Rio's Fire (5 page)

“It means Maverick will nail my balls to the wall if I mess this up.”

The crayon eater’s eyes widened until it looked like his little eyeballs were about to pop from his head. “You’re not allowed to say that. My mommy said that is a potty word.”

Potty word
? What the hell was a potty word? “Just stop eating crayons.”

There was a wall filled with trays on the other side of the room.

Fire dug through them, trying to figure out what to do with his classroom. There had to be something in one of these drawers he could use.

“Mr. Vito!” The same kid yelled. “Jeff is eating my crayon now.”

Fire gritted his teeth. Hadn’t he just told the little hellion not to eat crayons? “My name is Mr.
Veneto
.” In the first drawer, Fire found some glue sticks, beads, and a spool of string. He overlooked the glue and grabbed the beads and string. “Okay, kiddos, we are going to make necklaces.”

That should be easy enough.

Fire sat the supplies on the table and waved his hand at the items.

“Have at it.” He was starting to wonder if he hadn’t made a grave
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error. The kids started wrestling each other for the string, while other kids grabbed the beads. Fire watched in amazement as the container of beads flew up into the air and then began raining down a rainbow of plastic colors. What in the heck were these little… He wanted to pull his hair out.

“Give it to me!” one boy yelled at another, grabbing the spool of string and falling to the floor, taking the other boy down with him. “I had it first!”

“Did not!” They tussled around, grabbing and snatching until they landed at Fire’s feet. He groaned to himself. Even in his attempt to try and run his classroom, Fire was still fucking this up. It only solidified his thought that kids were not his forte. He quickly reached down and separated the boys when he saw Mr. Fishman glancing into the room.

If that pudgy little nosy man called Maverick, Fire was done for.

“Okay, I want you guys to clean up this mess.”

“But I didn’t do it!” Jeff yelled. Fire rolled his eyes when he saw a piece of yellow crayon in the kid’s mouth. He was five seconds away from duct taping this little boy’s lips closed. How in the hell did the teachers do this all day? They were only twenty minutes into class and already he was losing control of the situation.

“Just clean it up.” Fire refused to argue with a little kid. They were going to do what he said or else they were all going to sit in time-out. Fire had seen Heaven and Murdock do that with the twins. It worked for them.

When the kids just started running around, yelling, and ignoring him, Fire had had enough. Maverick was just going to have to chain him up. He’d rather sit one hundred years in solitude than deal another day with these…these…grr.

When the noise level dropped to zero, Fire glanced toward the door. He saw Mr. LeBlanc standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, giving the kids a no-nonsense look. Oh great, that was all he needed. His mate already thought he was a lousy teacher. Now the guy had confirmation. “I give up,” Fire growled. “These little
things
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don’t listen worth diddly squat. I tried giving them an activity to do and they turned into brats.”

The shifter moved slowly into the room, glancing around at the mess on the floor. Fire had an urge to scratch the man’s eyes out. He hated that his mate held so much control while Fire was losing his mind. It goaded him. He wanted to walk up to the man and mess his hair up or unpolish his shoes. He was too damn organized, even in the way he dressed. The only thing out of place on the rigid man was the shadow of a scruffy beard.

“First,” his mate said in a controlled voice, “we do not refer to our students as brats.”

Fire disagreed.

“Second, did you sit down with them or just hand them the supplies?”

How did he do that? Fire wasn’t sure how his mate knew what he had done but it unnerved him. He gave a subtle shrug. “It might’ve been the second one.”

Mr. LeBlanc twisted his lips at Fire. God, the man was impossible! Just one look and Fire felt like he should be sitting in the corner with a dunce cap on his head. The man made him feel like an all-around failure. Fire might be a hot mess, but he didn’t need anyone pointing that out.

“You have to give them step-by-step instructions, Mr. Veneto.”

His mate reached down and grabbed the spool of string. “You have to cut individual pieces and hand them out or else you will end up with a brawl.”

Yeah, Fire had seen that firsthand.

“You also have to hand out the beads in little cups to each child or they will fight over the case.”

