Because I Want To - Grace R. Duncan Page 0,18

hand he still held. He took a breath and let it out, then managed to smirk. “Make sure it’s your left. Learning to masturbate with your nondominant hand would suck.”

That brought a laugh from Matt and a full smile from Adam. “Right.” Adam’s stomach chose that moment to growl, making them both chuckle. Matt sighed. “I’m thinking pizza.”

Adam’s smile widened. “Only if it’s got pineapple on it.”

“You know, they can do half-and-half, right?”

Adam snorted as he got off the bed and crossed the room. “Maybe we should just get two pizzas…”

Chapter 9

Adam took his student ID back from the cashier and stuffed it in his pocket, then picked up his coffee and turned to look for his friends. He found them on the other end of the dining room and made his way over to them. “Hey.”

“Took you long enough.”

Adam puzzled over which of the twins on the other side of the table said that, then gave up. “Which one are you?”

“Hey!” the twin said, feigning hurt. “I can’t believe you can’t tell us apart!”

“Your own mother can’t tell you apart,” Parker said. He was the fourth person at the table, and the other member of their close group of friends.

The other twin gave a small smile. “That’s true. It doesn’t help that we don’t make it easy on her. I’m Evan.”

“No, you’re not,” Matt said as he joined them. “You’re Ethan.” He pointed at the other twin. “That’s Evan.”

Adam stared up at him. “How the hell can you tell?”

“Ethan is too serious. Evan tries to be funny.”

“Hey!” Evan said, then blushed. “Damn.”

Adam and Parker just laughed.

“So,” Parker said, turning to Adam, “how are you handling classes so far?”

Adam shrugged a shoulder. It’d always annoyed him how hard school had been because of how much he missed. “So far, it’s fine. It’s only been a couple of weeks, though. We’ll see how things go when I miss a week.”

Ethan frowned. “That sucks so bad.” He shot a look at Adam, who returned it with a nod. Ethan understood, since he was an omega as well. He struggled just as much as Adam did.

“Totally not fair,” Evan agreed.

Matt scowled. “If he can do the work and get decent grades, what does it matter?”

Adam didn’t say anything to that. His grades had suffered constantly his last two years in high school, after he’d started to go into heat. Many omegas simply quit at that point, but Adam was nothing, if not stubborn. He refused to let his status as an omega relegate him to minimum-wage jobs simply because he couldn’t finish school. With his friends’ help, he’d kept up with what he missed during his heats and had managed to graduate with the rest of them.

He was just as determined to make college work. Adam still wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do, but he wasn’t too worried, since he had a solid year of general education classes to take before he had to decide on his major. Regardless of what he chose, he was resolved that at the very least, if he didn’t finish, it would be by choice and not for any reason related to his secondary sex.

With a sigh, Adam picked up his coffee. There was no way he was getting through his algebra class without some form of caffeine. But when he lifted it to drink and took an inhale of the scent, he reared back. It hit him hard and made his stomach churn. He swallowed reflexively a few times as he fought the nausea, but when it only got worse, he gave up. He managed to carefully set the cup down onto the table before jumping up out of his chair.

“Adam?” Matt asked, looking up at him in surprise.

“Sorry. Gotta go,” Adam muttered, then took off, almost at a dead run, across the dining hall. He darted around the corner and pushed through the bathroom door. His breakfast came up just a few seconds after he made it to the toilet.

Only a moment after he started throwing up, Matt was behind him. “Are you okay?”

Adam shook his head but couldn’t speak yet. Matt pulled his hair back and held it out of the way for him as he retched, rubbing the other hand over Adam’s back. Matt’s hands on him comforted him in a way he couldn’t pinpoint. He didn’t think it was just the friendship, but he wasn’t sure and didn’t have the brain capacity to figure it out then.

“Water,” Adam croaked, and after