The Club

by Mellkat86

*AU* Ruby and Victor seek new thrills for their sex life. Victor is invited to 'The Club', a prestige club where people are able to lose themselves in their own pleasure and the pleasure of others. Ruby is apprehensive, so she asks Belle to go with her. Belle isn't keen about the idea, but goes along with them. The Club might entail more for Belle than she might actually realise...

7. Chapter 7: Prof Gold will see you now

Sat in the kitchen with her laptop on the table, Belle was reading through a BDSM site she had found last night, browsing through all the toys and devices they had on offer. Several of them made her blush, liking the idea of trying them, where others caused her eyes to widen, especially the enormous dildo, which was designed to stretch her opening in the preparation of fisting. She had quickly clicked back and scrolled down the page, breathing easier when the page moved from penetration to restraints. If it wasn't for her homework, Belle wouldn't have been looking at the website, but she had to admit some of the items had intrigued her.

It was late Sunday evening, when Mr Gold had sent her a text, disturbing the silence between her and her father as they'd sat in the living room together, watching a random film her father had selected. Glimpsing over to her father in his armchair, Belle had extracted one of her hands from the pocket of her hoodie and had picked up her phone under the scrutinising gaze of her father. They hadn't spoken about Saturday night. Though, they hadn't spoken to each other all day. He had stayed in the living room, when she had gotten home around two am and she was grateful he hadn't.

Her evening with Mr Gold had done exactly what she wanted. With him, she had easily forgotten what her father had said, feeling a woman under Mr Gold's gaze. The dress had done exactly what she had wanted. She had been empowered, confident, and he had been floored, mouth gaping open, when she had entered the room. It was nice to know she could affect him.

Ignoring her father, Belle had been surprised to see it was Mr Gold and had unlocked her phone, eager to read the whole of his message. 'A homework assignment for you, Miss French.' She had smirked at him giving her 'homework'. 'Three scenarios for role-play.'

'Role-play?', she had mouthed to herself before a sudden blush had exploded on her cheeks, flooding them with a deep rouge colour and a hot flush.

She had pressed her lips into a thin line and peered across at her father, slyly glimpsing at him from the corner of her eye, sure he would question her blush. Instead, he had stayed reclined back in his chair, eyes glued to the TV, holding the beer he had propped on the arm of the chair. Nervously, Belle had licked her lips as she had brought her attention back to her phone and reread his simple message.

Role-play… Did he mean like naughty school girl? Sexy secretary? Skimpy waitress?

'He really wanted ideas for role-play?', Belle had thought, raising a sceptical eyebrow. Thinking of Mr Gold acting out a role had seemed like a strange notion. She couldn't picture him doing it. Dressing up in outfits, pretending to be someone else. The image of him dressed like a police officer had popped into her head and had caused her to giggle, attracting her father's critical gaze. Hunching more into the corner of the sofa, Belle had shrunk inside of her hoodie, self-conscious of her blush, hiding her smirk from her father. His eyes had squinted at her, dissecting her from across the room. She had stared at her phone, pretending she was reading something, waiting him out, until he had turned back to the TV.

Ever so slightly, she had shaken her head at the idea and typed out a quick reply to him. 'What exactly do you mean by role-play?'.

She had pursed her lips together, clicking to lock her phone, and had set it down on the arm of the chair beside her, putting it clearly where she could see it. As Belle had been putting her hands into the large pouch pocket of her hoodie, her phone had lit up and had dinged, alerting them to another message. Scrambling for her phone, fighting her hoodie to free her hands, her father's grumble had fallen on deaf ears as Belle had unlocked her phone to read his message.

'Sexual fantasies that you'd like to act out.' Mr Gold had stated in his reply.

Her eyes had bulged at his text. 'Sexual fantasies!'.

How could she possibly tell him those? Tell him how she kept dreaming of him, bending her over one of the glass counters in the front of his shop, taking her from behind, whilst people walked past the front of his shop, daring to catch them with a glance into the shop. Or the one, which had resurfaced, of them at his cabin, laying in front of the fire, leisurely making love to one another. And she certainly couldn't tell him her newest fantasy, which had slowly developed from the reading material he had given her, completely and utterly submitting herself to him, gladly letting him dominate her. Although, it would fit in with what they were doing and the thought of it had made her instantly wet. She knew she wasn't ready for it. To give herself like that to him.

Putting her phone to one side, Belle had decided she needed to do some research before she handed in her 'homework'. Get some more ideas, which wouldn't be too vanilla for him and show him that she was taking on board what he was showing her. Which was why she was sitting at the table in the kitchen, laptop on the table, doing research before she went to work. Except one website had led to another, and another, a picture had peaked her interest and… Voila! Belle was browsing through a BDSM store, totally off track.

Exasperated, she got up, taking her coffee cup, and took the two steps to the kettle, putting down her cup, and snatched the kettle from its stand to fill it at the sink. While she waited a couple of seconds for it to fill enough for a drink, Belle stared out of the kitchen window at the dead flower beds in the back garden. Her mother had dug them out. Turned over the soil, lovingly broke up the earth, mixed in several bags of fresh soil, prepping them for the flowers she had intended to plant. Standing in this very spot, it hadn't been uncommon to see her mother outside, on her knees, digging and weeding her flower beds. She weakly smiled at the ghostly image of her mother as she turned off the tap. All the hard work of her mother had been for nothing. Belle had tried, but she didn't have her mother's green fingers, and her father couldn't give a damn about them, letting all the flowers slowly die off, the soil now barren. Ashamed, Belle turned her gaze away and made herself a drink, putting her back to the kitchen window.

Carefully sipping at her coffee, she retook her seat at the table, confronted with the images of nipples and clitorises being pinched with various devices. Belle let out a breath as she put her cup down beside her laptop, at a loss at what to send him for her 'homework'. It should've been an easy assignment and it would've been, if she wasn't trying so hard to please him. Show him that she wasn't so vanilla. Propping her head up on her hand, staring at the screen of her laptop, Belle didn't think she could give him what he wanted. Her greatest fantasy of all of them, was to be with him, but that wasn't what their relationship was. It was a sex education. Not white picket fences, a dog and evenings spent entangled on the couch together, reading books.

Thankfully, Belle was yanked back off the road of self-loathing by her phone beeping. Sitting up straighter, dropping her hand down, she looked at her phone, lying a foot away from her, looking all innocent with its screen lit. She picked it up and swiped her thumb across the message, opening a window to show the message. It was Ruby. Someone hadn't turned up for their shift. They needed her to come in early. 'Great…', Belle grumbled inwardly as she tapped a single letter and sent it back, 'K'. Sitting there, her gaze went from her phone in her hands to her laptop, presenting her with the same problem she had been trying to solve all morning.

What the hell was she going to send him as 'homework'?

She closed the lid of her laptop as she stood up and picked it up, as well as her coffee, and took them with her upstairs. Pursing her lips, Belle hated that she couldn't be more like Ruby, letting out her wilder side, if she had one, and tell him exactly what she wanted. 'At least, I go after what I want…', echoed in her ear.

In her room, Belle set her laptop down on top of her chest of drawers and discarded her phone to the bed, ignoring its stupid pleads to message him. Tell him what she wanted. Expose herself. Which… Her brows pushed slightly together, creasing a faint line in her brow, as she considered how ridiculous she was being. Sex was sex. Mr Gold was male. So sex was sex, no matter how they were doing it. He wouldn't care as long as he was getting something out of it, just like every other man she had been with. Just like she had been at college, itching that relentless itch. Using and abusing. Going after exactly what she wanted. Being who she wanted to be, instead of being held back by her father, stuck in Ruby's shadow and letting fear rule her life. But instead… Belle was trapped.

Annoyed with herself, her situation and everything else in-between - She hauled her t-shirt up and over her head, and slung it onto her bed, whilst she turned to her wardrobe. The wardrobe rocked with the force, Belle had used to open one of the doors, knocking her bedroom door with the wardrobe door. The subsequent bang jolted her and snapped her gaze to where the wardrobe door had hit her bedroom door. Slowly closing the wardrobe door, revealed an evident dent of the handle impressed into the cheap bedroom door. Her shoulders slumped at the sight of it. Something else for her father to moan at her about. Shaking her head at it, Belle reopened her wardrobe door, being more careful this time, and grabbed the hanger with her uniform on it, closing the offending door afterwards.

She rubbed a hand over her mouth as she laid her uniform onto the bed, her eyes on her dormant phone, provoking her into sending him a text. Stripping off her jeans, Belle carelessly laid them onto the bed, her mind focused on considering what she could message back to him as her 'homework'.

Crinkling her forehead, Ruby's words repeated, '…I go after what I want…'. Why couldn't Belle? Wasn't that the whole point of this? As one of his books had said, '… expression of a particular part of yourself that doesn't always show on the surface'. The Belle, she had been at college, wouldn't have second guessed herself. She would've instantly replied with her fantasies, uncaring whether he enjoyed them or not.

Scooping her phone up from the bed as Belle sat down, she had their thread of messages on the screen before she'd even sat onto the bed. Posed with both hands, ready to type, she bit at her lip as she thought about her reply. An easy one to begin with, '1. Shop encounter.'. No details, leaving it open for his own interpretation. Belle smiled at her own cleverness.

'2. …'. Her smile died off a little. She seriously couldn't put, by a fireplace… It was romantic, something that didn't belong in their relationship. '2. …'. Throwing her gaze up at the ceiling, she muddled through all the obvious role-plays she could imagine until she picked one that she thought suited her. '2. Professor and student.'. Her smile grew back, picturing Mr Gold as an overbearing professor, sniping at students and colleagues, no tolerance for stupid. Geez… It fitted him so well.

