by Grey, Aspen
I ground against him again, but felt something that made my eyes pop open as I realized what had really just happened.
He wasn’t close, he wasn’t holding back to keep from coming too soon. He was asleep.
Chapter Two
Sawyer
As I stared out the window of my office that overlooked all of downtown San Diego, watching the lights of the cars as the sun began its journey from the sky down towards the ocean, I felt like the goddamn king of the world.
My firm, Cooper, Moyer and Reynolds, had just won the biggest case of our entire career, a victory that would not only make all of us rich, but would firmly establish our dominance as the top legal firm in the city. We’d just won a major lawsuit for a local indie author who’d had the plot from their latest book completely ripped off by one of the big Hollywood studios. The film had gone to earn almost half a billion dollars domestic, and twice that at the international box office. They’d thought no one would notice or care about some lowly self-published author’s complaints about plagiarism. They were wrong.
The guy would never have to work again for the rest of his life—not unless he wanted to, which he would, of course. He was an artist and wanted his work to be seen by the rest of the world, not just sit back on a chunk of change and do nothing into his old age. But our percentage of the settlement was substantial, as we’d taken on the case pro bono with expectations of a win. And boy, had it paid off.
What a journey, I thought as I looked at my reflection in the plate glass. I still couldn’t believe what I saw: a tall, handsome, twenty-nine-year-old man wearing a designer suit and equally expensive leather cap-toe Oxford shoes. I’d come a long way from the lost, teenage runaway I’d been some fifteen years ago.
Originally from Modesto, I came from a household of abuse, drugs and drinking, and all-around horrific energy that swirled around me all day every day. Mom and dad fought like mortal enemies, and with the house being as small as it was and me being the only child, I found myself caught in the middle of everything—every time.
So, at fourteen, I had myself emancipated and got the Hell out. Unlike others who had done the same, I kept my head down and focused, worked my way through school while crashing out on couches and spending occasional periods in shelters. I eventually ended up with a scholarship to Stanford where I got my law degree. I was passionate about law and it wasn’t long before I became partner. It was the proudest moment of my life—up until this one.
“There he is!” Voices exploded behind me as the door to my office flew open and the boys rushed in. I spun around to see Tyson, Scott and Becker with grins on their faces and hands in full salute as though I was their commanding officer. “All hail the conqueror!”
That was Tyson, the most verbose and jester-like of the crew. He was wearing one of his almost over-the-top suits with pinstripes and clapped me heavily on the shoulder. I couldn’t help but laugh as we all shook hands. I couldn’t have imagined a better birthday treat than winning the biggest case of my career thus far.
“Drinks!” Becker cried out. “Time to hit the town!”
“Drinks and booty!” Scott laughed.
The next thing I knew, I was being carried out of my office, into the elevator, down into the parking garage and thrown behind the wheel of my own car.
“The captain drives!” Scott roared as I thumbed the “Engine Start” button and whipped the sports car out onto the downtown streets. The orange glow of the sun finally coming to rest behind the Pacific was in the corner of my eye as palm trees whisked by as we sped towards some unknown destination.
“Left here!” Tyson pointed at the very last second, causing me to swerve past a Prius and jump a yellow light. “Now right!”
“Where the fuck are we going?” I bellowed. “You’re shit at directions!”
“Drinks and booty!” Scott repeated. We whizzed through downtown, the boys hooting and hollering like a frenzied pack. I half wondered if they were all going to take their panther forms right then and there. Thankfully they didn’t, and Scott aimed his finger to a scuzzy-looking parking lot with an option slot. “Slide this big ol’ dick of yers in yonder slot!”
I whipped the car into the open space and switched off the engine. The crew spilled out, patting me on the back and cheering as they led me to the entrance of a club I’d never seen before.
The Cockpit. That was its name, flashing loud in pink neon that hung above the door.
“After you, sir,” Scott said, saluting again as I stepped through the door into a hilarious dive that was sort of half-club/half-strip-club at the same time. A laughably out-of-shape guy pranced around a pole at the end of the room, while a handful of betas (probably his friends) threw about twenty dollars’ worth of ones at him, scooped them back up off the “stage,” and threw them again.
“This way,” Tyson told me, steering me towards the bar. He slammed his credit card down and roared at the bartender. “Start a tab, chief!”
The bartender, a gruff-looking, no-bullshit kind of guy, threw him a sidelong glance but took the card and gave it a swipe.
“What’ll it be?” he asked.
“Four vodka tonics!” Becker cried out before Tyson could reply.
“What?” he snapped back. “What kind of pussy-ass shit did you just order?”
“Shut up, douche,” Becker scoffed. “We’re not doing frat-boy vodka Redbulls tonight.”
“Frat boy?” Tyson retorted as the bartender started our drinks with a roll of his eyes.
“You heard me!”
I let their argument wash over me as I turned around to examine the crowd. Thankfully, The Cockpit didn’t stink of smoke and stale beer, and I caught the scent of several sweet-smelling omegas, and one beta who was standing in the corner by himself waiting for the bathroom. I felt my dick start to rise as I thought about just how sweet it would be to celebrate my birthday and top off this incredible victory by burying my dick in some nice tight ass.
