It all began with an innocent question from one of her students.
"Professor Everdeen?"
"Yes, Mr. Mellark?"
"Could you please help me with this assignment?" Peeta Mellark fidgeted nervously in front of her massive mahogany desk, adjusting his thick square glasses with one hand while clenching a piece of paper in the other.
Professor Katniss Everdeen smiled. "Of course. It's the sociology paper, correct?" Peeta was her best student, and she could not wait to read the finished product.
"Yes…I'm doing mine on sexual taboos," he flushed.
Her grin turned even wider, showing all of her perfectly straight, white teeth. He gazed at her for a few seconds, enthralled. She almost seemed feral in the way she studied him. "That's a great topic; I love it when students take risks."
"Thank you. I was hoping you could share your thoughts on forbidden love." He bit his lip, his eyes meeting anything but hers.
"Forbidden? How so?"
"Well, at first I began writing about incest…because that's a huge sexual taboo, you know…but that sounded too much like rape, and I wanted to discuss the consensual."
"Such as?"
This time, he looked at her. Sapphire eyes met her silver ones, and then he spoke. "A relationship between two people who have a discrepancy in age, when one is quite a bit older than the other…or sexual behavior at work or school…between…between a teacher and a student, for example."
There it was. He had dropped the bomb just like that. Peeta Mellark had a wonderful way with words when they were written, but when he spoke…when he spoke, he had the ability to move crowds, to cause an avalanche that would upend her world forever. She no longer had the patience for professionalism. Fuck it all. Fuck him for making her do this, for making her want him so badly her thighs clenched in anticipation. She stood up from her chair and leaned towards him, her hands sprawled open on the desk. "I could take you here on this desk, and make you beg for mercy twice, Mr. Mellark," she whispered seductively in his ear.
"T-twice?" he sputtered, his body trembling as much as his voice.
"Make that thrice."
His eyes widened, so darkened by lust that it was nearly impossible to see the blue behind his thick pupils. "I-I've never begged a woman before."
She leaned in closer, but just then, the door burst open and she instantly retreated as Professor Gale Hawthorne burst into the door. Gale. Her ex-husband. Shit, she thought as she sat back in her chair while Peeta gathered his papers hurriedly.
"T-thanks, for your help, Professor Everdeen. I'll see you tomorrow." Peeta ran out the door before she could even formulate a response, offering only a quick nod of acknowledgement to Gale before he left.
Gale chuckled as he closed the door to Katniss' office. "That kid is bit of a nervous wreck, isn't he?"
Katniss frowned, pressing her lips together tightly. "He's my best student, Gale."
"It's unprofessional to pick favorites," he teased.
"I don't give a damn. This is Panem University, not District Twelve Elementary. I can do whatever I want."
He threw his head back and laughed. "You never change, Catnip."
"Don't call me that," she scowled. It was a nickname he would use a lot when she was his wife. And she didn't want to remember that. How they were still friends was a mystery to her. But then again, they had practically known each other since birth. Their mothers had been best friends for ages.
"Sorry," he said, his face crestfallen. They had been too much alike. That had been the problem. They were both full of rage and fury and it got to the point that the only kind of intimacy they had was hate sex and make-up sex. This was great except for the fact that they weren't in love anymore, and that her refusal to have children had torn a bond they would never be able to repair. You're not getting any younger, Catnip, he would say. We need to start having children soon.
She would never forgive him for saying that.
"We're not married anymore, Gale. We can still be friends, but that's it. Catnip was your best friend, your wife. And I'm not that person anymore," she said softly.
He gulped, rage and hurt burning in his storm-filled eyes. And then it suddenly dawned upon him as he glowered at her and his eyes filled with comprehension. "You're fucking him, aren't you?" he accused.
"Who?" she asked innocently.
"Your prepubescent student," he scoffed. "That fumbling boy who probably goes down on you in exchange for straight As."
"Get out," she spat.
"He's a kid."
"He's twenty-years-old and past the age of consent and I am not screwing him!"
"You're twice his age and you fucking want to!"
"I'm thirty-three!"
She threw her biggest stapler at him in fury as he ducked as he made his way towards the door. "I'm so fucking glad I divorced you, you asshole!"
"Whore!"
"Dick!"
He slammed the door behind him as he stormed out the door, and she threw her head down on her hands and stifled a sob. She didn't want to cry. She hated crying, but she was tired of fighting with Gale all the time.
But then he came back, and the look on his face-the worried crinkle by his eyes, the twisted grimace of pain- gave away his apology before he even uttered a single word. "I'm sorry," he said, even though she already knew.
"We shouldn't be fighting like this at work."
