Then he pushed a couple fingertips between Ian’s cheeks, finding his damp hole. He caressed it, circled it, smearing Ian’s slick across his skin. Brad loved the dip of Ian’s entrance, the puckered muscle so eager to wrap around him.
“B-Brad,” Ian panted, relaxing.
Brad eased his fingers into Ian, stretching him open. He was hot inside, like a furnace, and so damn tight.
Ian moaned. The sound muffled, like Ian had pressed his hand against his mouth. It made Brad want to push him further, see how loud he could make his omega.
He shoved his fingers all the way in, until they could go no further. Ian panted, rocking down on Brad’s fingers, trying to fuck himself on them.
Brad’s cock ached. He opened his own pants one-handed, pulling his cock out. Gave himself a couple pumps. Didn’t need Ian to pleasure him. Just wanted to taste his omega, make him come.
But he also thought about being inside Ian again, filling him with seed. Wanted to give Ian his knot—hadn’t done that in a while.
“I want you to come,” Brad growled, his fingers trembling as he pushed down on Ian’s prostate. “Let me taste you.”
He took Ian back into his mouth. Ian’s breathing snagged, and a soft, low whine slipped past his lips.
He shoved himself at Brad, his movements jerky, his cock rock-hard in Brad’s mouth. Then Brad ground his fingers against Ian’s prostate, setting an unforgiving rhythm.
Ian cried out, his voice choked. His body clenched, he yanked on Brad’s hair. His cock pulsed against Brad’s tongue, spurting into his mouth, his come bitter and warm.
Brad sucked every last drop out of him, then pumped Ian so he was sure there was no more left. Then he rolled Ian’s come across his tongue, savoring his omega’s pleasure.
He’d made his omega come again. Wanted to be inside, wanted Ian to take his knot.
Gods, his cock hurt.
Ian sagged down the wall, his breathing unsteady. Brad held him until he curled into a crouch. Then he scooped Ian away from the wall, pressed him down against the floor, pushing Ian’s knees up against his chest.
This left Ian’s ass exposed, and Brad could hardly think straight right now.
He rubbed his throbbing cock against Ian’s bare cheeks, squeezing Ian’s thighs. “Wanna—Can I…?”
“Yeah,” Ian whispered, spreading his legs. They didn’t open far, with his pants caught around his knees.
Didn’t matter to Brad, though. He spat on his palm, smearing it down his cock, his skin slippery with precome. Then he angled his tip against Ian’s hole, pushed in, and fuck Ian squeezed around him, his body hot as bliss.
Brad couldn’t hold on for long. He shoved all the way into Ian’s tight heat, thrusting deep, his arousal spiking at the sound of Ian’s tiny gasps. Brad rode him hard, breathing in musk and rose, until his balls pulled tight and he came, pleasure crashing through his body.
He spilled into Ian, his knot swelling. Couldn’t think.
He tugged Ian’s clothes off his legs. Spread Ian’s thighs apart, and leaned in close. Then he pressed kisses all over Ian’s face, cupping his jaw, running his scent through Ian’s hair, too.
And now Ian smelled completely like Brad. Brad sniffed at Ian’s face, kissing the corner of his mouth. “Good?”
Ian breathed out shakily. “Far better than ‘good’.”
Brad rumbled, dragging his fingers down Ian’s arms. Ian’s shirt was halfway off his shoulders, but the rest of him was naked. Delicious. “Want my knot?”
“Yes. Please.”
Brad kissed down his throat. Felt as his knot swelled inside his omega, stretching him open. Ian groaned, shivering against Brad.
This felt good. Felt like they belonged together.
Brad dragged his wrists down Ian’s sides, nuzzling his throat. He swept his hands up to Ian’s middle, pausing at his belly.
Ian hadn’t been pregnant last week, while he was in heat. At that point, Brad hadn’t been looking closely—he hadn’t noticed Ian’s belly bump from his previous pregnancy.
And now there was a second child in there.
“Whose is it?” Brad murmured, kissing Ian’s jaw. “Mine?”
“Yes,” Ian blurted. Then he tensed, sucking in a sharp breath. “Shit. I wasn’t—you weren’t supposed to know.”
Brad swallowed, his breath rushing out of him. So that was really his baby in there.
