Page 285 of Knox Academy Omnibus
“Yeah, you forgot your uniform this morning. I left it in dad’s office so you could get changed.”
Sawyer and I both walk to the office building, where the admin lady eyes Sawyer up and down. It really bothers me, so I take Sawyer’s hand in mine and her eyes go wide. Take that. Immature? Yeah. Fucks given? Zero.
Once we’re in Monty’s office Sawyer locks the door. I don’t bother asking where his father is, he clearly isn’t here. My uniform is hanging up. I slip off my coat and let it drop to the floor. Sawyer takes a seat in his father’s chair, his legs spread wide. I can see the outline of his erect dick straining against his slacks. It makes me wet.
I unbutton my blouse slowly, leaving it open for him to see my sexy lace bra underneath. I don’t remove it yet. I unbutton my pants and walk towards him, stopping when I’m standing between his thighs. His hands slide up my thighs, grasping the top of my pants and sliding them down my legs. His thumbs graze my bare skin causing goosebumps to line my flesh as I step out of the discarded garment.
“You’re killing me,” he complains, standing.
His hands instantly find my face and he pulls me in for a kiss, walking us backwards until my back hits the door. One hand holds my head and the other slides down my stomach, pushing past my underwear. His fingers find my already swollen clit, and a moan escapes me. He swallows my noises with his mouth, hungrily, and my body convulses under his touch as a fast and unexpected orgasm washes over me. Panting, I try to catch my breath. Sawyer drops to his knees, pulling my underwear aside using his tongue to clean me up, and my knees go weak at the sensation.
When he’s done, he fixes my underwear back in place but it’s practically useless now. Everything’s wet as hell.
The warning bell goes and I move to get my now crinkled uniform from behind me. I don’t try to get dressed sexily.
I was half hoping that I’d have to go back to Sawyer’s to get my uniform so that I would miss my first class. My music teacher likes to start the first day with singing. Slate, being the teacher's pet, will have a song lined up already, no doubt aimed to spear me emotionally. We might have made a truce through our sort of sex session, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hurt him a lot. While I’m happy for him to make me pay, to atone for that pain, I’m nervous that he’ll show me how he feels the only way he knows how. Through music, in front of the entire class.
Since skipping isn’t happening, I plan to beat him to class and speak with the teacher first. I have a song of my own ready. I leave Sawyer in Monty’s office and run to class, and as luck would have it, the teacher is walking down the corridor. I come to a steady pace beside her.
“Oh my gosh Amelie, you scared the life out of me.”
“Sorry, miss, I was trying to catch you before class, I wanted to see if I could sing first today. I made sure to be ready.”
“Of course you can. Just go in and load your song, then once everyone is here you can lead the way.”
“Thanks, miss,” I say, walking through the classroom door where Slate pretends not to acknowledge me. I never realised that having a boyfriend pissed at me would suck so much. It’s why I’ve always avoided commitment, I hate not being able to have the last word, and I hate when people are mad at me. Well, people I care about, everyone else can eat a dick for all I care.
I head over to the massive sound system the teacher has and type in the song I’m looking for. I can feel his eyes on me, but when I turn around he’s already looked away.
After a few minutes, everyone has made their way into the room and taken a seat on the floor.
“Thank you all for being on time, and welcome back. As you should remember, I emailed you all and asked you to havesomething prepared for today, free choice. So we’ll jump right in. Amelie is up first.”
I hit play on the song ‘Titanium’ by Sia and I look straight at Slate. This is a perfect song to represent my life, everything that’s been thrown at me since I’ve been here in the UK, everything him and his brothers have put me through…they can keep throwing whatever they want at me because just like the song, I’m titanium and I haven’t got anything to lose. I’m here to stay and I will successfully take over The Order because I’m a bad bitch, and if he wants to keep punishing me for my guilt, then that is on him.
As of today, I will no longer feel bad. He’ll just have to deal with it and get over it. If he wants to call me a whore or a slut, and think that his words will cut me down, he is wrong. I’m not ashamed of him or his brothers, I love them all and if that means wearing ‘slut’ as a title, then I will wear it proudly.
As the song comes to an end I look at Slate. He gives nothing away. He and Onyx may be so different, but they both have a damn good poker face.
The teacher jumps up and claps her hands and looks from me to Slate. She knows the deal by now – that we use music as our way to show our feelings in this class. No one questions it because it’s Slate Knox, and you wouldn’t want to be on the losing side of a battle with a Knox.
Slate stands and walks over to the piano. I don't bother sitting, I lean against the wall and watch. This song will make or break us, I can feel it in my bones. I know when he needed me the most I wasn't there, and I can't take it back. I tried to show him how I felt about him. He says we’ll be okay but Slate holds a lot of his pain from his childhood inside, so I know he knows what it’s like to feel guilt. He has it too; I know he feels guilty over Onyx. Slate bears the physical scars that eat Onyx alive every day, but I know it kills Slate that his brother feels that pain.
His fingers move over the keys, and I recognise the song from Chelsea’s throwback music. ‘Every time’ by Britney Spears. His raspy voice starts to sing and I really take in the lyrics. His eyes remain closed as he sings.
A tear rolls down my face; he needs to realise his weakness hasn’t caused me pain, it’s mine causing him pain.
His eyes open as he sings the last lyrics. His eyes are glassy and when they connect with mine, and he sees my tears, he stands. The teacher erupts with excitement and says something that I don’t hear, I’m too busy watching Slate. The way his body moves towards me as he stops just before his body collides with mine. I take a step forward, making the first move.
“I love you,” I whisper for only him to hear. His gaze turns feral and I almost think I’ve said the wrong thing, but he throws me over his shoulder with an oomph from me. The teacher calls out to him, but he waves her off and stalks out the door and down the hall until he reaches a door that’s slightly ajar, kicking it open.
“Out!” Slate demands. I lift my head to see a kid put down his headphones and leave the room, petrified.
Slate finally puts me down to look around the room. A small recording studio is set up. The door clicks shut and he steps up behind me.
“I can smell him on you.”
“Who?”