"Where else would we fight?" he teased, and she smiled softly at him despite herself. Maybe she didn't exactly hate him, not really. They just weren't meant to be. That was all.
"Truce?"
"Truce."
Peeta Mellark could not begin working on his paper. He had been procrastinating for eighty-four years…or so it seemed. He ran his hand ran impatiently through his unruly blond curls and groaned, his head thudding against his leather chair as he leaned back.
Professor Everdeen ran through his mind and wrecked inside it like a tornado. She was twice his age, but he could care less. She was as radiant as the sun, as unforgettable as a storm. She was untouchable, unreachable, and he was so caught up in her he could barely breathe. He had almost come undone when she had leaned forward and whispered in his ear:
"I could take you here on this desk, and make you beg for mercy twice, Mr. Mellark."
That particular sentence ran on loop through his head like a new favorite song, and it made him shiver every single time. She would be his downfall; he could feel it in his bones. He was terrified. He was thrilled. He was ready.
He was glad his roommate Finnick was gone and he could pleasure himself to thoughts of his professor without fear of getting caught. He rolled his chair back further and unzipped his jeans, pulling down his boxers beneath them before taking his cock out and shuddering in relief as he spit on his hand and wrapped it around his shaft. Fuck. He wanted her on top of him, rolling her hips over his as he laid on her massive mahogany desk, her tits bouncing over his face. Why else would it be so spacious if not for convenient fucking? She could probably teach him a few things beyond the practical classroom curriculum. He was, after all, her favorite student.
But he was also a virgin. He had always been the good boy, he mused as he gripped his cock harder and twisted his hand over it, going up and down rapidly. Now his life sounded like a freaking porno. He could already envision the title on Redtube: Naughty Professor Teaches Favorite Student a Lesson. It made him visualize whips and rulers, and the notion of being spanked by her nearly brought him to the brink. He gasped and moaned as he looked down at his straining cock, pre-cum already leaking from the tip. He was so close, but he didn't want to come just yet. Perhaps he was a masochist. He had gotten his dick sucked once in the boys' locker room in high school, and the girl had been just as inexperienced as him, accidently grazing her teeth over his sensitive tip. But he hadn't complained; no, he had encouraged it. The pain had been excruciatingly delicious, and he had the feeling Katniss wouldn't be as gentle or hesitant about it. She would bite him while scowling, her gray eyes merciless. Tears would spring from his eyes.
He was gripping his cock so hard now that his short fingernails were digging into his skin. One, two, three more tugs.
Make that thrice.
And then he came.
She was a dominatrix. It was her hobby besides singing, and in her not-so-humble opinion, it was important to have hobbies, even if one of hers was slightly extreme to some people. When Katniss wasn't working at the university teaching students or grading papers, she screwed subordinate men. She had always seemed to be more in love with the actual act of sex than the person she was having sex with. Ever since she had divorced Gale, she had found new men and new ways to alleviate her lust and rage. She liked being in charge. She reveled in the power. Gale had always fought her for it, and that was another reason why they hadn't worked out as a couple.
But lately, she had been distraught. She was uninterested in fucking anyone who wasn't Peeta Mellark, and he was definitely out of the question. She could only hope that Gale wouldn't reveal his suspicions to anyone else. After their brief disagreement, they had ended up eating lunch together and making innocent jokes that were completely unrelated to her obvious lust for her favorite student. As long as Gale stayed on her good side, he wouldn't turn vengeful.
Or so she hoped.
Katniss couldn't afford to lose her job over a sexual whim. She may not have any children to depend on her, or a mother to maintain since hers was comfortably retired after a successful medical career, but she still had to support herself. And Prim's 29th birthday was coming up, and she wanted to throw her little sister a party, have a girls' night out while her husband Rory watched their kids, as he had already agreed to do so. Perhaps it seemed selfish of her to make her sister spend time with her on her birthday, but Katniss would still make sure that she spent enough time with her family before they left. Prim was a doctor, and her schedule was sometimes even more hectic than hers. Johanna, Rue, and Madge had already helped her plan everything out.
They would go to a fetish club.
It had been Johanna's idea, actually, but Katniss couldn't complain. She had yet to inform her sister of her recent sexual endeavors, and she hoped to enlighten on her the wonderful and sinful world of BDSM. It all depended on Prim's reaction to the club. If she hated it, Katniss would keep her secret and take the girls to a different bar instead. She wouldn't want to ruin her little sister's birthday.
"I'm not sure if this is such a great idea," Rue suddenly burst out as they were driving to pick Prim up from her house.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Johanna exclaimed as she slammed on the brakes, nearly passing a red light. Katniss scowled at her from the passenger seat. Johanna wasn't even the designated driver; who the hell had let her sit behind the wheel?