It felt like a punch to the gut, even though he’d been prepared for it. He wasn’t ready to be a dad. “Why wasn’t I supposed to know?”
Ian sighed. “Your father is my boss, Brad. He can find some reason or other to fire me.”
“It’s not like he knows we fucked,” Brad said. He hadn’t seen his father at all last week, after he’d left the classroom.
“It’s complicated.”
“How is it complicated?” Brad frowned. “You can’t mean he knows about us.”
Ian hesitated. “He knows.”
“How did that even happen?” Brad asked, incredulous. Seemed impossible. “It’s not like you told him we fucked at school.”
When Ian sighed again, it was bone-deep. “He saw us. Seven years ago.”
Brad’s stomach shriveled. “The fuck?”
“Yeah.”
“And you never told me?”
“It was either that or lose my job, okay?” Ian snapped. “I figured you didn’t have to know.”
Brad wracked his mind, trying to recall if his dad ever showed any signs of knowing. He couldn’t remember, though. He hadn’t paid attention, aside from his dad saying his 3.7 GPA sucked. Dad had been adamant that Brad stop schooling. So Brad had joined the fire department instead.
“That was seven years ago,” Brad said. “He should’ve forgotten by now.”
Ian exhaled. “No, he hasn’t forgotten.”
“So he’s been holding that over you the whole time?” Brad asked.
“Yeah.” After a pause, Ian added, “I signed an agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“To cease all contact with you.”
They were knotted together right now, so a fat lot of good that had done. Brad rolled his hips; his knot pushed deeper into Ian. Ian moaned, his nails biting into Brad’s skin.
“This shouldn’t happen again,” Ian whispered.
Brad growled. Ian didn’t seem repulsed by him. If he were, he’d be trying to get away. “You don’t want to see me, or you just think you shouldn’t?”
Ian didn’t answer, but it was obvious what his choice would be.
“It’s not like he knows whose it is,” Brad said, covering Ian’s belly with his palm. “I mean, unless you’ve talked to him in the past week…”
“I haven’t. It’s just… risky. At the end of the day, you don’t need to know whose child it is. I’m not asking you for support, or to be responsible.”
Something didn’t seem right. Brad frowned, stroking Ian’s side. “I’ll be responsible for it. It’s not like you need to do this alone. I’m not that kind of alpha.”
Ian tried to squirm away, but Brad hugged him close. Breathed in his rose and musk, nuzzling his ear in the darkness.
“We need to stop meeting,” Ian said.
Brad kissed his neck, and Ian shivered, squeezing Brad’s thigh. It wasn’t the reaction of someone who didn’t want Brad around. “I’ll talk to my dad. I’m old enough to make my own damn decisions.”
Ian tensed against him. “No. Don’t.”
“It’s not like he’s got you blackmailed or something.”
Ian didn’t answer again, and Brad was starting to recognize a pattern. “He fucking blackmailed you?”
“It’s complicated,” Ian said tiredly. “Just… don’t. I can’t afford to lose my job right now.”
“He has no right to threaten you,” Brad growled. It wasn’t out of the question with his dad, but blackmailing Ian? What the fuck kind of alpha did that? “I’m gonna talk to him.”
By ‘talk’, he meant ‘punc
h his dad’.
Ian dug his nails into Brad’s thigh. “No. Seriously. I need my job, Brad. I don’t mind the agreement I have with him. It’s not so terrible.”
“You’re mine,” Brad growled. “No other alpha should have a hold on you.”
Ian chuckled. “I’m not yours.”
That stung. Brad bit his tongue, wanting to show Ian just how much he was Brad’s. He had Brad’s knot inside him, he had Brad’s child in his belly. His heart wasn’t Brad’s, though.
“Gwen still needs another surgery,” Ian said quietly. “After that, when she’s stable, maybe you can talk to your dad.”
Wasn’t good enough. “What kind of hold does he have on you?” Brad growled. “He ask you for sex?”
Ian shuddered. “Gods, no. Just that I have no contact with you at all.”
Well, fuck that.
Brad leaned in, slipping his fingers into Ian’s hair. Then he meshed their lips together, licked into Ian’s mouth. Ian groaned and opened for him, and it seemed he had no desire to stop anytime soon.
