Page 64 of Overeager
“Noah?”
“What’s wrong, baby?” At whatever he’d heard in Eli’s voice, Noah no longer sounded the slightest bit sleepy. “Are you okay?”
Eli sniffled. Jesus. He was a grown man. He wasn’t crying over a heat. “It’s here early. My heat.”
“Oh.Oh. Oh shit.”
Eli bit back more tears. Noah was going to say no. Of course he was. He’d said they needed space, and Eli was asking him to be all up in his business for days on end without air. And Noah had midterms.Midterms.
“Okay, baby,” Noah soothed. “Okay. You stay put. It’s going to take me just a little bit to get everything together. But I promise it won’t be longer than an hour. Okay? Is that— Can you wait that long?”
Eli held the phone away from his face, staring at it like he could somehow make sense of everything that way. “You’re still coming?”
“Of fucking course I’m coming.”
“But … your classes.”
“I’ll get a heat-partner exemption. I’m literally emailing my professors right now. We’ll just get a doctor’s note afterward.”
It was exactly what Faith had said.
“And you don’t … hate me?” Eli asked, unable to help himself.
“Jesus. No, Eli. I’m sorry.” Noah sounded a little breathless, like he was moving around on the other end of the phone. “I was being an asshole, and I needed a breather so I could … Well, so I could not be an asshole anymore.”
“Oh.” Eli wiped at his eyes. “You never responded to my text.”
“Well, um, for the record … an ‘I’m sorry’ text with no context after a fight kind of sounds like you’re breaking up with someone.”
“Why would an apology be a breakup?” Before Noah could answer, another horrible cramp hit Eli, and he moaned in pain.
“Oh fuck.” The panic Eli had been feeling since he’d woken up was reflected in Noah’s voice now. “I’m coming, baby. Okay? Hang on. Just getting some stuff together.”
“Don’t hang up,” Eli said hurriedly, afraid to lose the comfort of Noah on the other end of the line.
“No?” Noah asked. Then, “No, of course I won’t. I’m gonna tell you everything I’m doing. You just sit tight. Right now I’m putting some of my clothes in a bag. Ones I haven’t washed yet …”
Oh.That was good. Clothes for Eli’s nest. Clothes that would smell like Noah.
Eli let out a breath, some of the tension temporarily leaving his body. He sat on the edge of his bed and listened to Noah narrate all his actions. This was all okay. Noah was coming. Eli just had to wait a little longer.
His alpha would be here soon.
By the timeNoah pulled into the driveway, Eli was sweating.
Faith had left some time ago, reassured by Noah’s presence on the other end of the phone that Eli wasn’t going to completely fly off the handle. Eli had promptly stripped down and put on his lightest silk robe, usually the one thing he could tolerate as his heat was approaching.
But already it was too much. The stupid thing itched against Eli’s oversensitive skin, clinging to the backs of his thighs, where the first trails of slick were accumulating with every fresh cramp.
Eli wanted to be naked. But he needed to wait. He couldn’t greet Noah at the door naked. Or even better, at his car.
Could he?
No, no, he had neighbors …
“Okay, baby,” Noah said through the phone. “I’m getting out of the car. I’m going to hang up so I can grab everything in one go. But I’m right here, I promise.”
Even though Eli couldseethrough the window that it was true—Noah’s car was in his drive—he still felt momentarily bereft as the line went dead.
