Page 9 of High Achiever
“Oh fuck.” Ash let out a sigh of relief as that cool, calloused hand wrapped around his dick. “I know you can.”
He let his eyes fall closed, grateful for best friends and big hands and hours upon hours of practice doing exactly this.
“Think he’d fuck us?”
At Ash’s mumbled words, Ryder’s hand paused.
Fuck. Ash had no idea where that question had come from. For one, Ash had never fully fuckedanyone, and he and Ryder didn’t share. It just wasn’t how they worked. And for two, they didn’t talk about other people when … this kind of stuff was happening.
But after a moment, Ryder grunted, stroking Ash’s cock again with that perfect rhythm. “Think you wouldn’t like it if he did.”
Ash arched his hips up into Ryder’s touch. God, that felt nice. “Why not?”
“Fucking’s all he does.”
Meaning Spencer wouldn’t stay.
Because the alpha had a reputation, and it was a well-deserved one. No-strings banging, nothing more. He was always up-front about his limits, and people always grew attached anyway.
But that would be fine, wouldn’t it? If Ash and Ryder knew the score going in. Would they evenwantSpencer to stay? Just because he was gorgeous and funny and kind of a doofus in the way Ash liked best?
What would happen to their careful stasis then?
Ryder tightened his grip, speeding up his strokes, and all coherent thoughts fled Ash’s brain, lightning shooting up his spine. Ryder’s touch was just on the edge of punishing, but Ash fucking loved it, that hint of brutality that never went too far.
Ash panted and whined—or no, he moaned, because Ash didn’twhine—as that heat in his belly swirled higher and higher, hotter and hotter, until he was curling up over Ryder’s fist with a groan, shooting his release into Ryder’s waiting palm.
Oh fuck. He’d needed that.
Ash fell back, trying to catch his breath as Ryder grabbed a tissue, neatly cleaning them both up.
Ryder rose from the bed. “Take your nap.”
Ash frowned blearily up at him. “What about you?”
“I’m good.”
Before he knew what he was doing, Ash reached out, tugging at the hem of Ryder’s shirt. “No one else,” he said quickly. What the fuck? He immediately hastened to correct himself. “I just mean … not today. Okay?”
Ash didn’t know where that request came from any more than anything else he’d said or done today. But Ryder only nodded, gently peeling Ash’s hand away from his shirt. “No one else,” he said easily. “I was gonna jerk off in the shower, anyway.” He leaned in close, effortlessly untangling the sheets and tucking them up around Ash’s shoulders, and his voice when he spoke again was a low, husky whisper. “Because you’re fucking gorgeous when you come, bright eyes.”
Before Ash could decide whether to blush or tap him in the kidneys, Ryder straightened, his lips twitching at the corners. “I’ll come back and read in bed when I’m done.”
Ash couldn’t help his self-satisfied smirk as he nestled back into bed. Some of that weird mental fog had cleared with his orgasm, and he wasn’t feeling nearly as hot or tight-skinned anymore. A nap didn’t sound out of the realm of possibility either.
Ash would sleep. Ryder would read. And then they’d see what other trouble they could stir up before classes started again next week.
No doubt Ash would be back to normal by tomorrow.
3
RYDER
Something weird was up with Ash.
Ryder pulled up to the garage in Noah’s borrowed car, parking at an angle close to the office door. He gave the hood a pat as he passed.
He’d been entwined with the Tellers almost as long as he could remember, but there were still things about them Ryder didn’t always get. The fact that Noah couldn’t be bothered to claim back his car after almost two weeks was one of them.
