Nothing Between Us (27 page)

Colby made quick work of the ropes and lifted Georgia into his arms to carry her to the bed. He settled her on her side and pulled a blanket over her. “I promise we will give you what you need, but you need to come down a little first and hydrate. Keats is going to lie here with you while I get you some water. Just rest for a minute. You did great.”

She smiled softly but didn’t open her eyes. Colby nodded at Keats, and Keats didn’t need him to say more. He stretched out behind Georgia, propped up on his elbow, and spooned her. She made a quiet sigh of satisfaction as he stroked his fingers through her curls, then down along her arm.

“I can’t even tell you how amazing you looked tied up for him, George,” he said, keeping his voice low and soothing. “I know I’m still figuring out a lot of stuff, but no one will ever be able to tell me there’s any shame in submission. You looked like a warrior princess up there, so tough and sexy. Thank you for letting me see that side of you.”

She rolled over and snuggled into him, brushing a quick kiss over his collarbone. Her voice was low and lazy when she finally spoke. “I can’t wait to see your warrior side. You’re going to undo him, Keats, unravel him completely.”

Keats sniffed. “I think you’re still flying high, George, and got that one backward.”

“Nope,” she said without hesitation. “I’m the fling. You’re the guy he’s falling in love with.”

Keats stared at her, unsure he’d heard her right, a tight, anxious feeling curling in his stomach. “You really are out of your mind right now, aren’t you?”

She didn’t have time to answer because the man in question strode back into the room. “She say something?”

“Nothing,” Keats said. “She’s not making much sense.”

Colby sat down on her other side, gave her a few sips of water, then ordered her back down. He traced the back of his hand along her hip and thigh in a slow, soothing motion. Soon, Georgia’s breath evened out and she was fast asleep.

Colby looked up and smiled. “Having heavy thoughts over there, Keats, or is the cock ring just cutting off your circulation?”

He smirked. “Nah, I was just thinking she’s pretty spectacular when she lets go. It was like all that crap that smothers her every day just blew away for a few minutes. It was like seeing the real Georgia for the first time.”

“Yeah,” he said, glancing down again and looking at her with a tenderness that proved Georgia was dead wrong. Colby didn’t see her as a fling at all. “That’s the beautiful and dangerous part about kink. It cuts away the husk and exposes the tender center. It can show you the truth. And sometimes it’s scary to see. Or feel.”

“For the dom, too?”

Colby nodded, looking pensive. “Maybe even more so. We don’t have subspace as an excuse.”

The truth. Keats swallowed hard, Georgia’s words running through his head.
You’ll undo him, Keats.
Was that what she was talking about?

The thought of seeing Colby’s truth, Keats’s own truth, was damn terrifying. He should probably get up and walk back to his room, leave these two alone. They were all getting too deep too quick. But no one had ever accused him of being wise.

Keats lifted his gaze to Colby’s, then let it slide downward, knowing his intent couldn’t be mistaken. “So what now, Teach?”

Colby’s easy expression darkened.

“Because it looks like everyone in the room has come except the guy we’re supposed to be serving.”

Colby’s smile was slow and sinister. “I like your initiative, kid.”

Keats got up, careful not to jostle Georgia, and walked around to the other side of the bed. He climbed between Colby’s knees and reached for the button on Colby’s jeans. “I’m not a kid anymore, Colby. But I’ve always been an excellent student.”

The deep groan he heard as he closed his mouth over Colby was worth any price Keats would pay for forgetting to ask for permission.

Colby stared at the ceiling, watching the morning light track across it. He hadn’t planned to wake up this early, but once his eyes had opened and he’d felt Georgia curled up next to him, all the memories from last night had rushed up and he hadn’t been able to fall back asleep. Last night had been beyond all his expectations. When Keats had gone down on him, they’d made enough noise that Georgia had woken up a few minutes into it. Her wide-eyed surprise had switched quickly to interest as her gaze had zeroed in on the spectacle.

“I think we have an audience,” he’d told Keats.

Keats had paused, fleeting panic appearing. Sucking a guy off and doing it in front of someone else were two different things. Keats had turned toward Georgia as if to measure her reaction, but there was no mistaking the desire on her face. That had settled Keats.
See, we’re all okay here.
Colby had gripped his hair and guided him back down. Keats had found that submissive headspace again and had given himself over to it.

“You don’t have to just watch,” Colby had told Georgia, reaching out for her and cupping her cheek.

She’d nuzzled his hand. “But it’s such a pretty view.”

“Always the voyeur, huh? Come ’ere.”

He’d drawn her over to him and kissed her. She’d sunk into the kiss immediately and had reached out to stroke Keats while he worked Colby over. Then they’d all gotten into a tangle, switching positions and rotating who was pleasuring whom. Somehow they’d found a rhythm where no one was left out. Everything had felt organic, natural. In the moments that followed, Colby had lost track of time passing. They’d each ridden their edges as long as they could, drawing out the pleasure.

Georgia had declared that she could last in this game way longer than they could, so both of them had taken that as a challenge and gone after her simultaneously. She’d shrieked and had tried to run away. But Keats had caught her by the waist, dragging her down to the carpet. Colby and Keats had attacked Georgia with mouths and tongues and roving hands. She’d given them a fight, playfully swatting at them and crawling away, swearing she didn’t have another go in her. But she’d been fun to capture.

