11. ~Brianna~

11

~Brianna~

That bastard had left his mark on me.

In more ways than one.

I dabbed more concealer over the right side of my neck from where he'd sucked on the skin so hard he'd left a very visible hickey.

I could still feel it, still feel him.

His touch.

His warmth.

The intensity that had taken me over when we'd collided.

The thrill as well at the strange ease with which we'd fit together.

The physicality of it hadn't been awkward at all. That was a hell of a thing considering what I was used to in that respect. Because of my issues when it came to being touched sexually it had always been really awkward for the first little while because the guys I'd been with didn't know how to handle that sort of thing. Not even Tommy and he'd been there at the end of that nightmare, he'd been on the team that had burst in to rescue me—and Levi.

Urgh. Because of that asshole bringing all of that up again, I'd been having nightmares like I used to, for the last couple of nights, reliving it over and over again. The exact thing I hadn't wanted, that I'd been guarding against for years.

And with one majorly intense confrontation, he'd ripped all of that right out from under me.

As only he could.

He was the only one who knew, that was why.

The only one who'd experienced it alongside me.

Well, the only one left alive, anyway.

I finished hiding the marks and stepped out of my apartment bathroom just as my phone buzzed on my bed.

I snatched it up, a smile spreading over my face, as I took in the message there.

Chloe: OMG! Thank you! My IG is blowing up! So many messages! So much exposure! You're amazing, sweetie!

Brianna: Just hope it helps with your mom.

Chloe: It's got one hell of a shot. Showing her when she gets home tonight.

Brianna: *crossing fingers emoji*

Chloe: * heart emoji*. TTYL.

I went to put my phone down when something stopped me.

I didn't know what the hell it was.

Maybe the fact that I was out of sorts after barely getting a couple of hours' worth of sleep last night? Maybe that bastard unearthing things I'd thought I'd long buried?

Either way, whatever it was, it had me reading over the texts that had come in from Levi Knight last night—a whole twenty-four hours since I'd poured water all over him before hightailing it out of his swanky mansion.

He'd somehow gotten my number—not just from Colton. No, he'd actually managed to save his number into my freaking phone!

I'd run one of my security programs to try to determine interference, but it had turned up nothing.

It didn't mean there wasn't any, because obviously for him to have entered in his number there was. What it really meant was much worse—it meant his skills were off the charts. Better than mine.

As if that bastard wasn't dangerous enough without having those abilities.

I mean, I'd known he'd been studying Computer Science at Stonewell U, but not all students had an insane level of hacking ability. It wasn't as though it was a given.

Anyway, I had other ways to determine that sort of thing and once I figured out how he'd done it and which methods he'd used, I could then create a program to keep him out in the future.

It was just a matter of time, unfortunately.

For the time being, I'd altered his name in my contact list to something much more appropriate.

I chuckled to myself as I took it in, just before I read over his messages.

Hell Spawn: Still got your marks on my thigh. Is that how you'll grab my cock when the time comes?

Hell Spawn: Keep picturing your little ass grinding back on me. Those sexy whimpers are stuck in my head and on permanent repeat. Next time, you'll give me your screams.

A shudder rolled through me, just like had happened last night.

If only it was merely a shudder of revulsion. It would all be so much simpler.

Urgh. Stop looking at it.

I actually deleted both messages, then took in the time.

Crap. I was already running late as it was.

I'd missed my first class. Me? I was always punctual and on top of everything. I took my classes seriously. I knew how fortunate I was that I was actually able to do this and go to college, living my life free in this way, given my tumultuous background and insane upbringing. I didn't take that for granted and I got everything that I could out of it.

But because of those nightmares, I'd ended up sleeping in.

And if I didn't hurry and get in my car within the next ten minutes, I'd end up missing another class too.

I was just about to grab my coat off the hook by the front door, along with my messenger bag, when my phone buzzed again in my hand.

Expecting it to be another quick text from Chloe, I was startled to see that it was him again.

Hell Spawn: I know you're reading my messages. I don't like being ignored. If you're too skittish to respond to the fun ones, how about you give me that apology you owe me? You know, for drenching me in ice-cold water?

Seriously?

Brianna: You deserved it. No apology for you.

Hell Spawn: Ah, there you are. Knew you wouldn't be able to resist that one.

Dammit.

Brianna: We're done here then. Stop texting me or I'll block you.

Hell Spawn: That won't stop me.

Brianna: Then your own sense of decency should.

Hell Spawn: Not something I possess.

Brianna: Find yourself another obsession. This is already getting old.

And it was already beginning to impact me.

In ways I didn't want to admit to either.

Hell Spawn: Yeah? Shame, because I'm just getting started.

Brianna: There's nothing here for you and there will never be.

Hell Spawn: The way you reacted to my teasing the other day proved otherwise.

Brianna: Get over yourself. Like I said, it could've been anybody.

Hell Spawn: For someone with so many walls up and wholly intent on self-preservation, you'd think you'd know better than to provoke me.

Brianna: You should worry about provoking me. I've been trying to let you down nicely.

Hell Spawn: Because you don't want any trouble.