'3. …'. Did she dare? Reveal the darker desires he had ignited in her. Flogging, whipping, dominating… These things weren't part of her everyday thoughts. Now, they had become a part of her subconscious thoughts, integrated into her dreams, moments of idle thought ruled by them. Belle hated being told what to do, but that night, in the basement of the Club, the whisper of his voice in her ear… She feared that alone could make her come. Looking down at her phone in her hands, Belle pushed herself to be brave and typed out her final answer. '3. Domination.' The only one of her fantasies, Mr Gold would enjoy.

Without thinking about it, she sent her list of role-plays and waited, holding her breath until the little ticked showed next to the bubble of her message and in small font 'delivered' appeared underneath it. Belle quickly put her phone down as though it was too hot for her to handle. What had she done? What the hell was she doing, telling him things like that? She tried not to stare at her phone, horrified by what she'd just done, but couldn't help it as a part of her was intrigued to see his reply.

So, she waited… Staring at her phone.

The screen on her phone dimmed before it blinked into darkness, becoming inactive while she waited. It was silly to wait. Mr Gold was a busy man. There was no reason, he would message her back so quickly. He was, after all, like any other man. Nothing special about him. After telling herself this, Belle got up from her bed, observed her phone from the corner of her eye, and began to get ready for work.

The instant her phone beeped with a message, Belle launched herself, half dressed in her work blouse, and snatched her phone up from the bed. She shouldn't smile, yet she was, as she looked at her phone, desperate for it. Giddy and drunk on the thought of him responding to her message. Anxious for acceptance. Wanting him to see the real Belle. The one with hopes and dreams, who wanted to travel and see the world, and didn't want to spend the rest of her life working herself into an early grave. She wanted Mr Gold to see her, like no one had ever seen her. Strong capable Belle, who cared with all her heart and was brave enough to go after what she wanted.

Except, it wasn't Mr Gold. It was Ruby, telling her to hurry up. Growling in frustration for being so stupid, Belle dropped her phone on the bed again and got dressed into her uniform. She didn't look at her phone again until she grabbed it to shove in her bag, embarrassed by her earlier behaviour. A teenager was more dignified than the way she was behaving.

Leaving the house with a hard tug on the front door, she couldn't understand why she was behaving in such a manner. Even as a teenager, she wouldn't have behaved this way. Belle had kept her feelings hidden. Hidden so well, Ruby hadn't even suspected she fancied Mr Gold. There had only been one day, she had allowed her feelings to get the better of her and that was because she was going away to college. Now… Belle was just being an idiot. Their relationship hadn't changed. Yes, they were having sex, but that was it. They were intimate without being intimate. Whatever happened in that room at the Club, stayed there. Proven by the fact, Mr Gold still called her Miss French, even after his head had been between her thighs, making her come into his mouth. And she didn't even know his name!

Belle quickened her pace, growing angrier with herself, clutching at the shoulder strap of her bag. Unconsciously, she shook her head as she walked, her head bent forward, her feet taking her where she needed to go, while she inwardly grumbled at herself for getting into this situation. If it hadn't been Mr Gold, she would never have agreed so readily to do this. Allowing someone to open her eyes to the taboo of BDSM. She'd naively entered into something with him, without thinking it through, taking in all the factors and it was going to cost her dearly.

She was going to get hurt.

By the time she reached the alleyway leading to the back of Grannie's, her temper had simmered down, allowing her to think more clearly, but there was still a cloud over her. Snatching open the back door, Belle entered and went straight to her locker, slinging her bag inside, and went to shut her locker with a slam… Then she stopped, opened her locker and retrieved her phone. Ruby's threat to message 'Eddie' hadn't subsided yet. She grabbed an apron and put it on, stowing her phone into the pouch as she headed into the kitchen.

"Hey, Belle's here to save the day!" Bill greeted her after coming out of the large fridge, kicking the door shut behind him.

Belle gave him a small smile. "Yeah, something like that." She looked to Ron's station, finding him at the fryers. "Morning, Ron."

Ron twisted to see her as he shook a basket of fries. "Thank God, you're here."

"Why?" She frowned at him, while she grabbed a fresh pen and notepad to store in her apron's pocket.

"Gold's here." Bill informed her as he walked past her and hefty a box of lettuces down onto the large metal counter.

"Gold?" Belle questioned, feeling a flush of heat sweep up the length of her body, pooling in her cheeks.

Ron gestured to the B&B above their heads. "The toilet in Granny's apartment leaked and the water flooded through into the guest room below, frying the electrics in that room."

Bill chuckled, unstacking the pile of lettuces from the box onto the counter with a thud, while commenting on the situation. "Ruby's being unusually quiet this morning."

"Wouldn't you be? Granny's never in the best of moods, when she has to deal with Gold." Ron remarked, while he hung the fryer basket up to drip dry. "And now, she's got to sweet talk him, hoping he'll go easy on the repair bill."

"Are there any orders ready to go out?" Belle inquired, changing the subject.

"Yeah, table seven." Ron told her, craning his neck to see her over his shoulder, whilst he scooped some fries into a plastic basket, the inside lined with paper.

As she crossed the kitchen to take it from him, Belle didn't linger longer than she needed, turning to leave before either of them noticed the blush residing in her cheeks. Pushing through the two-way door, she took the basket of fries straight to table seven and delivered it, asking them if they required anything else before taking up her usual spot behind the counter.

Neither Ruby or Granny, or any of the other girls, were in the diner and Belle was thankful. Touching her hands to her cheeks, the coolness of the palms of her hands felt really good on her burning cheeks. Mr Gold was upstairs, assessing the damage in the B&B. He was busy, that's why he hadn't answered her text. Belle, for the hundredth time that morning, felt stupid. The rollercoaster of emotions she had been on this morning was too much and she wanted off. It really wasn't supposed to be like this, she told herself again. Her blush should've erupted from shame, but instead, Belle was lusting to see him. Her body tingled with ghostly hands caressing her, scratching her, remembering everything he did on Saturday night, her body wanting more, now she knew he was close by. Biting her lip, the urge to find him stirred deep inside of her.

The swing door, leading from the kitchen to behind the counter, flapped open and Ruby came charging out, carrying a tray of glasses from the washer. She looked haggard. Dropping her hands down from her face, Belle turned to face Ruby as she sidled up to Belle and slid the large metal tray onto the counter. She gave Belle a long sideways glance before she set about putting the glasses away, dipping under the counter.

"Before you say anything, it's not my fault." Ruby stated bluntly as she grabbed another glass from the tray.

"What's not your fault?" Belle asked, sneaking a glance at the diners.

The glass Ruby put on the shelf below clunked and chinked against the other glasses before Ruby shot up, whispering hastily at Belle. "It was Victor, okay? I had no idea!"

"What are you talking about?" She questioned with her eyebrows raising slightly at Ruby's tone.

"Victor's been flushing condoms down the toilet!" Ruby answered in the same tone.

"I'm sorry, what?" Belle blinked her eyes at Ruby.

Ruby's shoulders dropped as she rested her arms on the rim of the tray, closing her eyes for the briefest of seconds, collecting herself, before she said. "He's been flushing our used condoms down the toilet and… Last night, the one we used, came back, so Victor wrapped it in a load of toilet paper… I heard him repeatedly flushing it, but I didn't think anything of it, it's been temperamental for a while. And… The plunger got stuck and flooded our bathroom," Ruby closed her eyes again. "And he didn't tell me and left." She opened her eyes to look at Belle. "Granny found the mess this morning."

"Oh." Was the only thing that came out, when Belle opened her mouth to say something.

"Yeah, 'Oh'." Ruby said dryly. "That's exactly what Granny said, when she saw a condom hanging out of the toilet and a couple of them on the floor."

Belle bit back her chuckle, quickly looking around the diner at the customers, needing an excuse not to look at Ruby. "Oh…"

"It's not funny! Gold says, `they're going to have to snake the plumbing, make sure there isn't any more caught in a bend that might cause a problem in the future!'" Ruby chided.

"What idiot flushes condoms down the toilet?" Belle asked, raising her hand up to cover her smirk.

"One with a doctorate." Ruby replied, while giving Belle a piercing look. "I can see you're smirking! Stop it!"

Clamping her hand down harder over her mouth, she couldn't stop herself and Ruby was making it worse. "I'm sorry." She wasn't. "It's just… These things always happen to you!"

Snatching a glass out of the tray, Ruby waved it in front of Belle's face, saying. "Well, hopefully not anymore! I rang and dumped his ass this morning! Asshole!"

"For good?" Belle inquired, dropping her hand down from her mouth, watching as Ruby stooped to put the glass under the counter.

"At this moment in time, he can go to hell!" Ruby told her as she grabbed another glass. "We're done!"

Belle reached out to touch Ruby's shoulder, offering her some comfort. "You okay with that?"

They'd been here several times and it was always the same reaction, she was done and he could go to hell, then three or so months later they'd get back together. Ruby turned her gaze on Belle, finally allowing Belle to view the embarrassment, the hurt, the anger simmering under the surface. Without needing to say anything, Belle could see Ruby wasn't sure about her rash decision and took the glass from Ruby's hands, putting it back into the tray before she pulled her into a hug. Ruby hands clung to the sides of Belle's blouse, burying her face into Belle's shoulder. Ruby was always good at hiding behind her façade of toughness. Snapping at people like a hurt dog would, being aggressive, when really all she wanted was for someone to hold her.

