29. Sequin

29

SEQUIN

I ’m very proud of myself. I didn’t pester Slade with a good morning text. I didn’t call him to see how he was feeling either. I’m being patient, like Aunt Emerald suggested. I’ll let him come to me in his own time.

Do I get myself off with the dildo I bought because it reminded me of him? Maybe. Do I think about our tryst in the motel the whole time I do it? Yes. Am I tempted to send an indecent photo of myself to him during the process? Perhaps.

Being patient is very unpleasant. I would rather throw myself at him and see what happens. Sex can be very convincing for people. Especially people who have been celibate for six years.

I sing along to Coin’s latest EP while I add ingredients to the dough mixers. Chime is off feeding the animals with Aunt Emerald, so I can listen to the songs with swearing, too. Those are always Coin’s best. He’s fabulous while angry, and his last boyfriend pissed him off in a way that was apparently very inspiring. I’m dancing around in my hairnet and apron, singing at the top of my lungs, when I hear someone clear their throat behind me.

That someone was definitely male. I spin around, briefly wondering if Link decided to come here first after his practice was over. He does that sometimes. Chime is his favorite family member. The rest of us might as well be chopped liver.

Slade is standing in the entrance to my bakery, his arms full of chips and candy. He lowers all the snacks onto the metal counter.

“I’m sorry about last night. I shouldn’t have left like that,” he says.

I guess Aunt Emerald was right. I just had to be patient. I look around at all the Doritos and chocolate. “Is this some kind of peace offering or something?”

He takes a deep breath, then walks around the counter. “I love you, Quin.” He gets down on one knee. “I don’t have much to offer you. That food is pretty much my only physical possession, but I’ll give you everything I have.” He pulls out a wad of papers from his back pocket. They’re the same size as dollar bills, but they’re white with haphazard edges. He holds out the first one to me. “Since I don’t have a lot of physical stuff, I also brought a few other things. Here’s an ‘I owe you’ for some kind of house repair. Or car repair. I can fix most things with YouTube and enough time.”

Is that what all those papers are? I owe you’s? If he was anyone else, I’d be annoyed, but Slade just got out of prison. He truly has nothing. And yet, he’s down on one knee, offering me what little he has.

I take the paper from him. “I’ve always liked men who are good with their hands.”

He smiles up at me. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, good. Because my next gift is related to that. Here’s an ‘I owe you’ for an oil change.”

I take that one from him too. “Thank you.”

“And an ‘I owe you’ for a filter change. This one can be used for your furnace or your car. Or both.”

I grab that one and spread out my coupons like a hand of cards. His smile gets a little wider, which makes my heart race. I love his smile.

“Here’s a coupon for babysitting. Which you may not want me to do yet. Or maybe you don’t want me to call it babysitting because Chime is my kid, but I figured you might need help with her sometimes, and I can do that while I’m looking for a job.”

I snatch that one away from him as quickly as possible. “Yes to all of that. I would love your help with Chime.”

What utter relief it is to know that I don’t have to raise her alone anymore.

“This coupon is for a year of laundry. Washing, drying, and folding. I’ll even put the clothes away, if you’re okay with that.”

“Ooo!” I take that one, too.

He holds up the next one. “Dishes. Also for a year.”

I eye him skeptically. “You are going to regret this. I’m a baker, remember?”

He thrusts the coupon at me. “Take it, Quin. This is all I have to give, and I want to give you something. Please.”

“Then what should I give you?” I ask.

“Another chance? A daughter? A family? Or whatever you feel comfortable with. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you last night. My brother was telling the truth when he came to visit you. I just wasn’t ready… I’m not used to trusting people, Quin. But I do trust you. I really do. And I want to be with you. I want to make whatever we have between us work. Even if we can’t bond, I still want you, and I still want Chime.” He stands up and holds out the next coupon to me. “Here is child support when I get a job, and here is a coupon for endless blowjobs. Here is a coupon for?—”

I grab the collar of his shirt and pull him down for a kiss. I only remember I’m wearing a hair net when I hear it crinkle against his forehead.

“Sorry,” I say, yanking it off.

He sinks his fingers into my hair. “Don’t be sorry.”

I lean into his touch. It feels so good. “What if I just want you? I mean, all these coupons are nice, and Chime is going to go apeshit for all that candy, but what I really want is more time with you. I’ve already started my collection, Slade.”

