Beautifully Complicated (Front Range University #4)

22. Aiden

Chapter twenty-two

Aiden

“ I s this what I missed out on when you snuck out of my room?” Kier rasps when he finally wakes up.

I pull off his dick with a pop that echoes around the room. “Hard to say. I probably would’ve wanted to do it but been too nervous.” I dive back in.

“You always wake up horny?”

I shake my head while sucking.

“You planning to fuck me? You better get to it if you are.”

I shake my head again.

“You want me to stop talking?”

I bob my head.

It only takes another minute—I’ve been blowing him for several already so I could wake him up in the best possible way—and he’s shooting down my throat. When he’s spent I crawl up his body, give myself a few vigorous pumps, and spill all over his chest.

Who knew giving blow jobs could be such a turn on.

“Be right back.” I hop off the bed to grab a washcloth and clean him up, letting the damp towel fall to the floor as I spread out on top of him like an Aiden blanket. “Good morning.” I give him a tiny peck on the lips.

“Yes, it is.”

“I was hoping you’d like my alarm.”

“That’s not what makes this a good morning. It didn’t hurt,” he rushes to add. “Just you being here is all I want.”

He already said he loves me and he’s still saying shit that makes me swoon.

“What should we do today?” I waggle my eyebrows.

“Get dressed.” He pats me on the butt, though instead of nudging me off him he lets his hand linger there.

“Really?” I wrinkle my nose. “I didn’t bring any clothes.”

“You’re here for the weekend and didn’t bring any clothes?” Kier lifts his brows as he looks down his nose at me, not in a reprimand, though it does feel a little like he’s not sure what to make of me right now.

“I assumed we’d be naked all weekend.” I defend my lack of an overnight bag. “Do we really need clothes?”

“Yes. I have a feeling you won’t keep your hands off me without them.”

“Says the man with his hands on my ass. Besides, I thought you liked my hands on you?”

“I love your hands on me, but my dick needs a rest period from time to time.” He gives my backside a little squeeze. “We’re about the same size, I’ll give you something of mine.”

Five minutes—and a pair of navy sweats with a white t-shirt later—I’m sitting at the table while Kier makes coffee, watching him move about with the same catlike grace he has when he’s in his element. Giving lectures on stage, bustling around the lab... his element must be everywhere. I like my own private showing though.

“Have you told your parents you’re going into business after graduation?” he asks as he pours the grounds.

“No.”

“Have you told them about me?” He glances at me over his shoulder.

“No. I did tell Conor though.” Kier Caldwell in sweats and a t-shirt is positively sinful. Look at the way those sweats hug his ass.

“Who?”

“My brother-in-law.” I just want to spread those cheeks and bury my face in it.

“So, that’s where my boyfriend’s name came from.” He chuckles. “I wondered.”

“What boyfriend?” Boyfriend ?

“Stop ogling my ass. The boyfriend you gave me so Daniel would stop texting me.”

“It’s a gorgeous ass. And that worked, didn’t it. I don’t hear your phone going off nearly as much.”

“He doesn’t text as much, no. He does ask how Conor is doing and when he gets to meet the guy.”

“You can break up.” I lift a nonchalant shoulder as I grab one of the croissants he set on the table. “Tell Daniel the distance was too much but you’re sad and not ready for anything else.”

“One lie is plenty, I think.” He pours a mug and holds it up to me, but I shake my head, so he puts the pot away and joins me. “So, you told your brother-in-law about me but not your parents.”

“Did you tell your parents about me?”

Kier pauses with the coffee about an inch from his mouth. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I figured it would go over better if you weren’t a student at the university where I teach when I tell them I’m dating a man ten years younger.”

“Same.”

“Why’d you tell Conor?”

“He doesn’t lecture. Well, he does, but not as much. Plus, he gets it. He and my sister met and were married within a year, so he’s not freaked out the same way my parents would be—were—with them.”

“And what did Conor say?” Kier sips his coffee.

“The dude abides.”

“Seriously?” Kier reaches for a croissant.

I just shrug.

“Does he always talk in movie quotes?”

“If the quote fits.” I pop a bite in my mouth.

“No wonder you’re so well-versed in movies from my era.”

“Conor’s actually an engineer, very process-oriented in a lot of ways, but he has a silly side and a heart of gold.” I break off another piece of the pastry and chew it thoughtfully before adding. “He asked when he could meet you.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“Graduation. I assume you’ll be there.” I don’t know why I hold my breath—I have zero doubts about Kier or our future together—I think I’m just in the habit of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

First Bennet chooses someone else, then there was finding Kier and knowing we had to say goodbye, followed by finding him again only to have the conflict with Kier working at the university. Even though those things are in the past, it’s hard to believe we’re really in the happily ever after phase when we have several months before things can be official.

“I’d like to be.”

“That’s not a yes.”

Kier reaches across the table to hold my hand. “If I come to graduation, I’d like to be there as your boyfriend, not your mentor.”

“That’s what I want too.”

“Are you sure?” He brushes his thumb over the back of my knuckles. “Because being there as your boyfriend will raise some eyebrows.”

“Aren’t we ignoring the eyebrows since we’re forming our own company?”

“Yes and no. We aren’t giving people the opportunity to question my recommendation because I won’t write one. But that won’t stop the gossip, and most of that will revolve around whether I’m so enamored with you I’m not thinking clearly.”

“I thought you said anyone who really knows you knows that wouldn’t be the case. And that once they met me, they’d understand.”

