August didn’t know how she’d done it, but their professor had been arrested and ended up getting fired from the university.
He was not going to mess with her.
“How did you know?” he asked, keeping his voice low and making sure that there was no one else coming into the break room.
Mary gave him a pitying stare. “You don’t have fish, August, and you would never get fish. You wouldn’t know what to do with them.” She scrunched up her face. “And really? Colonics? What in the world could be attractive about watching someone’s insides being rinsed out?”
August grinned, deciding not to be embarrassed any more. He’d keep out of Mary’s examination room in the future, but now that the initial shock of being discovered was over, he wasn’t inclined to act like he had anything to be ashamed of.
“I like how uncomfortable it is for him when his stomach gets all hard and he starts to cramp, and I like that he’s willing to endure it for me.”
Mary looked at him for a second, and then she rolled her eyes. “Of course you do. Jesus, I could have gone my whole life without knowing that. Why did I ask?”
“Because you were curious,” August said. “But using your examination room was inappropriate. I won’t do it again.”
“Using theclinicis inappropriate,” Mary corrected.
“I won’t use your examination room or equipment again,” August countered. He wasn’t going to promise not to bring Dylan back to his office for another round of playing doctor.
“Fine, but never when there are patients in the building.”
“I can agree to that.”
Mary shook her head. “I have a consultation I need to prepare for.”
She turned around and left the room, very much done with the conversation now that she’d said her piece.
“Thanks for the talk!” August called after her, laughing when she flipped him off behind her back.
* * *
When he was nearing the end of his day, August sent Dylan a text asking him if he’d like to come over to the apartment for dinner again. He and Ryker hadn’t talked about asking Dylan to move in with them officially, but they’d come to an unspoken agreement to get Dylan to spend as many nights at their place as they could.
If they played their cards right, Dylan wouldn’t even notice that he’d moved until it came time to deal with his lease.
August was just finishing up a referral for a lung consult when Dylan texted him back that he’d love to come over, he just had to swing by his apartment and grab the charger for his phone and laptop first.
August decided to call him.
“I can come by your campus and pick you up,” he offered, logging off his computer and pushing back from his desk. He let his hand rest on his bulge, giving it a quick knead as he thought about the night ahead. “We can swing by your apartment on the way. You can pack your toiletries and maybe a small suitcase with all your things in it.”
Dylan snorted, and August held his breath, hoping his not at all joking offer for Dylan to move out of his apartment was accepted. He should have known that playing it cool and subtly getting Dylan to move wasn’t within his skillset.
He wanted Dylan to come home with him, and he wanted it to be for good.
If Dylan said no, Ryker was going to kill him.
“Are you asking you to move in with you?”
August grinned, the cheerfully teasing way Dylan asked the question boding well. If the question had been panicked or disbelieving, August would have backed off, but since Dylan was taking it rather well, he barreled on.
“Ryker and I claimed you, Dylan. That’s a bigger commitment than marrying you.” August grinned. “Yes, I’m asking you to move in with us.”
Dylan was quiet.
“If I fuck this up and you say no, Ryker is going to lock me in that cage in our playroom and not let me out for a month.”
Dylan laughed. “Well, that might not be so bad. I think you’d look good all caged up.”
