22. Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-two
Axel
“ R oll over.” I tried to coax Dylan.
“Nooooo. I’m comfy,” he whined.
His heat finally broke last night, and I needed to return to work today despite the bone-deep exhaustion. It had been incredible to spend Dylan’s heat with him. I could only imagine what it would be like once we synced and got to experience a heat and rut at the same time. Although, I was slightly afraid my cock might fall off.
I was pretty sure I hadn’t even come this much when I was a teenager and wanked like it was an Olympic sport.
Despite his protests, he let me manoeuvre him so I could make sure the last few days hadn’t caused any damage.
I pulled his left cheek to one side and took a look at his cute little hole. It was pink and slightly puffy, but it looked okay.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, gently brushing the pad of my finger over it.
“Mmph. No, just sensitive.” His voice was muffled from where he was face-first into a pillow. “I have some cream in my bag, which helps. George recommended it after your rut.”
I climbed out of the bed to find his bag and discovered the small tub of ointment in the front pocket.
“You were hurt after my rut?” I asked.
“Not really, a little bit sore. I’d never taken a knot before, and it was basically a knot marathon. That cream has some kind of numbing agent that does the trick.”
He hadn’t moved from his spot in the centre of his nest, so I uncapped the ointment and dipped my finger inside. I rubbed some gently over his rim and poked the tip of my finger inside to make sure he was covered. “Better?”
“Mhmm. Thank you.” His eyelids fluttered open, and he gave me a soft smile.
Sometimes, the fondness I felt for Dylan seemed to overwhelm me. Sex to one side, I experienced an intimacy with him that was unlike anything I’d had before. After so many years of Dylan being my friend’s younger brother, I’d anticipated it feeling weird at first between us. But none of this felt weird. When we were alone together, it was like living inside a snow globe. Together, we were safe and protected from anything outside. Inside, we just got to be us.
Wanna grab breakfast before I start work?
Dyl-pot
I’m popping out of town today. I’ll stop by the pub tonight for a drink, though?
Out of town?
Dyl-pot
Got an appointment. See you later xxx
Got an appointment? That was vague. Even though I had no reason to, I found myself fretting over what Dylan was doing. Was I becoming a controlling boyfriend? I hoped not.
I suppose I didn’t really care what he was up to as long as he was okay. But Dylan so rarely filtered what he said that when he gave vague responses to things, it always felt purposeful. His text left me feeling unsettled for the rest of the morning.
Once I’d wolfed down a bowl of cereal, I made my way downstairs to open up the pub early because I was getting antsy in my flat.
By the time Milly turned up for her shift, the place was cleaner than it’d been in months, and I was re-writing the gin menu with some green chalk I’d found tucked behind the bin.
“Bit early for a spring clean, isn’t it?” Milly asked as she hooked her bag and coat behind the door.
“Had some free time. Needed doing.”
“You need a hobby, you big loser.”
I glared at her.
“I’m serious. It’s not healthy that you’re either working or wrapped up in Dylan. You can’t make him your hobby,” she said while stealing a J2O from one of the fridges.
“I… hang out with Cooper.”
“Cooper comes to your place of work for a drink and talks to you… while you work. Not a hobby, hun. Also, you should probably make an effort to see your best”—cough —“ only “ —cough—“ friend, outside of these four walls.“ She had a very smug look on her face because she might have had a point.
I argued anyway, “I literally had dinner with him at his mum’s last week.”
“Yeah… no. You had dinner at your boyfriend’s mum’s, and Cooper was there.”
“I was having dinner with Cooper’s family long before Dylan and I were together!”
“Doesn’t matter. Now you’re together, it changes things. It would be weird if you only ever saw Dylan with Cooper there; ergo, it’s weird if you only ever see Cooper with his little brother there, too. Don’t be that friend,“ she said before sauntering off to the front door to prop it open with the wedge.
I wanted to defend myself, but her words landed, and I felt guilty all of a sudden. Aside from our annual Christmas shopping trip, I couldn’t remember the last time the two of us hung out alone which wasn’t while I was working, and even then, Dylan was usually there, too.
Fuck. I’m a terrible friend.
