Page 59 of Brat Baby (Sugar Life #1, #3)

Derek

“So, let me get this straight,” Thayne starts once we’ve finished explaining the situation to him, his dark brown eyes narrowed and his jaw tight.

“She accepted your invitation off the SugarLife app, you met her at a hotel for the night, extended her contract over the weekend, extended her contract again for six months, and after all that, found out she was a student the next day because you thought with your cocks the entire weekend and never once asked her about anything?”

I shift in my seat on the overstuffed leather couch in the main mingling area of Obsession, the heavy music and mood-lit atmosphere increasing my tension.

Thayne is my mentor in both kink and career, as well as one of my closest friends, but it has been many years since this particular look of disappointment has been aimed at me. “Essentially, yes. That’s the background of the situation.”

His brows raise, almost disappearing into his salt-and-pepper hair. “That’s just the background? There’s more?”

We all agreed that I should be the one to drive this discussion, but as I try to find the words to explain to him how we have further fucked up the situation, none come forth.

They are lodged somewhere between my stomach and my throat and won’t come out.

I rub my palms against my slacks and force myself to look him in the eye and not be intimidated by the stern face and sharply angled features practically glaring back at me.

But before I can get any words out, Xavier opens his fucking mouth. If we weren’t trying to show a united front, I would launch myself across the small coffee table that separates us. Instead, I clench my hands into fists and watch as any hope of salvaging the situation goes up in flames.

“I knew that she was a student before we all signed the document.”

Motherfucker.

I whip around to glare at him and have absolutely no problem finding my voice now. “Xavier.”

He looks right at me, a direct stare into my soul from his usual spot in the armchair at the end of the coffee table, before turning back to look at Thayne opposite him.

“They had no idea until after it was signed. I haven’t stopped being with her. And I don’t plan to,” he states with a dead stare. “If that’s a problem, then my request for contract termination is waiting in your inbox.”

“Yes, I saw,” Thayne mutters, unhappiness coloring his words.

In all his years as a master and as the dean of the university, I don’t think he has ever had to deal with a situation as entwined as this one.

Both of his subs shift on their knees from their position by his armchair—Hudson’s usual seat—his tone clearly upsetting them.

Thayne reaches over the armrest and places his hand on Abigail’s head, and she instantly calms. Reaching for her boyfriend, Wyatt, who kneels beside her, she links their fingers together in his lap.

My heart aches at the display between the three of them, so incredibly happy that Thayne has finally allowed himself a connection beyond the physical ones he has sought since I’ve known him.

He’s never spoken about it, but from what I can gather, his first sub—his wife—died, and he blames himself.

I believe he has carried the weight of not having saved her like his own personal cross.

What the three of them have, I am hoping to achieve with Emery and the three assholes who are determined to make this situation more difficult than it needs to be.

“You know mine is there as well,” Darcy offers from my right, and I turn around to face him on our shared couch, my jaw clenched and irritation evident.

His tattooed chest is on display as he slouches in his corner of the couch, arms positioned along the back and armrest, as relaxed as the man can possibly be.

“I’m with Xavier on this one. Do I want to leave my students behind?

No. But if there is a choice between them and Emmy? I’m picking Emmy. Every time.”

How is it so easy for the both of them? And why is it so hard for me?

I know she is perfect for us, for me. Every piece of her, even the brat. And I am man enough to admit that I have been an absolute fucking mess for the past few weeks, knowing that she is out there and not being able to be with her.

Being without her has been a test of willpower unlike any other.

Knowing that I hurt her, potentially broke her, with my words behind the campus coffee shop. I’ve had to avoid the place from the shame of the memory. Not being able to care for her, to take away her pain, has left something inside of me fractured.

With my chest feeling almost as heavy as that first week, I face forward and brace myself to look at Hudson. Did he send in his own request? Am I the only one fighting for a future where we all get to keep everything and come out relatively unscathed?