Brianna: I don't.

Hell Spawn: Too late. I gave you a choice. You chose wrong.

Brianna: You think you can bully me, you've got another thing coming.

Hell Spawn: There it is. That's the side of you I've been waiting on. Come out and play, Wildflower, then we can dispense with all this bullshit you're pushing me to employ.

Brianna: You don't scare me.

Hell Spawn: I'm not trying to.

Brianna: These threats would indicate otherwise.

Hell Spawn: Not threats. Promises.

Brianna: What exactly is your strategy here?

Hell Spawn: To inundate you.

Brianna: With you?

Hell Spawn: Me. The version of you that's been left behind. Our shared past. All of it that you've been trying to foolishly bury.

Brianna: Don't do this. I can't.

Hell Spawn: You need to. You'll recognize it soon enough.

Brianna: You do this and you'll regret it.

Hell Spawn: See? I'm already making strides. There's my girl.

Brianna: Not your girl.

Hell Spawn: Watch this space.

"Argh!" I yelled, smashing my fist into the wall by the door.

Then I shoved my phone into my bag and stormed out of my apartment.

Immersing myself in what I enjoyed and what I was also damn good at was really helping to take the edge off the other insanity.

Granted, it had taken years of practice and constant learning, as well as keeping up with developments to bring this about. But now I was at a point where it was most definitely my jam.

It was why, even with barely any sleep, I was still able to kick ass in my coding lab and even push ahead of where we were expected to be at this early stage of this new academic year.

I finished typing the last piece of code, then ran the program to test it.

Perfect.

No bugs.

It was doing everything it was intended to do, and it was doing it well. I'd made sure of it.

Despite this… setback… with Levi, then Chloe being on the verge of slipping away too, at least I still had the stability of this. And it was exactly what I needed to throw myself into.

My career path.

My future.

I continued working away, the sound of the rapid clacking of fingers flying across keyboards filling the room, one of my favorite sounds. It had a sweet, meditative-like effect on me.

I was fully immersed and in the zone, enjoying every moment of the work, the challenge before me.

So much so that I startled when Professor Martina Ruiz came up on my side.

I jolted and looked up to see her studying my screen. Her dark curls were cascading about her face and brushing the collar of her sleek pastel-blue pantsuit.

"An impressive solution to the problem you were given," she praised. "Intricately coded too."

"Thanks," I said, smiling up at her. "It's getting there."

"It's far more than that. You're first up to share with the lab."

"I am?" This was a far cry from last year where I'd run into problems and been admonished for my code not being clean, for it being written in an overly complicated way that had only been readable to me. Over the summer I'd spent a lot of time working on that. Although it seemed like a small issue, when it came to the bigger picture, it could actually become a major one when you got into creating larger programs with pages upon pages of code. I'd actually learned that the hard way when I'd tried to create my first app.

It just showed how far I'd come that now I was being asked to present my code first. Usually when we had one of these show-and-tell coding mini-presentations, I was near the last up and everyone had tons of notes for me.

"Absolutely," Professor Ruiz confirmed, smiling.

I couldn't believe it.

I pushed out of my seat and grabbed my laptop, taking it with me as I walked up to the front of the massive lab full of almost forty students, and set about connecting my laptop to the HDMI cable so my screen could be displayed on the big screen at the forefront of the room.

"Out-of-the-box thinking can go a long way," I heard the professor saying, as I got ready. "Pay attention to the novel workaround Brianna has found to the problem I provided for you all to overcome."

As my code appeared, I was about to start walking them through my reasoning when something suddenly flashed on my screen.

What the—

In the next moment, an audio file started playing of its own accord.

A chill ran down my spine as Levi Knight's voice emanated.

"You're going to be my good girl, yes?"

"Oh God, Levi."

"You don't like it nice and easy. Isn't that right? You've been craving the rough and wild touch of a vicious bastard like me, haven't you? You want to be consumed, utterly owned."

It was from our encounter in the recording studio at his place the other day.

No. No.

He hadn't even distorted his voice or anything.

Of course not. He wanted people to know—or to believe—that I was his.

While embarrassing me at the same time.

Well, embarrassing me didn't even cover it.

It was absolutely humiliating.

"Oh God, Levi."

"I'm certain if I reached under your skirt and dipped my fingers beneath your panties, you'd be soaking wet for me too."

"Oh God, Levi."

Those three words kept playing over and over, my breathy, turned on voice blaring out into the lab for all the students to hear.

I felt my cheeks heating—more like on fire—as I scrambled in a major panic to locate the source to shut it down.

Professor Ruiz ran over and pulled out the HDMI cable, but the recording could still be heard.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know how—I'm being set up and—"

"I'm getting that," she said, kindly.

I muted the volume, then slammed my laptop lid shut.

An awful silence filled the room and I looked out into wide-eyed expressions, some students laughing into their hands to hide their amusement, and others giving me the eye and clearly having enjoyed the sexual content of that way too much.

I cursed under my breath and then it was all a blur as I snatched up my laptop and rushed back to my chair, grabbed my bag, then ran out of the room like my ass was on fire.