She Used Me for a Dare… Now I Own Her Mother Chapter 373: The Bumpy Road

Howard's grip tightened on the frigid steel of the balcony rail. Down below, the display unfolded in effortless closeness that struck like a direct slap to his pride.

He observed Tisha... the very woman who'd brushed him off as a mere nuisance... chuckling at that scum like he was comedy gold incarnate.

He'd convinced himself their fling meant nothing. He'd written off the kid as a fleeting annoyance, a small bump in the road.

Yet witnessing it firsthand, amid the thick, anticipatory quiet of the staff parking area, hit entirely differently.

Their stance. Their bickering over keys with familiar ease. It lacked the rigid respect of student to teacher. It sparked with the rub of lovers who'd felt each other's touch.

A raw, piercing envy stabbed at him, fiercer and more primal than anticipated.

He yearned to leap down and pummel that punk... wipe that smug, cocky grin off his mug and drill home that he was just a blip in this place.

But his eyes slid to Heena, twisting fury into a blazing surge of disloyalty.

'How dare she?' There she stood, agreeing with his rival, sharing breath with the youth who'd shamed him moments before.

To Howard, it was the gravest offense. A dull wife was one thing; a fool who mingled with the enemy was unforgivable.

In that instant, Howard viewed no spouse. He saw a betrayer. A woman who'd slipped her leash into the embrace of the one who'd made Howard Sterling feel insignificant.

"Howard?" Siobhan's voice floated from the office, soft and probing, yet it buzzed like an irritant in his mind.

He refused to turn. He couldn't. He stared as the silver car's motor roared to life, its beams slicing the darkness like a knife.

Heena occupied the driver's spot. She piloted another man's ride, abandoning Howard on the balcony like a stone statue, fingers locked on the rail that alone held his breakdown at bay.

A fierce, urgent impulse hit him to dash down... yank the door wide and haul her out by the hair... but the vehicle was already rolling. It passed his Audi, taillights taunting with crimson glare before vanishing into shadows.

He spun from the rail, steps sharp with bottled venom.

Siobhan lingered in the stairwell entrance, briefcase hugged to her bosom in hesitant poise.

She'd readied herself with expert routine as a woman versed in her duties. Hair neat, lips repainted, collar set just so to his liking. She stood complete, awaiting his nod.

Sterling strode by without pause.

"Let’s go," he snapped. The command emerged curt, devoid of the silky charm he'd draped over her earlier. He was steps ahead before she caught the chill.

Siobhan sensed a icy chill of dread.

This wasn't the tender, lingering night he'd vowed minutes prior; his aura had soured, laced with fury she couldn't grasp.

Yet submission's pull proved unbreakable.

She shouldered her bag and trailed him, her quick footsteps clattering unevenly against his steady, pounding stride as they headed to the lot.

***

The silver sedan cruised the dusk, its motor purring smoothly, vibrations humming up through Heena's feet.

Though the drive was silky, her knuckles blanched on the wheel.

Cabin air hung dense, buzzing with potent, pulling strain emanating from the rear.

Her gaze darted to the rearview.

Tisha and Alex sat tight together in the tight quarters. Crushed side by side, any divide between them had vanished.

Heena had known Tisha for years... not close friends, but a peer famed for her frosty, distant poise.

This wasn't Tisha Wells' way with guys. The Ice Queen shunned leaning in. She barred intruders from her space.

Yet here she sat. Hip to hip with a student her junior by decades, angled toward him like a magnet to steel.

No stiffness or guarded space. Merely two sharing body heat in the backseat like old habit.

'What if it's real?'

The idea bubbled up unbidden.

'What if they truly are...'

She nipped her lip sharply.

For the notion brought no revulsion, no ethical shock, no work worry. It brought fire.

A gradual, insidious glow igniting at her nape, trailing down with intent slowness, as if her flesh had awaited this spark after long denial.

She'd encountered it in books. Those tucked low in her study shelf.

Tales of poised, mature career women undone by youthful males through persistence, nearness, and keen focus.

She'd devoured them scholarly style... detached, smugly superior, claiming research not craving.

The taboo rush of a teacher breaching her own boundary. Desire gnawing at decorum. The shift from 'I mustn't' to 'why resist?'

She'd scorned those story women. All of them.

Now she clutched the wheel bone-white, sneaking peeks at the mirror. Shivers prickled her arms as a young buck lounged behind her coworker, arm slung back, her mind racing wild.

"Heena, take the next left onto Garrison."

Tisha's tone sliced the haze like ice water.

Heena blinked. The street sharpened... lines, signals, the dull grind of road and stripes.

"Right. Yes. Garrison," she replied, tone firmer than deserved.

She gave a faint head shake, a secret shake to uproot the fantasy sprouting wild.

Imagination stayed in books. Bound safe, shut when flames rose too high.

This was reality. A forty-seven-year-old academic ferrying colleagues. Period.

She veered onto Garrison Avenue.

The initial pothole struck soon... a harsh, bone-rattling gash that jarred the car, flinging Tisha into Alex with a startled cry.

Another followed quickly. Then one more.

Heena's grasp firmed as the auto shuddered over terrain more warzone than street.

She checked the mirror once more... Tisha steadied on Alex's torso, giggling, all reserve tossed as the ride heaved.

"Tisha," Heena stated evenly. "This road is terrible."

***

Backseat words fell on deaf ears. Tisha ignored Heena's crown and the crumbling asphalt alike.

Her breathing snagged, trapped as another bump slammed her against Alex solidly.

His palm weighed on her, hot and purposeful, placed high on her leg.

With the road's shakes, his digits stirred, a languid, hunting glide hiking her silk skirt's hem.

Vehicle jolts synced his pace, touch creeping upward to her thigh's tender core.

Tisha rode a surge of pure, dizzying thrill.

The danger fueled her like a drug unforeseen... Heena so near, gaze flicking to the glass, blind but teetering on revelation. The space crackled, ready to ignite.

Tisha met Alex's stare.

In dim light, his eyes gaped dark, echoing her craving.

The Ice Queen thawed, her career shell peeled by the pounding road and his daring, secret advance.

She bent close, lips grazing his ear, words a steamy, fractured murmur lost in tire drone.

"Alex..." she breathed, gasp catching as fingers traced her stocking lace.

"I’m so horny right now. I can’t... I can’t think."

Eyes clamped shut, head lolled on the rest.

Another crater rocked the seats, bucking her pelvis into his hand. The jolt hit like lightning, a sharp pleasure crest urging scream and concealment alike.