Page 73 of Overeager
Before Noah could explain, Eli guessed. “Richard. It was Richard at the door, wasn’t it?”
Noah let out a breath. “Yeah, it was.”
“Thatasshole.” Eli’s spine stiffened as he clenched his fists. For an alpha to try to come uninvited into an omega’s house at the beginning of a heat … “Couldn’t he smell the pheromones?”
Noah’s fresh, salty scent took on a bitter edge as he grimaced. “He definitely could. He was insistent on coming in anyway. Said he needed to check on you. He—he recognized me, Eli. From your class. Maybe he even had good intentions, but when he wouldn’t back down …” He cleared his throat, squaring his shoulders. “I hit him.”
Eli grabbed Noah’s hand, reassuring him with his touch as he thought all that over. Good intentions? Eli highly fucking doubted it.
“He could have called Faith if he’d actually been worried. No.” Eli shook his head. “He was trying to get to me when I was vulnerable. To—I don’t know—convince me to come back when I was too out of it to refuse?” He squeezed Noah’s hand. “You did the right thing, Noah. Thank you. For protecting me.”
The bitter edge left Noah’s scent, and he sagged with relief, as if he might actually have been worried Eli would be angry with him.
And there was anger, sure. Rage, even. Eli was chock-full of it. But not an ounce of it was for Noah.
Fucking. Richard.
Noah’s thumb rubbed over Eli’s knuckles. “He—he knows I’m a student, Eli.” He said it gently, like he was breaking some unbearably difficult news.
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Your career.”
“I know.” Eli leaned his head against Noah’s shoulder with a sigh. “But it’s done.”
The secrecy was over now, blown to bits by Richard’s actions, and Eli felt weirdly calm about it. It wasn’t that he had any doubts that Richard would expose them—it was exactly the sort of thing Richard would do. It was just that Eli had been worried for so long, and now that things were happening, he was just … relieved to have it out in the open.
Now wasn’t the time for regret. It was the time for action.
He straightened. “Okay, then. Damage control. And whatever happens, we’ll deal with it. But first—” He turned so he was straddling Noah, grabbing his alpha’s face with both hands and meeting his gaze, unblinking. “I love you, Noah. I really, really love you.”
Noah stared at him for so long that his eyes started watering. Or no—he was crying. Those were tears. “I love you, too, Eli,” he said thickly. “So fucking much.” The next words came out in arush, like he’d been waiting to say all of it. Waiting for Eli to be ready. “I’m so happy with you. You’re it for me, and I don’t care if I’m too young or it’s too fast or whatever the fuck people think. I know I’m not, like, amazingly smart or driven. Not like you. But I think I’m a—a decent person. I’ll be the best partner I can be. Is that—is that enough?”
Oh, Eli’s sweet, sweet alpha. Eli hadn’t realized the little insecurities hiding underneath all that innate confidence.
“You’re not justdecent, Noah,” he said firmly. “You’re … good. A truly good person. And you undervalue it. Of course it’s enough. It’s more than enough, Noah.”
“Even though I complicate everything and—”
“Hush,” Eli soothed, rubbing his thumbs along Noah’s cheeks. “I’m happy with you, too, Noah. So happy. And complicated doesn’t mean bad. It just means we need to be smart. Proactive.” He narrowed his eyes, considering. “Maybe a little mean.” He dropped his hands and reached for his phone. “I’m going to make a call.”
Noah seemed to know exactly who Eli was going to have a conversation with. His grip tightened on Eli’s hips. “Can I stay? Can I listen in?”
“Of course. I’ll do it right here. We’ll do it together.”
It was time. Past time, even. Eli had put up with enough bullshit to last a lifetime, without even having any good reason for it. But he a had a good reason now to let it all go. The best reason, really.
It was well past fucking time to take away Richard’s power for good.
21
Eli
Eli stayed right where he was—secure in Noah’s lap—as he hit Richard’s contact info, turning the phone to speaker as it rang.
Noah wouldn’t be participating in the conversation—this was Eli’s mess to clean up—but he had every right to listen in. Richard was obviously going to try to use their relationship as some kind of leverage, and it was just as much Noah’s business as Eli’s.
Richard picked up on the second ring.
