Chapter 4
Chapter Four
This being his second chance might have made Kit emotionally reckless, but he still didn’t want to ruin Mark’s career.
He didn’t want them to get caught, and with the way things were going, it seemed all but inevitable if he continued trying to seduce his professor at his workplace.
He had to be more careful.
That was how Kit found himself pacing the pavement outside Mark’s building, waiting for him to come home.
Except with every passing minute, he felt increasingly unsure.
He wasn’t actually an impulsive kid in his early twenties who could have been excused for such pathetic, stalkerish behavior. He was an adult.
The longer he waited, the more self-conscious he became. He was painfully aware of his stretched, lubed-up asshole. What had seemed practical and efficient now felt utterly desperate.
Kit turned and headed back to his dorms. Fuck that. He had some pride left, second chance or not. He wasn’t going to stalk Mark and beg for his attention. He was better than that.
Kit tried to ignore the niggle of doubt twisting his gut into an uncomfortable knot.
The truth was, he didn’t know what to do.
This whole situation—getting a second chance—made him reckless, but how reckless could he be without it being too much?
Was it right to pursue a man who kept saying no to him?
Did it matter that Mark clearly wanted him, no matter what he said? No meant no. Right?
But if Kit did nothing, he would end up the way he’d been: alone, loveless, and unhappy. Should he not take the risk and push?
Kit was still lost in thought as he neared his dorm building. He’d been so distracted that when a hand yanked him into a dark alley behind the building, it took him completely by surprise.
His startled exclamation died in his throat when he saw who it was.
The alley was barely lit, but he could still make out Mark’s features. His harsh glare.
A hand tightened on Kit’s shoulder, pressing him hard against the wall. “You will leave me alone,” Mark said. “You will stop provoking me and trying to get my attention.”
Kit blinked a few times before a smile stretched his lips. “Trying?” he said softly. “It looks like I have your full attention if you’re stalking my dorm, professor.”
If looks could kill...
“Stop,” Mark ground out, his eyes roaming over his face, lingering on his smiling lips. “This can’t—won’t—happen.”
Kit lifted his hand and buried his fingers in Mark’s hair. It was soft. Thick. He threaded his fingers through it, enjoying the sensation.
“What are you doing?” Mark’s voice was low and dangerous, his body rigid with tension. But he wasn’t pushing his hand away. He stood very still, allowing Kit to brush his fingers through his hair.
“Touching you,” Kit said, leaning in and kissing the corner of the other man’s mouth.
Mark’s breath hitched.
Encouraged, Kit covered his tense jaw in feather-light kisses, inhaling his scent greedily. God, he smelled so good. So manly.
Nuzzling Mark’s jaw, Kit whispered, “If you really wanted me to stop, you wouldn’t have come here.
You would have stayed far away from me. Yet here you are.
” He slipped a hand between their bodies and cupped Mark’s cock.
It was hard. Moaning, Kit stroked it through the fabric, sucking a hickey into Mark’s neck.
“You wouldn’t be letting your student jerk you off in an alley behind his dorm if you really didn’t want it. ”
“I don’t—” Mark started hoarsely, but his hips were rutting into Kit’s hand, his cock so fucking hard.
“I’ll let you fuck me, sir,” Kit murmured into his ear. “Fuck me right here. I even prepped myself already. Stretched myself, thinking of your cock in me—”
With a growl, Mark slammed their mouths together. Kit whimpered, trying to kiss him back, but Mark didn’t let him. He dominated the kiss, gripping his shoulder hard before suddenly flipping him around to face the wall.
Then his sweatpants and boxers were yanked down, and there was the sound of a wrapper tearing.
Kit laughed breathlessly. “You came prepared too. And you claim you don’t want me.”
“Shut up,” Mark said, kissing his neck from behind, his mouth hot and urgent as he put on a condom and lined up. “Fuck, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Kit gasped as something hard and smooth pushed against his hole.
It was a good thing he’d prepped himself.
Mark was big. The condom was lubricated, so it helped too, but the stretch was still more than a little uncomfortable.
Kit didn’t care. He was finally getting what he wanted—what he’d wanted for years.
“Oh yeah,” Kit breathed as Mark bottomed out and his hips pressed flush against his ass. “Give it to me.”
Mark’s grip on his hip tightened before he pulled out and slammed back in.
Kit cried out.
“Quiet,” Mark ground out against his nape, covering Kit’s mouth with his free hand.
Kit moaned into his palm before starting to kiss and lick it, needing the taste of him.
Growling, Mark fucked him harder, his cock rubbing against his prostate with unfair, debilitating precision. Again. And again. And again.
Before long, Kit was a wreck. He was making pathetic, muffled noises against the palm smothering his mouth while the cock in him made him see stars.
His heart was pounding with arousal and adrenaline—they were too close to his dorm and he could hear students talking as they passed not even twenty feet away.
God, if they were discovered... If someone saw the impeccable, perfect Professor Lawson dicking his star student in a dark alley behind his dorm...
Kit moaned, pushing back onto the hard cock moving in him. So close... He was so close...
A firm hand wrapped around Kit’s aching cock and squeezed.
Kit arched and came all over the wall.
After a few more hard thrusts, Mark shuddered and went still too, coming into the condom, his groan muffled by Kit’s neck.
The sound of laughter made them both flinch and spring apart.
Breathing hard and still dazed, Kit yanked his pants up and glanced toward the mouth of the alley.
Thankfully, no one was there. No one had seen them.
When Kit looked at Mark, he found him appearing perfectly put together once again.
