by D. J. Heart
Chad ended up with his arm twisted behind his back, Aiden pushing it up high and nearly wrenching his arm out of its socket. Done with the demonstration, Aiden turned to the four alphas watching without letting go of Chad’s wrist.
“Anyone have any questions?” he asked, his calm control doing more to humiliate Chad than any display of aggression could have. The four alphas all nodded that they understood. None of them seemed to find Aiden’s treatment of him objectionable—or maybe they just didn’t want to antagonize an alpha clearly more dominant than themselves.
“Good. Start practicing—slow at first until you get a feel for how you’re supposed to move.”
Aiden let go of Chad’s wrist and spun him around, walking to the center of the mat and gesturing for Chad to follow.
“Okay, pretty boy. Do you understand what you’re supposed to do?” Aiden crossed his arms and stared at him, everything about his voice and stance that of a consummate professional. Chad couldn’t help but feel wary.
“I think so, yeah,” he answered.
“Good. I’ll come at you, and you deflect and attack. Ready?”
Chad nodded, bracing for Aiden to rush him.
“Slow, Chad,” Aiden admonished, moving forward at a glacial pace. Chad watched him come, and much to his surprise the move Aiden was teaching them actually worked. He deflected Aiden’s initial attack, moving out of the way of Aiden’s fist, and almost managed to execute a counterattack.
Then Aiden moved his leg, and suddenly Chad found himself being spun around—in slow motion—his throat caught in the crook of Aiden’s arm. Aiden squeezed down, and Chad wondered if he was really going to choke him out right there in front of the class.
“I like having you like this,” Aiden whispered, subtly grinding his hips forward. Chad could feel the bulge in Aiden’s sweats pressing into his lower back, but Chad wanted no part of it.
Aiden let him go seconds before he lost consciousness. Chad fell to his knees with a gasp. When he looked back at Aiden the line of his fat cock was visible against his right thigh, but the combination of what had to be some pretty tight underwear and his loose sweats meant that it wasn’t obvious.
“Again,” Aiden ordered. Chad pushed to his feet, a glance at the clock on the wall telling him that he still had an hour and a half to get through before class was done for the day.
There was nothing he could do but stay calm and bear it.
***
Chapter 10
Peter woke up because he had to piss. He reached down and squeezed his morning erection, stretching his legs and arching his back, grinning as he thought back on the night before.
Chad was without a doubt the best fuck he’d ever had.
Rolling onto his side, expecting to find the younger alpha lying next to him, Peter was dismayed when he realized that he was alone.
Where the fuck was Chad?
Frowning, his cock throbbing insistently between his legs, Peter got off the bed and walked to the bathroom. He didn’t bother putting any clothes on, rolling his shoulders and stretching as he walked. His cock felt full and heavy between his legs, and he couldn’t help being annoyed at Chad for not being there to take care of it.
He hoped he hadn’t scared the younger alpha away. Peter usually didn’t act so domineering when having sex with someone for the first time, but with Chad it had felt right.
After emptying his bladder, Peter took a quick shower and got dressed. Since he hadn’t set his alarm the night before, he was more than a little late for work and needed to get going.
The fact that Chad hadn’t woken him up before taking off was not a good sign, but Peter wasn’t going to assume defeat prematurely. He grabbed his briefcase and called down for his car, heading to the elevator after adjusting his hair in the mirror.
“Gareth, did you see my guest leave this morning?” Peter asked the concierge when he reached the lobby. “An alpha in his twenties, short blond hair?”
“Yes, Mr. Tank. He came down at around seven thirty and left in a taxi. He looked like he was in quite a hurry.”
Peter’s mood soured. “In a hurry?”
“He was running, sir. I got the impression he was rather late for something.”
“Thank you, Gareth,” Peter said, forcing himself to stay polite. This was not good. It had been a long time since anyone Peter had slept with had literally run away—not since he was a teenager who didn’t know his own strength.
Heading outside, his car waiting for him at the curb, Peter had no idea how he was going to fix this.
***
When he arrived at the office, Peter was almost surprised by the fact that there was actual work for him to do. Novotech’s main competitor, Biotech Universal, had tried to hack them—only to be thwarted by Dawn’s comprehensive new security measures.
“And you know for sure that this is where the attack originated?” Peter asked her when she came to his office to report.
“Yes, sir.”
Peter nodded. This was exactly the kind of thing that would convince Novotech that Tank Security was worth the price.
“Very good. I’ll call them and see if they want us to pursue this. See what else you can find out about who exactly ordered the attack.”
“Yes, sir,” Dawn said, turning on her heel and walking out.