"It was so embarrassing, Belle." Ruby mumbled into Belle's shoulder.

The image of condoms littering the flooded bathroom, caused a short chuckle to escape from Belle. "I bet."

"It's not funny." Ruby insisted.

"If this was someone else, you'd be splitting your sides about it." Belle told her, rubbing a hand up and down Ruby's back.

Ruby pushed Belle back, breaking their hug, and told her. "It wasn't even Granny finding them. She wouldn't let me pick them up before Gold came. Soooo…. Embarrassing!"

"Belle." Granny called her name from across the diner, they both looked to see Granny approaching the opening at the other end of the counter. "Take a cup of tea upstairs to Mr Gold."

Looking from Granny to Ruby, Belle knew from Granny's tone not to argue with her and do as she'd asked. "Yes, Granny."

"Milk, no sugar." She stated, from the other end of the counter.

Belle moved along the counter and set about making his tea, knowing it was best not to get between grandmother and granddaughter. She'd done it once; she wouldn't make that mistake again. That wouldn't have stopped her from eavesdropping on their conversation, but she couldn't hear anything over the thudding of her heart in her ears. Has he read her message? Would he mention it, when she went upstairs? Would he dare? The chance to see him on his own, in private, somewhere other than the Club was exciting. It was sad she felt that way about it, but the chance to encounter him outside of their arrangement was thrilling.

Straining the teabag, she fished it out to dump into the underneath trash bin and tipped a small amount of milk into it, dowsing a light brown cloud into the dark brown tea. Belle took the tea and squeezed by Ruby and Granny, and through the gap in the counters before heading to the corridor connecting the diner and the B&B. She climbed the first staircase to the guest rooms floor, then climbed the next set, biting her lip as the butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

The door to the apartment was open and Belle could hear him talking as she entered. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Rearrange the Hofstadter house for next week and send that crew over here."

Nosing round the corner of the apartment's door into the living room, she frowned a little when she didn't find him there and moseyed through the living room to the short corridor, leading to the bedrooms and the bathroom. He was standing in the doorway to the bathroom, his hand perched on the doorframe as he shouldered his weight on the other side of it, talking into his phone.

"Granny's bathroom and the room below." Mr Gold told someone. "New toilet upstairs and it's going to be easier to rip the ceiling down in the room below, check the wiring and re-plasterboard it. Otherwise, it's just going to smell of damp in the next couple of months." He nodded his head. "Good… Fine." And ended the call.

"Tea, Mr Gold." Belle said, holding the cup out towards him.

Mr Gold looked at her. "Ah, Miss French." Slowly his lips formed a small smile. "I hope you had a good weekend." He said as he took the cup from her.

"It was very enjoyable." She told him, mirroring his smile. "How was yours?"

"Very satisfying." Mr Gold answered her, winking his left eye at her, then hesitantly sipped his hot tea as he dropped his gaze to his phone, swiping and tapping at the screen.

Belle snooped into the bathroom, spotting the lid for the toilet's cistern sticking out of the sink. "Is it bad?"

He replied to her question without taking his eyes off his phone, continuing to tap at it, pausing to read. "Not really. I've seen worse."

Licking nervously at her lips, she flicked her eyes to him and then to his phone in his hand, wondering if he had seen her 'homework' yet. Belle looked back into the flooded bathroom, wary of him catching her watching him, and inspected the floor of bath towels soaking up the water. Ruby was definitely in trouble. Whatever punishment Granny thought up, would make the summer Ruby spent grounded a piece of cake. With that in mind, Belle knew she had to get back downstairs and help out in the diner, while Granny ripped Ruby a new one.

"I erm…" She gestured awkwardly behind her. "I better get back downstairs."

Small lines drew across his forehead at whatever he was reading. "Do you have a preference?"

Half taking a step back, Belle rocked back onto her foot and then forward onto her other, halting her escape. "For?"

His dark brown eyes flicked up to meet hers. "Your homework."

"Err…" Her brain melted under his gaze, losing all her faculties, drowning in the warm amber colour shrouded in the darker brown. "No… No preference."

His left eye narrowed, studying her before he broke their connection, returning his attention to the screen of his phone. "As much as it pleases me to see number three, you're not ready for that." A sly grin appeared on his face, then he raised his gaze to Belle again. "But I'll quite happily do that for you."

"Okay…" She swallowed, self-conscious under his gaze.

Clicking the button on the side of his phone, Mr Gold sipped some tea as he tucked his phone under the layers of his overcoat and suit jacket, and said as he lowered the cup down from his lips. "The other two are interesting." Slanting his head slightly to the side, he asked. "Are you free Friday?"

Rapidly blinking, opening and closing her mouth, Belle was dumbfounded. "Err…" Shaking it off, she said. "I'm working the morning shift here and then helping at my father's in the afternoon."

"Good." He drank his tea, taking a longer drink from it, and handed it to her as he squeezed by her, his aftershave tainting the air. "Come to my house at eight."

"Your house?!" She exclaimed, eyes wide.

"It'll be a better setting for your role-play." He told her, pausing to give her a soft smile.

Mr Gold was so close to her, an inch of space between them as they stood in the hallway together. Biting her lower lip, she tightly clutched her hands around his cup, fighting the impulse to reach out and touch him, like she had on Saturday night. Skimming her hands over his firm shoulders. Belle had wanted to touch him all over, dance her way around him and explore him with her hands. The urge hadn't died away. She had dreamt about it, both Saturday and Sunday nights. Playing out the lap dance. Drunk on the power she had as he hissed and tensed at the sensation of her hands.

"Don't be late, Miss French." Mr Gold commanded, edging by her.

"I won't." She insisted, watching him as nodded his head in acknowledgement and turned to leave the hallway, leaving her alone in Granny's apartment.

Letting out a ragged breath, Belle fell back against the wall behind her, looking off in the direction he had gone. Her body was singing for his attention, the feel of his hands, to have him buried deep inside of her. She tilted her head back, thudding the wall behind her. A hot shiver ran up and down her body, and rebounded back to the source between her thighs.

Clenching her inner muscles, closing her eyes, she was transported to another universe, where he hadn't walked away, leaving her alone in Granny's apartment. Where the cup of tea had been forgotten, dropped to the floor as they'd been unable to control themselves. An animalistic need to consume each other. A flurry of arms reaching and wrapping around one another. Lips hurriedly becoming wet and slippery, merging together, whilst their tongues fought for dominance. A heavy grunt of pain and pleasure, when he slammed her into the wall, overcome with his hunger to taste her skin, kissing and sucking and licking at the crook of her neck. Succumbing to his overbearing need, she would cling to him, clawing at the thick layer of his overcoat for more of him. He'd lift her up and painfully wedge her to the wall, using his chest to keep her there, while he delved under her skirt and ripped her underwear away from her, extracting a short gasp from her. The awkward commotion of freeing himself would be worth it, the instant they're joined, stilling everything but the rapid beating of their hearts. They'd stare into each other's eyes, connected on a level reserved for lovers. But there would be nothing loving or gentle about their union. It was carnal. A need neither of them could fulfil without the other. A madness sated and provoked by touch, by smell, by wanton need, that drove them to…

"Belle…" Ruby called into the apartment.

Sprung from her daydream, Belle jumped away from the very spot they'd been having sex to the other side of the hallway. Her chest heaving. She could see herself and Mr Gold across from her, his thrusts surging her up the wall.

"Belle, you okay?" Ruby asked at the end of the hallway.

Quickly pushing herself away from the wall, Belle wiped a hand down her face in a futile attempt at hiding her hot blush as she almost ran away from her fantasy. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look very fine." Ruby commented. "Did he upset you?"

"What?" She baulked at Ruby's question and shook her head, stopping in front of Ruby. "No! No, Mr Gold didn't upset me. Just… Tired. I'm just tired." Belle said, giving her friend a feeble excuse.

Ruby scoffed. "I'm not surprised." She grabbed Belle's left wrist and lifted up her arm, and pointed at the distinct handprint on her forearm. "Someone was getting a bit too frisky on Saturday night."

Belle rolled her eyes, whilst she snatched her wrist out of Ruby's hold. "We need to get back downstairs."

"Help me with the towels first." Ruby said as she blocked Belle's escape with her arm, herding Belle back up the hallway.

"'Kay." She mumbled, pivoting round to come face to face with herself and Mr Gold again, a mass of clothing and limbs pinned against the wall.

Tucking her chin down, Belle did her best to put the image out of her mind, to not think about him and his touch, the intoxicating smell of him. It didn't help that her gaze fell on the bruise on her arm. The memory of Saturday night sprung to mind, wiping her sex dream from her mind, but sent a fresh wave of sensations through her, stoking the fire burning for him. Belle bit her lip as they entered the bathroom, knowing it wasn't just the towels that were thoroughly soaked through.

---

Clicking through the spreadsheets his accountant had sent him, Adam checked the figures with his ledger, laid open on his desk, peering through his reading glasses. Tapping the button on his mouse, moving to the next sheet, he checked the date on the sheet with the page in his ledger and went through each account balance. He paused a little bit longer on Maurice French's account balance. A payment was due next week on his new loan. Adam wondered how much of it Belle would be subbing to her father. It was obvious she helped out with payments. Her father had been so behind, while she had been off at college, missing payments, incurring interest, running his mouth off to earn another payment instalment on his loan. The man's heart attack had saved him from Adam taking his shop, giving him three months to recover before he expected a payment. However, the month following his heart attack, Belle had come to Adam's shop and dropped off an envelope with the monthly payment for the shop and for the house.

