Chapter 12 #2
Dustin opened the stairwell door, and I climbed behind him, our footfalls soft on the worn wooden treads. At the top, the staircase led into a small living room containing a couch, a TV sporting long rabbit-ears, and a bookcase with paperback novels.
“I should get cleaned up a bit.” Dustin gestured me toward a door standing ajar and on into the bathroom. Once inside, he turned on the fan and started the water running cold in the shower.
“Cold shower?” I murmured.
“Hot one in a minute. Don’t want to waste it.” He grabbed me and smashed a hard kiss against my lips. “Motherfucking stupid werewolves.”
I laughed under his kiss. “You do know we’re werewolves too?”
“But we’re not stupid.” He sighed, his forehead against mine. “I was going to slowly work my way into your life. Wander up to your place every so often. Let you get used to the idea.”
I cupped the back of his head and kissed him, softer, slower. “I’m used to it already. My freaking optimistic wolf loves the thought of you and me.”
“Mine too.” Dustin leaned against the counter. “I won’t get in your hair. I’ll find a place like this if I can. Office below, rooms above.”
“If you want to. Or you could find a smaller office and live with me.” I was scared at the thought of sharing my life with someone, but when “someone” was replaced with “Dustin” that fear went away.
He’d been back in my life for such a short time, and yet fit so well that three days in my empty apartment without him had felt wrong.
“If you like that idea. If it’s not too soon. ”
Pack. Mate. My wolf, at least, was certain.
Dustin ran a hand down my arm and played with my fingers, staring as if they were the most interesting things in the universe. I tensed for rejection, but he said, “You’d need a bigger bed.”
“That’s your main objection?”
He looked down at me, a little smile curving his lips. “It’s not yours?”
“I’m worried you’ll get tired of me. That my woodworking sprawled out across the space will annoy you. We can handle the bed.” What had sometimes felt narrow just for me had seemed perfect with Dustin sharing the mattress.
“We should get a bigger one anyway.” Dustin sobered.
“My actual main objection is that the Chicago wolves now know we exist and where. We need to be careful about what’s visible about us in public.
Sharing an apartment might not be smart.
” My heart sank, but he touched my lips.
“I still want to, but we have to be clever about it.”
“You could maybe rent an apartment in the same building? The Fosters down the hall are moving next month, since Mr. Foster got transferred. I haven’t heard about anyone new viewing the space yet.”
“Probably because Rosswurn figured he was tearing the building down anyway, so why bother to show a new rental.”
“Could be. So if you applied fast, maybe you could grab that apartment.” I liked that idea. “You’d be right next door. Twenty feet down the hallway. On a different fire escape, sadly, but—”
“Do the apartments share a wall?” Dustin interrupted. “Yours and the Fosters’?”
“Yeah.”
“Could you build a sliding or swinging bookcase that might hide a door?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“A door, like, through the wall?” The idea made me smile. “That no one knows is there?”
“You and me, we could probably arrange that. Depending on pipes and electrical in the wall, it might have to be a non-standard shape or height, but yeah, you think that might work?”
“I worked construction my second year after leaving home,” I told him. “You’re a smart guy. I bet we could figure it out.”
We grinned at each other.
“Now I want to haul you into my bed and fuck you,” Dustin said. “But those damned Chicago wolves will be all over this apartment tomorrow. So we’ll be best off making sure your scent is nowhere to be found in my bedroom, and the smell of cum is minimized anywhere.”
“I know how to swallow,” I told him. “And the shower has a drain.”
“I like that idea.” Dustin reached into the tub, turned the water warm, and pulled the curtain shut against the steam.
“Get those clothes off,” I growled, my dick hardening in my jeans. “I want to see you naked and soaking wet in fifteen seconds.”
Dustin chuckled and tugged down his zipper. “And Rick thought I was the Alpha.”
I didn’t want to boss him around, except in play. “Does there need to be an Alpha between us?”
“No.” Dustin paused, his pants hanging open on his hips, and hugged me, kissing me thoroughly.
“I think we’re fine just the way we are.
Now let’s get naked, and clean, and mutually blown.
After that, anything sensitive from my office, including the freeway project evidence, we can pack to put in my car, and you drive it back up to Darville.
I’ll rent a truck, pack the rest of my stuff with the furry assholes’ assistance, and follow you in three days. ”
“You don’t want me to help? Or stick around in case the Alpha decides he really doesn’t want to let you go?” I’d just spent three days without Dustin and didn’t want to do it again. And I hadn’t liked the hint of greed when the Alpha looked at him.
“Don’t worry about the Alpha. He may not like to admit it, but he knows a coerced Fixer would be a disaster.
While I’d love your help, I don’t want one of the Chicago wolves to see the way I react to you.
I’m good at lying, but three days of pretending I don’t want to eat your ass would challenge even me. ”
“Oh!” My cock tried to break my zipper from the inside.
“You like that idea?”
“I’ve never…” I was already whipping off my clothes.
His tone dropped to a low whisper. “There are so many things I can’t wait to show you. Before I blow you, I’m going to see if you like a tongue up your ass.”
For the record, the answer was yes, hell yes, lick me that way anytime!
Dustin drove me right to the edge with his face at my ass, then blew my dick with two fingers stuffed inside me, and I was lucky I had wolf reflexes because I almost collapsed in the slippery tub, coming my brains out.
I went to sleep on his couch deeply satisfied, if resentful for having to be there alone.
Early morning arrived far too soon. We kissed urgently, then softly, as the coffee brewed, but we’d planned for me to get clear before sunrise, and time was ticking.
I fetched the car while Dustin selected the things he wanted out of the Alpha’s sight, and for fifteen minutes, we jogged in and out of the door, loading his backseat and trunk.
“You be careful,” I murmured when we’d finished, lingering for another moment by the driver’s door in the pre-dawn gloom.
No doubt, some Chicago wolf lurked out there in the shadows, watching and listening.
They’d keep us under twenty-four-hour surveillance as long as we were in the Alpha’s territory.
I didn’t dare say any of the words that wanted to escape.
“No worries.” Dustin smiled, holding out his hand. “Drive safe. I’ll see you in three days.”
With the certainty of hostile eyes on us, all I could do was shake hands like a casual friend and drive away, leaving him to deal with the Chicago wolves.