She’d tipped over into a laughing, shrieking orgasm in record time. And she’d kindly returned the favor, taking both his and Keats’s cocks in her hands and stroking them against each other. They’d all collapsed into a sticky, sweaty heap at the end, and when Keats had declared the throw rug a complete loss, they had all started laughing again—overtired, overstimulated, and overwhelmed.

It’d been nothing like Colby had ever experienced before.

He’d had more than his fair share of threesomes but never like that. Never had he ended up belly laughing with a partner. Or experienced that contented, all-is-right-with-the-world warmth going through him when he looked at his lovers, that unshakable need to see these two people wake up next to him the next day. And when Georgia had agreed to try to stay—to spend her first night outside her house in over a year—the feeling had turned into a twisting ache in his gut.

He was so deep in the shit it wasn’t even funny.

If his friends could see him now, they’d be laughing their asses off. Colby Wilkes, the dom no sub could pin down for more than one or two sessions, was having the
feelings
. God help them all.

His cell phone buzzed on the bedside table. He rolled over and grabbed for it before the noise woke his bedmates. His boss’s phone number flashed on the screen. On a Saturday? This couldn’t be good. He quickly rolled out of bed and hit Talk. “Hi, Rowan. Can you hold on one sec?”

“Sure, I’m at your front door. I can wait,” Principal Anders said.

“What?”
Shit.
“Okay, be there in two minutes.” Colby hit End on his phone and grabbed a pair of sweats and a T-shirt from a drawer. He tugged them on as quickly as possible and quietly made his way out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. There was no time to do anything else but scrub a hand through his hair to make sure it wasn’t standing up on end. What in God’s name was his boss doing at his house at seven in the damn morning on a weekend?

He pulled open the door to find her wearing her serious face. “Hey.”

Rowan gave him a quick head-to-toe perusal. “I’m really sorry to pop in on you like this on a weekend, but I wanted to talk to you . . . not at work. And you’ve said you’re an early riser.” She glanced at his driveway, where Keats’s bike was parked. “I was going to knock, but I was afraid you might have company.”

“I do, but that’s okay. We can talk in the kitchen.”

He led her inside, an unsettled feeling moving through him. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good news. No need to make a house call for that.

“Coffee?”

“I’ll never turn that down,” she said with a little smile.

“So what’s going on?” he asked, getting the coffee started. “Is Travis okay?”

She sighed and slid onto the stool at the island. “Yes, he’s okay. He’s in an inpatient facility for a few more days while they get his medications right. But his parents are getting more and more determined to find someone to point the finger at. That’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”

Colby set two mugs on the counter and turned around. “Lay it on me.”

She frowned and met his eyes. “Their lawyer dug up information on you from Hickory Point. I guess he Googled the old news stories or whatever about Adam Keats’s disappearance.”

Colby’s stomach flipped over.

“So they’re chasing that trail. And even though you were never accused of anything, it’s enough of a flag that their lawyer can make himself feel useful.”

“Jesus,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. “What the hell good is it going to do to ruin my career? Their kid needs them dialed into him, not distracted by some wild-goose chase.”

Empathy crossed her face. “I know. But they don’t know how to deal with Travis, so they’re doing this instead. But I wanted to come and tell you what was going on. I know how hard that whole thing was on you. I remember you telling me about it when you first came to Graham. They plan to interview teachers you worked with and talk to the family of the kid who ran away. The father lives in Burleson now, so they’ll probably go out there to see him on Monday or Tuesday.”

Colby had been reaching for the coffeepot, but his whole body went cold at that. He lowered his hand to his side. “They’re going to talk to his family?”

“Do you think anyone is going to say anything that would reflect badly on you?”

Colby just stared at her. “Adam Keats’s father
hated
me. He thought something was going on. So yeah, he’ll give them all the nasty accusations they could want.”

“And nothing was going on,” she said, making it sound like a statement, but he knew it was a question.

“Of course not.”

She nodded and rubbed the spot between her eyes. “I’m sorry. I had to ask, even though I’ve never seen you be anything but professional, and I know you’re great with the kids. I’m beyond frustrated that this is going so far. I need you back at school. Dr. Guthrie has his strengths, but there are too many kids to be seen, and many of them connect better with you. I don’t like witch hunts. It’s hard enough to find counselors who want to work with this population of kids. But the school board doesn’t like scandal, so I’m afraid that if this keeps getting bigger, it’s going to cause problems for you.”

Colby set her coffee in front of her and took a long draw off his, trying to stay calm. “What can I do to help?”

“Be cooperative. The school board wants you to give a written statement and to do another interview. Be prepared to answer questions about that day with Travis but also about Adam Keats.”

“Dude, what the hell are you doing up so damn—” Keats froze in the doorway to the kitchen, hand on the waistband of the boxers he’d probably just pulled on. “Uh . . .”

Rowan’s eyes went round. “Oh.”