None the wiser to the break he had given her father.

Peering off into space, Adam thought it was disappointing she had chosen to stay, giving up on college when she'd possibly had another year or two left of her degree. He could remember the town council meeting, when a teacher from the high school had asked the council to help pay for her tuition. The notion had been rejected. 'Unfair to the other kids of the town', had been the closing statement. And it would've been. Though knowing her father couldn't pay for her to go, and her teacher's presentation, Adam had given her teacher a name to call at Boston. A client from another life, who'd owed him a favour.

He woke from his daze to see it was half seven. Not long until she would be there. With that in mind, he saved the file onto his computer and attached it to the correspondence he was sending back to his accountant. He wrote out some instructions and hit send as he closed the ledger, he'd brought home from the shop. Though he was computer literate and all of his businesses were computerised, having a ledger to slam down on his counter was so much nicer. The fear it put into people, when they thought they had one over on him, only to have their smug grin wiped from their face, when they were confronted with their mistake - Priceless. Showing them a computer screen didn't have the same effect. His days in court had taught him that.

Theatrics always kept people on their toes.

As Adam got up from his desk, he removed his glasses, laying them on his desk, and picked up the ledger, taking it to the open briefcase sitting on top of the sideboard, and exchanged it for the plastic presentation folder. Holding it up in his hand, he read the bold title page through the plastic cover as he took it back to his desk, 'Redevelopment of Lower Storybrooke's Industrial Estate'. The hard plastic slapped his desk as he dropped it onto his desk, while his mind wandered to Belle's boyfriend.

He didn't have an answer to the identity of her boyfriend. After chatting to Dove, his information had come from the gossip circulating at the diner and the Rabbit Hole. Neither location could be credible – a tornado of Chinese whispers and drunken conversations were pitiful examples of believable sources. If it wasn't for the nagging feeling, constantly nudging him, teasing him, Adam would've let the notion of her having a boyfriend go. Yet… He couldn't ignore something wasn't right. There was a lie. The question was whether he was being lie to or someone else was, because he hated the thought that she was lying to him.

Hated it more than he should've.

Sitting in front of the TV on Sunday night, nursing his second large tumbler of scotch, Adam had tried to picture what sort of man would've caught her interest. No doubt the stereotypical tall, dark and handsome. Most guys these days were ripped and toned, looking like Schwarzenegger, but unable to actually lift anything. The guy was probably snorting, whatever the latest muscle building powder was being advertised on the TV. 'Bulging muscles with a small dick.', he had thought, sniggering at the image in his head. He was far from jealous, he had told himself. The thought that she was lying to him was driving him crazy. He wouldn't have cared, if she had a boyfriend, (was another thing he was telling himself), just as long as she didn't lie to him.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Adam looked at the clock in the corner of his computer screen - ten to eight, she was early. A smile tugged at the left side of his lips as he started towards the open doorway of his study, consciously adjusting his tie, his waistcoat, his suit jacket, his hair. His gaze instantly locked onto her dark silhouette, partially hidden by the coloured glass in his front door. He strode through his kitchen and into the foyer, watching as she anxiously rocked side to side on her feet, revealing some more of her figure in the clear glass of the stained glass window before she swayed back, hidden behind the coloured glass. The small sprang of disappointment wasn't easy to ignore. Though, Belle had put him out of his comfort zone last week, Adam had been delighted to see the stronger, more confident side of her. If she could only see what he saw, the self-assured woman screaming to break out into the world, get out from underneath her father and do something with her life. She'd be better off.

Adam twisted the doorknob and pulled open the door, greeting her with a smile. "Miss French."

"Mr Gold." Belle said sheepishly, glimpsing over her shoulder into the street.

"Something wrong?" He questioned, following her gaze, sweeping the sidewalk for someone who could've upset her.

She huddled closer to the unopened half of his front door. "No, just being cautious of someone seeing me."

"I wouldn't worry." Adam told her, taking a couple of a steps back, opening the door wider as he motioned for her to come inside. "My neighbours know to mind their own business."

"Oh…" She swiftly entered his house, peeking once more back at the street.

Closing the door after her, he took in the purple cardigan she wore over a black blouse, decorated with small gold flowers, and the mid-thigh tan plaid skirt with burgundy tights. A little longer than necessary, his gaze lingered on her high heels, whilst the small marks her heels had given him itched under his clothes. Her outfit was a change from her normal attire. The dresses she normally wore were tight and revealing, accentuating her curves. Her hair was down too, showing off her luscious brown curls, freeing them to cascade over her shoulders and down her back. Tonight, Belle's attire was more conservative, something he could see her wearing to class. The large shoulder bag she wore over her right shoulder added to her ensemble.

"Can I offer you a drink?" He asked with a sly grin, appreciating she had put some thought into her outfit, for their role-play tonight.

Belle spun round to face him, from nosing into his living room. "Erm… Do you have any white wine?"

"Yes." He drew out the word a little, amused she felt a need to ask him such a question, and waved his hand towards the kitchen. "Let's go through to the kitchen."

"Okay." Her short reply, caused him to eye her before he set off into the kitchen, hearing the click of her heels slightly behind him.

Walking past the sitting area, Adam headed straight to the large fridge in his kitchen and yanked open one side of it, selecting one of the white wines from the bottom shelf. He read the date on the bottle as he shoved the door to and shuffled his feet to retrieve the bottle open from the cutlery drawer. Happy with the year, he peeled off the wrapper covering the neck of the bottle as he put the bottle onto the kitchen island. As he positioned the corkscrew over the cork, he looked up, finding Belle looking at the various photographs and picture frames hung on the long wall of the kitchen. There were pictures of him and Neal through the years, awards Neal had won, newspaper cuttings of big cases Adam had won, his degree and drawings Neal had done for him as a child. She was looking at each one with great care, moving slowly along the wall.

As he clamped the corkscrew down on the bottle and twisted the screw into the cork, Adam queried what she was doing, hiding his suspicious nature behind his playful tone. "See anything you like?"

"What?" She twisted her neck to see him, then looked back and forth between him and the display of picture frames on the wall as she hastily backed away from them. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!"

"It's… Okay. No harm, no foul." He told her, amazed that he did actually feel alright with her looking at his things.

She pointed at the pictures, whilst coming to stand beside the kitchen island. "It's been so long since the last time I saw Neal."

Folding down the arms of the corkscrew, his gaze went to the pictures as he admitted to her. "There's not a lot here for him anymore."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "He's got you."

"And he knows where to find me, if he needs me." Adam told her before pulling the cork out of the bottle with a loud pop.

"Sounds lonely." Belle remarked with a look in her eyes, which rendered him completely defenceless to her.

They stood looking at each other. He parted his lips to say something to her, whip her back into her place with some harsh words, but he couldn't think of anything. Anything that wouldn't have him grovelling at her feet, begging for her forgiveness. Her intentions were innocent enough. She was simply stating what she thought. She didn't need to know that she had stabbed so close to the truth, deeply cutting him.

"I'll just… Get us some glasses." He put the bottle of wine and corkscrew down on the kitchen island, then edged back from the counter, swiftly turning away to hide the slip of his mask.

Dwelling on his loneliness was not something Adam did. He couldn't remember a time in his life when he hadn't felt lonely. His father hadn't wanted him around. The staff, who had raised him, treated him like a job, an annoyance they'd soon leave behind them. Friends had been far and few between, when he had been growing up. Treated as the outcast in boarding school, a fixture in the background at college, feared by the other lawyers in his father's firm. Forgotten by Milah, discarded by Cora. There had only been Neal, who had needed him, wanted him around, but all children grew up, had their own life to live. Claiming the wine glasses from the cabinet above the kitchen counter, Adam stared at his distorted reflection, feeling very much the monster he saw.

Loneliness had always known him by name and would always be his companion.

He swivelled round, mask in place, and set the two glasses down on the island, and began to pour out a measure in both, when Belle offered him a small apology. "I'm sorry, Mr Gold, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You haven't." He forced a smile for her as he slid one of the wine glasses across to her.

"You just… Have this really sad look on your face." Belle commented, clasping her fingers around the stem of her glass, giving him an uneasy look.

His fake smile ebbed away. "I just miss him, that's all."

"Do you two not talk?" She delved in, head first.

Cupping his wine glass in his hand, Adam picked it up, telling her. "We do, just not so much." He dropped his gaze to the contents of his glass. "He's got his own life now."

Belle imparted to him. "You should call him. Wouldn't hurt."

He lifted his gaze to meet hers and straightened his slouched back, seeing a brightness in her eyes that he could only describe as hope, whilst he agreed with her. "No, it wouldn't."

"Family's precious, Mr Gold. I learnt that a long time ago." The hope shining so bright dulled as she casted her gaze elsewhere, taking a sip from her wine.

Following her lead, he drank from his own, taking two longer sips than hers, near enough downing the contents of his glass, whilst he watched her over the rim of his glass. Her mother had been beautiful. Not as beautiful as Belle, but it was easy to see where her looks had come from. Colette French had been the easier one to deal with, out of her parents. She was easily agreeable, had the rent paid a couple of days before it was due, was always pleasant with him. Adam had been really sorry to hear about her death.

"Anyway," Belle beamed a smile at him. "Where do we start with this role-play?"

He regarded her for a second or two, in awe of how quickly she bounced back to be cheerful again. His natural instinct was to brood, possibly drink himself into the bottom of a bottle of scotch. Whereas Belle… Adam doubted she could stay miserable for long.

Tipping back the rest of his wine, he set his empty glass down and held his hand out to the open doorway of his study. "We'll do it in the study."