Hudson’s gaze is fixed to the bottle of beer he is nursing at the high-top table and stools that some of the club’s service subs had positioned for us when they saw we needed more seating options. He appears to be paying no attention to our conversation, which is worrying.

Either he doesn’t care what the outcome is, or he is already decided about his future.

And considering that he played into her little game in my class on Monday and then fucked her later that day, all I can hope is that he hasn’t already sent in his request as well.

Not to mention, all the little smiles and text messages since then.

I fear that he is going to throw his career away like the others.

He is one year from tenure. One fucking year.

Unable to continue looking at him, I turn back to Thayne and find him peering at the bowed heads of his subs. He says nothing for the longest time. Abigail, with her huge blue eyes and black hair, breaks protocol and turns to look up at her master.

I have no idea what is happening, but Thayne softens. Actually, softens is the incorrect word. Melts. He melts, right in front of me, under the loving gaze of his freshly collared, pregnant sub.

He heaves a massive sigh, then looks up at me. “You four have put me in quite the position. Well-played on having this conversation the day we get back from our honeymoon, and at the club, no less.”

My heart beats heavily in my chest, and I hold my breath, wanting zero distractions from what he has to say.

Thayne digs his thumb and index fingers into his eyes and then sits forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, expression serious. “There is a form that we can fill out that will allow this situation to continue.”

My heart surges up into my throat, and I start to speak, to mention the code of conduct, but Thayne holds up a hand, stopping me.

“But there are conditions. Firstly, the form is not widely known about, because we don’t want to actively greenlight teaching staff to conduct relationships with students.

It is only used in cases where the staff member can show that the relationship was existing prior to the notification of a student status.

In this particular case, the notification is a gray area.

” He pauses, eyes scanning the four of us.

“I’m going to assume that the first night, the Friday night, I believe, you knew nothing about her student status? ”

We all turn to look at Xavier.

He inclines his head. “I found out Sunday morning.”

I don’t let my anger re-form, allowing that information to roll over me as I turn to look back at Thayne. Even if this form is a magic wand to our problem, he and I still have outstanding issues that need to be addressed.

Thayne holds up his hand. “Good. Don’t tell me any more. So, you meet the first criteria. Just . The second criteria is that none of you can be her teacher.”

My heart literally plummets into my ass.

Hudson finally breaks his intense eye contact with the bottle and looks up at me. I turn to Thayne and have to clear my throat before I can speak.

“Emery is in one of my classes and one of Hudson’s.”

Thayne’s lips purse, and the disapproval is clear. “Has she handed in any graded assignments or exams with either of you?”

Hudson shakes his head. “No.”

This time, everyone’s attention swivels to me.

“Yes.” I hate the word the moment it leaves my mouth. “A pop quiz.”

Thayne stares at me in a way that reminds me of when he’d taken me on for my dominant training more than fifteen years ago and I held a flogger incorrectly after he had demonstrated it more than once, because I was a cocky little shithead.

“Did you mark it?”

“No,” I reply immediately, fucking thankful that I had the forethought to have Justin handle that. “My TA graded them.”

“That’s something, at least,” he mutters, and I get a miniscule drop of relief that I did that one thing right, at least.

“You aren’t going to like this next part.”

“I haven’t liked any of things that have happened since the beginning of semester, so I’m sure this won’t be anywhere near as bad as these last few weeks,” I reply candidly and honestly.

“Apart from telling us that we can’t be with her unless she unenrolls from Newton U or we quit, I don’t think there is anything that could make this even worse. ”

“Let’s not go that far. You both need to step down as her professors.

Let your TAs take over or pass it off to someone else from your department, but you can’t go on actively teaching her.

And you cannot provide any tutoring support to her.

She needs to complete every one of her subjects on her own. ”

I frown at that. “She has no family, no support network. If she isn’t able to talk to us, her partners, when she needs help, like any other student would, that will leave her at a disadvantage.”