Page 78 of Hot for Teacher
And then there were more recent events.
Chase followed a drop of condensation on his juice glass with his finger. “Last year, I quit a sport I’d played all my life without any notice, giving up a scholarship I’d worked really hard for. You weren’t concerned then.”
“Well, we’ve always trusted you to—”
“Do my own thing?” Chase cut in. “Know my own mind? Live my life without any affection or support?”
His interruption was followed by silence. Chase didn’t knowwhether she was really considering his words or only processing his rudeness.
He wasn’t sure it mattered much either way.
“I’m dating a man named Killian Burke,” Chase told her, a little more calmly. “He’s a professor with a prestigious reputation, if that kind of thing is what you’re most worried about. We’re very happy.”
Killian had been mixing something in a bowl, giving Chase the illusion of privacy while remaining close for support, but now he came over and pressed a hand to Chase’s shoulder again. Chase leaned into it shamelessly.
His mother cleared her throat. “I’m not sure if your father and I can continue to fund—”
Chase interrupted again. He was really on a roll acting like a brat. Killian would never let this kind of sass fly normally. “That’s fine if you cut me off. Killian has already offered to support me financially.” That felt like a half-truth, since he and Killian had never formally discussed it, but Chase already knew in his bones that Killian would do it if he asked. “And if I run into any of dad’s business partners here in Phoenix, I’m sure they’d be delighted to know I’m a kept sugar baby.”
There was a quiet huff of surprised laughter behind him, right in time with his mother’s harsh puff of breath. “Well, of course we’d never cut off funds for your schooling, Chase.” His mother let out a mirthless laugh. “We’re notmonsters, darling.”
No, they weren’t. But they were cold and distant and more concerned with their reputation than his happiness, and that had done its own damage.
Chase had gotten what he’d needed, and he’d had enough for now. “I’ll see you at Christmas. I’ll be bringing my boyfriend, if he’s available.”
His mother made a noise of assent—or possibly of horror,Chase wasn’t listening closely enough to tell—and Chase hung up the phone.
He stared at the blank screen for a moment. Killian was still gripping Chase’s shoulder, massaging the tense muscles there. For once, his pheromones were under tight control—Chase couldn’t read into them at all.
Chase sighed, placing the phone face down. “That was pointless, wasn’t it?”
“It wasn’t,” Killian told him firmly. “You said your piece, and now you know you have financial support.” He must have been able to hear Chase’s mother through the phone, or maybe he’d picked up enough from context cues. “You’re not ready to cut them off entirely. That’s not a flaw.”
Killian sat down in the chair next to Chase, turning to the side to face him completely. Chase could smell bacon in the oven, and Killian had a dusting of flour on his wrist. His dark-blue gaze bore into Chase’s, his expression as unreadable as his pheromones.
Eventually Killian spoke, “I’m not particularly close to my parents.”
“So you’ve said.”
“But we’re not at odds, either, and I already know they’ll adore you. You’ve a sweetness about you, underneath that poised exterior of yours. You’ll let them coddle you like I never would. We can go to them for Thanksgiving next year. My mother will try to feed you to death, and my father will give you all the boring, pointless life advice you don’t need.”
There was that ache again, the dull pain of Killian giving Chase something so deeply needed it hurt to receive it. “That sounds really nice,” Chase told him, the only response he could come up with. He meant every word.
“I thought it might.” Killian’s fingers circled Chase’s wrist, and he tugged until Chase rose from his own seat and ended up inKillian’s lap, Killian’s arm around his waist. “Drink your orange juice. Your hands are shaking.”
Chase grabbed his glass and chugged it down, suddenly unbearably thirsty. He sucked in a breath when he was done, sinking back against Killian’s broad chest. “I love you, you know. Have I told you that yet?”
The ensuing wave of Killian’s pheromones was so overwhelming it knocked the air out of Chase’s lungs, but somehow Killian’s voice was steady above him. “You haven’t.” There was a pause. “Will it scare you off if I tell you I love you too?”
Chase rested his head on Killian’s shoulder. “No. It hurts a little, but it’s a good hurt.” Chase let his eyes fall closed as he asked, “You want to meet my friends? Officially?”
Killian’s answer was immediate. “Yes.”
“There’s going to be an end-of-year pool party at Eli’s. To celebrate making it through finals.”
“Ah,” Killian said mildly.
“Your pheromones are really intense right now.”
