Rio's Fire (7 page)

There was no way Fire was going to argue with that issued threat.

He hurried over to Hawk’s truck, glancing toward the diner, and wished he hadn’t. Rio was standing across the street, disappointment and anger marring his handsome face. The only thing Fire could do was drop his head in shame.

52 Lynn

Hagen

Hawk slammed the door and started the motor. “You know, Rio is a really nice guy. You’re about to throw that away and ruin it with a good man. Think about that while Maverick is dealing with you.”

As they pulled away Fire raised his head just enough to give Rio one last glance. Hawk was right. Rio was a good man. That was exactly why he shouldn’t claim Fire. The only thing he would do was fuck up the man’s life. Deep down Fire knew it to be the truth. Maybe that was why all along he had pushed Rio away. His subconscious probably recognized what Fire hadn’t wanted to face.

Rio was a great teacher who loved his kids and his job.

Fire…well, he was what he had always been—nothing more than a fuckup.

Rio’s Fire

53

Rio was surprised as hell to see Fire walk by his classroom door.

After Hawk found the fey, Rio had a talk with the alpha about his mate. Maverick had been all for shipping Fire to Alaska. But thankfully Rio talked him out of that.

Rio knew Maverick wasn’t going to harm Fire, but that didn’t take away the sting of hurt that Fire had inflicted when he had taken off from the diner. Rio had trusted him. He hadn’t thought he needed to hold his mate’s hand.

Clenching his jaw tight, Rio turned away from the door when Fire appeared. He had nothing to say to the man right now.

“That mad?” His mate sounded like a lost little boy, but at the moment Rio honestly didn’t care. The man had betrayed his trust.

“You need to get to your class. I already set up the activities for you. But of course, I thought I was setting them up for a substitute.” It seemed no matter how mad Rio was with Fire, his cat wouldn’t allow him to be a total prick. It was true Rio thought there was going to be a substitute art teacher, but now that he saw his mate was here, Rio still wanted to help the man succeed.

God, he was so screwed up.

“Thanks,” Fire mumbled as he turned and walked away. The guy looked so downtrodden that Rio wanted to reach out and comfort the man. He didn’t really understand what was going on with his mate, but Maverick had been adamant about keeping Fire at his side yesterday and Fire had taken off, with no regard for anyone but himself.

54 Lynn

Hagen

“Wait,” Rio called out. He was such an idiot. “I left a lesson plan on your desk. Just…just follow it and you should be okay.”

“Got to keep Mr. Fishman off my back.” Fire gave a small, unenthusiastic pump to his hand. “Go me.”

Rio didn’t say another word as Fire walked away. He wanted an explanation, but it would have to wait until lunch. For now, he had his own class to get ready. Rio’s head snapped up when he heard shouting in the hallway. Hurrying to the door, he saw Mr. Fishman’s jowls shaking back and forth as his face turned ruby red. He was pointing his stubby finger up into Fire’s face.

“That is not a good enough excuse!” Mr. Fishman said in an uncontrolled tone. “Mark my word, Mr. Veneto. I will have you out of my school if it is the last thing I do.”

Rio stepped into the hallway. “Mr. Fishman,” he said in a stern tone. Rio wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew he had to stop the pudgy man from talking to his mate like that or he was going to rip the man’s throat out. “You are behaving disgracefully in front of the children. Is that the example you’re trying to set?”

With the murderous glare, Mr. Fishman spun on his heel and stormed away. Rio glanced toward Fire, but his mate was already heading into his class. He wanted to go after Fire and find out what happened, but his students were already showing up.

With a frustrated and weary sigh, Rio walked back into his class.

* * * *

Leaning his arm into the wall, Rio glanced down at Fire, who was bending over, grabbing something out of the bottom bin. Mmm, his backside was very tempting. Rio was imagining Fire in that position as he fucked him into the containers.

Although he was still furious as hell at what Fire had done, Rio still wanted the man, still wanted to touch Fire, to tease him. His skin
Rio’s Fire

55

was pale and smooth, his fingers tingling to find out as he slid them down the man’s back and cupped the guy’s ass.

And what a nice ass Fire had.

Thank goodness the classroom was empty for lunch so Rio could ogle to his heart’s content.

