Page 19 of Hot for Teacher
Chase chatted politely to the beta driver, Susan, who seemed pleasantly surprised and grateful to have a sober passenger at this time of night. She drove him to his car, still waiting at the bar, and then Chase took himself home.
He let himself into the house, trying to sort out what he was feeling. He was exhausted but also … not exactly wired, but raw. On edge in a way that wasn’t familiar to him.
Chase thought of Burke petting him, telling Chase it was necessary aftercare. How much worse would Chase be feeling if Burke hadn’t taken the time to cuddle? With how soft and high and fuzzy he’d been feeling in his postcoital state, Chase could imagine the steepness of that drop.
He was grateful for what Burke had done to mitigate it.
And Chase was grateful now to see a light on in the living room, and to find Spencer sprawled out in a corner of the couch, watching something that involved a lot of alphas throwing fists at each other.
Spencer gave Chase a slack, drunken grin. “Chasey! You’re back!”
Chase slipped off his shoes, heading toward the couch. “I am. I’m surprised you are.”
With Noah working that night, Spencer had headed to an all-alpha frat for one of their legendary parties. Betas weren’t exactly unwelcome, but it was usually more of an alpha-omega arrangement, so Chase had been given an easy excuse to bow out.
Spencer shrugged. “Had my fun and wanted to get home.Unlike Noah.” At Chase’s confused look, Spencer’s grin widened. “Didn’t you see the text?”
Chase knew he’d received a text on the group chat, but he hadn’t checked it yet. He looked now and saw a message from Noah letting them know he planned to be out all night and that he’d see them tomorrow. It was followed by ten or so messages from Spencer hounding Noah for more details.
“Wasn’t he working tonight?” Chase asked, taking a seat next to Spencer on the couch.
Noah worked as a barback at the same place Spencer worked as a bartender. Spencer had gotten him the job.
“Must have met someone at the bar.”
That didn’t sound like Noah at all, but Chase let it lie. If Noah had gone home with who Chase thought he’d gone home with, he wasn’t going to want them pressing him for details.
Spencer leaned in, maybe to scent mark Chase, and then froze in place. “Whoa.” He sniffed the air. “Whoa. Did you change designations while you were out?”
Right. Because Chase absolutely reeked of Burke’s alpha pheromones.
Chase tried for a casual shrug. “Just a hookup.”
Spencer gave him a look. “Um, yeah. You’ve had hookups before. You’ve never come home smelling like an alpha in rut.” He sniffed the air again, wrinkling his nose. “Intense. Who was he?”
“Just some guy.”
Chase supposed he should be grateful Noah wasn’t home right now. There was no way Noah wouldn’t recognize Burke’s distinct pheromones. But Spencer had never taken Burke’s class, and he hadn’t been there that day in the quad. Chase and Burke should be in the clear, even with Chase reeking of his former professor.
“You gonna see him again?”
This will be one time only.
“Nah.”
“It’s kind of a bummer sometimes, huh? The one-time things?” Spencer’s bleary gaze had sharpened, and he was eyeing Chase with more scrutiny than usual.
“Yeah,” Chase said with surprise. “Didn’t think you felt that way though.”
Maybe Spencer had smoked some weed with his booze. Sometimes that made him introspective.
Spencer leaned back into the couch again, throwing his head back with a sigh. “Sometimes after I nut, I get hit with this, like, gut punch of loneliness.” He thumped a fist against his chest in demonstration. “Like, it hurts.” He lowered his chin, meeting Chase’s eyes with a loopy smile, like he hadn’t just said something completely heartbreaking. “But then I have you guys to come home to, and it’s fine.”
This definitely wasn’t the time to get through to Spencer about anything important, but Chase couldn’t help saying something. “You know, there’s this thing where some people hook up and then still hang out afterward, and it’s not so lonely in the end.”
Spencer rolled his eyes. “I know what dating is, Chase. Want me to help with that a bit?” He waved a hand at Chase, encompassing his whole being. Or, more likely, the pheromones drenching him. “You’ll need to take a real shower to get it fully off though. I don’t think my scent can really compete.”
The thought of covering Burke’s pheromones didn’t sit right in Chase’s gut. He cleared his throat. “No, I don’t mind. I’ll shower before I sleep.”