His eyes widen. “You have? How? Why? I left last night, and I lied to you?—”

“I think it was your brother. He was the one who made me realize that I was never wrong about you. That’s what really tripped me up before. I thought you were this great guy, and then I found out you killed someone. Only you never did. I was right about you all along.”

He bends down, pressing his forehead to mine. “Oh, Quin. I’m so sorry.”

I’m sorry too. I wish he could have told me all those years ago, but how could he? There was never any time. He had to take care of his brother, and I never told him he had a daughter.

“We both kept our own secrets,” I say.

He kisses me again. This time slow and sweet. We’ve never had time for a kiss like that before. He lifts me up by my hips and sets me on the metal counter, so I no longer have to stand on tiptoe. It’s so easy to love him like this. He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth and pleasure sings through me.

I think I could be happy for the rest of my life if I could just have this. Ever since I was in high school, I knew I didn’t want a fancy life. I just wanted to be with my family and bake.

Slade holds me close while he kisses me. I’m a little overwhelmed, as usual, but there’s also a familiarity to his tongue and lips. I love the grit of his stubble against my cheek and the bulk of his big arms around my body. I hook my ankle around his back and pull him in closer.

The kiss switches from slow and sweet to desperate. He grabs the back of my head and devours my mouth with a heat that’s familiar, too. This is how it is between us. I burn for him between my legs, my cock hard and trapped in my jeans. I grind against him, eager for more friction.

“Quin, if you don’t stop that, I’m going to break some kind of food handler law in your bakery.”

I press kisses down his neck, nipping at the lobe of his ear. “And what law is that?”

“I don’t know. There must be a law to protect the bread.”

I throw back my head and laugh.

“Is there not a law?” he asks.

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?”

He seems absolutely mortified at that prospect. At least he respects my career.

“Would it help if we went to my bedroom?” I ask him.

“Could I taste you there? I never got to taste you before. I wondered what you tasted like for six whole years.”

Damn. That is a romantic way of asking to give someone a blowjob.

“Yes, you can taste me. If I can taste you.”

“Deal.” Before I can jump down, Slade picks me up and throws me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He starts walking out the door. It’s wild to be carried aloft like this, but his grip on me is solid. I feel safe.

“Is there a reason why you’re carrying me?” I ask.

“Because I want to,” he says, opening the door.

“Is this some kind of possessive alpha thing?”

He pauses in the doorway. “Yes. Does that bother you?”

“No,” I answer honestly. My inner omega emerges, eager to be claimed. For once, that doesn’t worry me. At some point, his alpha will claim me. It’s only a matter of time.

He carries me to the back door of my house. The door is unlocked because we’re out here in the middle of nowhere. Slade steps into the back of my kitchen and stops in front of the glass cabinet full of goblets. They sparkle so bright in the morning sunlight.

“Is that…”

“It’s the first part of my collection.”

He sets me down on the kitchen floor and turns toward the cabinet, running his fingers along the glass. “This means you’re bonding to me.”

“It means you’re bonding to me, too.”

He stares at the goblets with this ache in his eyes. “We drank with these last night.”

“Yes. As a family.”

“But they look different today. They’re more beautiful. More… sparkly.”

He’s right. I wonder if it’s because I showed them to Aunt Emerald. Or maybe it’s because he showed up today with all his coupons.

“Then you like them?” I ask.

“I love them. I want to get them out and touch them.”

I wonder if that’s why our alpha mom insisted on swapping out the photos in our picture frames so often. She would run her fingers along the frames every time we got them down for her, like they were precious.

“You want to get them out and touch them more than you want to have sex?”

Slade smiles at me. “No, but after.”

“Okay. After.”

Without warning, he lifts me over his shoulder again, careful to keep a healthy distance from the glass case. He carries me through the living room and down the hall until he’s standing in front of my bedroom.

“Wait!” I say, just as he puts his hand on the doorknob. “There might be a toy in there that I didn’t have a chance to put away. I was in a rush this morning.”

Slade walks into my bedroom anyway. The toy in question is sitting on my nightstand. It’s bright pink with the words “The Grizzly,” printed along the handle.

He deposits me on the bed and picks it up. “The grizzly, huh?”

“They had different sizes depending on what kind of shifter.”