His mate stood and turned, his brown-sugar eyes widening when he saw Rio leaning there casually. “I didn’t hear you come in.” Fire had his hands full with supplies, clutching the items to his chest.

Rio crooked a finger at the fey.

Fire’s brown brows dipped, but he moved closer.

Rio crooked his finger again.

When his mate was in reach, Rio snagged his mate’s nape, pulling him close, and then captured his lips. He had been dying to kiss Fire, but when their lips met, Rio had no idea just how much the kiss would make him feel alive. His panther yowled as Rio opened his mouth and drove his tongue into Fire’s.

The kiss tasted like dark whiskey, smooth, but with a punch as Rio drank it down. In that moment, Fire was the only real thing in the world—the feel of him, one hand at his back and one in his long, silky hair.

He heard the supplies crash to the floor as Fire wrapped his long and slim arms around Rio’s neck, pushing closer. They were chest to chest, groin to groin. Not only was Rio’s cock growing hard, but so was Fire’s.

Rio’s mind was telling him to back off, that this was not the place for him to ravish Fire. The kids were at lunch, but he and Fire were still at work. What if Mr. Fishman walked in? Rio’s cat gave a low yowl thinking about that interfering human.

Fire must have taken the growl for something else, something good because he moaned into Rio’s mouth. That sound only made his erection tighter, harder. Running his fingers through Fire’s hair, Rio gave the strands a light tug, pulling his mate closer. Their tongues
56 Lynn

Hagen

dueled as Rio dominated the kiss, showing Fire that he was the one in control of this.

Finally, his mate pulled away. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes glassy as he licked his kiss-swollen lips. “W–What was that for?” Fire asked, slightly out of breath.

Rio ran his fingers over the point of Fire’s ear, watching in amazement as his mate’s eyes fluttered closed and his body shivered.

Ah, this was one of his erogenous zones. He let the tip of his index finger ghost over the warm flesh, enjoying the way his mate squirmed in pleasure.

“If you don’t want us both to be arrested, I would stop if I were you,” his mate warned, although he didn’t make any attempt to pull away.

“But I’m having so much fun.” Rio bent forward and placed a light kiss where his fingers were just brushing. Fire inhaled sharply.

“Rio, stop…please.”

Having mercy on his mate, Rio leaned back. “You’re lucky I’m kissing you instead of draping you over my lap and spanking your ass for what you pulled.” That image was not helping Rio’s erection soften. His mind began to play scenes of Fire’s milky-white skin bared to him, exposed for Rio’s perusal.

Fire squatted in front of Rio to clean up the supplies that had fallen to the floor and all kinds of wicked ideas came to mind. Oh yeah, he loved seeing Fire on his knees in front of him. Too bad he couldn’t take his cock out and push the head past Fire’s plump lips.

Rio took two steps back, forcing the erotic images from his mind.

“I’ll be over tonight.”

Fire glanced up from under his thick, brown lashes, reminding Rio of the seductive imp, and Rio was hard all over again. “Why?”

“Because,” Rio said as he squatted down in front of Fire. “That’s the only way I can see you alone, unless you want an entourage of babysitters watching our every move.” He didn’t like that Maverick was keeping such a close eye on Fire. He wanted to know exactly
Rio’s Fire

57

what his mate had done to warrant such anger from the alpha. It had to be something big for Maverick to pretty much put Fire on lockdown. He was going to find out. Rio didn’t like his mate hiding things from him.

“What’s going on in here?”

Rio ground his teeth when he heard Mr. Fishman. He was getting extremely tired of the human dogging Fire’s every step. He remembered the principal telling Rio that Fire wasn’t the type of person who he wanted at this school. He was starting to wonder of maybe Mr. Fishman was one of those homophobic men and knew Fire was gay. That had to be the reason the guy didn’t like Fire.

That only pissed Rio off. Mr. Fishman lived in a town full of gay men. If he was indeed homophobic, he picked the wrong place to live.

He was also pissed because the man had popped the small bubble he and his mate had been in. Rio looked at Fire, wanting to say something, to apologize for the principal—because Rio’s gut was saying that Mr. Fishman was against gay people—but Fire had turned his back on them.

He scoffed, a raw-sounding snarl low in his throat. “As you can see we are cleaning up the mess on the floor.”

