Page 36 of The Revenge

“Rude,” Penny declares, and then bursts out laughing.

Ignoring her cackles, I put the pillow back and then lean back into it. “But maybe not completely unwarranted.” I let out a deep sigh. “What color flag is Dr. Wright?”

The laughter instantly dies, and Penny turns to face me, crossing the legs beneath her. “Dr. Wright, Dr. Wright?”

“No, the other Dr. Wright.”

Penny’s eyes flicked back and forth as she stares intently at my face. “Are you dating a professor?”

“Not exactly.” I bring my hands together and focus my attention on my thumbnails as I press the edges against each other. “It was just a kiss.”

It wasn’t just a kiss.

If Payne hadn’t put the brakes on, we would have had sex on his desk.

“I need more details than that. Did he kiss you, or did you kiss him? And when you say kiss, are we saying a friendly peck goodbye on the cheek, or were your tongues replaying a scene from a tentacle porno?”

“Penny!”

With wide, innocent eyes, Penny holds her hands up on either side of her head. “We listen, and we don’t judge, okay?”

Tentacle porn isn’t my jam, but remembering how Payne’s tongue dominated my mouth is making me feel uncomfortably hot.

Penny lets out a squeal as she starts excitedly hitting my thigh. “Oh my God! You had a hot make out session with a professor. That’s a completely different category of porn.”

“Ow.” I bat her hands away. “It wasn’t porn, and given that I already have my own category, you can trust me that I would know that. It was just a kiss.”

Instantly, Penny sobers up. “Shit. I’m sorry, Tori. I didn’t think.”

With a sigh, I sit upright. “I know. It’s okay.”

Penny turns round and shuffles backwards so that she’s sitting beside me. She turns, frowning slightly. “In all seriousness, what happened? Do you like him?”

“He told me to leave here, we kissed, he started undressing me, and before it could get any further, he saw what Declan did to me.”

Slowly, Penny’s mouth falls open. “So, you would have…?”

We absolutely would have. I told him that I wanted to, I wanted to leave this place with a good memory, but I also wanted to remember what it felt like to be with someone who wasn’t just fucking me because he had to, or worse, out of spite.

Did I like Payne? Maybe…? But now that I was finally getting the chance to get my thoughts together, I was beginning to think him stopping things wasn’t the worst thing.

“Wow,” Penny mutters.

“He wants to wait for me to leave here, and we can be together.”

I didn’t think Penny’s eyes could get wider, but somehow, they do. “I had no idea you liked him, much less that things were serious between you. I mean, considering he’s your teacher, he probably is a red flag, but maybe a pin-sized flag—like, what the president wears.”

“Gee, thank you,” I tell her, dryly.

I did like Payne, and even if he is a bit old, he’s still kinda hot…

But truthfully, my intentions weren’t much more than sex. I haven’t thought much about life after this place, and the only person I wanted to keep in my life was Penny.

Or, at least, not until today…

XIV

Tori

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