“That’s true, but the people who don’t really know me will talk. And while I’m confident people will see your brilliance once they work with you, up until that happens, they may question why I’d give up my job to start a company with you.”

My stomach does an uneasy somersault. “Why are you telling me this?”

“So you can decide what you want people to know and when. I’m established enough that a seemingly uncharacteristic decision will appear strange, and people will quickly shrug it off. You might have to live with the stigma a little longer. I’ll do everything in my power to prevent that, but I want you to be prepared for that possibility. That’s why it needs to be your decision whether I come to graduation or not.”

I start to shake my head. “I don’t want us to hide any longer than we have to.”

“I don’t either, Leanbh. But I don’t want you to make a rash decision. I’ll be part of your future no matter what, so if you want time to establish yourself in the field before we go public in order to avoid any potential scrutiny, I have no problem with that. I’ll just skip the graduation ceremony and meet your family afterward. Think about it, okay.” He squeezes my hand.

My first instinct is to say I want him there no matter what, but a part of me hears what he’s trying to say. I’ve busted my ass to earn my reputation as the top student in my class, and even though I achieved that prior to Kier’s arrival, people are likely to forget that if there’s even the slightest appearance of a scandal. Their minds will jump to a salacious scenario, even if we can prove I didn’t benefit from our relationship, simply because our time at this school overlaps by a year.

“Okay.” I nod. “I’ll think about it.”

***

“So, where were you this weekend?” Damien has the audacity to feign innocence when I get home Sunday night.

“I’m sure you can figure that out.” I head to the fridge to grab a Gatorade, just to give myself something to do.

“I could, but I bet it’d be a lot more satisfying if you just tell me. Secret boyfriend to secret boyfriend, you can spill the tea.”

“Don’t you have enough sex on your own without having to use my relationship for inspiration?”

“So you’re having sex again. Good for you.”

“Does Bennet’s no sex outside the bedroom rule apply to talking about sex? If not, it should. Where is he anyway?” I try to peek into the living room to see if he might save me from this line of questioning.

“He’s sleeping off the blow job I gave him.” Bennet stuffs some sort of gooey concoction in his mouth. Must be a cheat day.

“Who’s sleeping off a blow job?” Jagger asks.

“Bennet,” Damien says.

“Oh, I thought maybe we were talking about Aiden’s man. When do we finally get to meet him?”

“You told?” I accuse Damien, feeling myself go pale.

“To be fair, we said your secret would stay in the house, not with me and Bennet. But no, I didn’t tell.”

“How do you know there’s a man?” I ask Jagger.

“You’re never here, and you can’t study that much.” He shrugs and grabs the Gatorade from me.

“Hey,” I protest, even though I didn’t really want it.

“Blue is Cam’s favorite flavor, and I’m supposed to be getting him a drink after I—”

“Don’t say it,” I try to head him off since I know fucked his face is how that sentence ends.

Jagger shrugs. “So, who’s the guy and when do we meet him?”

Damien looks at me, imploring, and I wave my hand in a go ahead motion.

“Aiden met a super-hot science guy and hooked up with him last year, and now that guy is a teacher here. Not his teacher, but they sort of work together so it's very hush hush until after graduation.”

That… was actually a really good explanation.

Jagger’s eyes travel over me, appraising. “I didn’t know you had it in you. Nice .”

“Had what in me?”

“Seducing an older man. How much older are we talking about here?”

“Ten years,” I mumble.

“Do you call him Daddy?” Jagger asks.

“Eew, no,” I answer as Damien says, I was just gonna ask that , and fist bumps Jagger.

“I’d call an older man daddy,” Damien says.

“TMI,” I tell him, but he shrugs dismissively. Apparently, his lack of a filter knows no bounds.

“So, back to the important stuff. When do we meet him?” Jagger asks.

“You don’t. Not until after graduation because while it’s not technically against the rules it does sort of look that way so we’re not saying anything.”

“You’re giving the milk away for free then.” Jagger shakes his head.

“I… what?”

“It means fucking without a commitment,” Damien clarifies most unhelpfully.

“I know what it means, why would you say that?” I ask Jagger.

“This twink on YouTube says that when people send him messages asking to hook up.”

“You watch a twink on YouTube?” I balk, because Jagger and twinks are… it just doesn’t compute.

“He’s got a ton of followers, so I was looking for ideas. Plus, he’s funny as shit.”

Jagger gets quite a bit of NIL money from a few companies that sponsor him in exchange for posting videos about their products, so looking for pointers from other successful influencers makes sense. Still, he’s wrong.

“I’m not giving anything away for free. Kier and I are forming a company together that we’ll both work at after I graduate.”

Jagger whistles approvingly. “Smart. Lock him down. That’s—” Jagger looks at the drink in his hand. “Gotta go.”

He dashes off to the stairs as Damien says, “Ten bucks he’s got Cam tied down up there.”

“I’m not taking a losing bet.”

He nods like he expected that. “So, where’d we land on spilling the tea?”

“I think I liked it better when you and Bennet were rivals and most of our conversations were about how to get along with him,” I mutter.

“I’m just saying you don’t need to be shy about this shit.”

“I’m not being shy, I’m… Okay, fine. I was at Kier’s all weekend, as you know, but what happens between us is just for us. It’s… ours.”

“Fair enough,” Damien agrees. “Wanna see my COC? I’ve been playing it after Bennet passes out post-sex, so I’ve got a ton of gems.” Anticipating my response, he reaches for his phone.

“Yeah, Damien. Show me your clan.”

He’s a fucking handful, but he’s perfect for Bennet. I’m glad they found each other.