Rio’s tone held no venom, just the bold frankness that Mr.

Fishman couldn’t argue with. Rio knew he was in deep now, all thanks to Fire. And while he couldn’t really hold it against his mate, Rio knew he was now under Mr. Fishman’s suspicious watch.

There was a part of him convinced the principal was homophobic.

Even if his mate wasn’t a top-notch teacher, Mr. Fishman was coming at Fire a little too strong. He couldn’t dismiss the feeling. He might be wrong—which he highly doubted—but Rio had never seen anybody this up in arms for something as trivial as a rowdy class.

Mr. Fishman looked as if he wanted to argue, to find something wrong so he would be justified in yelling at Fire. Little did the obnoxious human know that if he raised his voice to Fire again, Rio was going to teach him a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget. The
58 Lynn

Hagen

principal whirled around and walked out of the room with angry strides.

“I think I’m growing on him.” Fire stood with the supplies in his arms and then walked over to his desk. “I think I like him, too, especially when his chubby little jowls start flapping around.”

Rio didn’t say anything, just gazed at Fire as though he were some bizarre species he never encountered before. “You have one strange sense of humor.” Rio felt the epiphany rolling off of him as comprehension finally, fully, took root in his mind. He gaped now, staring at his mate as if seeing him for the first time. The man was a mess. God, was he a mess. But Fire had an innocence about him that called to a raw instinct Rio never knew he had. He was like some misguided kid who was just stumbling through life. It was all so clear to him now.

“What are you going to do, knock on the front door and ask if we can have sex in my bedroom?” He referred back to Rio’s original statement before Mr. Fishman interrupted them.

“The only person I need permission from is you.” Rio could see the twinkle of delight in Fire’s eyes. The guy really liked when Rio stated things instead of asking. He had to be very careful with this new knowledge. If there was one thing Rio had learned about his mate, it was that Fire ran when he felt trapped.

“You better be careful,” Fire warned as he restacked the construction paper according to color. “Daddy has very sharp teeth.”

The left side of Rio’s mouth pulled up, a smile fighting to break free. “So do I. I’m not worried about Maverick. He can’t interfere in mating.”

Fire organized the rest of the items on his desk, keeping his head down, but Rio could see the small grin. The man was quite adorable when he was playing this game with Rio. He would show his mate just how dominant he could be—once he got the fey in bed.

“We’ll see.”

Rio’s Fire

59

The man was challenging Rio. His mate wanted to see Rio’s fierceness. Oddly enough, that thought made Rio want to preen, take his shirt off, and show Fire his prowess. Rio didn’t want to leave Fire.

He knew his class would be returning soon, but the thought of going back to his own room wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He was acting like some love-struck kitten.

When the bell rang, Rio sighed, knowing his time with Fire was over…for now. Reluctantly, Rio wandered back to his classroom, waiting on his students to arrive. He spent the rest of the day with stories in the story corner, games to entertain and educate them at the same time, and quiet time when they sat down to draw together, brushing up on their social skills.

Afterward, Rio watched Fire climb into Tank’s truck before getting into his own. He had told his mate that he would be there tonight, and he would. Rio just needed to get home and take a shower.

Pulling out of the staff parking lot, Rio saw from the corner of his eye that Mr. Fishman was watching him. The man was giving him a cold, appraising look. He had the impression that Mr. Fishman was wondering whether it was worth going after Rio or just dropping the entire mess.

Rio was voting for Mr. Fishman to back off, but he knew that was a vain wish. The principal’s muddy-water eyes followed Rio until he was well out of the lot and driving away. The thought of Fire pushed Mr. Fishman’s strange behavior out of Rio’s mind. His heart began to race as he pulled into his driveway twenty minutes later and let himself into his home.

Having showered, dressed, and grabbed a quick meal, Rio was out the door. Instead of wearing his khaki pants and dress shirt—the clothes he wore to his teaching job—Rio was adorned with a dark-blue bandanna on his head, a graphic grey T-shirt, blue jeans, biker boots, and his black leather.

That should impress Fire.

60 Lynn

Hagen

And it impressed Rio that he was going through all this trouble.

He highly doubted Fire would refuse him. So why get dressed up? Or was that dressed down? Whatever it was referred to, Rio was trying his damnedest to look good for Fire.