Chapter 24
ASH
Ash doodled on his notebook page while the freshman omega finished her story about challenging a condescending alpha professor’s grading of her paper.
Ash was paying attention, sure, but it helped his resting asshole face if he had something else to focus on while he listened.
The group didn’t seem to mind. This was Ash’s third time attending, and everyone had been welcoming from the get-go.
And even though Everett ran a tight ship, the omega members were generally chill.
Ash had been surprised at first at the number of members he wouldn’t have clocked as omegas before his new senses came online.
There was a big, burly junior in particular whose size screamed “alpha” but who had one of the gentlest temperaments Ash had ever seen.
Ash couldn’t tell if it was his own lack of pheromone processing that had led to his skewed perception, or just his previous lack of interest in designations altogether coming to bite him in the ass.
“Ash? Anything to share today?”
Ash glanced up to find Everett’s baby blues laser-focused on him.
It wasn’t exactly a surprise; Everett let the doodling slide, but he did like Ash to participate in the whole feelings sharing that happened after the studying was done.
Everett didn’t seem to pressure anyone else, so it must’ve been his version of a friendship thing.
Or maybe it was the fact that Ash had let it slip to Everett that he was trying to be more—ugh—open and honest in his life.
Ash cleared his throat and shoved his notebook aside.
“Uh, I guess I can say I’ve adapted to scenting pheromones.
I don’t find it distracting in class anymore or anything.
” At Everett’s encouraging nod, Ash swallowed hard and forced himself to continue.
“And I’ve, um, started the birth control you recommended.
So far, so good. I’ll report back if I get any weird side effects. ”
Everett’s angelic expression turned sly. “And how do your two alphas feel about this development?”
Ash narrowed his eyes at the little sneak. “I’m more interested in where that massive hickey on your neck came from.”
Ash had clocked it the second he’d walked in the room. Everett may have been wearing a high-collared shirt, but it didn’t cover it completely. Neither did the foundation he’d slapped on. It basically looked like Everett had been mauled.
Everett kicked Ash’s shin under the table. Hard. “And that’s meeting adjourned, everyone,” he announced sweetly.
Everyone stood and gathered their belongings, and the group slowly filed out of the private meeting room Everett always reserved for them in the campus library.
Everett walked alongside Ash. “You’ll pay for that,” he murmured, his tone of voice just as sickly sweet as when he’d been addressing the group.
“Stop saying ‘your two alphas’ in that voice you do, and I won’t have to punish you so publicly,” Ash countered.
Everett only smirked evilly as they made it out to the library steps, but Ash was too distracted by the sight that greeted them to care.
Because there was Spencer in all his unbelievably hot, disheveled, postgym glory, leaning against the stairs’ railing.
Spencer waved when he saw the two of them. “Asher, baby!” he called. “You’re freeee!”
He was loud enough to get stares from the other students—embarrassing as fuck—but Ash’s lips twisted into a smile without his permission anyway.
“Spencer,” Everett whined as he trotted down the steps. “Ash was being very mean in study group today.”
Spencer pressed a hand to his chest in mock dismay. “My Ash? I don’t believe it. He had to have been provoked.”
Ash coughed pointedly—point one for Ash—and Everett rolled his eyes. “Your undying loyalty is no fun at all.”
Spencer blew him a kiss, and Everett said his surly goodbyes and hurried off, leaving Ash alone with Spencer. Or as alone as they could be surrounded by their fellow undergraduates.
Spencer grabbed Ash’s bag before Ash could protest, slinging it over his own shoulder. “You ready for lunch?”
“Yeah. You didn’t have to pick me up though.”
Spencer grinned. “But I like to.”
Ash scoffed, but he still slipped his hand inside Spencer’s as they made their way down the rest of the steps.
Spencer glanced down at their joined hands. “You’re a hand-holder now?” he asked mildly.
“I thought you’d like it,” Ash confessed, embarrassment making his voice come out snippy. “Was I wrong?”
Spencer’s grin widened almost maniacally, and he started swinging their arms together like a little kid. “Nope. Not wrong.”
Ash walked alongside him, a warmth blooming in his chest that was almost painful in its intensity.
He’d always been compelled by every side of Spencer, but this version he’d been treated to these past few weeks—happy, carefree Spencer who knew exactly where he belonged—was so addictive it was unnerving.
It had awoken something feral in Ash, an alarming protectiveness where he was pretty sure he’d murder anyone who ever threatened his boyfriend’s peace again. (And if the perpetrator happened to be himself, he supposed he’d have to get Ryder to do it instead.)