"The study." She angled herself to see the doorway. "There's no candlestick or Professor Plum, is there?"

Adam wholeheartedly chuckled at her joke. "No, Miss French. Not tonight. I'm afraid it's just Professor Gold and his… Cock."

"Sounds good to me." Belle looked at him as she drank the rest of the wine in her glass, leaving a minute amount in the bottom of it.

He held her gaze. "The scenario is, Professor Gold has given you back your assignment and has marked it as a D. You're not happy, so you come to see him in his office. You arguing it was at least A or a B plus."

"Isn't this going feel stupid?" She asked.

"Feeling stupid comes from being embarrassed and you don't need to feel embarrassed with me." Adam shuffled around the corner of the island to stand in front of her. "You're safe with me, I promise."

"Okay." She nodded her head at him.

He reminded her. "And if you're not happy, you?"

"Use my safe word." She finished off his sentence with a slight curve to her lips.

"Good. Right…" Adam turned his head to look at his study doorway, then pointed at it as he turned back to say. "I'll go in first, then whenever you're ready, knock on the door or do whatever suits you."

"Whatever suits me?" She asked, wanting him to clarify.

"Indeed. You get to decide on whatever version of Belle French comes through that door. Shy, conservative. Provocative, carefree. Whatever feels right to you." He explained.

Her gaze went to the doorway of his study and after a short pause, Belle said. "Okay."

"Help yourself to some more wine, if you want, and there's a bathroom just on the left in the foyer, underneath the stairs, if you want to freshen up." Adam informed her as he backed up to the doorway of his study.

"I don't, but thank you." Her kind smile made him take a deep breath.

"No bother." He waved off her thanks, paused in the doorway to briefly admire her and went into his study.

Taking in a breath, Adam became Professor Gold and marched to the other side of his desk, and sat down at his chair and put on his glasses. Ready for her, Adam settled back into his chair and braced his elbows on the arms of the chair, steepling his hands in front of him. His ears pricked at the sound of her heels, clicking and clacking before she stormed into his study and strode purposefully up to his desk, and slammed her bag onto his desk.

"You gave me a D!" Belle exclaimed at him, slapping her hands down onto the desk. "It should've been an A! Easily!"

"Miss French, if you'd like to discuss your grade, in a civil manner, I suggest you take a seat." He motioned with a hand to the chairs behind her.

She shook her head. "You downgraded me on purpose!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Miss French." Adam sat forward and motioned again to the chairs behind her. "Please, take a seat, so we can discuss it."

Shaking her head, Belle insisted, slamming her right hand onto the desk again. "You downgraded me from A to D on purpose."

Sitting back into his chair, steepling his hands again, he changed tact. "And why, Miss French, would I want to do a thing like that?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at me during lectures! Trying to look up my skirt!" She accused, pointing her finger at him.

"It's up to you where you sit in my lectures. If you choose to sit, where I can see your skimpy knickers underneath your skirt, that's not my fault." He argued back, titling his head as he regarded her.

"So, it's my fault, is it? Just like you downgrading me?" She fired her allegations at him, first waving her hand to herself and then at him.

Adam shrugged his shoulders at her, smirking. "That's a matter of opinion, Miss French."

"You're an asshole!" Belle charged him with a pointed finger.

A short sharp chuckle and he told her. "I've been called worse."

"I'm going to take this matter to the head of the department!" She grabbed her bag off his desk and slung it over her shoulder, making a move to leave.

"You can do that, Miss French, but I'm afraid, I'm the head of the department." He revealed as Belle halted with her back to him.

She whirled round on the spot. "Then I'll go to the Dean."

He held his hands up in the air. "You could do that." Then dropped them into his lap as he sat forward, leaning over his desk. "But it still won't get you anyway. The Dean is a close friend of mine and I don't see him, taking your word over mine, seeing as the worse you've accused me of, is unintentionally looking up your skirt."

"You downgraded my assignment!" Belle insisted, thrusting her bag forward as though it contained her assignment.

"So you say." Adam sat back, smiling at her. "I simply marked it to the criteria of the assignment, which it met poorly."

"But…" Her brow creased with worry. "It should've been an A. I worked on it all week. I followed the criteria. It should've been an A!"

Picking this as his moment, he scooted his chair back and got up, briskly walking round his desk to her, gently took her by the elbow and guided her into one of the chairs. "Sit down, Miss French, and we'll discuss it."

"I don't understand how it could've been a D. A B, maybe… But a D?" Belle questioned, while flooring him at how well she was staying in character.

He sat on the edge of his desk in front of her. "It happens to all of us at some point in our academic career. There will always be that one assignment, where we got a terrible grade for no reason."

"I've never gotten a D before." She confessed, looking up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Well…" Adam got a little lost in her gaze, almost falling into the trap of giving her an A on this imaginary assignment. "Maybe, there's something you can do for extra credits."

"Really?" She implored it to be true.

Whipping off his reading glasses, Adam held them in front of him and slowly folded down each arm of his glasses before taking great care to place them down onto his desk. "I'm sure, there's something you can do for extra credits." He placed his hands onto the desk, either side of him, and said. "Such as an oral exam."

"An oral exam, Professor Gold? Are you sure, that'll count for enough credits?" Belle questioned him, fighting a smirk as she said his name.

"I think it's probably the best place to start." He ensured.

She placed her bag down onto the floor, by the leg of her chair, and innocently inquired with a smile. "Which subject would you like me to do my oral exam on, Professor?"

"Hmm… I've got a hard subject for you, Miss French, but the question is whether you're up to the task." Adam couldn't hide his smirk from her.

"I always aim to please." She said excitedly, sitting forward in her chair.

Pursing his lips together, Adam fought with his smile, doing his best to keep a straight face as he gestured to the floor at his feet. "Kneel down in front of me and I'll give you the subject for your oral exam."

Perching her hands on the thin arms of the chair, Belle pushed herself up and out of her chair, rising confidently to her height in front of him. He involuntarily swallowed. The woman in front of him was radiant, assured, strong – everything he had seen hidden in her depths. The two steps she took, to stand in front of him, mesmerised him. He wanted to drop to his knees, kiss every inch of her skin, worshipping her like no man had done before.

"Professor Gold," Belle purred as she descended onto her knees, her gaze on the evident bulge in his trousers. "I believe you have a very – hard – subject for me."

"Let me show it to you." He spied down at her as he pushed himself off the desk, towering over her, whilst he slipped the excess of his belt from the loops of his trousers, whipping it out before he tugged the buckle undone, staring down into her bright blue eyes.

His belt chinked as he unbuttoned his trousers and pulled down the zipper, opening out the front of his trousers. Pushing down the waistband of his boxers, his hardening cock jumped free, bouncing wildly until he took himself in hand, giving himself a short, tight tug. Belle's gaze descended to his member, observing his hand as it leisurely stroked his length.

"Do you think you can handle it, Miss French?" He asked as his hand slid to the base of his penis.

She angled herself forward on her knees and began to reach out to take him in hand, as Belle said. "I haven't failed an exam yet."

As her soft delicate little fingers wrapped themselves around his dick, Adam released his hold on himself, relinquishing it into her care. Belle gracefully rubbed her hand in a short stroke, down and up his length. Her next stroke went further, rimming the head of his penis. Titling her head to the side, she inspected his erection, whilst slowly caressing her firm gentle hold down him. She continued to pump him with her hand, keeping a steady, languid pace.

He couldn't take his gaze away from the beauty at his feet. Countless nights, Adam had dreamt of different scenarios, where she'd be on her knees, laid flat on her back, tied to a chair, and he'd plunder her mouth with his cock. Sometimes it was gentle, but most of the time he took what he wanted. Thrusting wildly into her mouth, gagging her, forcing himself deeper into her throat until spittle exploded from her mouth. He felt the surge of blood to his penis, hardening and growing his erection inside of her grip. Her eyes blinked wider as she adjusted her hold on him. A smug grin pulled back the corners of his lips.

Before she opened her mouth and allowed her tongue to slither out, and taste the head of his penis, her eyes sprung up, meeting his gaze. The instant her rough warm tongue touched the tip of his cock, he sucked a breath in through his nose, narrowing his nostrils, and held it a second longer than needed. Her tongue slid back into her mouth, her lips rubbed together, savouring the taste of him, whilst her hand skimmed up the shaft of his cock. Opening her mouth, she looked up at him as her lips encircled the head of him, adjusting themselves to the width of him, whilst she took him into her mouth, chasing the motion of her hand going down his cock. He groaned, when he felt her swallow around him, letting the head of his penis hit the back of her throat.

He felt rather than saw her other hand sneak under his clothing, placing a steadying hand on the plane of his stomach, while she drew back on his member, slurping and licking at its shaft till the only thing in her mouth was the head, to which she gave a hard suck. His eyes threatened to roll back into his head. Belle lapped the head of his cock with her tongue, spreading her saliva all around him. Sinking her pretty little mouth back onto his dick, Adam gazed down intently at her, enduring the twitch of his hips as her tongue snaked along the underneath of his erection. He breathed in, calming his body's reaction to the muscles of her throat restricting around the tip of his cock.

As Belle pulled back, sliding him out of her mouth, Adam peeled his suit jacket off his shoulders and removed it, slinging it to a nearby chair. She wasn't put off by this, concentrating solely on his penis, stroking her hand up the shaft. While he removed his cufflinks and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, he peered down at her, watching in delight as she impaled her mouth onto him again, sucking him with the hot juices of her mouth, teasing the underside of him with the flat part of her tongue, while she rubbed her hand down to the base of him. Feeling the walls of her mouth restrict around him, sensing he was nearing the back of her throat, Adam's hips jerked forward. Easily she accommodated him, unfazed by the sudden thrust of his hips, nestling him deep in her mouth before her natural instinct to gag expelled him out.

