Thursday started in the kitchen, because Veronica had said before dinner and he was not stupid enough to make her wait until the plates were out.
She was already dressed for the office. Isabella was on the stairs and did not come down.
"Mitchell," Veronica said. "Now. Not a version."
"Ryan told his father I live here and that Sophia is using me on her buildings. His father called her and called you. Ryan also got the grade warning to his father’s office. I did not give it to him. Ward did not give it to him."
Veronica looked at him for a long second. "And the breakfast."
"Sophia took me so he would see the work instead of the house. His wife was there. She asked about a wall. That is the part I can prove."
He did not give her the rest. Caroline’s five hundred was in his account. Veronica did not need the mattress.
"You will pass Friday," she said. "You will not use this house as an answer when David Mitchell asks what you are. If another page comes here with his name on it, we are going to have a different conversation, and Isabella will not be in it."
"I have Ward at four. The set is done."
"Then go do that. Dinner is at seven. You will be at it."
Ward’s office door was open when he got there. She looked at the set, not at his face, and shut the door with her heel once he was inside.
"I said open. I am closing it because the hall has ears and your file is already walking around town." She took the pages. "Sit. Do not perform."
He sat. Quick Think kept him from staring at the first graph. She found the decimal he had fixed and made a small sound that was not praise.
"This is the first one that looks like you understood it. Annoying." She set the pen down. The blouse was the same gray. Her mouth was not as set as Monday. "If you came here to be looked at, leave. If you came to pass, we do the next unit."
"I came to pass. I can do both."
Ward stared at him. Then she laughed once, short, like she hated it.
"You are nineteen, you live with a guardian David Mitchell is circling, and you are sitting in my office saying that with a straight face."
"You closed the door."
"I did." She did not open it. "Come here. If I change my mind, you leave, and Friday still gets passed. I am not failing you to feel moral."
He came around the desk. She kissed him like she had been angry about it since Monday. He got a hand under the blouse. Wicked Fingers moved and she grabbed his wrist, then let it stay. ~mh. He lifted her onto the edge of the desk, papers shifting, and pushed her skirt up. She was wet. He rubbed her until her hips followed, then held her off when she tightened.
Make Her Wait kept her there, shaking, furious.
"Do not— Ethan—"
He let her finish. It hit harder for the wait, ~ah, her hand over her own mouth, heel against his calf. Second Wave took the next one before she could push him off. He turned her, bent her over the desk, and pushed in. Tight. Hot. She moaned into her sleeve and reached back to hold his thigh.
"Right there." ~mh
He stayed on it until she came around him, then finished in her because she pushed back and did not tell him to pull out. The door stayed shut. The hall did not get it.
She fixed the skirt before she looked at him. Her face was red. Her voice was the teacher voice again, worse for it.
"Friday’s set is good enough. The review is held. If you tell anyone, including the girl on the steps, I mail Veronica tonight and I will mean it. Four o’clock next Thursday. Door open unless I say otherwise. Out."
[Conquest: Helen Ward, 41.]
[Reward: 1,600 CP]
[Reward: $0]
[Review: held]
[CP: 9,650]
[Cash: $4,450]
He washed his hands in the building bathroom and made dinner.
Veronica did not ask what Ward had said beyond the review. Isabella watched his face and did not ask either. Caroline’s text came while the plates were still out.
Tomorrow. Not the wall. My car. Noon.
He typed yes under the table.
Ward had held the letter. Caroline wanted the next use of him. Ryan still had the paper. None of that was safe, and he did not need it to be.