Escaped Daughter (Morrigan University #1)

16

“We should give this thing a good send-off then,” Sergey muttered in my ear, startling me when I’d been lost in my thoughts. He unbuckled my belt and was already moving around the backseat.

“We were going to do it somewhere remote,” I argued, understanding what he was referring to.

“No one will see us,” he promised, his lips twitching. “I wouldn’t share you with everyone. Come here and give me what we both want, foxy.”

I bit my lower lip and eyed him over sitting there spread out and waiting for me—to please me. Yeah, I wanted that. I was out of my seat and to him without any more hesitation. My mouth mashed to his as I straddled his lap.

“Perfect,” he praised as he fisted my hair and held me to him as his other hand moved between my legs. “Mm, you’re already wet for me? Does my girl like this?”

“I like when you call me foxy better than girl,” I admitted, leaning back and meeting his gaze.

His fingers teased me as he studied me. “You’re a girl, Bevin. A woman. What does it matter?”

“Would you like it if I called you a boy?”

He thought about that a moment and shrugged. “If you called me your boy, I’d be fine but no, if you just said I was a boy all the time instead of a man, I get it.”

“It’s more than that,” I confessed. “I’ve heard guys use ‘girl’ when they mean ‘slut’ or ‘idiot’ like they weren’t at the level of woman, so they didn’t need any respect. Not that they respected women either, but it was a layer of insult.”

“Your brothers,” he surmised, shaking his head when I nodded. “Assholes. Got it. Well, I don’t mean it like that, but if you don’t like it, I won’t use it.” He winked when I frowned. Was it that easy? “Kiss me, foxy.”

Gladly.

He made me finish twice, licking his fingers clean when he was done and my body was still twitching with aftershocks. “You taste like you should be my girlfriend, foxy.” He nodded when I flinched. “You’ll listen to your friend and that’s fine. I can be patient.”

Oh good, he thought it was about that and not… What it really was or that I had a date with Kelton Sunday and a mess with Professor Wyatt.

I didn’t correct him though. I didn’t know how to or explain any of it.

I also didn’t know him well enough where I felt like I had to yet.

“Glad to hear it because I’m going to invite you to my room,” I teased him, smirking when I saw the interest in his eyes.

Yeah, not for sex. I had stuff in the SUV to empty if I was going to have it cleaned out, and I wanted to see something else.

He got the idea when I climbed over him, got out, and popped the back, showing him what had to come in. Still, he simply smirked as if it was a small price to pay to get access to my room.

Glad he thought so.

I brought him inside a few minutes later and showed him where to set it down. “Could you tell me if there’s a spell circle in this room? Where even so I can outline it and not step in it?”

He studied me for a moment and then sighed. “Any chance you’ll tell me what it’s about?”

“I think you’ve learned enough of my secrets for one day,” I grumbled. “I’m not used to telling any.”

“Me either, but you looked into me.”

“Yeah, but that was when it was just about the job.”

“Would you still look into me now?” he asked but really accused, kind enough to not make me admit it. “Answer me one thing. This—whatever you’ve built up—company probably you’re hiding you own—is it on the same level as Fortunate Cookies?”

“Yes,” I answered but then frowned. “Well, I don’t know their earnings for the year, but respect and power-wise though, it’s easier to get stuff from them whereas our…” I realized I was giving too much away if I said we had waiting lists up the ass. That would give him hints on what we could be. “Yes, or around them.”

“Damn. Just dayumn , Bevin.”

“It was my only chance to get free and have the ability to protect myself to stay free. I was going all in. It paid off because of the help I had and have.”

“You’re being humble. You’re also seriously powerful and gifted.” He glanced around my room and focused right about where I’d been when Professor Wyatt’s spell circle brought me to him. “Here, you have one right here. You also have some ridiculous wards and protection here. I’m shocked I could even walk in the room, but you invited me, so that might’ve unlocked it.”

Good to know. Annoying the asshole hadn’t warned me of that.

Probably some of his controlling, psycho fun. Awesome.

I went over to my desk and handed him a pad of sticky notes. “Can you mark it for me? I don’t want to step in it again.”

“It’s not one that you only step in to—”

“Yeah, I know, it’s based on thoughts, but I can’t always help those, so it’s just better to mark it off and avoid it,” I grumbled.

He took the pad, which also seemed his acceptance to help, as he squatted down and started placing them on the wood floor. When he had enough outlined, he seemed to check something and nodded before standing and handing me back the pad.

“Thanks.” I tossed it over onto my desk and cleared my throat, glancing around and not really knowing what to do. I’d never had a friend to have over to my room, much less a guy, and the last had been Kelton who I just teased and said goodnight to.

So what did I do now?