"So good." He muttered down at her, praising her.

The grip of her hand tightened around the base of him, tightly squeezing him, whilst she pulled him completely out of her mouth, eyeing the tip of him as she took a gulp of air, swallowing the excess of saliva in her mouth. Belle lunged forward, engulfing him, driving herself to take him fully into her mouth. The rush of sensations – the heat, the wetness, the rigidity of her mouth – buckled his knees. Collapsing back onto the desk behind him, Adam grunted and hissed, and impulsively grabbed at the back of Belle's head.

Her head bobbed under his hand, giving him the urge to seize control from her, taking a fistful of her hair as he guided her head. She moaned at taking his direction and he groaned, feeling her moan reverberate along his penis in her mouth. Moving her head up and down, shepherded by his hand, Adam coaxed her into increasing her pace, firmly pushing on the back of her head, raising his hips to meet with her mouth. His chest heaved under the layers of his clothing, desperate for more of her. A loud squelch escaped her mouth, when the seal of her lips broke, the last thrust of his hips pushed him deeper into her throat, popping him into her oesophagus. The nails of Belle's other hand dug a warning into his stomach. Relenting his hold, Adam cradled the back of her head as she leant back and took him from her mouth, panting for breath, whilst her nails eased on his stomach.

Stroking some of her hair out of her face with his left hand, Adam broke character, when he questioned her. "You okay?"

"I wasn't expecting…" Belle breathed in deeply, expanding her chest, pausing before she continued with a small grin. "The subject to be so extensive, Professor."

"It's not an intimidating subject, but it has its uses, Miss French." He fell easily back into character. "Maybe, it would be best, if I showed you the other applications, so you can get a better understanding of the subject." He said to her, unaware that he was stroking the backs of his fingers down the side of her cheek.

"I'd rather finish the exam before moving on." She told him, earnestly.

Caressing the pad of his thumb in the wake of his fingers, he said. "If that's what you want, dearie, then please, continue."

Belle held his gaze, while her hand glided up from the base of his erection, lubricated by her own saliva, and grazed her thumb up and over the head of it, following the indented line to the slit in his penis. Sucking a sharp breath in through his teeth, he helplessly observed her hand move back down his dick as she opened her mouth, slowly consuming him into the damp hot pleasure of her mouth. Gathering her hair to the back of her head, Adam watched her with baited breath. Her whole body moved in time with her. The hand on his stomach aided in pushing her away, almost falling back onto his cock, slurping him nearly all the way into her mouth. He bit his lip, anticipating the moment, the head of his penis hit the back of her throat again. The muscles in his ass trembled, wanting to plunge deeper, popping himself past that hump in the back of her throat, down into her restrictive passage. He eased the tension on the back of her head, expecting her to pull back, but she stayed, lapping her tongue around the shaft of him. Teasingly, her head bounced in short rapid bobs, knocking the head of his member into the back of her throat. His temptation was within his grasp. A shunt of his hips and he would burrow himself into her throat again.

His brows edged closer together, drawing a thin deep line between them. Her intention wasn't clear until the hand on his stomach slid to his ass and encouraged him to jerk forward into her mouth. Possessively, Adam clutched at her hair, keeping her exactly where he wanted her. Mindful, he pushed tentatively into her mouth, nudging at the hump, at the back of her mouth. Her fingertips pressed firmly into his butt as he withdrew himself and burrowed back inside, edging himself to the apex of the hump. Belle gagged, but didn't show any distress. Pulling at her hair, lifting her head off of him, whilst he drew out of her mouth, he timed the pull on her head with the thrust of his hips, penetrating deep, pushing himself in a sharp stab over the hump and into her throat. The muscles in her throat constricted around him, while her tongue pushed him into the roof of her mouth, unintentionally caressing him with its rough surface. The sensation was glorious. He held himself there, on the precipice, rocking in short shallow thrusts into her mouth. The room was filled with the sound of her slurping uncontrollably, spittle leaked down her chin, squeezed out of her mouth with the movement of his cock. Squeezing his eyes shut, enjoying the sensation of her, Adam's head lulled back.

Both of her hands pushed insistently into his stomach. Snapping his eyes open, Adam promptly released his restrictive hold on her head, keeping a hold of her hair, as she sprung back from him, falling to sit back on her heels. Her whole body heaved for breath.

"Book?" He inquired, awkwardly stooping over her, keeping her hair from her face.

Her head shook firmly at him as she said breathless. "I ran out of breath."

Gathering her hair into one hand, Adam wiped the thick sheen of spit from her chin and smeared it onto the leg of his trousers. "Don't push yourself beyond your means. Tell me before you get to that stage." He tutted at her. "Communication is key to a good partnership."

"Sorry." She said, still breathless.

"You're learning. It's really no bother." He smiled to reassure her, releasing her hair, letting his hand cascade down her hair to sit on her shoulder.

"I've ruined things though, haven't I?" Belle queried, breathing easier, looking sorry for herself.

Frowning at the change in her, he told her. "Not at all." His brow relaxed. "If you want to stop, then of course, we can end things right now."

"No," Her eyes darkened with desire. "I really don't."

"Then let's discuss your grade, Miss French." Adam proposed to her, holding out an open hand to her.

Placing her smaller hand into his larger palm, he latched his thumb over the back of her hand and stood to his full height, very aware of his hard-on standing to attention, and aided her as she clambered up from the floor. Her gaze went to his groin as she stood up, then came up to meet his gaze, smiling sweetly at him.

"You put in a good effort, taking your D to a…" He pursed his lips, twisting them in thought. "B minus."

"A B minus?" Belle questioned in disbelief.

Shrugging a shoulder at her, he suggested. "If you'd like, we can do oral exam on another subject or we can explore the other applications of the current subject."

"If you don't mind, professor, I'd quite like to continue with the current subject." She chose with a little smirk.

"Bend over the desk." Adam instructed, leading her with their joined hands as he stepped sideways out of her way.

Turning her head to keep eye contact with him, she placed a hand onto the smooth surface of his desk and bent herself forward, only slipping her hand from his grasp when she had no choice. His fingers rubbed instinctively, readily missing the contact. Swinging his hips round to stand behind her, Adam's eyes worked their way down her back, over the woollen surface of her cardigan to the tan plaid skirt she was wearing. He placed his hands on her back and followed the path his eyes had taken, skimming down past her hips to the hem of her skirt, which he gathered into both of his hands. With a harsh tug, her skirt lifted, bunching up around the top of her hips, revealing her ass sheathed in burgundy tights. The material was stretched out, making it near enough see-through, allowing him to see the pretty pattern of the black lace knickers she was wearing underneath them. Earlier on in the day, he had thought about ripping her underwear from her, but these were too nice and had probably been expensive. Pressing his lips together, Adam ignored his instinct and pulled her underwear down with the tights, pushing them down till they were past her knees.

He skimmed his fingertips up the back of her legs, digging his nails slightly into her skin, grinning at her upper body undulating and her knees knocking into his desk. Belle buried her face into his desk, her moaning rumbling into the alcove her body made. Smoothing his left hand over the rump of her ass, Adam grasped his erection and stepped into her, entering her in one movement. Her hair was thrown back as her head came up, crying out at his length burrowing into her. With a hand on her shoulder, a hand on the edge of his desk, his hips wedging her to the desk, Adam shunted her into the desk, rocking everything on his desk.

"Ah…" Belle cried as she grabbed at the edge of the desk pressing into the front of her, and tried to pull herself off of it or give herself enough room to alleviate the pain, but only succeeded in pushing herself backwards into Adam as he thrusted hard into her again.

It was punishing. There was no rhythm. No way for her to counter his movement. Spearing himself into her, his desk groaned in chorus with Belle as she fell forward onto it. He snapped his hips into her again, groaning at the delicious tightness of her channel. Her feet stumbled onto his, seeking a perch to ease the intensity of his thrusts. Letting go of the desk, Adam leant back enough, so he could glance a slap of his hand at her rear, causing her to jump her feet back together and cry out in surprise.

Covering her with his body, he grabbed at her face with the hand from her shoulder, turning her face so she should see him over her shoulder as he said. "Don't think I've forgotten about your indiscretion, Miss French. Teasing me, sitting where I can see your skimpy knickers! Suggestively opening your legs, so I can see they hardly cover your cunt!"

Her already wet channel flooded with a new wave of arousal, while her walls clenched themselves around him. Pulling out and slamming back in, up to the hilt, Adam flicked his hand, partially smacking her, hitting her just before his hips crashed into hers. Belle's inner walls clung to him as a hot warmth oozed down the length of him, coating him further in her sweet juices.

"I saw everything." He rocked his hips, thrusting immediately back into her core. "Saw you touching yourself, when you thought I wasn't looking."

"I'm sorry, Professor Gold, I won't do it again." She promised, straining to maintain eye contact with him, her cheeks and lips squished in his hand.

Pushing himself up on his tiptoes, Adam put his lips next to her ear and whispered. "I didn't tell you to stop."

