“If he makes me pay back the stipend?—”
“We will look at the team finances and figure it out,” Michael assured him. “We’ve won enough purses we have a cushion, so don’t focus on that until we even know if it will be an issue.” He glanced up through his lashes at me. “Thanks to Evan’s snarkiness, it may not even happen. That was quick thinking, actually.”
“Well, we’ll see. Either he backs off, or I made it worse.”
Perry dropped his head onto his arms on the table and I rubbed his back between the jut of his shoulder blades.
“There’s nothing we can do about it right now, Pere,” I reminded him. “So we’ll do what we can do. Have breakfast. Go downstairs and work out. Our ice time is from two to six so we’ll go practice and focus all our might on that.”
“Because now we have to make the Olympics,” he said into the tabletop.
I glanced up at Michael. All he did was nod at me, like I was doing fine. As if I had any idea what I was doing or what I should say.
“Now we have to do our best. We will work hard,” I said, thinking I sounded like a K-pop idol, and deciding to lean into it. “We can only try our hardest and have fun. That will lead us where we need to go.”
“Thank you, Harua.”
I laughed out loud, because not only had Perry picked up my vibe, but he knew exactly who I’d been channeling, since Harua was the biggest team cheerleader for my favourite K-pop-adjacent group, &Team.
Then I realized he knew my favourite idol group, and the names and personalities of the members. I lunged at him and hugged him, laying my head over the back of his. “You are the fucking best boyfriend,” I whispered.
“Don’t let Alan hear you say that,” Michael whispered, and when I glanced up, he was looking over us at something.
I sat up and turned to find Alan standing there, two coffees in hand. “Far too late,” he deadpanned, and placed one cup in front of me, and one in front of Perry.
Of course they were fixed exactly how we both liked.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say “and you’re the best daddy” but I managed not to blurt that out. “He’s had a lot more practice,” I said instead, then grinned. “But you’re getting there.” I sipped my coffee and sighed. “Yeah. Coffee bribery level unlocked.”
“We’ll see,” Perry said, voice quiet as he sat up, once more wiping his eyes as he picked up his coffee. He took a sip, settling back with a very dirty groan. “Fuck me, that’s good. Thank you, daddy,” he said under his breath.
Not enough under his breath because Michael’s head came up and he stared. My heart stopped then thundered forward and I also stared. Alan’s hot glare bored into Perry.
“Fuck,” Perry said. “I’m sorry.” He tilted his head back to look up behind him at Alan. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Alan rumbled and bent to kiss him, deep with a lot of tongue and a hand covering his exposed throat.
I thought that would make Michael uncomfortable but he just heaved a sigh and went back to his puzzle.
At least we all seemed to be on the same page.
CHAPTER 26
PERRY
It wasn’t likeI wanted to be a “little,” at all. Or that I was going to call Alan “daddy” while he fucked me. If he ever did.
But he was the de facto leader of the team. He was bossy. He took charge. He let me be soft when I needed to be. He made me feel safe to not be in charge or control.
He fucking kissed like a god, and I felt every part of myself—well, almost every part—melt into his touch when he stroked his whole hand, light as a breath, down along my throat to rest on my collarbone.
I flailed, looking for an anchor, and immediately, Evan grabbed my hand. If we’d been in private, I would have clamped that hand over my already aching cock. Thankfully, I had just enough presence of mind to know that wasn’t a cool thing to do, out here in public, and instead, I probably crushed his poor fingers.
“Still gotta curl with those,” he said through clenched teeth.
I did try to ease my grip.
Finally, Alan let me go and I managed to jerk in one breath, then another, and settle back into my skin. Without letting go of Evan, because that connection was keeping me from floating off into oblivion.