The conversation lingered in Brad’s mind, bits of information whirling around like there were more dots to be connected. Brad’s father knew about the first time they fucked. Ian didn’t want him to find out about the baby, and it wasn’t like Brad’s father would immediately jump to conclusions if he saw Brad with Ian.
But what if Dad had something reminding him? Ian had another child. What if Brad’s father knew who Gwen’s other dad was?
“Gwen,” Brad said against Ian’s lips. “She has my eyes.”
8
Brad
Ian stiffened against him, drawing a shaky breath. “Yeah.”
Gwen, too? “What the fuck,” Brad said. “She’s six.”
Ian sighed and swore, and turned away, his breath no longer falling on Brad’s mouth. “You weren’t supposed to know that, either.”
He wasn’t lying.
Brad stared into the inky darkness, his mind reeling. He had a daughter. And another baby in Ian’s belly right now. And Ian had kept it all a secret, until Brad had forced it out of him. “You’d have kept it from me forever?”
“I don’t need you to be responsible for them,” Ian said, stumbling over his words. “Just—Just leave, Brad. Please. Forget this happened.”
Brad sat there, his hips pressed against Ian’s. Couldn’t believe Ian had lied to him. It wasn’t exactly lying, but that was one hell of a bombshell. Brad had children. Ian had been keeping fucking secrets from him, for years. And this whole time, his daughter had been living right here in Meadowfall, with Brad none the wiser.
“What the fuck were you doing?” Brad asked, betrayal weighing heavy in his chest. “You never told me.”
Ian shoved at Brad’s thighs, trying to pull away from him, but Brad’s knot had locked them together. “I had no choice, okay? It was either I tell you, or I lose my job. You don’t know how close I was to tenure.”
All because he wanted to keep his job? Brad growled. What about me? You’d just keep me in the dark for years? “Fuck you, Ian.”
Ian sucked in a sharp breath, his nails biting into Brad’s thighs. “Yeah. Fuck me. Now, please just leave, and never return.”
Brad was tempted to do just that. He leaned away, but his knot dragged inside Ian’s body, sending a jolt of pleasure up his spine. They groaned. Felt wrong. Brad shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t have come to Ian’s place, shouldn’t have done any of this.
“I didn’t think you were a liar, McMillan,” Brad muttered.
Ian swallowed, the sound loud in the darkness. “Now you know.”
Brad closed his eyes, breathing out. In a few more minutes, his knot would recede, and he’d be free to leave. Probably never see Ian again. Wasn’t gonna try. Ian had lied to him. He’d fucking kept this big a secret from Brad, and, what, he thought Brad would roll over and accept it like a fool?
How the hell had Brad been this stupid, going back to school, getting involved with his professor again?
Fury burning in his chest, Brad yanked his phone from his pocket, unlocking it to see the time. He’d wasted his entire Christmas, bumping into Ian and his daughter.
The phone’s glare was an explosion of light in the darkness. Ian sucked in a shuddering breath. He turned away, but Brad glimpsed the glisten of wetness on his cheeks.
Was he… crying?
Brad’s chest squeezed. Wasn’t like Ian had been crying to gain his sympathy. Brad hadn’t even known until the phone lit Ian’s face.
“Why’re you crying?” Brad asked.
“Damned if I know,” Ian muttered, swiping at his cheeks. He braced his hands on the floor, then shoved his feet against Brad’s thighs, trying to pull himself off Brad’s knot. “It’s none of your business.”
He pushed, his abdomen flexing, the bump of his belly catching the phone’s glow.
Ian was pregnant with Brad’s child. Their daughter was in the next room. And Brad had been about to abandon them all, because he was furious with Ian.
That was a dick move, wasn’t it? He was responsible for the children. It wasn’t like Ian was the only adult around when they’d fucked. Even if Brad wasn’t sure what he felt about Ian, the kids shouldn’t be made to suffer because of it.
“Look, I’ll pay child support,” Brad said. “Tell me what I owe you.”
Ian still hadn’t looked up. “You owe me nothing. I don’t want to see your face again.”
Brad paused. Didn’t seem right. “So now you’re angry with me?”
Ian breathed out. He pulled harder, forcing himself to open around Brad’s knot.
“Stop that,” Brad muttered, grabbing his arm. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”
Ian’s laugh was sharp, harsh. “That’s fine. I just need you to leave.”