“You have no idea what to do, do you?”

I forced a chuckle. “That obvious, huh?”

“Yeah. I’m going to call my mom and—”

“Why?” I exclaimed, my eyes going wide. “Why would you ever call—”

“My adopted mom,” he cut in, holding up a hand to ward me off. “I haven’t ever spoken with or contacted my birth parents, and I don’t consider them my parents. Technically, she’s a fourth cousin or something, but she’s my mom.” He waited until I nodded. “I’m going to call her and ask her to send the books she taught me with.”

“She doesn’t have to do that. We can buy whatever,” I muttered, understanding where his mind was and embarrassed I overreacted.

“You can, but this might be better to keep it on the DL, and you’ll fly through them, so no point in wasting money. They’re meant for kids and I think older editions, which is better as some of the newer stuff doesn’t teach what we’ll need. I know a lot of it isn’t in books and I’ll have to get—she kept journals and made plans for what would help me best to learn. I need those too.”

“Wow, she sounds awesome.” I never thought to plan like that, too in the dark, but I respected a woman who went all out and figured shit out no matter how hard life got.

“She is. It’s going to take some time to explain all of this, and I don’t know if it’s better to…” He trailed off and looked at the door.

But I didn’t want him to leave yet. “She might have questions you don’t know the answers to.”

“Yeah, but would you tell her?”

I shrugged. “Depends on what they are. I don’t want her to know who I was. I think that’s fair, but if she’s worried about the risk to you and going above normal tutoring to help me, she might have to know more. She might need to talk to Tracey on adult-to-adult stuff and I’m okay with that.” I shrugged again when he gave me a skeptical look. “She clearly knows how to keep secrets quiet and navigate these waters, not bring trouble.”

“Fair enough.”

I studied him as he took a seat at my desk chair. This was more than a rare connection because we had crazy and messed up family circumstances. He jumped in and protected me earlier, kept me safe—made me feel safe—in a way that no one had in years. I missed that feeling, longed for it. “Um, do you want to stay the night?”

He blinked up at me and pressed his lips in a line. “You’re giving me that look the woman I dated last year would give me. I hated when she gave me that look.”

I took a step back from him, not even realizing I had until my legs hit the bed. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize there was a look.” I cleared my throat and hurried over to my closet to grab clothes to change into.

“No, wait, I said that wrong,” he muttered, catching my wrist before I could escape. “I hated it from her . I don’t from you. That’s… There’s something here and it’s intense.”

“It is,” I agreed, not wanting to brush it off when he was bold enough to bring it up.

He tugged on my wrist and guided me to plop onto his lap. I melted against him when he cupped my face and brushed his lips over mine. “Give me that look anytime you want, foxy. I like getting it from you.”

“What look?” I still wasn’t sure exactly what I had projected to him that we were having this discussion.

“That ‘make it all better’ look,” he murmured, giving me another soft kiss. “She used to give it to me, and I wanted to…” He sighed. “I’m going to sound like an asshole, but roll my eyes at her. Her life was so fucking blessed and normal and yes, we all go through shit and hard times, but she would—”

“Overuse it?” I offered.

“Yes, that, and her life had been so easy that the littlest anything and she couldn’t deal. We met because her parents wanted her to have a tutor. I took one look at her grades and said no. She didn’t need a fucking tutor. Stop hovering and give her a chance to live her life. She thought that was cool and we went out a few times, but she would want me to just make things better because she couldn’t do it.”

I snorted. “That’s a shift from your kick-ass, take-charge Mom.”

“Exactly. She would fall apart at a B on a test, completely lose it, and yes, getting grades less than you’re used to sucks but—”

“Life will continue. People deal with a lot worse every fucking day.”

“Yes.” He kissed me again. “But you’ve been through real shit. Your life—and I only know a small part—is hard and scary. So you give me—”

“That wasn’t really what I was thinking,” I confessed. When he frowned, I told him what I had been feeling. “So it’s the same, I guess, but not. I just—it’s been so long since I’ve felt safe. Maybe never even with Grandfather doing all he could to protect me. He couldn’t do all he wanted or really too much as I still had to live in that house.”

“I can’t even imagine what it was like,” he whispered as he hugged me to him. “The evil was all out there and we knew it could come for us, probably would, but it was out there. It was all in the house with you. How did you ever sleep?”

“Exhaustion,” I admitted. There was more to that, but that was a big part of it. I couldn’t tell him yet that the animals of the house or on the estate kept watch and protected me as best as they could too.

Not yet.

“You should make the phone call before we get distracted.” I gave him a quick kiss and slid off his lap.

He cleared his throat. “Can we get distracted after?”

I shrugged. “You didn’t actually accept or decline my invitation, so I believe the ball is in your court.”

