“You can’t run.” His mouth presses against one of my nipples. “You can’t hide.” The other nipple. He lingers there long enough to wrap his tongue around it. “You won’t escape me,” Keller breathes against my ear. But Claire, if you must, feel free to scream.”

Then he rams in without warning, no longer holding back.

And I do scream.

31. Claire

31

CLAIRE

I don’t make it to the ile flottante lesson. Keller does let me send Dez a quick apology, which she answers with a promise to show me her creme anglaise another day. Then he carries me to his bath and proceeds to thoroughly lather, wash, and explore every inch of my skin.

Eventually, we head out to our respective classes. I’m half floating on a little cloud all day, not just because of the million ways I was pleasured and worshipped this morning, but because I feel…free. Unburdened. Like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders the moment I spoke to Noah. I shouldn’t have put it off as long as I did. In fact, I should have stood firm months ago when I tried to break up with him, knowing it was the right thing to do.

If I’m honest with myself, the distance is only part of the reason. He just didn’t make me feel…well, much of anything. It took Keller for me really understand the extent of how a person could yearn, crave, desperately want closeness with another, but I knew all along that there wasn’t much romance between Noah and me. Just familiarity and habit. We were used to each other. In the long run, I’m sure even he will see I made the right decision.

In the meantime, I’m getting so many disparaging texts, I might just block him.

And then there’s the series of phone calls and texts from my grandmother that I don’t even look at, knowing what they’ll say.

Well, I told her I’d talk to him, not that I’d say what she wanted me to.

I would have just put my phone on do not disturb if I didn’t want to stay in touch with Lisa, Lily, Dez, and Keller.

One week here and I have more people in my life than I had after eighteen years back home. I was shoved in a closet there, taken for a prude or a bore by my peers, no doubt because of my wardrobe, my family, and yes, my boyfriend. He was popular enough, but even Noah kept me apart from his friends, never correcting anyone’s assumption that I wasn’t someone worth knowing.