Loving Carter

23

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Elijah's POV

Eli drove home with his thoughts reeling from what happened with Carter. Did she have nightmares like he did too? Why did she never tell him? She was barely asleep when her screaming started.

He didn't really know what to do or say. If she didn't want to explain it to him he couldn't force her to.

He went to sleep and his head was plagued with screaming and cold legs pressed against him.

When he woke up his head hurt. He didn't know why last night had affected him so badly. He didn't know what was wrong with Carter but her fear and her pain were real.

Porter was nowhere in sight the whole day and even when Eli got ready for his evening class and fed the cat. He walked to his class as if in a trance, his thoughts elsewhere.

During his class, he was clicking his pen repeatedly and uncontrollably throughout the lecture, only noticing when the guy sitting next to him gave him a harsh glare. Eli gave him a harsher one and continued to click the pen distractedly.

He thought about Carter. Her hypnotizing eyes and her soft skin. Her bright smile and the way she would tease him and bother him with her quirky remarks. And he thought about the pain in her voice and her sniffles while she cried in his arms. He never wanted to hear her cry again.

And then he came to an odd realization about Carter. He got up swiftly, ignoring the professor as he walked out of the lecture hall with his head held high.

He sprinted right back to the parking lot of his garage, getting in his car and driving haphazardly to the one place he couldn't stop thinking about.

And now here he was. Pacing outside Carter's door.

He was on some epiphany high when he thought about all he had to say to her. 

He would tell her that even though he hates everyone else, he didn't mind her.

He'd tell her all about how he didn't mind her touch, that he even liked her hand in his, and her skin on his. He'd tell her that he liked her lips on his and he wanted them in other places too.

That he liked her smell and her laugh and her eyes. That although he found everyone else annoying, he liked having her around, even getting excited to see her, something Eli hadn't let himself feel in a long time.

He would tell her that he had issues too. That it was okay for her to feel the way she does and that he would help her through it.

He would tell her how he would be her friend, or her lover or whatever the fuck she wanted him to be because she was Carter, and he would be anything that Carter wanted him to be.

Eli paced and ran through all these thoughts in his head, finally mustering up the courage in his ice-cold heart to knock on the door.

He waited there, nervous but excited to see her eyes looking into his.

The door creaked open and he opened his mouth ready to speak.

But it wasn't Carter at the door.

It was fucking Ryder with his fucking shirt off. He raised his eyebrows at Eli questionably.

Eli closed his mouth.

"Carter's busy, bro." Even his voice was fucking stupid.

Eli turned back, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaving Carter's floor. He felt cold and numb again, his warmed-up heart finding its way back into the stone casing that he was used to.

He couldn't be Carter's anything. Looks like she already had Ryder. She didn't need Eli.

No one did. His mom already left, so why would Carter stay?

As he went down the elevator, he felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out and frowned as he read the writing on a piece of paper.

karen ~ (123)- 098-8731

call me <3

He walked out of the elevator fully intent on throwing the note in the garbage at the exit.

Just as he almost let go of the note in the trash, he remembered what he saw upstairs. Ryder's hands had probably been on Carter. He was probably shirtless because him and Carter were -

Eli cut off that thought before he could even finish it. It pained him too much to think about someone else's hands on her.

He pulled the note away from the garbage, pulling out his phone and typing the numbers in. He walked to his car as it rang twice before a seductive breathy voice answered.

"Hello?"

"It's the guy from the bar. You remember me?" He went straight to the point.

"Yeah. I knew you'd call." She giggled.

"Right. You busy?" He asked, getting in his car and starting it.

"Not at all. I'll text you my address"

Eli knew he was being colossally stupid but all he could think about was her and he didn't want to think about her anymore.

So he drove to Karen's house.

That night, as Elijah watched Karen work her hands down his body, giving him the pleasure she so desperately wanted to give him, all he could think about was silky black hair and a different pair of hands on his body. 

And as he tried to distract himself from the numbness in his chest, his mind stayed on caramel soft skin and the scent of lavender.

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