Peter called Novotech, alerting them to the attack, naming the people responsible and asking them if they wanted Tank Security to take action. The rest of the day was spent coordinating with Dawn and the in-house team, planning a not-quite-legal operation to teach Biotech Universal’s executives a lesson.
By the time Peter headed out to meet Aiden for dinner, he was tired but happy with the day’s efforts.
Aiden was waiting for him at the restaurant, looking up with an amused smirk when Peter entered.
“What?” Peter asked as he sat down.
“I had your boy in my class this morning,” Aiden said, his smirk widening. “I have to say I was surprised. I didn’t know he worked for you.”
“He’s new,” Peter said, caught off guard. He was surprised that Chad had made it to Aiden’s class after the night he’d had.
“He was moving a little stiff. You have anything to do with that?”
Peter narrowed his eyes, not too happy with Aiden’s glib tone. They both knew that Peter was the reason Chad was walking funny.
“How did he seem?” he asked. He hoped that Chad hadn’t been in bad spirits. If he regretted his night with Peter, seeing Aiden first thing in the morning probably hadn’t have been his favorite thing.
“Not traumatized, if that’s what you’re asking. Why? What did you do to him?” Aiden sat up a little straighter, a curious look on his face.
“Did you talk to him at all?” Peter had no intention of sharing the details of his night with Chad with his ex-lover. It would be far too weird.
“I partnered with him and took him through a few moves. He’s not exactly the toughest recruit you’ve had.”
Peter suppressed a wince at the note of derision in Aiden’s voice. His friend and ex-lover could be a little dismissive when it came to alphas that were less dominant than himself. He didn’t seem to realize that not everyone could be like him.
“Well?” Aiden asked.
“What?” Peter didn’t understand what Aiden was asking.
“How did he get recruited? He’s not exactly Tank Security material.”
“He’s fine,” Peter said. He might agree with Aiden’s assessment, but he wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. Besides, it might do his company some good to have a few operatives who weren’t morally bankrupt.
“If you say so. Are you going to see him again?” Aiden caught the waiter’s eye and waved him over as he spoke.
“I hope so,” Peter answered without thinking about it. Aiden gave him a sharp look, like the answer surprised him.
“What?” Peter asked. He felt self-conscious, but he wasn’t going to let Aiden know that.
�
�You like him.” The words were an accusation.
“He’s a nice guy,” Peter said. It felt like he was defending himself.
“And is that what you want?”
Peter wondered if they were still talking about Chad. Since Aiden had been the one to break it off with him, Chad didn’t think it was particularly fair of him to be jealous—if that’s what this was.
“I want someone who can submit to me without feeling like they’ve been defeated.”
Aiden looked away, his shoulders tensing up and his face closing down. When he looked back at Peter he was angry.
“So you want someone easy?” Aiden’s tone was cutting.
“Don’t we all?” Peter asked. Aiden didn’t answer, and a few seconds later their waiter approached the table.
“Are you ready to order?” he asked, obviously sensing the tension between them.
“Do you want me to leave?” Peter asked. Aiden rubbed his nose and shook his head, making a visible effort to relax.
“No. I know I’m being unfair. Let’s just not talk about it, okay?”
Peter nodded. He wanted to stay friends with Aiden, but the man wasn’t making it easy. Peter wondered if it would be kinder to just break it off completely.
“We’re ready to order,” Aiden said to the waiter. “I’ll have the cod and root vegetables. Peter?”
“The same, and some sparkling water,” Peter said, handing the beta his menu.
“Very good, sir,” the beta said, bowing his head and walking away.
“Can you imagine being a beta?” Aiden asked, watching the man leave. Peter laughed at the disgust in his voice.
“It’s probably not so bad,” he said, not willing to enable Aiden’s snobbery. “No having to figure out who’s more dominant and who should yield to who… I don’t know.”
Aiden snorted. “When was the last time you had to figure out if you were more dominant than someone?”
Peter smiled and took a drink of his water, conceding the point.
After that things were better. They talked about work, with Aiden arguing that Peter should leave IT to Dawn and come back to the mercenary side of things, and Peter defending his choice by pointing out that he cared more about making money than being a soldier.
Peter wanted to ask more questions about Chad, but he didn’t want to upset the fragile peace, so he held his tongue. If Chad had been in bad shape, Peter was sure that Aiden would let him know.
When they were done eating, Peter said goodbye to his friend and headed home. After pouring himself a scotch, Peter slipped off his suit jacket and sat down to watch some TV.
He’d figure out what to do about Chad in the morning.
***
Chapter 11
Chad hated Aiden Halsted. Calling what the man did teaching was laughable. After the first fifteen minutes, his class had devolved into what could only be described as a methodical beating.
