Love or Lust • Michael Langdon •

chapter four

A grey had came to wake me up, announcing it would be breakfast soon. I nodded and thanked her, getting changed into a black dress with small red detailing. I turned to look in my mirror when I noticed a small book laid on my desks' seat, a note on top of it.

The handwriting was impeccable, gorgeously cursive. The note read:
' You've read every book in the library here; so i decided to treat you. come to my office at breakfast. if you don't come i'll come looking for you.
- mr. Langdon'

Mr.Langdon? I wonder why he hadn't ever mentioned his first name.

After brushing through my hair I left my room, walking in the direction of Mr.Langdon's' office .

"Where do you think you're going?" - Miss Venable.
"Mr. Langdon's office, Ms. venable."
"Leave him be! Come for breakfast now or starve."
I stood there for a second pondering my options when I felt a hand on my shoulder,
"It's okay Miss Venable, I asked her to come to my office."

Miss Venable nodded with a sigh, walking away to the dining room. I looked up at Mr. Langdon and smiled. "What did you need me for Mr.Langdon?"
"Come to my office."

Once we were inside his office he sat me opposite him, hands clamped together on his
lap. "You'll be moving into my room with me, Y/N."

"What? Why?" I asked with a pout. My privacy was one of the only things I had left in this place. He smiled softly, It could've been the first time I had seen him give a genuine smile. 
"You are a woman and there are men here; they're desperate. It's the end of the world. And when I look at you, when men look at you all they see is how vulnerable you are. You'll be safe with me."

I couldn't say no, he was keeping me alive after all. He was going to save me. I nodded not wanting to cause a fuss, and this small act of submission seemed to satisfy him. "Good girl." He spoke smoothly, so smoothly it was almost mocking. "Shall we go for breakfast?"

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It was evening, everybody was seated at the dining room table; the grays serving us our gelatin cubes on silver platters. Mr. Langon was seated at one head of the table, Ms. Venable at the other. Mr. Langdon had pulled her aside earlier in the day and she had appeared distracted since, glancing up at him every few seconds. Thomas was sat beside me and he had noticed it too, nudging me under the table. "What's up between Ms. Venable and Mr. Langdon?" He whispered in my ear subtly. I shrugged my shoulders and asked why I would know and he sniggered in response, whispering a teasing "You're always with him, Y/N."

Mr. Langdon made eye contact as if he heard what we were whispering about, though there was no way he would've been able to hear from the end of the table. "When you've finished your meal you'll be going to bed." He spoke aloud for the room to hear; everybody now staring at me. Gallant laughed out a crude "Y/N is gonna be getting some good dick!" Everybody began to chuckle, my face cranberry as Mr. Langdon's face did not change; just maintaining eye contact with me. Ms. Venable stood up abruptly- smashing her glass onto the floor shouting "There will be no such thing! Mr. Langdon, I agreed to allow you to share your chambers with Y/N under the impression it was to protect her virtue, not the opposite!"

Protect my virtue? I had done almost everything except traditional sex, I was no virgin Mary.

Coco stormed away dragging Mallory with her after giving me an unusual apologetic look, Stu and Andre sauntering off together to escape the chaos. Only a few people remaining in the room to witness Mr. Langdons' sudden rage, "I do not need your approval to share my bed with anybody. Need I remind you of who I am?" He spoke through gritted teeth with his jaw clenched. Ms. Venables' eyes began to water and she turned, quickly storming from the room.

"Mr. Langdon, It's only 9 pm why do I have to sleep already?" I asked with a pout to try to distract his anger hoping he wouldn't take it out on me. He smiled, which was probably scarier than him scowling at me. "Because I said so, don't be a brat now of all times or you'll get the rage you've been craving for." I tried to say sorry but it was as if my throat refused to allow me to speak from fear. He wrapped an arm around my waist and walked to his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind us.

"Undress."

"What? Why?" I stuttered out, suddenly insecure of every one of my flaws.

"To change into your night clothes, of course, I'll be on my laptop so you don't have to worry of me looking."

Mr. Langdon really needed to change his choice of words in innocent situations.

He typed away on his laptop as I changed, my mind rushing with every possibility of tonight.