Page 103 of The Price of Ice

His phone pinged again, and just like that, his mind went back to Levy and a pleasant shiver ran up his spine.Oh.

Turning his back on his mobile was harder than it made any sense. Levy wasn’t in the room and he wouldn’t even know that Kallen had done it. And besides, it wasn’t like his heat was coming because of the alpha. It was just time.

And that meant he had to pick up the phone and call Thursday’s guy. He didn’t know how far Nouri Fawkes lived, and while he’d agreed to wait for the call, it didn’t mean he’d been lying in bed all day doing nothing, so Kallen might have to try more than once to reach him.

He contemplated adding Nouri’s number to his mobile after all so he could text, but in the end forced himself to use the landline instead.

Each time it rang, it felt like his heart clenched, releasing only when the call went unanswered. And then, of course, Nouri picked up.

“Hello,” his voice was deep Kallen thought, and then immediately.What the fuck am I doing?

“Hello,” he got out.

“Oh, Kal?” It took him a moment to remember he’d given Brad’s nickname as his preferred name—it’d seemed like a goodidea at the time, another way to create distance with someone he was deciding to let way too close for comfort.

“Yeah.”

“You doing alright?” Nouri checked, perfectly sensibly given the circumstances and yet indescribably grating because he was a complete stranger.

“Yeah,” he repeated, nails of his free hand digging into his own thighs.

“You want me to head over to yours?”

He managed to bite back a refusal, exhaling slowly instead and checking in with his body. He was already starting to feel a little too warm, somewhat sleepy too despite the way his pulse was racing. It was definitely heat. “Maybe in an hour?” he said and it came out like a question.

“Sure,” Nouri said. “Whatever you need. Where are you at?”

ONCE HE’D HUNG UP,he’d allowed himself to drop onto the bed and rest for a few minutes. Nouri sounded nice and he’d had glowing reviews from past partners too, and Kallen was going to need someone within the hour, so... So it was absolutely stupid to open up the chat with Levy now.

[Did Istunyou with my vocabulary?]

[Come on! I have a great one for my next turn]

[Kallen?]

[You fall asleep on me?]

It’d only been a few minutes, and Levy had a tendency to babble via text anyway. Kallen knew he wasn’t under any circumstances doing anything wrong by contacting Nouri. But it didn’t feel that way. [Sorry, phone call]

[Back now.]

[Good! I ended up watching the ads without skipping SAD TEAR EMOJI]

They didn’t really talk after that, though Levy sent him several GIFs to express his opinions on Kallen’s words on the game, and Kallen sent a couple back.

It was only when he realised that he couldn’t quite focus his gaze that he sent, [Need a nap, play later?]

He didn’t see Levy’s response because he’d already yanked himself to his feet and dropped the phone in the desk drawer. He served himself a tall glass of water and methodically downed it, palm flat against the wall by his side.

If he’d allowed himself to stop to think, he might have panicked, so instead he took off his clothes, folding them neatly on the chair provided, then laid himself out on top of the covers. This time around, heat seemed a bit sluggish—perhaps it was a side-effect of the pill—but he was already wet enough to get a finger inside.

The knock at the door came when he was three fingers deep, lazily rubbing at his prostate because he didn’t have the energy to fuck in and out. It wasn’t until he pulled his fingers out and found himself whimpering at the loss that he realised he was actually aroused at all.

And then he went to the door and opened it without even asking who it was.

The man’s blue eyes widened in shock and a faceful of alpha hormones hit Kallen hard. Taking hold of his wrist and dragging him inside before slamming the door shut wasn’t so much a thought as a reflex.

He was just about rational enough to let go once he did. “Sorry.”

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