Alarm bells blared in Colby’s head, but he forced himself to not outwardly react. He didn’t give a shit if Rowan knew he slept with men, but if Keats introduced himself . . .

He strode over to Keats and put a hand on his shoulder, hoping he was conveying the don’t-say-a-damn-word warning with his eyes. “Hey, can you give us a minute? This is my boss, Principal Anders. She stopped by to talk about some stuff going on at school.”

Awareness flashed over Keats’s expression. “Yeah, sure, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Keats sent Rowan an apologetic smile and slipped back down the hallway. Colby thought his heart was going to pound right out of his chest. He could see trying to explain how the kid who went missing all those years ago was now standing in his kitchen half naked.

When Colby turned back to Rowan, there were patches of pink high on her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have stopped by like this. I should’ve called and asked if it was okay and—”

He held up a hand. “It’s fine. Really. No big deal.”

Her hands fluttered around her coffee cup before grabbing and taking a sip. Awkward silence ensued.

He sipped his coffee, watching her. “You can say whatever you’re thinking, Rowan. We’re off the clock, and I’m not going to be offended.”

A little puff of breath escaped her. “I just never would’ve, I mean, it’s fine, but—good Lord, if you heard what some of the teachers say about you. They’d be crushed to know they were barking up the wrong tree.”

He chuckled, back on comfortable ground. “I date both men and women, so equal opportunity. But I keep my private life private.”

“Of course,” she said, waving a dismissive hand. “Which is why I feel like a jerk for barging in on you like this. I just didn’t want to have this conversation at school. That lawyer would’ve liked to keep you in the dark, but there’s no way I’m letting you walk into that interview to get blindsided.”

“I really appreciate that,” he said, setting his cup down. “I’ll answer whatever questions they have. I want to do whatever it takes to get past this so I can get back to my students.”

“You and me both,” she said, getting up from the stool. “And now I’ve taken enough of your time. I’ll let you get back to, well, whatever.”

He smiled, enjoying seeing his usually unflappable boss blushing her face off. He had a feeling she was still picturing Keats in his very well-fitting underwear. “Any idea when they’re going to want to talk to me?”

“This Friday. They need to do the Hickory Point interviews first. I’ll call you with a time,” she said, grabbing her purse from the counter.

“I’ll be there whenever they need me.”

He walked Rowan to the door and exchanged good-byes, keeping his nothing-bothers-me face in place. But when he shut the door, he leaned back and tapped his head against it. “Fuck me.”

“Everything all right?” Keats asked, coming into the living room. He’d thrown on a T-shirt and a pair of gym shorts.

“Not so much.”

He leaned against the back of the couch. “What’s wrong?”

“You know how I told you that kid’s parents hired a lawyer?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, turns out he’s a nosy one. He’s digging into my background and talking to people from Hickory Point.”

“What?”

Colby laced his hands behind his neck and sighed. “They’re going to look into your disappearance, Keats. And they’re going to talk to your father. He lives in Burleson now, so the lawyer is driving down there early this week to see him.”

Keats paled.

“Does he know?” Colby asked. “Did you ever go back to tell him you were okay?”

“No. He would’ve killed me.” He stared down at his hands. “I couldn’t go back.”

“How did you manage to get a license? Or identification to work?”

Keats looked like he might get sick. “When I turned eighteen, I went to the local police station to tell them who I was. I was tired of only being able to take jobs that paid under the table. I told them I didn’t want my family to be notified because my dad was abusive. They said they couldn’t make any promises, but nothing ever came of it, so I guess they just quietly closed the case.”

Christ.
Colby rubbed a hand over his face. “Okay.”

“Is this going to mess things up for you? Like, are they going to hold what happened with me against you?”

Colby pushed away from the door. “I didn’t do anything wrong back then, so no, it shouldn’t be held against me.”

“But if they talk to my dad, who knows what kind of lies he’ll say about you? He could make you look really bad.”

“I’ll figure it out. I’m a big believer that the truth usually prevails. It’ll work out.” He headed back toward the kitchen, needing more coffee for this kind of morning.

Keats followed. “I could tell them who I am. My side of the story.”

Colby pressed his palms against the counter, keeping his back to Keats. “Then I have to explain to my boss why the student I had no inappropriate relationship with was in my kitchen in his underwear.”

Keats groaned. “What we’re doing now has nothing to do with back then.”

“You know people wouldn’t see it that way. Best to lay low. I’ll handle it.”

But Colby had a bad feeling that this wasn’t going to go well. Keats’s father had been a self-serving, cruel bastard from the get-go, and Colby had no doubt the guy had only gotten worse with age. Given the chance to screw with some “fag” teacher’s life, that guy would take it.

But there was no way he was going to ask Keats to face that man. He could see that buried little-boy fear flash over Keats’s face at the thought that his father was less than an hour’s drive away. He wouldn’t put him through that.

Colby walked over to Keats, who still looked to be freaking out a little at the news, and put a hand on the back of his neck, giving it a squeeze. “Come on, let’s start today over and leave this be for now. We have a naked woman sprawled in our bed who would probably appreciate a creative wake-up call. You game?”

The wrinkle was still parked between Keats’s brows, but he gave a nod. “I’m always game.”