I'd been waiting for that message for over a year. It meant the noose was sitting nice and snug around the Acardi Crime Family's neck and all I had to do was put on my executioner's hood, pull the lever and really fuck up their day.
However, my priorities had changed. Once my mother was cleared to leave hospital and we had a plan in place for what care she needed to get back to 100%, it was time to leave Highston, and The F King, behind us in the dust.
Somehow, the idea of coming clean to Sarina didn't seem like an insurmountable problem anymore. As long as I could tell her it was all in my past, surely there was nothing we couldn't get over.
She held on to me so tight whenever we embraced, like she never wanted to let go. Well, she'd never have to. All I had to do was actually get all this shit into the past.
I fucking loved her. I loved her when I was inside her and she was making my ears ring, I loved her when we whispered in the dark, I loved her when we were completely silent. I fucking loved her and I wanted to fill my life with her.
The best part was that I was sure she loved me too. More sure than if I mixed an acid and a base I'd get water and a salt.
The hard part was going to be working out the logistics of taking as much of the Acardi's money as I could and disappearing with my mom, Sarina and my own money all in one night. I had a month or two to figure that out, and in the meantime I had to play the model employee.
"Sir?"
I turned in my chair and saw one of my assistants, Pablo, standing at the entrance to my office and looking nervous. He held a few sheets of paper in his hand.
"Yes?"
"Here's the results from the latest batch, would you like to look at them now?"
"Yeah, hand them over." I waved him in.
Pablo gave me the test results and I flicked through them. "Has the last batch been weighed?"
"Yes sir."
"What's our level at for today, in total?"
"107% of target, sir."
"Good, good. Hmmm. It looks like the initial filtration unit might be introducing trace amounts of impurities. Take it apart and see if there's any kind of buildup in there."
"Yes sir."
Pablo left and I double-checked the printout to see if there was anything else that required my attention. There was nothing that needed the tweaking of a master chemist; they could carry on making perfect product just by each of them doing their little part.
I put the sheets of paper through the shredder and leaned back in my chair. That factory Tony told me about in Redmond sounded like the biggest single stockpile of cash for the Acardis any of my "informants" had ever seen, so at some stage I was going to have to take a little trip up there and see the lay of the land.
For now, though, I could do with some Sarina-time. I pulled out my phone again and sent her a message asking where she was. The answer came back after only a few minutes.
‘In the library. Millie dragged me here to study for a test we've got next week. What are you up to? xoxo'
I sent her a message saying I had something for her. Anvils tied to little strings at the corners of my mouth couldn't have kept the smirk off my face. My jacket was already on and I was halfway out of the lab when the reply came through.
‘What is it? Want to meet up somewhere?'
Sitting in my car, I told her to hold tight, I'd find her there. Highston University Library was a fucking huge building. Lots of books on lots of shelves. Lots of places a sexy little human resources undergrad might get fucked hard, if somebody was willing and able to do it … and if she was able to keep quiet enough.
I started my engine with that smile still on my face and pulled out of the parking garage. I may have been planning on leaving the F King title behind, but I'd never felt more like royalty. I didn't give much of a damn for monarchies, but I did know that one thing a good king should do is fuck the ever-loving bejesus out of his queen, so that was exactly what I was going to do.
Sarina
When Millie and I arrived in the Library, we found it a lot busier than we expected. There must have been several papers with tests and assignments scheduled for shortly after the break.
As such, we couldn't even sit together, and the first spot I found was at the end of a long row of private desks, set up like office cubicles with temporary walls separating them. I had all my books and printouts of the PowerPoint lecture slides spread out, with scribbled notes all over them, but I couldn't have cared less about the test.
It didn't matter if I passed, failed, or never took the test at all. I was only going to live this lie for as long as it took me to work up the courage to tell Ryan the truth.
I'd tell him everything, including the truth of my love. I'd quit the force and accept the repercussions of my actions. We'd be strong enough to get through this.
Together, we'd leave our past lives behind and start afresh. He was involved with something he'd need to let go of too, but he couldn't be The F King. It wasn't possible.
In the academy, they stressed that the bad guys didn't always look like you expected. They didn't always wear the stripy shirts and masks and come in the night and look like bad guys. You always had to be on your guard.
Statistically, they were no doubt correct … but that hadn't been my experience. The bad guys in my life I had seen coming from a mile away. From the very first moments I was introduced as their new foster daughter.
None of them had ever shown the kind of righteous happiness that Ryan showed that day in the hospital. I didn't think any of them had a clue what love was.
Whatever else Ryan might be, he deserved to be loved. He was mine, I was his, and that was all that mattered.
Since that afternoon a few days before Christmas, it had been the happiest time of my life. Swept up in the Crewe family celebrations, no meetings with Shelton, I was temporarily free to be a one person instead of two, young, happy and in love.
With them, I found what I'd been yearning for my whole life without knowing it. Family, love, future, acceptance, passion. It was incredible how I had to pretend to be somebody else in order to find myself.
"Found you."
I looked up at Ryan and smiled. "Yes you did."
"Fuck you're hot," he whispered quietly as he leaned in and kissed me.
"You're not so bad yourself. You wanna get out of here?"
Ryan stood tall again and looked back over the row of library cubicles, then shook his head before whispering. "I couldn't have picked a better spot myself, seeing how busy the place is."
"Better spot for what?"
Ryan took a small step forward so he was standing right against my chair, then leaned down and took my hand in his. He ran my hand up his thigh, then settled it on his pants, right on his already hard cock.
"For me to give you something," he said.
My eyes darted around, and confirmed that we were at least visually secluded, even if there was a person in the cubicle next to us, and next to that. I dropped my jaw in a silent gasp at the naughty thrill as I turned back to him.
His hand left mine and curled around the back of my neck, his thumb stroking my cheek. I kept mine exactly where it was, even stroking his hard bulge a little.
"We can't do this," I mouthed silently, in contradiction to my actions.
"Oh yes we can," he mouthed back.
I caressed his cock through his pants and bit my lip. With butterflies swarming my stomach, I cast my eyes around one last time for anybody who might have a line of sight on us, or security cameras.
Seeing none, I brought my other hand up and carefully unzipped his pants. Every click of the slider along the zip made me wince and listen nervously for any sign that the person next to us had heard.
When no such sign came, I reached inside under the watchful eye of my boyfriend. Ever since Halloween, he'd been insatiable, but then so had I, and now was no exception. After a moment of trying to figure out whether to try to push his boxers down, I reached in through the gap at the front and managed to disentangle his thick manhood from his underwear and pull it out into the open.
I wrapped my fingers as far around it as I could and gave him a couple two-handed strokes, almost as in awe as I had been the first time I ever saw it. Before I was too far gone, I shook myself out of my trance and looked up at Ryan.
"Make sure nobody is coming," I mouthed.
After a cursory glance down the row of cubicles, he mouthed back, "Make sure somebody is."
I gave him a defiant scowl and then pulled his cock towards me. Never taking my eyes off his, I slowly swirled my tongue around the swollen head until it was glistening with my saliva.
With narrowed eyes and parted lips, Ryan nodded his approval, and I moved my lips near the base of his cock, snaking my tongue past the open zip and licking as close to his balls as I could. My nose led the way, nuzzling the underside of his cock as I licked from base to tip before opening wide and slipping him into me.