Page 68 of Hooked On Him

“Mhhm.” He sounds sleepy. Pulling back, I see that his eyes are glazed and lidded before fluttering shut.

I snort out a laugh, shaking my head. “Lie down.” He sighs as I shove him to his side.

He goes down easily, grumbling but not protesting. “Get some sleep.” I lean down and kiss his cheek. I’ll deal with him when my shift is over, but for now, I still have a few hours left of work.

***

“So. I have a way for you to make it up to me about the Brogan thing.” I say that Saturday morning, stepping into the kitchen while Austin is cooking. It’s weird to have a full Saturday off. But after last night's shift, I did enjoy sleeping in and not having to worry about school.

Austin looks at me over his shoulder. “I wasn’t aware I had making up to do?” he asks. “I thought you were okay with what happened.”

I am. I wasn’t upset about what he did to Brogan. Not at all. When we got home that night, I jerked off to the idea of him defending me. Not my proudest moment, but still.

“I am,” I say. “But what you did was put yourself at risk of getting kicked out of school, and now you are on probation. And that's because you did something in my honor. I don’t want you risking your education defending me.”

The next morning, the whole rugby team, as well as the football team, had a meeting with the dean. Everyone involved with the fight was put on probation. Pretty much, if they fuck up again by getting into any fist fights on campus, they will be kicked off their respective team. After that, they risk expulsion.

Austin turns around and narrows his eyes. “Well, if you expect me to just stand around and watch while someone hurts you, sorry to break it to you, but fuck that.”

And there goes my heart, soaring amongst the clouds. This damn guy.

“Thank you for being my hero.” I roll my eyes. “But there's no need. Anyways. Here.” I hold out my phone for him to read the post on it.

He takes it and looks it over. “What’s this?”

“Did you even read it?” I laugh, taking it back.

“Kinda?”

I sigh, shaking my head.

“The vet clinic I work at has a mandatory five hours a month volunteer time at one of the local animal shelters.”

“Is that even legal?” Austin cocks a brow.

“I honestly don’t know." I shrug. “But it doesn’t matter. I haven’t had a chance to put my hours in this month because I’ve been using up any free time to take paid shifts. So, to earn those hours, I’m volunteering at this big event that's happening next weekend.”

“And what’s the event?” he eyes me suspiciously.

“It’s like this big adoption event. They make it a community event in hopes of getting the pets adopted. There are games, food, stuff like that. But it’s all centered around making the animals the focal point.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“You're going to help me.” I grin widely.

His eyes widen. “The hell I am.”

“Austin,” I whine.

“Nope.” He shakes his head. “Cats, I can do. But dogs are a big no-no for me.”

“What?” I gape at him. “But dogs are amazing!”

“They are loud and drooly and needy as fuck.”

“You said you liked needy.” I glare at him.

“Yeah. That’s when it’s a sexy guy needy for my cock.” He deadpans.