“See anything you like, captain?” Scott asked me, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “You point ‘em out, and I’ll scout ‘em.”
“You think this guy needs you to wingman for him?” Becker laughed.
“I’m all right, Scott,” I replied with a grin, taking my vodka tonic from him, squeezing the lime and taking a sip. “I can pull my own.”
“Pull your own pecker!” Becker roared. But as we stood there, the beta waiting for the bathroom caught my eye. He was medium height and build, but had a long haircut and was wearing a real tight pair of jeans that showed off an impressive bulge. He even had a bit of a hipster look with a pair of brown suspenders and no belt. By the way he was looking at me, he was hoping he wouldn’t be headed into the bathroom on his own.
“As a matter of fact,” I said, handing Scott my drink. “I think I’m all lined up for the night, boys.”
“Go get ‘em, captain,” Scotty told me as I began threading my way through the tables, doing my best to ignore the amateur gyrating from the guy wobbling around the pole. The beta hung his head for a moment as I approached, but he knew what I was up to, and as I reached his side and saw him look back up, I knew it was going to be a great night.
Chapter Three
Max
“Elijah,” I whispered, unsure how to handle the unbelievably awkward situation. Had my boyfriend seriously just fallen asleep with his dick inside of me? How was that possible?
“Elijah!” I hissed, louder this time. He woke with a start, and I felt his cock flex inside me.
“Huh?” He grumbled, then, when he realized what had happened, I heard him stop breathing for a second. “Oh—oh, no…”
“Yeah…”
“Did I just—?”
“Yeah…” I repeated.
“Fuck.”
This time, I just nodded. I couldn’t tell if my ego was completely destroyed or whether I was just completely shocked at what had happened. I mean—a dog who loved playing fetch wouldn’t suddenly stop chasing the Frisbee unless
he was so completely tired out he could barely move…right? Or maybe if he was completely doggie-depressed…
Oh, no…
I pulled myself forward slightly and let my boyfriend slide out of me. We both sighed at the loss but there was also something else going on. Something greater. Something had changed between us—something that had been there for a long time but we’d just both been too afraid to acknowledge. Now we had to.
“Are we in a rut?” I asked him, rolling onto my back to look at him. I kept my eyes on his, but could still see his cock, now semi-flaccid, hanging between his legs like a defeated warrior. He looked away, ashamed, then nodded.
“I think we are.”
“Gah,” I grumbled, putting my hands over my head. Elijah lay down beside me, hands across his chest, as we both stared at the bland white ceiling and the fan spinning lazily above us.
“What do we do?” Elijah asked. His question irritated me.
Don’t ask me! I thought. Do something!
Maybe that was part of the problem. Elijah was a beta. He was kind, caring and always there to listen to me when I needed to complain, but he wasn’t the kind of guy to take the lead. He had never been able to just take me when he wanted me, pin me down and fuck me stupid while growling in my ear and letting me know that I was the only one in the world for him, and that’s probably why we hadn’t settled down completely to have children yet.
I glanced to my left where the computer was sitting on the desk in sleep mode, and an idea flashed through my mind. It was wild, borderline crazy, but it had crossed my mind before. I’d never voiced it to Elijah, because things were…fine…but now? Now crazy felt like just the thing we needed.
“Elijah,” I asked tentatively. “Have you ever heard of the site AltShifterLife?”
I could tell by his pause that he had, and waited on pins and needles for his reaction.
“I have,” he replied flatly.
“Well…you know what it is then, right? What would you think about finding someone—an alpha maybe—to join us in the bedroom? You know, spice things up a bit?”
It took a lot of willpower for me to get that question out, and part of me wondered if I’d just ruined what was left of my relationship. I knew that we’d entered a new phase of our journey through life together, one that was dangerously close to the edge of a cliff, and one false move would send us falling over into nothingness, and I didn’t want that. But if it was going to happen, I wanted it to happen now, so we wouldn’t have to endure the weeks (or maybe months) of pain that happens when the candle of a relationship slowly dies and then goes out.
“I’m a little surprised you’re asking me this, Max,” Elijah replied. I turned to him, unable to understand his reaction through his tone alone, but saw his eyebrows raised in a way that let me know I hadn’t pushed him away.
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “I’ve—I’ve actually thought about this before. It kind of turns me on to think about seeing you with an alpha.”
“Really?” I asked, my heart starting to beat faster.
“I know that I can’t always…give you what you need, but I want you to have it. If bringing an alpha into the bedroom with us is what it takes, then I’m all for it. I don’t want to lose you from my life.”
It was impossible to describe how happy his words made me. I’d been so afraid that saying what I’d said would push him away, but it hadn’t. And to hear that he had actually thought about the same thing only excited me more. I leapt to my feet, raced over to the computer and entered the address of the site. Immediately, a popup opened asking me to log in.
“Okay, so we have to create an account,” I told him, entering in our e-mail address. “What should our profile name be?”
“NeedsAlphaCock?” he jokingly suggested. I laughed and typed it in.
“Hey, why not? Gets right to the point, doesn’t it?”
