Page 50 of Psync
Eli hit decline call. Then he blocked the number.
His emotion storm dialed up to a ten, and he barely made it to the bathroom before his stomach proceeded to turn itself inside out.
Eli didn’t know how long he spent leaning against the divider between stalls, trying to summon the energy to go back to Nate’s room to lie down, but eventually he realized someone was going to call an RA if he didn’t pull his shit together.
So, he did. He zipped up his hoodie, rinsed out his mouth and—bit by bit—he pulled on all of his best emotional armor. Then he made his way back to Nate’s room on shaky, but resolute legs.
Guys were stupid.
Especially the hot ones.
It was good he hadn’t gotten attached before finding out exactly how much of a jerk this one had turned out to be.
It wasn’t like they were dating.
Or that Eli cared what Haruka got up to in his spare time.
His stomach rolled once more, but it was definitely empty now. No point in running back to the bathroom.
He went into Nate’s closet, pulled out a sweater, and put it on. Then he crawled under the covers on Nate’s bed.
He spent a very long time not caring about Haruka before he finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter Nineteen
Eli
“This wouldn’t be happening if you weren’t so pretty, boy.” Rough hands had Eli by the shoulders and shook him until his vision went gray. “Just play your role and you won’t get hurt.”
“Eli!”
“You look just like him. So damned pretty . . .”
Eli pushed frantically against the sweat-covered chest he was currently being crushed into.
“My poor son.”
“Eli! Wake up, buddy!”
Hands shook him, and Eli cried out. He opened his eyes, but the hands on his shoulders didn’t fade away with the dream. Was he still there? Frantically he searched his surroundings and saw Nate hovering over him, eye’s wide with alarm.
“I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t wake up.”
“No, it’s okay.” Eli panted, trying to catch his breath and slow his racing heart. “I’m glad you did.”
Nate’s phone rang, and he reached to shut it off. “Jerk’s been calling me all afternoon looking for you. Dude is seriously stressed out about something.”
“Did you tell him where I am?” Eli’s fingers clenched around the blanket.
“What am I, new? I’ve never given him my number, and now he’s spamming my phone right when you want a place to crash. I can add two and two, you know.”
Eli let out the breath he’d been holding. “Thanks.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Eli shook his head. If he had to explain to Nate what had happened, it would mean admitting things to himself he wasn’t ready to deal with. “No thanks. Just . . . block him, okay?”
Nate gave a rueful smile. “No problem there. Never liked the guy to begin with. You should hear some of the things Ash has told me about him.”
