Page 51 of Long Live the King
In the hallway, I consider which bathroom she’d have gone to. Most likely the one at the top of the stairwell in front of Thornton’s office and not the one down the hall. There’s a fencing tournament happening this afternoon and she wouldn’t risk being seen.
I take the stairs two steps at a time to the next floor. The hallway is empty.
I push open the door to the girl’s bathroom and walk in.
Bellamy is bent over the sink, her entire body shaking, her hands desperately searching for something to hold on to. My sweater lies discarded under a toilet stall door where she’s thrown it. She’s ripped her blouse open, the buttons lying scattered at her feet on the floor. Her chest heaves as she unsuccessfully tries to swallow huge lungfuls of air.
She looks terrified.
Seeing her struggle to breathe is terrifying.
“Bellamy.”
She whips around at the sound of my voice before stumbling back a step. “Stay the hell…away from me.” She churns out laboriously.
I take two steps into the room and crouch so I’m level with her. “What’s happening?”
Her hands are on her knees as she fights to breathe. A sob breaks free from her throat, but no tears follow. “Leave me…alone.”
“Tell me what’s happening and I will.”
She manages to shoot me a glare even as sweat dots her brow. “I’m having…a panic attack…asshole. What does it…look like?”
The corner of my mouth twitches.
“Was that…a smile? Of course…your first real smile comes at…my pain, I don’t know what…I was expecting.” She grits out through hacked breaths.
I ignore her jokes. “How do you know it’s a panic attack?”
“Had them…before. I’m here on a scholarship…genius. I can’t get a… permanent admonishment… on my record.” She gasps out.
Straightening to my full height, I push upwards on her shoulder. “Stand up.”
“Now you want…to gloat? Please… just leave me…alone.” She manages. “You said…you would.”
I push harder on her shoulders, forcing her to stand upright. “Shoulders back, keep your chest open like this.” I demonstrate. “When you bend over like before, you’re closing your lungs and making it harder to breathe.”
She does as I say, managing to take a couple deeper breaths. Grabbing her hand in my right, I hook my thumb around hers. I squeeze hard, and she yelps. “Focus on my touch. Don’t think about anything else, just zone in on my hand.” She gives my hand a hard squeeze back. “Good girl.”
My left hand closes around her throat gently. My grip is light, barely there.
She’s staring at me. Her gaze is inscrutable, her chest still moving up and down erratically. My thumb rubs against her pulse point as I track the settling beat.
“Focus on your breathing. You’re not dying, everything is fine.”
I can reach my thumb up to her mouth from where my hand rests around her throat. As I speak, I softly caress her plump bottom lip, the color still as blood red as the first time I lay eyes on her.
Her mouth parts slightly in reaction and I take the opportunity to close the distance between us and suck her upper lip into my mouth. It's not a kiss, it's a taste. I need to see if her lips taste as good as they look. Suctioning it into my mouth, I run the tip of my tongue along her lip before biting it sharply.
When I release it, she whimpers. The sound shoots straight to my cock.
Fuckme.
I look at Bellamy. She’s frozen still, her eyes wide and her fingers pressed against her lips in disbelief. A satisfied smile stretches across my face when I notice her top lip is bleeding.
Three loud raps on the door force us apart.
“Miss Ward, are you in there?” Thornton’s voice calls from outside the door. “You have thirty seconds to get out here before I add another two weeks of detention to your bill.”