He climbs on the bed, resting his hands on the other side of my body. “Is this the only thing you’ve had up your ass during the last six years?”

“Are you asking if I’ve had sex with someone else?”

He nods, his body big and domineering over mine. It’s such a contrast to yesterday when he laid out on the bed of the motel and offered to let me tie him down. Technically, I know it’s none of his business who I fucked in his absence. But our bond never faded during that time. That means it is his business, in a way.

“It’s only ever been you,” I admit.

He places his hand on my chest and pushes me down on the mattress. “Because you’re mine.”

“Yes,” I whisper.

He drags his hand down my chest. I’m wearing an apron, so that shouldn’t be sexy, but he just flips the apron up, and unbuttons my jeans with a single-mindedness that makes me forget everything but him. He pulls down my jeans and underwear all at once.

“I’ve fantasized about this so many times,” he says quietly, lowering his head to my pubic hair and inhaling through his nose. “God, you smell so good. Even better than I imagined. I would lie on my mattress at night and try to guess what your scent would be like. Thinking of you was what got me through.”

His raw honesty is such a contrast to the obvious lies last night. Slade is completely with me right now. No safety net, no barriers. It makes me realize how careful he was before. Last night there were no possessive questions. He didn’t try to carry me over his shoulder.

Slade encircles his fingers around my shaft. The warmth of his hand shouldn’t feel that different from my own, but it’s electric.

“Slade,” I whimper.

“This cock is mine,” he says, his voice deep.

“Yes.”

He strokes me up and down, squeezing my sensitive flesh. “You’re mine. I don’t have to pretend that this is no strings attached or that I don’t love you. I get to have you, don’t I? Forever.” He looks up at me with a ferocity that takes my breath away.

I nod.

He takes me in his mouth all the way to the root. It’s like he’s claiming my cock the way he wants to claim my soul. I thought being claimed by Slade would be different. I assumed he’d be fucking me, his teeth on the crook of my neck. It’s the way he’s made love to me before. But Slade closes his eyes, savoring me, and takes me deeper still, like there’s nothing he wants more. He isn’t even touching his own dick. I don’t think this is about his pleasure.

It's about tasting and smelling me—experiencing me. Owning me.

He bobs his head up and down in a way that makes me wonder if he’s ever done this before. He’s a little awkward, which I kind of like. There’s something earnest about how he has to learn the rhythm of oral sex. He pops off my cock and nuzzles my balls, inhaling through his nose again.

“Who else have you been with?” I ask. I have no right to. It’s probably the wrong time and the wrong way to bring it up. For all I know, there were guys who forced him to do stuff at Sciff.

He presses a kiss to my inner thigh. “Two other omegas. One junior year, one sophomore year. It was only a casual thing for them. Just a little frotting with the one and anal sex with the other.”

I can read between the lines. Just a casual thing “for them” meant it probably wasn’t casual for him. I remember how emotional he was when he found out I put my paws on him—how he thanked me for choosing him.

I don’t think a lot of people have chosen Slade. At least not in the way he needed.

“That means your mouth is mine, right?” I say.

It seems a little silly to say it like that. I’m sure he’s kissed plenty of other people. But Slade locks eyes with me and takes me in his mouth again. For him it isn’t silly at all.

He wants to be claimed.

The heat of his tongue and the pressure of his mouth as he sucks is wild. This has never been a part of my fantasies before. I always imagine being fucked. But the way Slade stares into my eyes as he takes me down his throat, as his tongue runs down my shaft and he cups my balls, is everything. I feel not only owned by him, but cherished by him. I am special to Slade. I’ve never been more certain of anything.

He gets into a rhythm, eager each time I hitch my breath or tense my body. He feeds off my pleasure, chasing it the way I would expect him to chase his own orgasm. It shouldn’t surprise me that he’s generous. He gave six years of his life to keep his brother safe. But this generosity is more than a tit for tat. As my body crests, and I arch against him, shooting into his mouth, he groans and closes his eyes.

My body is heavy and sleepy as he crawls on top of me and holds me close.

“I’ll suck you off too?” I murmur against his chest.

“Next time, baby. I wanted to come with you in my mouth.”

He wanted that. Every other time, he’s always asked what I wanted, and that was good, too. But I like knowing that Slade asked for what he wanted—that I was able to give him what he truly desired.

I don’t think that’s happened often for him ,either.