faces. “Fuckyou. Andyou. I’m out.”

“Wait! Wait! Stay! We’ll stop. I promise,” Amelia begged, heaving in an attempt to settle her hysteria.

I sat back down.

Taking a deep breath to contain any more of the laughter that might try to escape her, Amelia said, “Look if you want me to, I can talk to her. Maybe see if she’d be up for dinner or something.”

This was too weird. My sister-in-law setting me up with women as if I couldn’t get them myself.

When I didn’t answer, she continued, “We could do a group thing. It might be less intimidating for her.”

“All I really came here for was to get her number from you.” I didn’t want to do a big group-date thing. That would totally mislead her from my true intentions. I just wanted a one-night fling, then she’d be out of my system just like the others before her.

“Oh, come on!” Amelia pressed me to agree. “It’ll be fun. We can have a fun night out dancing!”

“I don’t dance,” I said.

“Neither do I,” my brother added.

She smacked Shyam playfully on his arm. “You know what I mean. Please! Let me do this for you.”

Her investment in my love life was unnerving. “Ugh, fine.” This was such a terrible idea. Now I’d have an audience as I tried to convince Claire to spend the night with me.Just fucking peachy.

Chapter VII

Claire

The lights around the sign for Nirvana glowed brightly, illuminating the line of people waiting to get inside.

“I can’t wait to see Craig!” Lana exclaimed giddily as we neared the roped-off queue.

“Who’s Craig?” I shouted over the honks of the cabs zooming by.

She shoved my arm. “The bouncer who invited us to that hotel party?! Duh!”

Oh, right.How could I forget? I only remembered that night each time I struggled to fall asleep, tossing around restlessly. It always ended the same way, with me replaying every detail specific to Jai—his eyes, his chest, his dick—until the pressure was too much to bear and I eventually needed to release the ache.

Seeing him at Amelia’s house only made the urges stronger, despite my wishes. What were the odds that he was related to the one student I instructed privately? I was mortified when I stood in front of him with nowhere to hide. And that cheeky bastard loved every minute of it.

Though, it was surprising that he even remembered who I was. He must have gone through hordes of women, erasing them from memory as soon as his dick got wet.

If I hadn’t agreed to private lessons, I never would have run into him. After my stint with Meena was over, I was officially swearing off private instruction.

“This line is so long! We’re never going to get in!” Lana hopped impatiently from foot to foot to see over the heads in front of us.

We were likeyinandyangstanding next to each other. She was decked out in a short gold dress completely covered in fringe—another one of herhaute couturecreations. I’d opted for black leather leggings and a cropped tee that exposed part of my belly. It was much tamer than Lana’s outfit, which gave everyone an eyeful every time she bent over to adjust her shoe strap. Her face was covered in chunky glitter and pink metallic lipstick, while I had decided on dark-rimmed eyes and sheer gloss on my lips.

The only way I ever wore my hair was in a bun high on my head, so I wasn’t too experienced with styling it like Lana was. She had set her hair into the most luscious waves, pinning them all around her head like some old-school pin-up model. It took one disapproving look at my bun before she laid into me about my hair. I’d ended up wearing it down instead,sanscurls, so she’d stop harassing me.

“Let me text Amelia.” I pulled my phone from my pocket to let her know we were waiting. Another good thing about wearing pants was that I didn’t need to fuss with a wallet or bag to hold my money and phone.

Hey, I’m outside, in line.

She texted back a moment later.Stay there. I’ll send someone to get you.

---