Elijah came up beside me as we created our profile, threw up a selfie of both of us that we’d taken down at the beach the other day, and started to scroll through the other available alpha profiles.
“Wow,” I said slowly as we scrolled through the lines of shirtless hunks, some big and buff, others lean and mean, blonds, brunettes, some in suits, some in surfer duds.
“How about him?” Elijah suggested, pointing to a strong-jawed guy who looked like a doctor out of a soap opera. I clicked his profile and read the description.
“Call me Steel, because I’m always hard, impossible to break and the whole world needs me, they just don’t know it yet—Oh, God, Elijah—if you’re a cuck and need my cock, send me a message—” I stopped reading and clicked back immediately. “Okay, that’s not the kind of guy we need.”
“Not at all,” Elijah agreed, putting a hand on my back.
We spent probably another half an hour going through the site until we’d found four alphas we thought were suitable, sent them some pretty tentative messages, then sat back and looked at each other.
“Wow,” I smiled.
“Wow,” he agreed. He leaned in to kiss me, and although I’d kissed him countless times, this time something felt different. I felt as though I’d opened a door into a new world, almost like the first time we met, and we had both found a new journey we were going to take together.
“I dunno about you,” he chuckled. “But I could use a drink.”
“Me too!” I agreed, rushing into the bedroom to put on something appropriate to go out in. He joined me, and a few minutes later we were out the door and on our way downtown.
“Ever heard of this place called The Cockpit?” Elijah asked.
“I’ve heard of it, but never been.”
“Well, I’d hope you wouldn’t go there without me,” Elijah joked. “Why don’t we check it out?”
“Sounds good to me, skipper!” I joked as he drove.
“Okay, baby,” he smiled back. “Here we go!”
Chapter Four
Sawyer
“So, what’s your name?” I asked the cute beta standing in front of me, looking up at me with submissive eyes that told me everything I needed to know.
You can have him if you want him, I thought. It felt like a day that just kept on giving. First, our firm’s victory, my birthday, and now this. It must be the way an emperor would have felt while looking over the kingdom he’d created.
“They call me Toby,” he replied sheepishly.
“They?” I asked. “Who’s they?”
“Everyone, I guess,” he chuckled, obviously intimidated by me. Honestly, I couldn’t blame him. The Express Male wasn’t exactly the Four Seasons, and guys like us probably rarely came through, and when they did, they obviously weren’t talking to Toby.
“Don’t be nervous,” I told him, lifting his chin so I could get a better view of his face. He was cute, that much was for sure.
“I can’t not be,” Toby replied. “I mean—look at you.”
I smiled, stroked his right arm gently. “Look at you,” I replied. His lips parted slightly—an invitation for me to kiss him—an invitation I was ready to take, but that was when it happened.
I heard the door open and a scent wafted in behind me, a scent that was so strong and so delicious that it practically lifted me off my feet. I spun around as two guys walked into the bar, a beta and an omega. They both smelled great, but it wasn’t the beta that was knocking me off my ass; it was the omega.
“Is—something wrong?” Toby asked behind me. I felt kind of bad, as I was now completely disinterested in him, but had just basically made a move on him.
“No,” I told him, turning back with a smile to soften the blow. “I just saw someone I know. Excuse me.”
I left him where I’d found him and began threading my way through the crowd. The boys from the firm were fully engrossed in the “stripper” who was still doing his thing, whatever that was, but I had my eyes on the omega.
He was a little pasty, especially for San Diego where everybody made sure they were tan year-ro
und, with skin like creamy butter that made me salivate as I made my way towards him. His cherubic red hair was adorable and as I sniffed his scent that cut through the rest of the smells of The Cockpit, my nose had a full-blown orgasm.
Mmmm, dirty Chai.
I stepped right up to him and saw the look of beautiful surprise in his eyes as I extended a hand.
“You are absolutely adorable and I had to come and talk to you,” I told him. “My name’s Sawyer. What’s yours?”
The poor omega looked so taken aback that his voice came out in a stutter.
“Oh, h-hi! My n-name’s Max!”
“Max,” I repeated, taking his hand in mine. It was warm and soft to the touch and I couldn’t help but think just how good it would feel when wrapped around my cock, my shaft lubed up with precum that had poured out of me. “Nice to meet you. And this is?”
Not wanting to be rude, I turned my eyes to the beta at his side.
Mate? I thought. No. Wrong vibe. Maybe boyfriend or fuck buddies.
“Elijah,” he said with a nod, as I still had Max’s hand in mine. He looked at me with a strange curiosity, and although he did it quickly, I saw his eyes flicker to Max’s and back to mine as though they were sharing a secret that I had some place in.
“Has anyone ever told you how good you smell?” I asked Max, not letting go of his hand. The sweet boy looked up at his beta before replying.
“No?” I asked. “Because you do. You smell delicious.”
“Thank you,” he replied sheepishly.
“Can I get you a drink?”
I was pretty sure I was stepping on some toes, specifically Elijah’s, but I just couldn’t help myself. I was riding high on my firm’s victory and it was my birthday. If the universe was on my side today, I wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity with the cutest omega I’d ever seen in my life.