Page 86 of Use Me Up

I am not expecting that.

“You’re probably wondering how I know where you live,” says Gatlin. He holds up an envelope. It’s addressed to me, here, and I remember that I brought over a stack of mail to sort through at Ellis’s once because I was in a rush to leave here. I guess I never did sort through it. Gatlin traced me here through my junk mail.

“Did you leave your omega while he was in heat?” I say.

“No, his heat broke, around midnight, and he fell right to sleep, and Kane did, too, but I lay awake thinking about you.”

About me? I waver a little in the doorway.

“I did, um, I called.” He holds up his phone. “I figure you must have your phone on do-not-disturb.”

“I do,” I say.

“I should take that as a hint to, uh, to not disturb you, but…”

“It’s okay.” And, you know what? It really is. I feel a whoosh of warmth at the sight of him. Then, I realize it’s rude to leave him standing out there, so I move aside and let him come in.

He spies the pharmacy bag on the counter right away, and I remember that I haven’t taken the Plan B pill.

I scurry over to get it out of the bag, saying, “Come in, sit down. I just need to take this before I forget.”

He’s eyeing me. “Wait a minute, is that a Plan B?”

“It is,” I say, opening up the box.

“You aren’t on birth control?”

“No,” I say, turning over the little blister pack with a pill in it. I guess it’s just that easy? You just take the pill. Should I read the instructions first?

“Can you, um, maybe not take that?”

I jerk my head up to look at him.

“Sorry,” he says immediately. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Go ahead.”

I tilt my head to one side. “You didn’t even come inside me.”

“I know that,” he says.

“Only Ellis did,” I say.

“Right,” Gatlin says, “but Ellis is our omega, and if we…” He clears his throat. “You don’t even know me, so this is ridiculous.”

I set the pill down on the counter. “You want me to have a baby? Like, for you?”

He gestures at me, with both hands. “That is not why I was up thinking about you, no. That is not what this is about. That’s…” He looks me up and down. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-four,” I say.

He winces.

“What?” I say. “It’s not as if I’m underage or something. I’m a grown woman. I have a college degree.” My parents pay for my apartment, though. I don’t say that out loud. “How old are you?”

“Thirty,” he says. “It’s not… that age difference isn’t bad, but Kane’s… I’m getting way ahead of myself.”

I come out around the counter. “You are. You really are, because Ellis fucking hates me, and he kicked me out of his house during his heat, and you and I don’t know anything about each other.” Except that he’s beautiful without his clothes and he has a fantastically huge dick with that perfect big knot that I can rub my clit against while I’m bouncing up on down on it, and…

“Ellis will change his mind. He’ll apologize to you, and if you’re anything like Kane and me, you’ll forgive him,” says Gatlin. “But you’re too young to have a baby.”