Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

CHLOE

I eyed my twin from across the dining hall. The room was packed with students, both undergrad and postgrad. Talking and laughing warred with the clash of cutlery and crockery, and the scraping of chairs on the old hardwood floors. The noise level was close to maximum, but I hardly heard a sound. My attention was focussed on her, Lila Bell.

She was seated between the Brantley brothers, Hunter and Parker. They were also identical twins, but unlike Lila and me, they actually liked each other. Judging by the way they were leaning towards her, their gazes on her, laughing at something she said, they liked her too. She looked like a queen, seated between two courtiers.

Hunter tucked her hair behind her ear and said something in her ear that made her tip back her head and laugh.

Parker nudged his twin's shoulder with his fist until Hunter turned to him and spoke. Whatever he said made his twin all but double up with laughter.

Lila leaned against Hunter, as if she was laughing too hard to support her own weight. He snaked an arm around her, holding her to his chest. She smiled over her shoulder at him.

Fake bitch.

I saw the exact moment she realised I was watching. Her body stiffened and she turned her face.

I looked away before we could make eye contact. I didn't need to see her sneer of superiority. I'd seen it plenty of times already. It was seared into my brain, along with a hefty dose of bitterness.

We'd only been here a couple of weeks, and she was already so sure she was going to be the Queen of Brutham Academy, not just the dining hall.

Why wouldn't she think that? She was the fucking Queen of everything else. She was Daddy's favourite. The daughter who, out of the two of us, was the most like him.

Outgoing, outspoken and tough, that was Lila.

I was the older twin by several minutes, but she was the one everyone noticed. No one gave a shit about me, Chloe Bell. The quiet one. The sweet one. The one people looked at like I was a fucking doormat. Something to step over on their way to my sister.

I blinked away tears of frustration.

If I was going to be noticed, I was going to have to do something big. Something significant.

What sort of something? I didn't know yet. It would be difficult to outdo Lila, but not impossible. One thing I knew for sure, I couldn't do it alone. But she had the twins, and I had—me.

I propped my elbows on the table and rested my head on my hands. Maybe everyone was right about me. Maybe I didn't have what it took to take over the family business.

Lila had everything, and me? I was better at school than she was, but what did it matter? No one seemed to care about that. Our father certainly didn't. He'd notice if we failed, but he didn't give a crap if I got straight As and she got straight Cs.

She laughed again at something one of the Brantley brothers said. The whole dining hall turned to look. Some with envy, but most with interest.

I tucked my hair behind my ear, grabbed my plate and took it over to the cart to add it to the pile for the staff to wash later after tipping out my barely touched meal into the bucket. Lasagne was one of my favourites, but I didn't have much of an appetite today. Or at all, lately. Especially now when we were in the same room.

I swear I felt Lila's gaze follow me out the door, but I didn't look back. I kept my posture straight and tried to walk like I had somewhere important to be. At least until I was out of sight.

Then I hurried away in the direction of my room, like a mouse scurrying back to their mouse hole. Would anyone notice if I stayed there and didn't come out? Lila wouldn't. I was certain of that.

My eyes on the floor, I didn't see anything until I walked into a wall of muscle.

I let out a squeak of surprise before firm hands grabbed me, stopping me from falling.

The only thing that could have made this day worse would have been making a complete idiot of myself by falling on my ass.

I looked up into a pair of intense blue eyes. Swallowed hard.

Shit .

"Mr D. I wasn't looking where I was going." Did my voice have to squeak right now? I sounded like an actual mouse. Maybe the day could get worse after all.

"Chloe Bell. I could tell." He didn't quite smile, but he didn't need to. Dane DiMarco was hot as sin without trying. Being this close to him made my clit tingle. No wonder I squeaked. How could anyone put two coherent words together around him?

"Are you sure I'm Chloe?" I asked. I cocked my head at him and did my best to look innocent. A look I was all too good at, as a part of my role as the sweet twin. Thank fuck the words came out sounding normal.

He cocked his head back at me. "Of course I'm sure." He leaned in to speak softly in my ear. "You're the hotter Bell twin."

Heat crept up my face.

Holy shit, did he just say that?

I swallowed again. "I don't know about that."

"I do." His breath brushed my cheek, and the side of my neck like a kiss. If he was trying to ruin my panties, he succeeded. "How are you enjoying Brutham?"

Did I imagine his emphasis on the word enjoy? Either way, my clit tingled harder.

"It's…taking some getting used to," I admitted.

"This is your first time?" he asked. "Being away from home, I meant."

I didn't think he meant that at all, but I nodded and managed to force myself to step back away from him.

Dressed in a dark T-shirt and black jeans, he looked more like a rock star than a history teacher. Ironic, considering his younger brother, Asher, was an actual rock star. If I had to choose between them, I'd choose Dane all day, every day. And all night. Not that someone like him would be interested in me. My sister maybe, but that thought made my blood boil and my stomach churn.

"Yeah, it is. My sister doesn't seem to be having too much trouble fitting in." I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my tone. She could probably click her fingers and he'd come running.

"Sometimes it pays to be discerning and make the right connections." He tucked my hair back behind my ear, leaving a trail of heat where his fingers grazed.

"You know the right connections?" I asked.

Was he implying what he seemed to be implying? I must be dreaming. There was no way someone like Mr D would be interested in me. There were no laws against it, we were both consenting adults, but he was… Him. He must have undergrads throwing their panties at him right and left. Postgrad students too.

"I might," he agreed. "Maybe we can talk about it after class tomorrow. Do you know where my office is?"

Don't squeak, don't squeak .

"I'm sure I can find it."