“Yeah, I’m sleeping over.” He snorted. “I’m not an idiot who would turn that down.”

Well then! It was hard not to smirk as I went into my closet and changed into a night shorts set. I thought it was sexy but not too much.

He seemed to really like it from the way he adjusted how he sat when I walked back out.

I grabbed what I needed for work and sat on my floor pillow I liked to use. It kept me by the boxes and with a lot of room, but also it was comfy and almost like a meditation pillow so my head was in the right space.

“You’re going to let me watch you work?” he muttered, giving me a confused look. “I thought you weren’t ready to tell me all this yet.”

“I’m not. You won’t know what it is.” I shrugged when he seemed to not buy that. “I’m not working on final stuff, and unless you’ve felt the type of magic before, you won’t know what it is. No one else has been able to figure it out.” I waved him off when he opened his mouth. “Make your call.”

“Yes, foxy,” he chuckled. He tapped his phone several times and then got comfortable. “Hey, Mom, how are you?”

I couldn’t hear her reply and I wasn’t going to be rude and try and eavesdrop. I focused on the first batch of materials in my hand that I would later turn into cat teasers for the less expensive options that normal witches and warlocks could afford. I measured out the colorful yarn before cutting it. I looped the middle around my toes, braiding it while infusing it with my magic.

One of the smartest things Tracey and Grandfather had ever done was to hire someone who finished the toys for me. If I’d had all the pieces in my room, I would have gotten busted. Instead, I would do this part, it would go to Keke, and she would add the bells or whatever and attach it to the rods. She sewed up other stuff and was an inclusive jack of all trades for what we needed.

And she did it easily from home so she could be with her kids and was off the radar in case anyone tried to dig into the company to find out more. The layers of protection were needed and set up in a genius way.

I was on my eighth set, totally in my zone, when something snapped me from my focus.

Sergey squatted down in front of me and studied what I was doing. “Yeah, Mom, I’m sure. She’s sitting here doing high-level magic that I cannot read even with your teachings and it’s full of light. Whatever she’s doing, it’s meant to bring joy and that’s all I can sense. Isn’t that someone we’d want to help even if she wasn’t screwed over by a high-tier family like us?”

I beamed at him. That was a good way to look at life and made me feel his morals were in the right place. Also, that he wouldn’t ever screw me over. Someone who would say that right away—even if we’d been making out—was someone who knew the battles worth fighting.

I was probably biased as that fight was currently to help me.

He smirked at me. “Yes, Mom, she’s also gorgeous and I absolutely want to date her. She’s already treated me exceedingly well and took me out to spoil me as she asked for help, so she’s certainly not like other women who would take advantage of my situation.”

I frowned. “If some bitch does that, tell me and I’ll handle it.”

He burst out laughing after a moment and I winced, realizing his mom probably heard me and commented. “Yeah, she doesn’t like bullies and assholes either. She’s our kind of person.” He winked at me. “Thanks, Mom. I’m sure she’ll send you a thank-you like she did campus security who helped her.”

I shrugged. That was how things should go. If people were nice, you were nice back to them. It wasn’t as if that was a hard concept.

He wrapped up his call and watched me work a bit more. “You are incredibly sexy when you work, foxy. You’re all focused and smiling at whatever you’re up to. It’s kinda hard to behave.”

I flushed lava hot as I cleared my throat. “Now it’s kinda hard to focus.”

“Sorry.”

Yeah, he didn’t sound sorry at all . I couldn’t even get mad he was so sexy watching me with a smirk.

I finished up that one and set them all aside to give over to Tracey. That was part of a layer of security. I didn’t even know how to get them directly to Keke in case my parents ever found out and used magic on me to make me confess. I wouldn’t put others in the line of fire if I didn’t have to.

“How about we start going over what you know of the basics so I can figure out a plan for that while we get into Spell Circles 101 so you don’t get behind?”

I nodded, that was perfect. He offered me a hand to stand and we moved over to the bed. I spent the next few minutes telling him what I’d been properly taught of magic besides theory and reading on my own.

Unfortunately, it only took a few minutes as I knew that little . I flushed when I stopped, mortified to have to admit how little I knew, and ducked my head.

He leaned in and kissed my shoulder. “You’re gifted, Bevin. I know this is embarrassing, but you’re gifted and can obviously do a lot without the normal spells and ways. That’s amazing and you can do high-powered magic. The rest is just paces of normal and you will fly through it. I know it.”

“Show me?” I whispered, having a moment of serious self-doubt and trying not to rag on myself. I knew it wasn’t my fault and I did the best I could, but it was still mortifying as a witch to admit I lacked most of the basics taught at ten or younger.