Maybe that was something Ash should bring up at the next omega study group. For all he knew, maybe rabid, love-induced violence was a birth control side effect.
Somehow he didn’t think so though.
The three of them had fallen into a routine of sorts these past few weeks.
They had study nights at Spencer’s, where Chase and Noah often joined in, much to Spencer’s delight.
Date nights were usually at Ash and Ryder’s.
And in an unspoken agreement, the three of them had …
shifted, making an effort to keep sex on a temporary back burner.
Then again, they were three undergraduate men, including one with a higher-than-average sex drive and one who’d had his newly awoken, so they weren’t always successful. There’d been plenty of blow jobs and frenzied frotting when one or more of them hit their limit.
Spencer hadn’t been exaggerating about giving good head, either, which Ash had known but maybe hadn’t fully known outside the fog of heat.
But Spencer drank up both Ash’s and Ryder’s cum like it was ambrosia, and that was a dangerous sort of mouth to have access to. The enthusiasm alone always had Ash spilling in an embarrassingly short amount of time.
But still, they’d managed to focus on other things.
They’d had video game battles, marathons of Spencer’s horrible favorite action movies, and gym dates where Ash sprinted himself breathless on the treadmill while the other two lifted their massive weights.
And they’d talked. A lot. Usually late at night, when they couldn’t help but be sleepy and open with one another.
Ash and Ryder had shared more about their childhood growing up together, a subject Spencer had an endless fascination with.
And Spencer had shared more about his life and his mom, including the trail of uninterested pseudo-stepdads who’d never stuck around.
If Ash ever met any of those men on the street, he’d punch them in the dick. Hard.
All in all, it was exciting and comfortable and scary all at the same time, something Ash hadn’t realized dating could be.
But there was one thing they hadn’t talked about yet, and now seemed as good a time as any to bring it up.
“Hey, Spencer?”
“Yes, sugarplum?”
Ash rolled his eyes. Spencer had taken to calling him horrifically sweet nicknames, just to see which ones reddened Ash’s cheeks the most. “Ryder’s gonna talk to you soon. His rut falls over winter break, you know.”
Spencer stumbled slightly on his next step, but he quickly righted himself. “I did not know. You think he’s worried about having another alpha there?”
“I think he’s more worried that if he doesn’t have both of his boyfriends in his sights, he’ll start a rampage.”
“Oh.” Spencer laughed happily. “Hell, yeah.”
“He wants to practice knotting you.”
Now Spencer did stop them in their tracks. He turned to Ash and placed his hands on Ash’s shoulders, so solemn-faced it was scary. “Ash, baby.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m getting a boner right now.”
“Well, stop the presses.”
Spencer shook his head slowly. “Noah’s joining us for lunch. You have to tell me something unsexy. Right now.”
“Everett has a hickey.”
“Oh.” Spencer’s eyes lit up in delight. “Hot goss. From who?”
“He’s not saying.”
“Interesting.” Spencer seemed to ponder that for half a second, then became predictably distracted. “Hey, does this mean our sex ban is over?”
Ash held in another eye roll, but it was with great effort. “What sex ban, exactly? You jerked Ryder off in the shower this morning.”
Spencer wiggled in place like an overexcited toddler. “Yeah, but … you know.”
Apparently Ash did not know. He searched Spencer’s face. “Dude. Who do you think this so-called ban is for?”
“I thought maybe with your new designation and all, you wanted to take it slow.”
Jesus. The communication thing was kind of a never-ending lesson, wasn’t it? Ash pressed his forehead into Spencer’s chest with a sigh. “We thought you might appreciate a little nonsexual wooing. We were following your lead.”
Spencer wrapped his arms around Ash’s back with a loud cackle. “Aw, my considerate dudes.”
Considerate but apparently unnecessarily dense. Still, Ash stood in Spencer’s hold, breathing in his light spiced-tea scent.
Yeah, a happy, carefree Spencer was really something else.
Lunch was at a café on campus, one Spencer claimed had decent sandwiches as long as “no one, under any circumstances, gets the tuna salad.”
Chase and Ryder were waiting at a metal table out in the sunshine, Chase with an iced tea and Ryder with some frozen coffee concoction that was probably unbelievably sweet.
Ryder smirked as he clocked the hand-holding, and Ash gave him the finger before leaning in for a brief kiss. Ash ended the kiss with a wink—message delivered—and Ryder’s smirk deepened into a genuine small smile.