He smiled. "Good. I look forward to seeing you there." He dropped his hand from where he'd had it lingering beside my head. "Five o'clock. Don't be late."

"What will you do if I am?" I asked without thinking.

Oh shit, did I really say that?

And yet, I didn't regret it. Not exactly. Although, I didn't want to come off looking like some kind of idiot.

His eyebrows twitched. "That depends on how late you are. And how much you enjoy it."

He walked away, leaving me to gape at his back.

Holy fuckballs.

I filled in the blanks and figured out what he wanted from me. At least, what he seemed to want. I didn't object to a fuck, but I was a realist. A fuck was all it would be. Even if he wasn't a professor here at Brutham Academy, and me a university student, he wouldn't be interested in me more than that.

Besides, I knew Dane DiMarco and men like him. His loyalty wasn't with my family, powerful as we were. For all I knew, this meeting was set up by the Brantley brothers to make me look stupid. Or to take my mind off the idea of taking over the family business someday. It was clear whose side they were on—Lila's. They'd do whatever they could to discredit me and get me out of the running.

I was going to have to be careful around them and Mr D. Too much was at stake to let my guard down for a handsome face, even if that came with a rock hard body I wanted to ride.

"You look like someone kicked your puppy." Faith Lockwood finished checking her blonde hair with her phone and looked over at me. She sat beside me in business studies. She was also one of the few friends I had here at Brutham Academy. She looked more like a supermodel than a business major, with long golden hair, green eyes and flawless skin. She wasn't above using her looks to get where she wanted, but she had brains to spare.

I could have hated her, but she was as nice as she was smart, if only to people she liked. If she didn't like them, they were more likely to receive the sharper side of her tongue. She could stab a person right through the heart with it. Faith didn't believe in pulling punches.

"If I had a puppy and anyone kicked it, I'd stab them in the throat," I said dryly. I told her about my run in—literally—with Mr D.

Her eyes widened and her plush lips formed an O. "Lucky girl. There are worse things in life than being railed by someone like him." She fanned herself. "I bet you anything he knows what to do with a woman."

"Yeah, but he's a teacher," I pointed out. Did I want her to talk me into it or out of it? I supposed I just wanted to think it through and be sure, one way or another. That meant taking everything into consideration, no matter how small a deal it was.

Okay, I might have been scared, but guys never looked at me the way he had. With actual interest that might even be genuine. Could it be, or had I imagined that because I wanted it to be true?

Fuck, I was pathetic. Lila would have had him eating out of the palm of her hand by now. Should I try to be more like her?

"He's not your teacher." Faith moved her head from side to side on her neck. "I say go for it. It's not like he's asking for your hand in marriage. He just wants to give you orgasms. And you know what I say about guys who want to give you orgasms." She nodded decisively.

"Let them?" I asked.

She pointed a perfectly manicured nail at me. "Exactly. These are orgasms we're talking about."

"I don't know, what if I turn up and he's not there?" That hadn't occurred to me until now. Once it did, the thought made my blood turn to ice.

He wouldn't be the first person in the world to set someone else up like that. He could turn up later and have a good laugh at my expense. Just because he seemed sincere didn't mean he was.

Yeah, letting my paranoia get the better of me was one of my superpowers. It comes with the territory of being a part of the Bell family. One of the most influential, and dangerous, in Australia. Call us what you want: mob, mafia, organised criminals, just don't get in our way if you like living.

My father, in particular, had a long memory and a short temper. My sister inherited both. So did I, but I kept my temper in check better than she did. Even around her. It was easier if she thought I was harmless. Maybe someday she'd lower her guard around me. If she did, I'd be right there. Ready to pounce.

"Then you get naked and sit on his desk to wait for him," Faith said as if it was the easiest thing in the world. It was exactly what she'd do.

I doubted any hot-blooded man would walk away from her if she was bare in front of him. He'd likely welcome her long legs wrapped around his waist.

"What if someone else walks in first?" I asked. "Like my sister, or…I don't know. Someone there to clean the room." That would be beyond humiliating.

"Girl, I've seen some of the cleaners around here. Getting railed by one of them wouldn't be a chore." Faith fanned herself again.

"I'm starting to think all you're concerned about is me getting laid," I said. I was concerned about that too, but I couldn't focus solely on that. I wanted to get screwed, not screwed over.

She tilted her head. "Well…how long has it been?"

"A while, I suppose," I said. A long while, if I was honest with myself. Like everything else, when it came to sex, my sister was the one the guys gravitated towards.

If they were interested in me, it was only after she turned them down flat. Like somehow I was the consolation prize. I looked like her; they could pretend I was her while they were getting their cock wet.

Yes, my therapist tells me I have self-esteem issues. Being an identical twin is difficult. Especially when you're the less popular of the two. In my eyes anyway.

"There you go then, grab the chance by the balls and ride it all the way to Bliss Town." She nodded decisively.

I laughed. "Bliss Town?"

"Orgasm Central. Fuckville. Pleasureland. Pussy?—"

I waved my hand at her. "Okay, I get it. I'll think about it. Tomorrow, I'll decide what I'm going to do. Or not do." My clit was sad at the idea of not doing Dane DiMarco. My brain, on the other hand, was going to continue to be cautious.

The best that could happen was orgasms.

The worst was that I would have to leave Brutham. I could attend a university where I could study what I actually wanted to study. Not what my father pushed me and my sister into. I'd let him because I couldn't let my sister get the better of me that easily.

If our father taught us anything, it was to never back down, give up on anything. At the risk of being punished. We'd learnt that lesson from an early age. Dad's lessons were harsh and they'd stuck with me. He wouldn't react well if I dropped out, or got kicked out.

No, caution was the best way to go, for now.