The breath she sucked in echoed in the room as he leant back and grabbed her hips with both of his hands, sliding her back towards him on his desk, and pounded himself into her. Belle slammed a hand out onto the desk, grabbing the furthest edge, this time trying to steady herself as Adam ruthlessly banged his hips into ass. Her wool cardigan allowed her body to glide on the polish surface, facilitating the gruelling rhythm of his hips. The hand holding onto his desk slipped and knocked Adam's keyboard into his mouse, sending the poor inanimate object off the desk. She feebly reached out, trying to anchor herself to his desk. Missing and flailing across his desk, her hand hit the screen of his computer and sent it to join his mouse on the floor with an almighty thud, followed by the sound of the screen smashing. His eyes were on the spot his screen had lived for years. He had no remorse, no care for it, except for the woman in front of him, whimpering into the top of his desk, clinging to it like it was a life raft.

"Oh… Fuc…" was the only warning he got of her impending orgasm. Her body rocked forcefully back into him, catching him unaware. Tightening his grip on her hips, he overpowered her, bucking himself more insistently into her, causing her knees to bang into the table as they rode out her orgasm together.

When the flutters of her walls stopped, Adam slipped out of her and shoved her forward, angling his hips to pin her into his desk, and slapped at her right ass cheek, staining it with another mark that crossed the two he had previously given her. She whimpered at the pain, yet her hips rocked towards him, wanting him to do it again. Smoothing the palm of his hand over the painted red marks, he breathed out, controlling himself, ignoring the urge to colour the whole her ass red.

"You've been a very naughty girl, Miss French." His voice was low as he spoke, the temptation so close to his fingertips.

"I couldn't help myself." Belle said shakily, slowly pushing herself up on the desk, arching her back, craning her neck to see him behind her.

Caressing his hand over the curve of her butt cheek, his head tilted to observe his hand travelling down to her thigh. "Why couldn't you help yourself?"

"Because I've got a crush on you… Professor." She confessed.

"Well then…" He clawed his nails into her skin as he dragged his hand up her thigh, turning his head to meet her gaze, and asked her. "Am I living up to your expectations?"

Belle's cheeks were a deep rouge. "So much better than I imagined."

Giving her ass a full on slap, Adam stepped back, freeing her, and told her. "Sit on the desk."

She promptly turned and lifted herself up onto his desk, sitting her bare bottom onto polished surface, close to the edge. Her knees rubbed together, wriggling as her hot sex was pressed into the cooler wood. Grabbing one of her legs, Adam lifted it up to the point where he could reach her heel and slid it off her foot, dropping it onto the floor. He did the same with her other foot, tossing the shoe to the join the other as he grabbed both her feet and perched them onto his chest. Belle laid back onto the table, making it easier on herself to lift her legs high enough, and gaze up at him, a compliant bystander as he finished taking off her knickers and tights. Throwing the bundle to join her shoes on the floor.

Parting her legs, his eyes were drawn to the harsh red line, drawn across the top of her thighs. He bent forward and placed the lightest of kiss to beginning of the line. Slowly he worked his way across as Belle's hand found the back of his head, threading her fingers into his hair, while he ended his path of kisses with a lingering kiss on her left thigh. The smell of her arousal, the taste of her skin on his lips, were not helping him with his control. Adam wanted more of her. Needed to make her his, claim her and mark his property. Boyfriend or not, Belle French was his.

And that was the break of his resolve.

Shoving her blouse and cardigan up, Adam sucked and bit at her stomach, whilst shoving his bobbing erection into the wet apex of her thighs. She wriggled underneath him. Let out abrupt hiss and moan as his teeth nipped, his mouth sucked and his tongue soothed the skin of her stomach. Her back arched off the desk, tautening her stomach muscles, making it harder for him to get purchase of her skin. Ravenous, he forced her clothing further up and uncovered her bra. Licking up the invisible line drawn down the centre of her chest, Adam pulled down the right cup of her bra in time for him to capture her nipple. Belle moaned loudly, while grinding her hips into his throbbing cock. As if reminded of it, he slanted his body, giving him access to the junction of their sexes, and directed his dick into her, while continuing to suck lick nip and pull at her nipple. Her hands clamped onto his shoulders, whilst she moaned at being filled again.

"You feel so good!" Belle muttered, tilting her head back, straining her neck, as he thrusted into her.

Adam was barely aware of what she had said. The weeks of good behaviour were slipping from his grasp. She wasn't prepared. Plans to slowly coach her were crumbling. Unlatching himself from her breast, he surveyed the bright redness of her enlarge nipple and the surrounding skin. His crooked teeth had left their calling card in her skin, small mismatched dents in her perfect skin. Turning away and to her other breast, he pulled back the cup hiding her breast and did exactly the same as he did to her other nipple. Taking more care this time. Worried, he would scare her away, if he went too far too soon.

Her grip on his shoulders tightened. "Oh… Go…"

Her words got caught as her orgasm over took her, a hot gush flooded her channel, showering him in her arousal, whilst the walls of her squeezed tightly around him, trying to bring him over the brink with her. Focusing on her and her pleasure, Adam pushed himself up onto her hands and hunched his back, thrusting as deep as could, grinding his pelvic bone into her clit.

"Yes, fuck, yes!" Belle exclaimed. "Fuck me, please!" She beseeched, roughly grabbing and clutching at the front of his waistcoat.

All Adam could hear was the thudding of his heart, the squelching of Belle's pussy and the rhythmic creak of his desk as he threw himself into giving her what she wanted. Her chest arched up, changing the angle, allowing him to delve deeper and increasing the contact of their pelvises. She threw back her head and called out something, which vaguely sounded like his name. As the unfathomable cry died out, Belle's back relaxed and she laid back down onto the desk, while her hips stilled and she became motionless underneath him. Slowing himself down till the point he stopped as well, Adam hovered above her, monitoring the steady rise of her chest.

"You okay?" He asked her, stroking a thick curl from her face.

"That was…" Her mumble died off.

Adam's head tilted to the side, studying her face, with his fingers lingering in her hair. "Would you like to stop?"

"No." She opened her eyes as she answered him.

"Need to rest?" He inquired, letting his fingers follow the flow of her hair.

"No, I'll be okay," A smile bloomed on her face. "Professor Gold."

Crooking an eyebrow at her, he leant back and unwrapped her legs from around himself, allowing him to slide his aching erection out of her. Belle followed suit and sat up on the desk, her clothes bunched underneath her arms. He smirked at the sight of her. Yet, her beauty was undeniable, even when she looked a complete mess. Following his gaze to the bundle of clothes shoved up under her arms, she rolled her eyes at the state of herself and pulled the tangle mess of clothes over her head, stripping them from her arms, and tossed them to where the mass of her knickers and tights lay. As he strolled around his desk and sat down heavily into his chair, Belle unhooked her bra and flung it to join her clothes as she hopped off his desk and reached for the zipper at the back of her skirt.

"No." She stopped, twisting to see him. "Leave it on." Adam told her before beckoning her to him. "Come here."

In three steps, she stood in front of him, a change in dynamic, with her towering above him. Lifting his hips, he scooted his trousers and boxers further down, till they fell past his knees, pooling at his feet. Motioning with his finger for her to come to him, Belle grinned as she clambered on top of him, steadying herself with a hand on his shoulder. Straddling him, much like she had last Saturday, Adam held his twinging member in his hand, taming it long enough to breach the mouth of her opening as Belle lowered herself, impaling herself onto him. She moaned, throwing her head back. The sight of her, the feel of her, having her here in his house at his mercy – Adam could get quite used to this.

A hand on his shoulder and one on the back of the chair, Belle lifted herself up and then slid back down onto his cock, rocking her hips into his pelvic, causing them both to groan at the same time. Encircling her hips with his hands underneath her skirt, he watched as she rose and descended onto him, bouncing her breasts. The red harsh bite mark stood out proudly on her right breast. She seemed unaware of the mark he had left, but Adam was aroused by it, knowing it would take time to fade. A sly grin pulled back the left side of his face, quietly pleased her 'boyfriend' would see evidence she had been with someone else.

Seizing her hips, Adam claimed control from her, slowing her pace, crushing her centre down onto him. A low guttural groan tumbled from her lips as her head bent forward, eyes squeezed shut. Her hair fell to cover her face and brushed into his, swaying back and forth between them. Turning in his fingertips, Adam pierced them into her skin, coaxing her to maintain the pace.

"Profe… Gold." Belle muttered from behind the curtain of her hair.

It might not have been the name he wanted to hear, from her lips, but it hit the right spot. Provoking him on an animalistic level, Adam surged himself into her core. She tossed back her head, throwing back her hair, revealing her beautiful face as she cried at the ceiling above them. The strained coil in his gut, hummed like a piano string with his impending orgasm. Rutting himself into her, goading her hips, nothing else mattered, except the sensations created from the union of their two bodies.

Belle hunched herself forward, bracing both her forearms on the chair, either side of his head, shrouding him completely in her hair, in her smell. Her cheek pressed into the side of his forehead. He breathed her in, filling his lungs with the smell of her, of her perfume, of her arousal.

Her hips became more agitated. Quivers were running down her channel, short waves of heat. Turning his face into hers, Adam wrapped his arm around her behind, trapping her, keeping the sway of her hips short. Belle had no choice but to slam herself down on his cock. He skimmed his other hand up her soft smooth back to her shoulder, using it as leverage to haul her down onto him, increasing the impact. They groaned as the ripples of her impending orgasm caressed him, compressing his coiled spring to the point of snapping.

"Come." Adam commanded with a whisper. "Come for me." Because he couldn't hold on any longer.