"Rue, you could have said that before we all agreed to go," Madge pointed out from beside her.
"Yeah, but you guys outvoted me!"
"You're her best friend; we would have taken your opinion into consideration," Katniss said gently.
"But you're her sister, and I could tell you really wanted to go."
"Not if you think that Prim won't like it!"
"Well you bitches better decide now, because we're at her house," Johanna snapped as we looked up to find Prim running out of her house excitedly like the giddy little school girl she used to be.
She knew that the girls were taking her out somewhere especial tonight, she just didn't know where. "Okay, look, I have a plan B if she hates it, so can we please just try the fetish club first?" Katniss begged Rue as Prim approached the van. Rue pursed her lips at Katniss, but she finally relented just before Prim opened the door and started climbing in excitedly.
"Get in, loser, we're going clubbing," Johanna said.
"Happy Birthday!" Katniss added affectionately.
"So where are you guys taking me?" Prim asked as Madge scooted over to make room for her, giving her a side-hug in greeting as Prim waved at Rue.
"It's a surprise," Katniss winked teasingly.
"I came up with it," Johanna smirked.
"Oh no," Prim joked.
"It's okay if you don't like it," Rue piped up.
"Yeah, we have a plan B," Madge said reassuringly.
"I think I'll be fine," Prim gulped.
Peeta Mellark was not fine. Finnick and Thresh had dragged him to a fetish club, and he still hadn't worked on his sociology paper. And to make things worse, he had just spotted Professor Everdeen walking in with a group of friends. The ground might as well swallow him whole right now.
"Hey Peet, isn't that the teacher you have a raging boner for?" Finnick elbowed him as he pointed at her with his chin.
"It's Professor Everdeen," Peeta corrected him automatically. "And yes, that's her."
Thresh and Finnick burst out laughing, and Peeta gave them the dirtiest look he could muster. "It's not funny. I need to leave. If she sees me here…"
"What? She'll notice that you're a sexually frustrated virgin in desperate need of a cunt? Maybe she could help you out with that, too," Finnick winked as he swung his drink.
Peeta almost punched his vulgar friend in the face, right where it would hurt his vanity the most, but Thresh held him back. Peeta clenched his jaw as Thresh shook his head at him in warning. And then he looked towards the group of women again. A few of them were horrified by the sight in front of them as a Mile Cyrus look-alike screamed in pleasure and pain while she was being whipped by another woman. But not Katniss, and certainly not the spiky-haired woman standing beside her. No, Katniss was enthralled, and her grey eyes were dark with lust. She watched the show fascinated as the woman with the whip moved on to the rest of her subs, all of them wearing nothing but flimsy leather garments that barely hid anything.
Katniss was watching the show, and Peeta was watching her. He did not know who was more aroused. "Fuck, that's hot," Peeta heard Finnick hiss beside him, and Peeta merely nodded dumbly in agreement, his cock already straining inside of his jeans.
Suddenly, he saw a petite blond with a birthday crown on shake her head at Katniss, mouthing the words 'what the hell' at her before turning around and leaving, her other companions following along after her, leaving Katniss standing there in shock before she suddenly turned around and locked gazes with him. He saw it in her eyes. The fear and regret, the mystery and longing. The complete and utter remorse. And then just like that, it was gone, and her eyes were icy cold.
"Hello there, handsome, where is your companion?" Peeta turned to see the strange woman with the whip staring hungrily at him, and he whipped his around in confusion, wondering where the fuck Finnick and Thresh were when he needed them.
"He's with me," Katniss growled at her, appearing stealthily behind them as he tugged at his arm, dragging him along with her. At this point, Peeta was so confused that he didn't know how to respond, so he simply followed Katniss until they were outside in the cold night air.
"What the hell, Peeta?" Katniss snapped at him as soon as they were out of that crazy place.
"Professor Everdeen, I-I-I can explain…"
"I better not see you there again or I could take severe disciplinary action against you for being out like this on a school night!" she shrieked, but the protective look in her eyes told him that she might have been bluffing. Still, he was not about to take any risks.
"D-disciplinary action?" He wanted to ask what she had been doing there, but he withheld the urge to do so.
"Yes," she said after a brief pause, and the sexual tension between them was palpable in that moment. "I'm going to take you with me now, Peeta. And I will decide what to do with you then."
He gulped. Something told him this had nothing to do with school. But still, he followed her.
To be continued…
A/N- Thank you for reading! Special thanks to sponsormusings for encouraging me to finish and for Court81981, beta extraordinaire. You ladies are amazing; I couldn't have done it without you!