White Lies (Book 1)

The Incident

"Nathan," I pulled back, gasping, contradicting myself by wrapping my legs around his waist. "We should stop."

"Yeah, definitely," he agreed, nodding, even as he made his way down my throat and cleavage.

"No, I mean it," I groaned. A familiar spread of burning was beginning to make its way into my bloodstream, and I could feel each individual voice of reason fly out of my head. Sleep was the farthest thing from my mind now. My need for him was greater. "You have classes tomorrow."

"I completely agree, Angel," he replied huskily, whilst coaxing my arms up so he could peel the cotton shirt off of my body. His mouth devoured mine once more, and slowly we begun to sink into the familiar push and tug of us racing to get each other's clothes off. He was doing this on purpose, but I couldn't give a single shit. Not when he overloaded my senses the way he did.

And besides, we hadn't done this in so long...

I surrendered. "You owe Mei a written apology tomorrow morning," I warned before completely getting rid of his pyjama pants. His eyes looked me over once more, and the lust and darkness they held had me spiralling out of control. Obviously I was the responsible one in this relationship, but I wasn't about to stay responsible for long.

"Complete with a full, cursive signature," he grinned, wild and devilish, before finally consuming me whole.

***

"Jesabel! You're late," Mei snapped, annoyed at the fact that her usual large double-strength mochaccino hadn't arrived at her desk in the usual time of 9am. She looked up from her computer and eyed me through her glasses, raising an eyebrow at the way I flushed and fixed up the last button of my shirt-dress.

I could have used Nathan as my excuse, but unfortunately this had happened before. Numerous times.

And Mei was taking none of it.

"Don't tell me Ericson molested you again," she accused wryly.

"Well, I-"

"Save it. Send this off to the University of Chicago," she ordered, handing me a slim file of what seemed like Mei's acceptance to the job they had offered her. I worked hard and I worked well as part of Mei's crew, and while she was the no-nonsense kind, I still held a heavy amount of respect for her. Being one of the people who had helped track down Alfred, I still felt as if I owed her something. She had been kind enough to offer me – an inexperienced teen-turned-adult with very little connections and experience in the work field whatsoever – such a well paying job.

Next year, she will be retiring as a lawyer and begin her career as a lecturer. Since I had been using my pay checks to pay off college fees, I figured that I would find another job elsewhere. Preferably one that wasn't as demanding.

The drive to the post office was short and uneventful. My mind was a jumbled mess of reports, coffee runs, class texts I had yet to read, and memories of the night before. Nathan never failed to occupy almost half the capacity of my brain, and it made life a little harder. Or easier, depending on how you look at it. I shook it off as best as I could, trying to get back into work-mode and not afterglow-mode.

My phone rang loudly in my pocket, and I didn't hesitate to stop whatever I was doing to pick it up. It was one of the things Mei liked about me; the fact that I answer every phone call swiftly and effortlessly. "Hello?"

"Last night was amazing."

I rolled my eyes, fighting back a grin. "Nate, you know you shouldn't call me in the middle of a lecture."

"Can't help it," he sighed happily. "Plus, we're not even doing anything important. He's just droning on about structural dynamics."

Nathan had taken a while to decide what he wanted to do after high school. Despite the many offers he received from his brother James – now the proud owner of the newly-named Ericson Pierre Trade – he hadn't wanted to become a businessman in any way. While he looked devastatingly hot in a suit, he didn't want to wear one for a living and act like a pretentious asshole, he once explained to me during dinner. Instead, Nate wanted to study architecture for a while and see where it would take him.