“Thank you,” he mouthed.
It wasn’t like Ryder was afraid to ask Spencer himself, but they’d decided whoever brought it up first brought it up first and that would be that. And since Ash had trouble keeping his mouth shut, it was probably no surprise he’d won that particular race.
Ryder shot a searing look Spencer’s way, and the other alpha flushed a little pink as he took the seat next to Ash.
“What’s up with you?” Chase asked.
“Apparently I’m about to get the full Chase Adler experience.” At Chase’s blank look, Spencer grinned evilly. “You know, getting knotted to death by a hot alpha.”
Chase choked and coughed on his sip of iced tea, and Spencer cackled as he dodged the straw wrapper Chase immediately pelted his way.
Ash sat back in his chair and enjoyed the show, although it wasn’t long before he noticed a few beta girls noticeably side-eyeing their table. He and Ryder had been getting a lot of that lately as there’d been more outward signs of their relationship with Spencer.
Ash nudged Spencer’s arm. “Hey, why have I only ever seen girls you’ve hooked up with?”
Spencer paused in the act of trying to forcibly remove Chase’s baseball cap. “Um, dunno. There were plenty of dudes.” He scanned the quad, and then—to Ash’s horror—began pointing. “Fucked him. Sucked him. Did body shots off that guy’s pecs, and then we jerked each other off.”
Ash now had three new people he wished he could set on fire with his mind. “We need to change schools.”
Spencer laughed and wrapped an arm around Ash’s shoulder. “Aw, spitfire, don’t you worry. I’d do body shots off you any day. You’ve got those sharp little hip bones, make a perfect bowl. I’d do tequila off your pelvis and then suck your soul out of your dick for a cum chaser.”
Ash was, for once, left momentarily speechless, but Chase had it covered with a low, pained, “Jesus fucking Christ.”
With nothing else to say, Ash pulled Spencer’s arm tighter around himself and smirked pointedly at whoever happened to be looking.
“Possessive,” Ryder commented mildly.
Ash was, but it didn’t seem to bother Spencer any, so he’d stopped getting in his own head about it. For that matter, Spencer wasn’t only unbothered, but he got kinda giddy about it, like Ash wanting to claim him publicly was something amazing rather than obnoxious.
With that in mind, Ash stole a kiss before settling back in. He was rewarded with a beaming smile in return.
All of which happened to be in time for Noah’s arrival. “Boooo,” he hazed cheerfully as he took a seat next to Chase. “Is this what I’m gonna have to see every day?”
Ash gave him a look. “Yes, and if you make Spencer feel bad about it, I’ll tell Mom and Dad you were the one who dented their minivan in high school.”
Noah frowned. “But I didn’t. You did.”
“The threat stands.” Ash bared his teeth in a bitchy little grin. “We’re in love. Suck it.”
Spencer stiffened next to him, though he didn’t move his arm off Ash’s shoulder. “Um. We’re in love?”
Ash leaned back to look at him. What the fuck kind of question was that? “Obviously.”
Noah laughed loudly. “Oh fuck. Ash, tell me this isn’t your first declaration.” Ash shot a scowl his way, and Noah tsked. “Clearly, as your big brother, I failed to impart anything about romance. Jesus.”
Spencer kicked lightly at Noah’s chair. “Hey, he’s doing fine.”
Noah kicked him right back, and Ash zoned out in a daze as they battled in the background. His chest felt kind of tight and weird, and his cheeks were hot. Because yeah, he was probably supposed to say that shit in private the first time, wasn’t he? Not out in public while baiting his own brother.
Ash didn’t have any experience with all this, was the thing.
He and Ryder had just known, the whole love thing unspoken but obvious.
And Ash had done his big declaration with Spencer, hadn’t he?
Maybe he’d forgotten to slip the actual L-word in there, but he’d mentioned playing for keeps.
Why would anyone play for keeps with someone who didn’t have their fucking heart already? That would be stupid.
But still. Maybe he should have mentioned it sometime in the past few weeks. “Here’s your breakfast burrito. I love you.” Or something like that.
Ash was lost in the self-recrimination until he felt a soft, warm pressure on the back of his hand. He looked up to find Spencer pressing a kiss to it, blue eyes shining. And then Ryder’s foot was hooking around Ash’s ankle, solid and reassuring.
Ash relaxed back under Spencer’s arm. Right. It only had to make sense to the three of them. To Ash and the two people who were now his world.
Everyone else could, as Ash had clearly stated, suck it.