What kind of person hurt himself, just so he wouldn’t have to see Brad again? Brad stared at Ian. In the glow of his phone’s screen, he found dense rows of silvery scars on Ian’s thighs—vertical lines, horizontal lines, lines crosshatched over those, when Ian had run out of places to cut himself.
There had to be a thousand scars on his thighs alone, and, fuck, what kind of person had Brad gotten involved with?
Ian slapped the phone out of his hand. “Stop looking.”
Brad swore. The phone clattered onto the floor, face-down, and Brad grabbed it before the glow faded. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah,” Ian said. Then he renewed his pushing, and he was a quarter of the way off Brad’s knot. “So you can leave ASAP.”
“I’m not leaving,” Brad said.
Ian snorted. “What, so you can continue to tell me what kind of bastard I am? The children aren’t yours. Go away.”
Brad tapped on his phone again, so its glow lit Ian’s face.
In the bluish light, Ian’s eyes were weary, his cheeks smeared with wet. He didn’t look happy at all.
“What were you going to do about the kids? Just raise them yourself?” Brad asked.
“Yes.”
“What if this new baby has a heart defect, too?” Brad asked. “You gonna pay for it?”
Ian bit his lip, chest heaving. “Yes,” he said, but his voice cracked. He sat down hard, shoving his hand into his sleeve, where Brad had pushed his shirt down earlier. Seemed like such a long time ago. “Stop looking at me. I’m not—I’m not coping.”
His knuckles worked beneath the fabric. Then a dark bloom of liquid spread across his sleeve, like he was bleeding.
How was he bleeding that quickly?
Brad refreshed the light on his phone, tugging Ian’s sleeve further down his arm. Ian yelped, flinching.
Silvery scars ringed his upper arm, more dense lines. Looked like it was a whole patch of paler skin, if you didn’t look closely enough. On the far side of his arm, Ian was picking at some new scabs.
Brad grabbed his wrist, yanking his hand away. “Fuck, Ian.”
Ian tugged the sleeves back up his arms, hiding his scars. “I’m depraved, okay? You sh
ould leave.”
He looked furious with himself, scared and disappointed and on the verge of tears, and Brad only now realized that Ian was shaking, sucking in shallow breaths.
I’m not coping, he’d said.
“Please just leave,” Ian mumbled, biting so hard on his lip that Brad thought it might bleed. “Don’t take Gwen away from me. I don’t—I can’t…”
He looked like he was close to a breakdown, and Brad stared, horrified at himself.
He was a firefighter and an alpha. He prided himself on saving people. What had he been doing, confronting Ian like that? Pushing Ian that hard? When he knew some of the things Ian had been through? Gods, I’ve been an idiot.
Guilty now, Brad slipped his arms around Ian, keeping them there when Ian flinched. Then he pulled Ian close, snug against his chest, and pressed his nose to Ian’s ear. “I’m sorry.”
Ian shook against him, his breathing ragged. “What’re you doing?”
“Apologizing.”
Brad held him, easing Ian back down on his knot so he wasn’t hurting himself. Then he brushed his fingers through Ian’s hair, stroked his back. Pressed a kiss to Ian’s jaw, so hopefully Ian would understand that Brad wasn’t about to skin him alive.
“You shouldn’t—shouldn’t be doing this,” Ian croaked, his breaths coming sharper.
Brad pulled Ian’s face down against his shoulder. “Yeah. But I am.”
He cradled Ian’s head. Held Ian as he shook, his tears soaking through Brad’s shirt. “You’re—pissed with me,” Ian mumbled.
“Yeah, I am.”
Ian shrank into himself, and Brad hugged him tighter. Rubbed his back. Stroked his wrists over Ian’s arms, so Ian smelled like walnut again.
“I’m not leaving you,” Brad murmured.
“Why?”
“Because you need me.”
Ian trembled, his breathing coming in short, ragged gasps. Brad wondered when Ian had last been held like that. When he’d last had an alpha who would protect him.
Sure, he’d kept secrets from Brad. Sure, he’d kept Gwen’s existence a secret for six years.
But Ian had also done all the parenting himself, he’d been raising a great kid, and the way he coped—he wasn’t at all. Brad should’ve been there for him. Not aggravating his stress, making him hurt himself even more.
Omega Teacher’s Secret Page 8