The afternoon went by at a snail’s pace. I oscillated between fretting over what Dylan was doing out of town and feeling incredibly guilty for letting Cooper down as a friend. All in all, it wasn’t a fun shift.
By the time Cooper showed up for his after-work drink, I had a plan, though. “I’m taking you out!”
He looked around like I must have been talking to someone else before pointing at himself with his thumb. “You know, Axel. I can’t condone you going behind my brother’s back and trying to date me. I’m not sure how you imagined that wouldn’t get back to him.”
“Har-har, very funny. I’m taking you on a friendship date.”
“That still sounds weird. What’s wrong with him?” he asked Milly.
”I think … this is him trying to get a life,“ she replied.
“You’re very busy, Ax. You sure that’s a good idea?”
“You’re both arseholes. I’m trying to be a better friend. Not that you deserve it, clearly,“ I muttered as I aggressively polished a glass.
“Sorry! Sorry, where are you taking me out? Should I dress up real nice?”
“If you’re gonna be a dick, I can always take Dylan to see the Vixon Vipers instead.”
“Fuck off. Dylan doesn’t even know the rules of rugby.” Cooper laughed.
“Of course he does. He used to come watch my games in high school; he even has a Vipers t-shirt with Pippa’s name on the back.”
Cooper and Milly both began howling with laughter at that.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Milly said as condescendingly as was physically possible.
“I thought I was supposed to be the dumb friend,” Cooper said.
“Oi. One pound in the jar,” I said, arching an eyebrow at him. Cooper had struggled at school, and he’d convinced himself that meant he was stupid. Many, many years ago now, I’d banned him from calling himself dumb or stupid because the more he said it, the more he believed it.
“Buddy, I’m gonna hold your hand when I tell you this, but Dylan watched your rugby games because you wore tight shorts and basically wrestled other guys in the mud. And what’s Pippa’s last name?”
“Um.” Okay, now I felt stupid. “King,” I mumbled.
“I’ll take the Vixon Vipers ticket, though. When is it?” he asked.
“Two weeks, on the Saturday. They’re playing at home, and Pippa said we could crash at hers that night,” I explained.
“Wicked!” Cooper had a huge grin on his face, and it eased some of my guilt from earlier.
I served a few customers and then returned to Cooper’s spot at the end of the bar.
“Seen Dylan today?” I asked as nonchalantly as possible.
“Dyl? No. He’s over in Reynard City today,” Cooper said through a mouthful of peanuts he’d nicked from behind the bar.
“Reynard? What’s he doing there?” I asked, all ‘chalance’ out of the building.
Reynard City is where Lauren went to uni; it’s the closest big city to us, but Dylan hadn’t even mentioned that he was already getting bored of being back in our small hometown. I thought I’d have more time.
“Some appointment with a professor. I can’t remember exactly what he said. I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it later.”
Cooper continued to crunch on his peanuts as my internal crisis continued.
A professor? Did he want to go and get a Masters or something? I suppose it wouldn’t be too bad. I’d probably need to hire someone else to work here so I could keep more weekends free to see him, especially if he was planning to move there while he studied.
In den-making season, I’d basically not see him at all. Would he even come home for my ruts? I could go to him for his heats, although it would mean Milly would be on her own if there was an emergency at the pub.
And why hadn’t he talked to me about this? I thought things had been going really well. When I was with Lauren, she used to tell me I was emotionally unavailable and I was working hard not to repeat those mistakes. I’d been trying to be vulnerable with Dylan. But maybe I’d been too vulnerable?
Until the weird text that morning, though, I hadn’t felt at all like Dylan was pulling away. I’d seen him just yesterday; we’d worked a close together. When everything was locked up, he’d pulled his jeans down enough that his arse was out and told me I needed to fuck him over the table ‘or else’. I’m not entirely sure of what he was threatening if I hadn’t, but given I was pretty much a slave to Dylan’s tight little butt, I was hardly going to deny him.
A peanut landed on my cheek.
“Oh, you’re alive. I thought you’d, like, passed out standing up or something,” Cooper said.
“Good to know that your response to that medical anomaly would be to throw nuts in my face,” I replied dryly.