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“Fuck me. I didn’t get it, but I do now.” Elliot’s awed voice sliced through the sexual tension swirling between us. Clearing my throat, I took a step back.
“Get what?” JJ stared at his housemate.
His cheeks flushed. “Um. The attraction. That was hot.”
“Dr. Wilder? I guess if you ignore his personality, he is hot,” Ander mused.
“Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Mr. Loveridge. Who knew you were such a charming young man?”
“You would if you dropped the Mr. Asshole act,” he shot back, and surprise of all surprises, I found myself grinning at him. He returned my grin with enthusiasm. “See! I knew you couldn’t resist my charms forever. Soon you’ll be begging me to call you Kill or—oh! Maybe we’ll give each other nicknames.”
“Don’t push your luck,” I growled, although there was no malice in my tone.
“This is so weird,” Elliot mumbled, and I wholeheartedly agreed with the sentiment.
Niccolò suddenly gasped, drawing everyone’s attention. “JJ! Now Killian has our approval and G loves him, can I call him Daddy?”
“You absolutely fucking can’t,” I said.
“Daddy? Why? And no!” JJ’s emphatic disapproval had me smiling until he added, “Not in front of him, anyway.”
“But he’s like a daddy. The sexy kind, not the other kind.”
Pinching my brow, I prayed for this nightmare to be over.
“Nic, don’t tease him.” The humour had disappeared from JJ’s voice, and Niccolò must have realised he’d taken things too far. The next thing I knew, he was throwing his arms around my waist and pouting up at me, all huge eyes and fluttering lashes.
“I’m sorry. Please don’t be offended. It’s just your dominating presence. You’re so big and strong, and you’re giving off all these protective vibes. It’s sexy.”
I had no idea how the fuck I was supposed to respond. Was he expecting me to hug him back? What could I even say in reply other than “what the fuck”?
A warm palm stroked down my bicep, and JJ pressed a soft kiss to my shoulder before gently disentangling Niccolò from me. He wrapped an arm around his friend, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, babe. We know you meant it as a compliment.”
We. I liked the sound of that far more than I should.
And I couldn’t help admiring how JJ had instantly known what to do. This man was so fucking special. One in a million.
“You really like him, don’t you? The way you look at him. That’s the way I look at Elliot.”
It was difficult to tear my gaze away from JJ, who was speaking quietly to Niccolò while stroking his fingers through his hair, but when I did, I found both Ander and Elliot staring at me in what appeared to be wonder.
“Yes, I do. Very much.”
“Wow,” Elliot breathed.
Wow, indeed.
JJ curled up on the ancient leather sofa, making himself at home. We’d gone to a small out-of-the-way pub that wasn’t too far from campus but was rarely frequented by students or staff due to the somewhat overpriced drinks. In our hidden corner, soft murmurs of conversation drifting around us, we were in our own small bubble, just the two of us. As he delicately sipped from his wine glass, I found my hand sliding onto his leg. I just wanted to touch him.
He smiled when I gently squeezed his thigh, but his smile soon dropped. Placing his glass down on the pitted wooden table, he turned to me. “So. We need to have a conversation.”
“Yes. We do.” A ball of dread sat heavy in my stomach. There was a chance—a big one—that when JJ heard what I had to say, it would mean the end of us. In the studio earlier, I’d almost felt hopeful, getting the grudging approval of his friends and being openly affectionate in front of them. But the truth was, nothing was ever going to be that simple for us. Not after what I was about to tell him. Not when he was a student and I was a teacher. Not when he was so young and free and happy and I was older and jaded. Maybe I’d always been that way. Jaded. But JJ had brought light into my life and shown me a different path. I’d be forever grateful to him for that.
Fuck, I didn’t want to do this. Every part of me rebelled against it, in fact. But I had to. I owed it to him to be completely upfront and honest. It was a risk I needed to take, for both our sakes.
Steeling myself, I began. “I spoke to Gage. Then I had an email…”
I laid it all out as clearly as possible, sticking to the facts. When I’d finished, he remained quiet, contemplating my words.