Fire wanted to growl in frustration. How was he supposed to know all this? He had been tossed in with the lions with no handbook.

He hadn’t a clue what he was doing, yet everyone was looking at him
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with condescension. He was getting really tired of it. The next person who looked down their nose at him, Fire was going to smack them.

“I’ll try to keep that in mind,
Mr. LeBlanc
.” That was another thing that was getting on Fire’s last nerve. His mate wouldn’t even tell him his first name. “Shouldn’t you be moseying on along to your own classroom?”

One of the kids snickered.

“I would be there right now if your classroom wasn’t disturbing mine.”

What an insufferable jackass!
“Sorry. I promise to tape their mouths closed the next time one of them speaks.”

“It isn’t the speaking that bothers me. It’s the shrill screaming and the loud noises.” His mate pivoted around. “Drop the crayon, Jeff.”

Fire was shocked. He hadn’t even seen the little kid munching on it, yet his mate knew without even looking. He was envious and agitated in equal measures. Fire stepped closer, lowering his voice so the kids couldn’t hear him. “I. Don’t. Like. You.”

“Ditto,” his mate snarled. “Just keep it down over here.” Fire wanted to throw something at him. He had told himself yesterday that his mate’s aloofness didn’t matter. So why was he standing here fuming? Why was he so angry that his jaw was clenched to the point where his teeth should be shattering?

“Fine, now go back to your class.” Fire mentally patted himself on the back. He had sufficiently put his mate out. That would teach him to reject Fire. His mate left and Fire made the kids clean the mess up.

As soon as everything was back in order, Fire gave them each paper and crayons. He gave Jeff a glue stick and colorful shapes that had already been cut into stars and hearts. The little bugger was unsafe with a blunt crayon.

Fire breathed a sigh of relief when the bell rang for lunch. He would have an hour to try and get rid of his pounding-ass headache.

No sooner was he back in his classroom from taking the kids to the cafeteria than he found his mate was there, leaning against the
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wall. Fire was starting to question the man’s sanity. He didn’t want Fire, yet he wouldn’t leave him alone.

Freaking loony.

“What?” he asked as he grabbed the bead case and the small plastic cups. Fire had decided to divide the colorful plastic up. That way, when his next class came in, he could just hand the cups out.

“I thought maybe I could give you some pointers on how to control your kids.”

My kids? Doubtful.
This was just a torturous job for Fire. If he had his way, he’d be sitting on a beach somewhere, soaking up some sun with a fruity drink in hand. He sure as shit wouldn’t be in classroom full of kids, losing his mind. “Fine, whatever.”

If it wasn’t for Maverick’s threat, Fire would tell the teacher to go fuck himself.

“My name’s Rio.”

“I thought you wanted to keep this on a professional level?” Fire wanted to beat himself over the head for the happy little feeling he got in the pit of his stomach from knowing his mate’s first name. Rio didn’t want him. It would do him good to remember that tidbit of information.

“I did, before I found out you are my mate.”

“And that matters how?” Fire asked as he dropped three blue beads into each cup. With Rio’s intent glare, Fire forgot what he had just added. Picking the cup up, he looked to see there were only two beads. He added another. “You’re breaking my concentration.”

“Good,” Rio replied. “For a moment there I thought you were made of ice.”

Fire dropped the cup in his hand at Rio’s statement, the beads rolling off his desk and dropping to the floor. “Me?” he asked incredulously. “You were the one who looked like you were just handed a death sentence when you figured out I was your mate.”

It was a look Fire would never forget. It was the same look his father had given him when Fire had said he wasn’t finishing college.

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He hadn’t been accepted by his parents. Fire hadn’t been accepted by the people in the Den. Now it seemed he wasn’t even accepted by the one man who should have taken Fire, faults and all.

Pushing his chair back, Fire ignored the scraping sound as he set the box of beads on the desk. He came around to face Rio. “Get out.”

“Whoa.” Rio held his hands up in a surrender gesture. “What do you mean I was rejecting
you
? You were the one who brushed past me and walked out with an expression on your face that was equivalent to murder.”