The excruciating hot torrent of her climax gushed down her canal, smothering him in an intense wave of pleasure. His stomach muscles clenched as he sucked in a breath and held it. Belle's arms fell around his shoulders, a hand grabbed the back of his hair, as her back arched inside of his arms. Thrusting together, they rode out their climaxes, clinging to each other, never wanting the euphoria to end. But nonetheless, it did like all good things did and their pace slowed to a gentle stop. Which was when Belle slumped forward onto him, panting breathlessly onto his shoulder, while he buried his face into the crook of her neck, heaving in the divine smell of her. The hand clamped over her shoulder lost its grip and brushed down her back, falling to loosely hug around her waist.

Fingers combed through his hair, drawing lines across the back of his head. His brow crinkled as they carded back through his hair and clawed back to where they had started. It felt so intimate, but Adam was kidding himself, if he believed that.

He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Somewhere in the room, something vibrated, then let out a short chirp. The fingers in his hair stilled. Belle lifted her head, exposing the side of his head to the coolness of the air. Steadying her hands on his shoulders, she twisted within his arms and looked to the other side of the room, while there was another buzz and a chirp of a message tone.

"That's my phone." Belle stated.

Breathing in deeply, selfishly needing one more hit of her, Adam leant back in his chair, looking up to her face as he asked. "Do you want to get it?"

"No." She shook her head, turning back to face him. "Not right now. It can wait."

He took his hand out from underneath her skirt and flattened it back down. A senseless act at hiding her modesty, while she was half naked, panty-less and sat on his lap with his softening penis on the edge of slipping out of her. It felt like the most natural thing to have her sat, straddling his lap. He wanted to touch the side of her face, caress the back of his fingers against her soft skin, but that wasn't them.

Distracting himself, he asked her. "Did you enjoy your first role-play?"

The widest smile he had ever seen her smile, grew across her face. "Very much, Professor Gold."

"You did very well." Half a grin pulled back one side of his lips and inquired. "Was any of it too much? The biting? The roughness? The spanking?"

"No, not at all. It was…" A blush spread like wildfire, spreading a pink inferno across her cheeks, down her neck and spread across the top of her chest. "Perfect."

His grin expanded across the whole of his mouth as Adam said. "Anything you'd particularly like to do again?"

"All of it. I'd like to do more of all of it." She beamed, hunger and excitement dancing in her eyes.

"More." He chuckled at her. "And you'd been so adamant that you wouldn't enjoy it."

From across the room, presumably her bag, there was a buzz and cheerful beeps of her phone, announcing another message. Belle half craned her head to look over her shoulder.

"Maybe it's important." Adam suggested.

"I'm sorry about your computer." Belle said to him, dismissing his suggestion as the phone beeped again, and turned the other way to look at the broken screen on the floor, causing his soft member to fall from her.

He lulled his head to the side, partially seeing the screen on the floor beside his desk, displaying different colours in the shattered shards. "It's no bother."

"I'll reimburse you for the cost of it." Belle told him, turning her head to look down at him. "It's the least I could do, seeing as…" She said more sheepishly. "I knocked it off your desk."

Shaking his head at her, Adam said as he steered her off of his lap and steadied her with his hands on her sides. "I'm not worried about it. I've probably got another one in the basement or at the shop."

She argued her point, while he pulled his trousers up to his knees and stood up, dragging them up all the way, and fastened them around his waist. "I should pay for the damages. I… I…" She partially turned to look at the broken screen. "Should've been more careful. It's only right that I should give you some money towards replacing it, even if you do have another one."

"Miss French," He looked at her curiously. "Do you think I'm angered, or that I'm unable to understand that in the heat of the moment, things happen that we can't control?"

Her arms drew up to ineptly cover her breasts. "No, I…" Belle pressed her lips together before she said, more confidently. "I just don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of you."

Adam scoffed at her comment. Take advantage of him? Was she truly so naïve, or was it a sign of a guilty conscience? He was the one who took advantage. Not her. He was the one, who had suggested this arrangement, so he could feed his insatiable appetite to have her, to do things to her, to have her scream his name as he debauched her. Not her.

"Far from it, Miss French." He said with an amused smile.

"Good. I'd hate it, if you did." She confessed before her phone buzzed and beeped again.

Nodding his head in the direction of the sound, Adam commented. "Whoever it is, is rather persistent."

"It's probably Ruby. She and Victor broke up over the toilet incident, so she's bored." Belle explained, contorting herself to look at the chair, where she had left her bag earlier.

"Ah, well… Why don't you deal with Miss Lucas, while I pour us another drink, and then we'll go upstairs and get cleaned up?" He proposed as he put his arm around her and herded her round the end of his desk, delivering her to her bag as it beeped again.

"Okay." Belle said with a small smile.

Leaving her there, Adam strolled out of his study and into the kitchen, and stopped at the kitchen island, bracing his hands on top of it, blowing out a heated breath. The scene had strayed from what he had envisioned, but it had played out so naturally, it was hard to ignore their physical chemistry. A genuine smile pushed back his cheeks. Lying to him or not, Belle couldn't fake how her body reacted to him. How keenly she wanted his touch, how hot and wet she got for him, how strong her orgasms shook through her body. He doubted her 'boyfriend' got such a reaction out of her. Her body sang for him and now with his prominent mark on her breast, her 'boyfriend' would know it, when he saw the evidence.

"For God sake, Rubes." Belle cursed in the other room.

"Everything alright?" He raised his voice to be heard in the other room, while he moved to pour the wine into their glasses. "Granny better not be calling me, on a Friday night, about another toilet incident."

There was a short giggle in the other room. "No, not tonight."

"Good." He couldn't stop himself from smiling, liking the fact he could make her laugh.

Picking up their wine glasses, Adam moseyed towards the open doorway of his study, but stopped short when Belle came out of his study, phone in her hands, wearing her purple cardigan with her other clothes poking out the top of her shoulder bag. "She's just being nosy about my date."

"Your date?" He asked with raised eyebrows, then pressed them down over his eyes, switching masks. "We had an agreement, Miss French, not to tell anyone."

Her eyes were wide, caught in headlights, as she snapped her gaze up to him. "It's… It's… It's not like that. I haven't said anything… about us." She stammered. "But I had to tell her something, otherwise Ruby would've asked questions about where I was going and what I was doing. So… I told her I met someone."

"A boyfriend?" He deflated at her omission.

"I told her that before we signed our agreement, but I should've told you about it, in case you heard the rumours." Belle told him, hurriedly.

"Your private life is none of my business." His voice was flat.

Her fine eyebrows pushed together as she skirted closer to him. "But you are a part of my private life."

"Don't get confused about our arrangement, Miss French." Adam was cold. "Otherwise, I'll have to reconsider it."

"I'm very aware of our arrangement." She sternly stated.

"Good. Make sure it stays that way." He ordered, glowering at her.

Swinging her shoulder bag to the front of her, Belle shoved her phone into the large pouch before she rummaged through her clothes, stuffing them deeper, while she pulled out a pump to drop to the floor at her feet. Holding the wine glasses further apart, Adam looked down at the simple slip-on black pump as she used her foot to right it and stuffed her foot into it, continuing her search for the matching shoe. He blinked his eyes in disbelief, whilst she held up the other pump in triumph and dumped it onto the floor. Throwing her bag round, almost swinging it completely around her body, she flicked the black pump over and thrusted her foot into it, glaring at him as she did it.

"Do you worry, Mr Gold. It certainly will." And then a mass of curls whirled through the air, fanning out like a beautiful Japanese fan, following its mistress as she stormed towards his front door.

He dumbly followed in her wake. "Where are you going?"

"I believe that would be private. I wouldn't want to misperceive our relationship by sharing something private with you." Belle bit over her shoulder at him.

"You're twisting what I…" Adam halted mid-sentence and mid-step, astonished when she twirled round and marched back into the kitchen.

Pointing her finger at him. "I understand exactly what you meant. Sex is sex, isn't it? As long as you're getting what you want, that's all that matters, yes? Isn't that so, Mr Gold?" She vigorously shook her head as she stopped several feet away from him and dropped her hand to swing by her side. "I'm not confused at all."

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but Belle held up her hand and that was enough to silence him. With a slow shake of her head, she turned away from him, restarting her trek to the front door at a slower pace. Deep lines of regret carved themselves into his forehead. How had they gotten here? His eyes went to his study, recalling the fantastic scene they had just played out, and turned his gaze in time to see Belle snatch open his front door.

"Miss French, wait… I…"

The look she gave him silenced him. The fury in her eyes was fierce. Adam gulped. This was the wrong time and most inappropriate reaction, but he could feel cock twitch into life, waking from its slumber. She was stunning, strong and the fact she wasn't taking his shit turned him on. Ignoring the growing distraction in his boxes, he opened his mouth to tell her to stay, tell her anything she wanted to hear just so she didn't leave, but he closed his mouth as he recognised something else in her eyes: Sadness.

What could she possibly be sad about? The anger he understood. But sadness?

Before his brain could comprehend something to say to her, Belle had swung the door wider and walked out of his house, slamming the front door behind her. The two doors clattered against one another as her outline descended out of sight. Scowling, he lowered his head to look at the two glasses of wine in his hands. What had he said that was so wrong? Fine, his delivery might not have been the best, but it was for her own good to point it out to her. It was easy for feelings to get caught up, confusing the situation, making it something it wasn't, veering them somewhere he wasn't willing to go again. He wished he could. Wished that all the hurt he had suffered, hadn't hardened him and made him an enemy of love. That he could freely consider a life with her, but he couldn't. Not again. And that thought alone was enough to enrage him, sending first one glass of wine at the front door, followed quickly by the other glass, sloshing wine everywhere, scattering broken glass in his foyer.

Quote: Bottoming: The New Bottoming Book pg11