Chad hadn’t been this bruised since he was in a car accident when he was nine. His ribs ached, and he wondered if he might have a sprain. It hurt to breathe.
The lingering pain from being fucked was nothing compared to what Aiden had put him through.
It didn’t reflect well on Peter that he was friends with someone like Aiden. That he would let him teach.
There was one thing Chad was sure of, and that was that he wasn’t going back to Aiden’s class. To hell with what people thought of him—though by the end of the lesson the other alphas had been wincing along with him every time Aiden put him on the floor.
Chad didn’t think they would judge him too harshly.
After the class, Chad took a taxi back to his apartment and climbed into the shower. The hot water felt amazing on his battered body, though he still moved like an old man when he stepped out and dried himself off.
Popping a few painkillers, Chad grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down on his tiny couch to watch some TV.
Listening to the sound of the traffic on the street below, the noise fading away into the background until he started thinking about it, he remembered the blissful silence of Peter’s bedroom.
Being rich sure had its perks.
Chad flipped through the channels on his new TV until he landed on a rerun of a sitcom he used to watch with his dad. He let the remote drop down on the couch and put his legs up on the coffee table.
The show was only moderately funny, but Chad enjoyed the familiarity. He leaned into the cushion behind him and let his mind wander.
Before he knew it, Chad was blinking his eyes open to the sound of his cell phone ringing. He must have fallen asleep.
Reaching over, wincing as his battered body protested the movement, Chad answered the phone with a sleepy hello.
“Hey, Chad. It’s Topher. Noah and I are watching the game, you want to join us?”
Chad frowned; trying to remember what game might be playing. If it wasn’t football, baseball, or hockey, Chad wasn’t interested.
“Sure, yeah. That sounds like fun,” he said. “I’ll be right down.”
Even if he wasn’t interested in whatever they were watching, the company would be nice. Grabbing what was left of the twelve-pack in his fridge, Chad stepped into his boots and headed down stairs. Topher opened the door on the first knock.
“Hey, man. Come on in.” Topher waved Chad inside.
“Thanks for inviting me,” Chad said, handing him the beer. He walked the short distance to the couch, greeting Noah before sitting down next to him. Then he realized that with him and Noah on the couch, there was nowhere for Topher to sit.
But Topher had thought of that. He put the beer down on the coffee table and walked into his bedroom, coming back with an oversized beanbag chair and plopping it down next to the couch.
It was the most college-y thing Chad had ever seen. Topher grabbed a beer from the table, reaching behind him for the bag of chips Noah was holding with grabby hands.
“So don’t you guys have class?” Chad asked, leaning forward and grabbing a beer off the table for himself. He winced at the pain in his ribs, and Noah shot him a questioning glance.
“Not on Wednesdays,” Topher said, shuffling chips in his mouth. “We tried to make it so that we had Fridays off instead, but we couldn’t get it to work.”
“Too bad,” Chad said.
“You feeling okay?” Noah asked. Topher twisted his head to see what Noah was talking about.
“Yeah, I just had a rough training session this morning. Bruised my ribs.”
Topher looked impressed. Chad didn’t want to admit that he’d spent the morning playing the part of Aiden’s virtual punching bag.
“I guess there’s a lot of that kind of thing in your kind of work, huh?” Topher said. There was a note of hero worship in his words, and Chad felt his ego swell. It was nice to be looked up to.
“Sometimes,” he said modestly.
“Okay, the game is starting,” Noah interrupted, his eyes glued on the screen. Chad turned his attention to the screen, the camera showing a zoomed-out view of a basketball court.
Chad watched the game, and though he wasn’t invested in either team, it was pretty exciting to watch. When it was over, Noah said he had to head home and get some studying done and headed off. Chad helped Topher clean away the empty bottles lining the coffee table.
If his mother could see him now, drinking in the middle of the day on a Wednesday, she would not approve.
“So how did it go?” Topher asked as they sat back down, turning the volume on the TV down as they popped open the last two beers.
“How did what go?” Chad asked. Topher gave him a look like he couldn’t believe that Chad had to ask.
“At the omega house! Did you… you know?” Topher wagged his eyebrows and Chad couldn’t help but blush.
“Ah… no. Actually… you know the alpha I was telling you about? My boss?” Topher nodded, and Chad took a large swallow of his beer. “Well, he was kind of there and… we ended up going back to his place.”
Topher didn’t say anything, his eyes widening as he realized what Chad was saying.
“Holy fuck! How? Why?”
Chad shrugged. Topher’s reaction was about what he’d expected.
“We got to talking, and… I don’t know. It was nice.”
