Tina snorted. “Why am I not surprised?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying not to be hurt.
“Just that you’re so…sogood.”
“What’s wrong with being good?”
Tina shrugged. “You need tolivea little, Linus. Haven’t you ever wanted to spend your heat with someone you just met on a dating app or that friend of a friend who you’ve had a crush on for ages?”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a crush on anyone. Well, anyone who wasn’t a celebrity on TV or a book boyfriend.
“It’s much safer to hire a professional,” I said.
Tina definitely wasn’t impressed. “Well, my heat is coming next month, and I just found out about this thing called the Dark Fantasies Club. I think I’m going to sign up for that and see if I can’t have a little fun.”
The squirmy feeling that was still rolling around in my gut pulsed harder. “I’ve heard of the Dark Fantasies Club,” I said, just a little hoarse. “My brother belongs to it.”
“Ooh!” Tina brightened. “Maybe you can get him to help you set up a profile or something.”
“Um, no,” I said flatly. “I’m not about to get involved in anything my brother is involved in.”
“You two don’t get along?”
I thought about the question for a second. Did we get along? Lucas was my twin. My identical twin. We’d done everything together growing up, and he was still a big part of my life now. A big and sometimes annoying part of my life. A part of my life that was downright catastrophic at times. If there was such a thing as the good twin and the evil twin, that was me and Lucas. Three guesses who was the good one and who was the evil one.
“We get along great,” I said. It was mostly true. “Our parents have retired and moved down south and our beta sister, Eloise, lives out West now, but Lucas and I are both still here in Barrington, and we’re close enough.”
“Then get him to hook you up with the Dark Fantasies Club and have a good time,” Tina said, getting up and slapping myshoulder before heading for the door. “I think you could use a bit of fun to shake up all that goodness.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” I said with a weary smile.
I wouldn’t take it into consideration. Not at all. I stood and walked back to my desk, where I had a pile of worksheets to grade. Lucas had been given all the bravery and excitement between the two of us. Calling Bangers & Mash to deal with my heats was as funky as I got. They were all professionals, but I didn’t know the alphas who showed up at my doorstep when I was so desperate to be fucked I couldn’t remember my own name.
Memories of my last heat started to creep in around the edges of my concentration, but I shook them off. Compared to the things I was sure Lucas did, my heat sex was probably as vanilla as it came. I didn’t really love doing it face to face with someone I didn’t know, and half the time I kept my eyes closed through heat waves and tried not to think about what my biology was putting me through.
I’d somehow closed my eyes and was thinking about that biology and nothing else when there was a knock on the door. I jumped, opened my eyes, and stared guiltily at Roger, another of the teachers in the first-grade block.
“Hey, Linus,” Roger greeted me, stepping into the classroom and rushing straight on to, “So I managed to score tickets to a big Evan Mercer concert on Sunday, and I’m going to be wiped out on Monday. Can you cover for me, put my kids in with yours? Just for the day?”
It wasn’t the first time Roger had asked me to cover for him. It wouldn’t be the last, either. From the way he strolled up to my desk with his hands in his pockets, it was clear he assumed I would say yes. Again.
Roger was in for a surprise.
“Actually, I can’t,” I said, feeling guilty down to my bones, though God only knew why. He was asking me for a favor, not the other way around.
“What’s this?” Roger didn’t look happy.
“Um, my heat is supposed to start over the weekend, so I’ve taken the beginning of the week off,” I explained.
“Are you sure?” Roger pressed on. “Your heats can’t be all that interesting or last that long. You can power through, right?”
I clenched my jaw and gripped the edge of the desk. This was how it always was. Ask Linus. He was the nice guy. He’d take your class or do your grading for you. He was kind and loved to help out. And he didn’t have a life of his own.
I was just about done with the good guy image.
“I really can’t,” I said, leaving it there. I wanted to explain more and make a dozen excuses so Roger wouldn’t feel slighted, but I was working on not being a doormat.
“Oh. Okay,” Roger said, not looking happy. “I guess I’ll ask someone else, then. Bye.”
