17. Back to the Real World

"Stop squirming, babygirl," a soft voice whispered. "I'll paddle your ass if you push me out of this bed."

"Mmm." She nestled her face against Bastian's chest and didn't open her eyes while Desmond snored softly behind her. "Shh. Sleepy, Daddy Bastian."

There was no better place than to be spooned between her Daddies, and Tania had no intention of getting up until she had to—even if her bed was way too small for three people. Her Daddies probably had a king, and she planned to move into it the minute she graduated.

Well, assuming they wanted her to move in with them. They hadn't discussed it. She was probably getting ahead of herself, but it was hard to be patient when everything she'd ever wanted was within her reach.

He laughed softly and kissed her shoulder. "Sleep as long as you need. We'll be here."

"M'kay." As she tucked her head under the sheet, she asked, "What time is it anyway?"

Before he could reply, her phone chimed from the charging dock on her nightstand. She groaned and reached over him to grab it, then scowled when she saw Jason's name on the screen.

She swiped to accept the call, then said, "I'm sleeping, Jason. What do you want?"

"Um…did you forget our study session for the midterm? You're like twenty minutes late."

"Shit!" She scrambled to get up and accidentally jabbed her knee into Bastian's chest, making him grunt. "I'm sorry. I overslept. Give me two minutes and I'll get into the virtual classroom."

As Tania stumbled to her dresser for clothes, she tripped over a shoe and went sprawling. Her phone skittered across the floor, making her crawl to retrieve it. "Goddammit!"

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Just peachy, thanks. I got my brains fucked out by two scorching hot Daddies is all. Nothing to see here.

She glared at her Daddies, who were both awake and trying not to laugh at her. She stuck out her tongue at them, then said. "I'm good. I just forgot to set an alarm. Thanks for being so patient."

"No worries. See you in a few."

After ending the call, she dressed as quickly as she could, but didn't bother with her hair. "Sorry, Daddies. I gotta do this. Go back to sleep."

"Are you sure?" Bastian rose from the bed, all naked and gorgeous, with his cock coming to attention. Tania squeezed her eyes shut before she forgot what she was supposed to be doing.

"I… No! I mean, yes." She whirled around before she gave in to what she really wanted. "I'll be a few hours, then I need to get to the lab, and?—"

"Shh, babygirl." Desmond folded her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "It's okay. I'll make breakfast for you before we leave you to do your thing."

"But—"

He turned her to face the door and swatted her butt. "Go. Don't worry about us. We won't disturb your work."

"Thank you." A few tears threatened, but she blinked them away and smiled. "Just… thank you."

She stretched up on her toes to steal a kiss, then scurried to her workstation and logged into the classroom. Thankfully, the software didn't include video conferencing, so she wouldn't have to explain her disheveled appearance.

Then again, it wasn't like she took the time to dress up on a good day.

Forcing herself to focus on the study guides, she ignored the sounds coming from her kitchen, but she couldn't help wondering what Desmond thought he was going to cook. It wasn't as if she had actual food in her apartment, but maybe he'd had groceries delivered.

God, how had she gotten so lucky? They rocked her world in the bedroom and cooked? How did that even happen in real life?

An alert announcing a new participant pinged from her speaker. She frowned when she saw Dr. Pappas's name and grabbed her phone to text her classmates.

Change of plans. Pappas just came in. Sending a video meeting link in a few.

Ignoring the replies, she set up the meeting, then texted the link to everyone. Jason was first in, followed by Theo.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Theo asked, scowling into his camera.

"Right? He's never bothered coming to study sessions before," Jason replied as the rest of Tania's classmates joined the meeting.

Thankfully, none of them commented on her sex hair or the dark circles under her eyes.

"Especially when he barely bothers to keep regular office hours," Owen muttered. "Maybe he came in to see how to torment us with stuff he hasn't taught us yet."

"I don't know." Tania pulled up her textbook on her second monitor. "And I kinda don't care what the little fuckwit does as long as we all pass his stupid class. Let's move to chapter nine. That's where we're having the most trouble."

"Thank god," Hassan replied. "I fucking hate thermodynamics."

"You should have gone into civil engineering. The world needs more turd herders."

"Fuck off, Owen."

Tania laughed, then frowned when a dozen faces stared at her in shock. "What?"

Jason cleared his throat and cocked his head. "I know you'll hate me for saying this, but you're gorgeous when you laugh. Even when you seriously need to brush your hair and turn your shirt right side out."

Her lips parted in surprised embarrassment. "I?—"

"Ooh!" Owen leaned closer to his camera. "She's blushing."

Her face heated even more, and she resisted the urge to turn off her camera. There was no way she'd let them see they'd gotten to her.

"Oh, my god! You're all assholes. Shut up, and let's get to work."

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