Page 8 of Hot for Teacher
When the bartender made to leave, Killian stopped him with a gesture. “The kid at the end,” he said, surprised at the gravelly edge to his own voice. “What’s he drinking?”
The bartender answered immediately, seemingly without having to think, “Gin and tonic with lime.”
Interesting. It was a country-club type drink. Not the watered-down beer or obnoxious shooter combination one might expect of an undergraduate student.
Or maybe Killian was just being a judgmental, pretentious asshole.
It wouldn’t be the first time.
“You want to get his next one?” the bartender asked, familiar with Killian’s usual methods. Really, Killian should learn the man’s name one of these days.
“No.” Killian tugged his whiskey closer, handing the bartender his card. “Close me out, will you?”
Killian sat with his drink, watching the side profile of a certain Chase Adler. Student. Beta. Polite young man.
Killian sat and watched and waited.
3
Chase
Professor Burke was here. At the bar. Here at the bar where Chase had come expressly to catch sight of him.
Chase just hadn’t thought it would actually work.
He had maybe been in a weird mental state since he’d realized the omega Noah was so twisted up about was actually Professor Miller, their Omega Studies teacher. And then Chase had caught Noah just the other day researching their university’s policy on student-teacher relationships—mainly that there wasn’t one, at least not in writing. Chase was pretty sure that had something to do with the campus heat services, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was Noah had fucked a teacher. They wereallowedto fuck their teachers.
Well, actually, they probably weren’t—and Noah and Professor Miller would probably get into a fuckton of trouble if someone found out—but it wasn’tofficiallyforbidden.
And just knowing that was all it had taken for Chase to start wondering: Had Professor Burke ever fucked a student?
It was maybe even a reasonable question to ask, because how else would the student body know about the bar Burke haunted—and the club it was adjacent to—if someone hadn’t seen him there in the flesh?
So now Chase was here. And also Burke was here. Professor Burke.
Chase had sensed him the moment he’d come through the door, with his leather-rich pheromones wafting in like the world’s most unfair temptation. The professor had taken a seat at a table where Chase only had to turn his head the slightest bit to the side to see him.
Did Burke remember Chase? Did he even know who Chase was? Theirs wasn’t a small university, and Burke probably taught way too many students to keep track of. And a new semester had already started. Maybe he’d said that thing he’d said to Chase only because he couldn’t remember Chase’s actual name.
Or maybe Chase had imagined it. Wouldn’t Noah have said something, if Burke had really said … the thing?
Chase hadn’t told his roommates he was coming here. He loved them, but Noah was struggling enough with his feelings for the omega professor, and Spencer couldn’t keep a secret if someone sewed his lips together. So Chase was flying solo.
Having a drink on his own was kind of nice, even, other than the jittery nerves dancing in his stomach like asshole butterflies. The bar was quiet and softly lit, with dark, jewel-toned upholstery on the chairs and booths that made everything feel a little … forbidden.
Or maybe that was Chase projecting.
He finished his drink, squishing his lime down with his straw, and the attentive bartender meandered over. “Another?”
Chase nodded. “Please.” And then, because it would be far too tempting to keep slamming drinks until he had some sort of liquid courage in his veins, “And I’ll close out.”
The scent of leather hit Chase’s nose again, faint but tantalizing, and just like that, Chase held out a hand. “Or, wait. Keep it open. Sorry. Thank you.”
The bartender shrugged like he didn’t care either way, pouring Chase another gin and tonic, adding a lime, and sliding it over.
Chase stood from his barstool, drink in hand. This was it. He’d decided he was allowed one stupid, embarrassing moment, and then he would put it behind him. No one would know, anyway. No one but him and Burke.
