Page 77 of Overeager
He wasn’t even remotely surprised to find Richard waiting there.
Eli left the door wide open as he rounded his desk. “Leave, Richard. Now.”
Richard remained where he was, hovering by the visitor’s chair, his hands tucked into his suit pants pockets. He had a fading greenish-yellow bruise around his left eye that made Eli want to purr in satisfaction. Noah had done that. He’d put that bruise there to keep Eli safe.
“How did it go?” Richard asked in a tone as light as someone chatting about the weather.
“I remain employed.”
A flash of surprise crossed Richard’s face, there and gone. He’d clearly thought he was going to be successful in getting Eli fired. And then … what? He thought the devastation of losing his job would have Eli wanting to crawl back to him?
For once, anger made Eli calm instead of frantic. He sat at his desk and folded his hands in front of him. “I’m going to say this all at once, and then you’re going to leave, Richard. I don’t know what exactly you thought would happen. Why you thought I would ever take you back. Why you would evenwantme back.”
Richard looked like he might speak, but Eli continued on without pausing, “But we don’t fit. The Eli you knew and maybe loved no longer exists. I don’t think he ever really existed in the first place. And it doesn’t matter. Because however we started, I ended up very, very unhappy. There is no chance for reunion. None. Whether or not Noah is in the picture.”
“You say that as if your relationship isn’t—”
Eli cut Richard off by slapping his hand on his desk, relishing the way the shock of sound made Richard flush with anger. “You willnotspeak about my relationship. I meant what I said on the phone: If you pursue anything further, I will take legal action against you.” Eli cocked his head, narrowing his eyes at his ex-husband. “You think I don’t know that youknew? You were in my classroom a mere day before my heat. We were married for a decade—you’re familiar with my pheromones. You deliberately tried to approach me when I was at my most vulnerable.”
Something flashed in Richard’s eyes. Fear maybe. Or guilt. Either way, Eli was getting through to him.
He shook his head, a small smile on his lips. “You always did underestimate me, Richard. I am a goddamnexpertin omega studies, and I know my rights when it comes to predatory alpha behavior. You try to touch Noah, try to make his life even remotely difficult, and I will bury you in litigation. How do youthink your upstanding clients will feel about working with an alpha under investigation for something like that?”
Richard’s flinch was incredibly satisfying. Eli nodded to the door. “I won’t stand by any longer while you treat me and the people I care about like crap. Goodbye, Richard.”
It looked for a moment like Richard would keep arguing—like he might try to draw this out and make them both miserable in the way he loved to do—but then he shot Eli a hateful look, turned on his heel, and marched out the door.
He never had liked being stood up to. That much hadn’t changed.
But that was fine. He was out of Eli’s mind as soon as he left the room, other than the second it took Eli to spray some pheromone-canceling spray in the air, erasing that tobacco scent.
Vibrating in his chair, practically weightless with relief, Eli took his phone out of his pocket, staring at the lock screen photo for a moment. It was a picture of him and Noah with Deadly between them, the both of them grinning like loons (Deadly wasn’t smiling, but if she’d been capable of flipping the camera the bird, she might have been doing that).
Eli grinned wide enough to match the expressions in the photo. It was time to call his boyfriend. Time to leave the past far behind him and focus on his present.
His future.
22
Eli
Eli found Noah waiting for him in his driveway when he pulled up.
The sight of him was enough to catch Eli’s breath in his throat—it always was, with his handsome alpha. Noah’s beautiful curls, his broad shoulders, the effortless confidence he exuded, confidence that would no doubt only grow with time.
But it was the look on his face that had Eli’s heart pounding.
He couldn’t get out of the car fast enough, pinching his fingers in his efforts to untangle himself from his seat belt in such a hurry. When he finally got the damn thing off, he practically fell out the door, righting himself only long enough to leap into Noah’s waiting arms.
“I didn’t get fired!” Eli cried, beaming up at him.
“You didn’t get fired!” Noah cried back, that wide grin practically splitting his face in two. He hoisted Eli up, and Eli wrapped his legs around him, his arms already circling Noah’s neck.
They’d texted earlier about his job status, of course, but Eli needed to say it out loud. It was a victory, however unearned, after months of uncertainty, and he wanted them both to revel in it.
“I love you so fucking much,” Eli said, then smashed their mouths together for a ridiculous kiss, both of them still smiling too wide for it to be anything other than teeth clashing against teeth.
A throat cleared.