Only the feverish glint of his eyes betrayed that he wasn’t as composed as he looked.
He stared at Kit for a long moment.
Kit braced himself, fully expecting him to say that it was a mistake and it couldn’t happen again.
But Mark stepped closer and cupped his cheek with his strong hand, his thumb brushing Kit’s lower lip. “You idiot boy,” he said, his voice oddly soft. “You shouldn’t be letting older men fuck you in dingy alleys. You can do so much better.”
Kit blinked, his stomach becoming all warm and fluttery. It was ridiculous, considering that he’d just had this man’s cock in his asshole. He shouldn’t be getting flustered over words.
“Maybe I don’t want to do better,” he said. “Maybe this is exactly what I want. You.”
Mark’s expression became more intense, a muscle jumping in his lean cheek. “You really shouldn’t say that. You don’t know what you’re saying.”
Kit wrapped his arms around Mark’s neck and pressed their foreheads together.
Breathed him in. “I know what I said. And I meant every word. I’ve been a little bit in love with you since the day I walked into your classroom three years ago.
I tried to tell myself it was just a crush and to stop signing up for your classes, I even thought about changing my major, but I couldn’t stay away.
I tried to meet other people, more suitable people, but I never felt anything for them—”
“You’re still young.”
“I’m not, actually.” Pulling back a little, Kit looked Mark in the eye. “I’m actually thirty-six.”
Mark’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
Kit took a deep breath. “I know it sounds insane, but I really am. Fifteen years from now, I was given a magic book that asked me what my deepest regret was. And I thought of you—of not daring to act on my feelings for you. And here I am.”
Mark was staring at him, but he didn’t look like he thought Kit was a lunatic.
Then again, Mark was a highly educated man.
He’d actually written several papers on the differences between magical and mundane cultures.
He had to be well aware that magical objects could do all sorts of things normies like them couldn’t begin to grasp.
He expected Mark to question him about the book, but that wasn’t what came out of his mouth.
“You’re really thirty-six?” Mark said, his gaze searching.
Kit just nodded, hope stirring inside him.
Mark shook his head, his eyes roaming all over Kit’s face. “I have noticed that you’ve been different lately, but I didn’t think… it’s hard to believe.”
“But you believe me,” Kit said.
Mark studied him for a moment.
“I do, but it doesn’t change anything,” he said. “You’re still my student. You’re still physically twelve years my junior. I feel like a goddamn pervert for wanting you.”
“I’m actually older than you!” Kit protested, tightening his arms around Mark’s neck.
Mark’s lips twisted into a rueful smile. “Maybe you are now. But I wanted you when you weren’t.”
Kit’s stomach warmed. “I was still an adult.”
Mark snorted. “You were a doe-eyed sweet boy still in his teens who looked at me like he would suck my cock right there in the middle of class if I told him to.”
Kit winced. He hadn’t known he had been that transparent. “Maybe our relationship would have been questionable if I really were twenty-one mentally,” he admitted. “But I’m not now.”
“Our relationship,” Mark repeated in a strange tone of voice.
Kit flushed. “I mean, that’s what I want.
It’s fine if—” He cut himself off, thinking about it.
“Actually, it’s not fine with me if all you want is sex.
I’m not actually a young guy who wants sex without strings attached.
” He held Mark’s gaze. “I want all the strings. Every single one. I’m all in with you. I want a serious relationship. A home.”
It felt like Mark was silent forever, just looking at him.
It was excruciating.
Finally, he smiled. “You know, my biggest worry wasn’t actually the age difference or the fact that you’re my student.
It was thinking that a college kid couldn’t possibly want the same things I want.
” Leaning in, he cupped Kit’s face and kissed him softly.
“I still wanted you. But I knew I would be risking my career for a short fling that would go nowhere. So I didn’t. But now...”
“But now?” Kit whispered breathlessly, shivering as Mark nuzzled and kissed his cheek and his neck.
“If I get to actually keep you, it changes things.”
Kit laughed, slapping him on the back playfully. “Keep me? I’m not a thing.”
“It’s actually not the creepiest thought I had about you,” Mark said with laughter in his voice as he continued to kiss and suck on his neck.
His voice dropped to a hoarse murmur. “I was disgusting. I never fantasized about my students before. But the things I wanted to do to you when you walked into my classroom...”
Kit grinned dazedly, roaming his hands over Mark’s strong back. “Do tell,” he whispered. “Sir.”
Mark half-groaned, half-laughed. “Don’t do this to me, you little shit.” But he pulled Kit closer, so close they were pressed flush from head to toe.
It was pure bliss.
Kit buried his face in Mark’s neck, breathed his scent in, and grinned helplessly. He’d never, ever been so happy.
His mind drifted to the old witch who had given him this—this incredible second chance. A stranger’s kindness, offered on Christmas, when he had been at his lowest point.
Thank you, he mouthed. Wherever you are.
Hundreds of miles away and fifteen years in the future, an old woman turned at the soft chime that announced that her property had been returned to its rightful place.
She looked at the book, puzzled—she didn’t remember giving it to anyone. But then again, she wouldn’t. If the magic had worked as intended, someone’s future had been changed so completely that they would no longer meet her. Or need her.
She reached for the book and closed her fingers around it, stroking its spine as if greeting an old friend. A soft hum of magic surged into her, sweet and effervescent.
Ah. There was nothing quite like rescuing a miserable soul from the brink. The more desperate they had been, the richer the magic that seeped into her tired bones.
Kindness was, indeed, a marvelous thing.
Wistfully, she shook her head.
She was just getting sentimental in her old age.