“Did not!” Oh God, Fire was starting to sound like his students.

“You don’t have to make up a lie just to get out of mating me. If you don’t want me I know plenty of men and women who would gladly have me. Just don’t stand there and lie to my face.”

Fire gasped when Rio wrapped his fingers around Fire’s forearms and shoved him into the chalkboard. His lip curled up and Fire could see the thick, sharp tip of Rio’s canine. “If you ever mention to me about what another person will do to you—” Rio leaned in, his eyes the color of frostbite as he narrowed them at Fire, right before Rio brought his lips a minute inch from Fire’s mouth. Fire could feel warm breath skittering across his lips. God, how he wanted to close the distance, but he was afraid to move.

“Miscommunication,” Rio said as he tilted his head slightly, his eyes gazing into Fire’s. “But I think we have that all cleared up now.”

Fire felt his throat go dry as a warmth began to radiate throughout his body. His thoughts scattered and he was too caught up in Rio’s eyes to think clearly. His mate had him trapped, pressing his hard, well-muscled frame into Fire’s. His cock thickened, aroused by Rio’s fierce handling.

Fire wasn’t into pain. As a matter of fact, he was allergic to it. But feeling Rio’s hands on him, the command in the man’s tone, and watching his azure eyes turn cobalt was affecting Fire in ways that should not be thought about in the classroom.

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“If you don’t want Mr. Fishman to fire both of us, I suggest you back away.” It had taken every ounce of control Fire had to mutter those words. He didn’t want Rio to back away. No, Fire wanted to wrap his legs around Rio’s thick waist and let the man do whatever he wanted.

Confusion clouded Rio’s eyes. The man looked as if he couldn’t comprehend what Fire was saying. The shifter looked as if he was past reasoning. For both their sakes, Fire lifted his arms and shoved Rio in the chest with his hands. “Are you listening to me?”

Rio bared his canines at him. Fire’s cock grew so hard that he feared he would have no more blood for his brain. Rio was just that damn hot when he was acting this dominant. Fire held his breath, praying the principal didn’t walk in on them.

Fire knew in that moment that Rio was no one to play around with. What he thought was a meek kindergarten teacher was really a predator, and it would do him well to remember that.

Rio slowly moved away, but his eyes never lost their intensity.

“Never push my control like that again.”

“Just what in the hell are you?”

Rio’s expression less than amused, he turned back toward the door. “A black panther.”

Fire shook his head in confusion, hearing the warning reverberating in his mind. Sweat beaded on his body as he moved back over toward his desk and took a seat.

Now that they had an understanding, he wondered what Rio planned to do with him.

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“You could’ve warned me that I was about to be grilled by the alpha if I ever showed up to take you out.” Rio drove over the gravel driveway until he hit the main road. It was early evening, the sun still hanging in the sky, although it was slowly sinking in the west. Fire sat beside him in a calm quietness. Rio still wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. “Are you going to ignore me?”

“Honestly, I’m not really sure what to say.” Fire looked a bit rattled as his wary frown deepened. “I still haven’t quite figured you out.”

“Then stop trying,” Rio said as he drove toward town at an almost snail crawl. He wasn’t trying to rush his time with Fire, and he sure as hell wasn’t looking forward to sitting in a place crowded with nothing but people. His panther purred at Fire sitting next to him, though. Rio knew that just as soon as they walked into the restaurant, his cat was going to have a fit.

Fire’s body was stiff and if Rio hadn’t been a shifter, he would’ve thought that Fire was angry. But he could scent the man’s apprehension. His control had slipped this afternoon, but it was not Rio’s intention to make his mate fear him.

Rio wanted to reach out and caress his fingers through Fire’s long and silky hair, to pull the man toward him and let him know that although he was serious about what he had said, that his mate never had to fear him.

But the words were stuck in his throat. He was still feeling Fire out. What if he recanted his words and then Fire turned around and drove the knife of pain right back into him? There were depths to Rio
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that Fire didn’t know yet. Rio was malleable and sweet, but only up to a point. He could be a first-class bastard if the situation called for it.