Deep End

by Ali Hazelwood

(even if Dr. Carlsen’s perennial glower is a little unsettling).

THE ADAM CARLSEN?!

Does he want a heart-to-heart, kinkster to kinkster?

Lmao

Bold of someone who enjoys being tied up like a mesh bag full of limes.

Cackling

“Come on, Luk. I know you think she’s hot. You said so.” Silence. “And I see the way you look at her.” A buzz of unease bursts in the back of my skull. “How do I look at her?” “You know how.”

Jaw dropped

“Sweedy,” they call him—not sweetie,

Obsessed with this

“Maybe the elephant’s just…blindfolded?” He nods slowly. “And tied up.” “And doing as it’s told.” He looks like he might find that more appealing. “What a good elephant.”

“Come closer,” he orders. Lukas stopped a step behind me. I turn and frown up at him. “Why?” “Because I just asked you to, Scarlett.”

I’m starving, but my walk to the athlete dining hall is slow, because I’m busy writing an email to one Dr. Olive Smith.

“Actually.” I feel the ghost of his hand between my shoulder blades. The soft brush of his thumb at the top of my spine. It’s barely there, but it guides me in the direction of the stairs. Whispers at me exactly where to go. “I have absolutely nothing better to do.”

Giggling and kicking my feet

“Come on, we’ve been dismissed. See you at home, Sweedy.” He leads her away. Hunter points silently at his nose, gives me an overenthusiastic thumbs-up, blows a kiss to Lukas, and goes on their

I love them

it would drive me bananas, as I cannot dwell in this plane of existence unless all my notifications across all my devices are cleared.

Me af

He conspicuously left the door open, and he made sure I was aware that he could see me through the glass doors.

Stop thats cute

Lukas, though, doesn’t give me the satisfaction. “Because you seemed…touch starved.” I blink at him once. Maybe twice. “And lonely.” He pushes away from the frame, finally inside. My brain hums, then blanks. “A little hungry, too.” He’s not talking about food.

LMAO

“Come on, Scarlett.” His mouth twitches. “You know who I want to have sex with.”

My jaw is on the floor

I don’t get to finish that sentence. Because Lukas Blomqvist takes a long step, pushes me into the wall, and kisses me.

Eheheheheheh

“The second thing is that I’ve read your list. And there is not a single thing you want that I don’t want more.”

Barkbark

“I told you so. I told you so. I told you so—I told you so. Who told you so? Me. Moi. Penelope Fucking Diana Fucking Ross, ladies and gentlemen and nonbinary friends, that’s who!” She breaks into the most uncoordinated dance I’ve ever had the displeasure of witnessing.

I love Pen omg

I nod into his chest. His palm slides up, to the top of my spine, a slab of heat and touch, until his thumb finds the pulse at the base of my neck, wipes back and forth over it. “Good girl.”

“Scarlett. Can you be good?”

Lukas the man you are im in love

“You’re pretty when you beg.” Another kiss on my cheek. “You always are.”

“This is baby’s first ghosting, I’m going to need some direction,” I add, just to lighten the mood.

“Too bad. Would be nice if your bed was nearby.”

INSANE

He folds my skirt, and my top, and even my bra, but tosses my panties somewhere to the back of the room, and it’s so un-Lukas of him, I cannot help the giggle bubbling out of me. “That’s littering and theft.”

Cracking up

“That’s too bad,” he says, his voice at once mean and fond, like he contains every multitude I’ll ever need. “Since you’ll take what I fucking give you.”

Speechless

“Quiet. You’ll take what you’re given and thank me for it. Won’t you, baby?”

Mysig. Swedish adjective. Cozy. Warm. Soothing. The quality of sharing a comfortable moment with a person whose company one enjoys.

“Oh, sweetheart.” My belly swoops at the endearment. His tone lives somewhere between sympathy and amusement. “If you don’t think that I’m very aware of your presence, always, you have no idea what’s going on.”

“We’ve established that neither of us is into those, and that I have better uses for your mouth.”

“I fuck you because you’re the most perfect thing I’ve ever felt, Scarlett.”

He’s a wonderful means of transportation—safe, timely, comfortable. I want a yearly pass.

“There’s this guy.” I drum my fingers at the base of the window. “He’s…” Great. Perfect. My friend’s ex. I like him. He likes me, too, I’m sure. Not just because of what we do. Maybe there’s something here. But what if there isn’t? I should ask him. It makes my stomach hurt. “It’s needlessly convoluted.”

Scarlett please

Lukas: Or maybe we should just start dating.

YESSSSSSS

“I’ll fucking tell you what you need.”

“That’s because you are a kinky little troll. Which is, incidentally, how I will re-save you in my contacts.”

More valid than sharing the same sexual fetishes.”

Dude i would have punched her

“Do you want me to fuck you while pretending that you’re not the person I feel closest to in the whole fucking world now, Scarlett? Or another day?”

“Do you guys have a Swedes’ club? With your secret language?” “You mean, Swedish?”

Lmaoooo

“In the palm of your hand, Scarlett. From the very start.”

“The only time wasted is time we are apart.”