Page 72 of Operation: Ogre

“Sam—”

Carter butted in. “And I’m hardly perfect. I’m stressed all the time. People think of me as smart, but honestly, I’m not. Dad and Mom have high expectations. I’m constantly stressed about failing a test or class. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with this degree. I know Dad and Mom are hoping I’ll go to law school, but I’m not sure I want that.”

I looked at Carter as he scrubbed a hand through his hair. He met my gaze. “Honestly, you always seem to just float through life. I figured you hadn’t picked a major because you were just waiting for inspiration or something.”

I gave a small laugh. “Inspiration? What kind of inspiration?”

“I don’t know,” he replied with a chuckle. “A queer peach god to descend from the heavens and bless you with a mandate or something.”

Sam and I burst into fits of laughter. She socked Carter in the shoulder and said, “You’ve been reading too many manhwas.”

“Not possible.”

I gave my two siblings, my closest friends, a good look. I always thought we’d shared basically everything, but just like me, they had been keeping stuff shoved down, hiding their stress. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Sam joined Carter next to Jaxon’s bed. Both of them grabbed my hands. She said, “I’m sorry too. I didn’t know either.”

Carter pulled both of us into a tight hug, and I clung to my older brother. I whispered, my voice cracking, “I need help.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I will always help you.”

Tears burned the backs of my eyes for several long seconds before sliding down my cheeks. “Will you come with me to talk to Dr. Lee?”

“Of course,” Carter said.

I grabbed Sam’s hand. “You too. I need you too.”

She wrapped her arms around both of us. “I’ll be right there with you.”

“Okay.”

Together, wrapped around each other, the two people I trusted most in the universe walked me to the health center so I could get help.

Talking to Dr. Lee hadn’t been easy, but it had been good. He’d referred me to the school’s counselor, who I would start meeting with once a week. I’d decided against medication for now, but after I’d met with the therapist a few times, I might change my mind. But for now, I was okay with just seeing how things went. While part of me was still embarrassed that I even needed to talk to someone—internalized ableism, Dan had assured me—I was even more proud of myself for taking the next step that I’d needed.

When I finally returned to the room, Jaxon was there. He opened his arms, and I instantly raced into them. I tucked my face into the crook of his neck and just breathed. I loved him. I was in love with Jaxon. I kissed his neck, then smiled at the subsequent shiver. I was still scared of losing him, but I would try to believe, even if Jaxon and I were officially together, that nothing major would change between us, that we’d still stay in each other’s lives no matter how our romance turned out, that we would be together forever.

Chapter Thirty-One

Christopher

Iglanced in the mirror and grinned. My outfit was beyond hot. I expected heart eyes from my soon-to-be-if-I-was-brave-enough-to-actually-tell-him-my-feelings boyfriend. I stepped out of the bathroom and froze, my jaw dropping. Jaxon. Holy hell. He was in a tux. Like, an actual fucking tux with tails. A full penguin tux. I couldn’t believe how good the deep black looked against his skin, and his waistcoat was dark red. He looked phenomenal. I wanted to strip him out of those clothes and fuck him senseless.

It was like I blinked and was across the room, mashing my mouth to his. Jaxon’s tongue swept over my lips. Instantly, I opened. Clutching the back of his neck, I attempted to get as close as possible to him. My leg, with a bit of a struggle in my current outfit, hooked around his, and it still wasn’t enough. He skimmed his hands over my sides, tracing the bare skin over my ribs. Each brush of skin-on-skin contact made me shiver. Before long, my prick was hard and throbbing.

Putting my hands around the back of his neck, I tried to jump up, but I couldn’t. I squeaked as I started to fall back, but Jaxon easily caught me and stabilized me until I was soundly on my feet again.

With harsh breaths, I said, “This outfit is not built for this.”

“This?”

I gestured at the tight pants, then made a mock jumping motion. Jaxon released a low, rumbling laugh that did not help my boner situation whatsoever. He ran his warm gold eyes over me. I thrust my chest out in response and placed my fisted hands on my hips. His brow furrowed; I blinked. I thought I looked beyond good. Did he seriously not like my outfit?

“Who are you?” he asked.

“No one. I’m just hot. Or do you not think so?”

His large hands settled on my hips, tugging me closer. Jaxon placed a warm kiss to my cheek, which made my pulse throb. Maybe we could skip the ball. Sex was sounding a lot better than dancing right now. He said, his voice husky, “You look very sexy.”