Psync by Zile Elliven

Epilogue

Eli

“If I wasn’t the short one, I would be the one holding you down.” Eli groused with zero heat. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

“You are welcome to try any time you want.” Haruka emphasized the word try with relish as he kissed his way down Eli’s neck.

Eli had been planning on grabbing a quick snack before hotfooting it to his next class, but when he’d opened the door to leave, Haruka was outside, keycard in hand with a mild look of surprise on his face.

Then he walked Eli backward until he was pinned against the bed and started tongue-fucking his mouth like it was his life’s sole purpose.

“I’m going to be late.” Eli protested weakly.

“Mn.” Haruka agreed as his hands began to unbutton Eli’s shirt.

“I’ll just eat after class,” Eli conceded and reached for Haruka’s belt.

“Nope.” Haruka stood up and hauled Eli off the bed, took his backpack from the floor—where Haruka had thrown it—and pushed Eli to the door. “Food, then class.”

“But— but—” Eli found himself alone, on the other side of the door holding his bag. He almost pulled out his keycard to go back in but knew Haruka was fully capable of shoving him back out the door if he wanted to.

So, class then. But first, the coffee cart.

It had taken some doing, but Eli had managed to convince Haruka to let them finish out Eli’s freshman year in America—with a mandatory visit to Japan every two months, of course. And Haruka was a total tyrant about making sure Eli always wore his omamori when he got dressed in the morning.

It wouldn’t have happened though, if Juniper hadn’t called to tell them Liam had been found dead in a cheap motel. It had been another overdose, only this time it had been successful.

Eli tried to find an emotion other than relief at the man’s passing, but there was none.

Haruka still kept most of his thoughts to himself, but sometimes when they cuddled, Eli could hear and feel every soft, sweet, somewhat obsessive thought in Haruka’s head.

It was enough to make Eli’s heart burst.

His class barely registered as Eli thought about everything that had happened in the past three months. Fortunately, he was able to take notes without paying much attention to them.

Okay, that was a big fat lie, Eli wasn’t thinking about the past three months near as much as he was obsessing over the way Haruka had chucked him out of their room earlier. He needed to find a way to make him pay.

He continued to obsess during Tea and Calligraphy club.

“Eli, it took me weeks to perfect that green tea blend. Please don’t pour it all over the table,” Alice said as she ran to grab paper towels.

“Shit, sorry, I was distracted.” Eli tried to right his teacup, but overcompensated, and managed to spill even more tea all over the cookies Helen had given him.

Nate snagged a soggy cookie and took a bite. “Hey, Helen, you should add green tea powder to these, they’re delicious!”

Helen ducked behind Raina as soon as she heard her name. She’d always been too shy to talk to Nate, but Eli caught her peeking at the charismatic boy as soon as his attention went back to his friends.

He’d also noticed Nate tended to tease her more than anyone else in the club. Eli exchanged glances with Alice. She was definitely planning something. Eli wouldn’t be surprised if he found out she’d locked the two of them in a supply closet overnight sometime over the next few days.

“What has you so distracted, man?” Nate took another cookie.

“None of your business,” Eli muttered, feeling his ears go red.

“Ah, so it’s a dirty thing. Say no more. Please.”

“Speak for yourself, Nate. I want all the naughty details.”

“Me too!” Kate said as she came up to their table. She picked out a cookie that had escaped being drowned in tea.

“Look at the time,” Eli said, looking at his watch-free wrist. “I really need to go . . . anywhere but here. Bye!” He grabbed his bag and beat a hasty retreat.

It was early for either of them to be back in their dorm room, but Eli couldn’t stop himself from checking.

When he got inside, he found Haruka pacing the room as he looked over a document. Eli recognized it as one of the weekly missives his aunt sent him.

Eli took it from Haruka’s hand and dropped it on the floor as he walked Haruka backward toward the bed. He planted his hand in the center of Haruka’s chest, shoved him down, and straddled him.

Fear wasn’t the reaction Eli had when fire kindled in Haruka’s eyes.

Far from it.

“Now where were we?” Eli purred.

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