He didn’t reply, so I looked at him, and that had been what he’d been waiting for, kissing me softly before nodding. “Let’s get started, foxy. I can set up a plan once I get the stuff from Mom now but yeah, let’s work on some stuff.”

I kissed him then and we moved to the middle of the bed facing each other. It was hard not to get distracted when he was so hot, but he was also an engaging teacher. He made things seem so easy and uncomplicated compared to the tutors I’d had who had shown me next to nothing.

I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt that they had used roundabout ways thinking I had no magic… But it was most likely them showing off and trying to bully me in some way. It was what everything seemed to boil down to during my time at home.

Shaking off the old wounds and focusing on right then, I worked through the first thing he told me, blinking when I immediately got it.

“Good, again,” he instructed, giving me a wink. “You got this.”

Maybe I did? At least the easy kiddie stuff, but that would be nice to fly through given how far behind I was.

We worked for two hours, taking breaks after every half an hour which was standard for magic lessons. I offered him what I had for drinks and snacks and it was nice, comfortable with him.

“I think that’s it for tonight especially since you were doing other magic,” he said when we finished another easy lesson.

I nodded, covering my mouth when I yawned. “Yeah, I’m ready for bed.”

His eyes flashed shock. “Already?”

I cleared my throat and looked away. “What I was doing takes a lot out of me, and I haven’t been doing much of it when I had to hide I could do magic, so I’m building my…”

“Endurance,” he offered. “It’s just like working out and you need to build up your endurance. I get it. Plus, today was stressful.”

I snorted. “They all are.” I cleared my throat again when I realized that was a lead-in to him asking and rolled off the bed. “So you’re staying? We can put on a movie, but don’t judge me if I crash.”

“Yeah, I’m staying.” He got off the bed as well and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.”

“Yup.” I tried to keep my hormones in check as I watched his fine ass walk the short distance. I wasn’t really sure what to do or if I should get in bed, so I plugged in my phone and shut down my computer, normal stuff I did before bed.

He came out just as I was wrapping up, watching me before peeling his shirt off. I swallowed loudly as I stared at his hard lines of muscle and sculpted abs. Shit, his arms were so muscular they were about as thick as my thighs.

Which made me clench my thighs it was so hot.

Then he took off his belt and jeans, standing before me in only boxer briefs. Oh, that was dangerous. He was dangerous as he knew exactly how much I liked what I was seeing.

“Let’s go to bed, foxy,” he whispered as he set his clothes on my desk chair.

“Just a minute,” I mumbled and darted into the bathroom. I thought I heard him chuckling, but I wasn’t sure. I hurried to brush my teeth and do everything I needed to, reminding myself I’d been clear we weren’t having sex.

But I’d already had sex and fast so… That was okay then, right? Did I have to once I’d already had it?

“Leaving prison is complicated,” I sighed, letting my head fall against the wall. I took another few moments and then forced myself to leave the bathroom, not willing to be chicken and hide there all night.

I had invited him to stay after all.

He was already in bed, sitting up and clearly waiting for me. He studied me a moment and frowned. “You’re thinking too hard, Bevin. You told me what you were comfortable with and I’m cool with that.”

“I normally do,” I chuckled, knowing I got lost in my own head too often. “Being trapped like that—you said it yourself they were playing up how na?ve I am and that was a selling point. I am, and I don’t know what to do a lot.”

“Not to downplay what you’ve been through, but a lot of us feel that way. It’s normal.”

That actually helped. It wasn’t condescending from him or upsetting, instead comforting and what I needed to walk over to turn off the lights. I slid in bed next to him, and before I could even worry over what to do, he pulled me closer, keeping his arm wrapped around me.

“I’m the first to sleep over, right?” he checked after a moment. “Is that why you’re so stiff and nervous?”

I hadn’t realized I was, sighing and relaxing my body. “Yeah, sorry. I just—I’ve only had contact with guys not family or our staff since coming here. It’s all new.”

He went tense and I wasn’t sure why. Did he want to know about my purity? No, I had already told him I’d lost it. I had no clue what was going on then.

I turned over and stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on.

“I hate you lost your purity to a guy who didn’t even respect you enough to stay the night,” he finally confessed.

I melted. That was so sweet. “It’s complicated.”

“I know, but when I make love to you, I won’t be leaving.” He didn’t give me a chance to reply, lowering his lips to mine. “Let me please you, foxy.”

I moaned as his fingers danced along my thigh, nodding and feeling like a selfish bitch that he kept taking care of me and I was doing nothing for him. But he seemed really, really into my pleasure.

Really into it. He gave me two orgasms, and I couldn’t even keep my eyes open after that, kissing under his chin as I mumbled a thank-you and fell asleep.