Page 14 of High Achiever
“But your heats are going to be irregular. Unpredictable. Short but frequent.” She said it all … not quite impatiently, but in a way that suggested she’d already gone over everything and was doing him a favor by saying it all again. “It might be a lot to ask of one alpha.”
She gave Ryder a pointed glance. And Ryder, as always, stood between Ash and the world right when Ash needed him to.
“We’ll manage,” Ryder told her. He didn’t even hesitate.
Ash could have kissed him. He really could have, judgmental doctor or no.
Fuck yes. They’d manage. Of course they would. Ash wouldn’t feel like he was in free fall forever. People presented all the time. People much younger and more clueless than him. Ash could deal. Hecould.
A horrendous, rippling cramp ran through Ash’s lower belly.
He hunched over with a pained groan. Fuck. Thathurt. Although, he did vaguely remember the doctor saying his cramping would be worse the first few heats, as his insides fucking rearranged or something.
The doctor straightened. “Your cramping has started?” She shook her head. “An hour might be generous. You need to getback to your home. I’ll email you some paperwork for you to turn in should you miss any more classes. You can fill out your designated heat partner. Or partners, if the need arises.”
Ash nodded because that seemed to be the easiest way to get her to stop talking, but he’d meant what he said. Fuck no was he letting any random heat services alphas rut him through a heat.
The doctor leaned down, fishing in her drawer. She removed a fistful of foil packets. “As I said, you can’t start suppressants or birth control until your heats and pheromones have stabilized. So please,pleaseremember to use condoms. Knot-approved brands. We don’t know when your fertility will take effect.”
With that, the buzzing started up again, even as Ash held out his hand obediently for the condoms.
Fertility. Pregnancy.
No, that was enough for his brain to process today. The doctor was right. It was time to get the fuck home.
The drive home was a blur.
Ryder had left to get the car while Ash had completed his discharge paperwork. The devastation Ash had felt at his absence was pretty damn unsettling. Ryder had claimed Ash was needy when he was sick, but Ash had never felt likethis. Like if he didn’t have Ryder right here at his side, the whole world was going to fall to pieces.
And now they were home, waiting for Ash to explode slick everywhere or whatever, and everything felt … wrong. Off.
Yes, there was the usual reassurance of Ryder’s presence. That would never not be a comfort, whether Ash was in heat or no. But Ash was still jittery as all hell, an itch under his skintelling him something was missing. Telling him they weren’t prepared. Weren’t ready.
Ash’s failed attempt at a nest sure as shit hadn’t helped. Neither had the delivery driver who’d come to drop off the groceries Ryder insisted they needed. He’d been an alpha who’d smelled like burned rubber, and he’d stuck his head in the door when Ryder had opened it for the handoff.
One whiff of him and Ash had screamed at him to “fuck off to hell before I rip your rotten dick off!”
The guy had barely managed to drop his bags in Ryder’s hands before he’d fled down the hallway.
Not Ash’s best moment, but whatever. His omega status didn’t seem to be doing anything for his temper.
He was just too fucking hot. Too achy. His clothes had come off seconds after the driver had fled. They were too harsh on Ash’s skin, his jeans like sandpaper against his thighs. And the cramping. Fucking fuck, the cramping.
Ryder had undressed down to his boxers, and he smelled like heaven—he looked like it, too, his big alpha cock tenting his underwear—but he was being an absolutedick.
Ash scowled at him, hands on his hips, not caring if he looked like a buffoon with his half-hard dick swinging in front of him. “I still say you should just knot menow. Get it fucking over with.”
Ryder rubbed a hand over his face. He was sitting on the couch, but he was so tense his ass was barely resting on the cushion. “It doesn’t work that way. You haven’t even hit your peak.”
Ash scoffed. “How do you know it doesn’t work that way? You help someone through their heat before?”
Ryder clenched his jaw. He knew Ash already knew the answer. So he also knew Ash was being an argumentative asshole for no reason other than he felt like shit. “No. I haven’t.But I can smell you, and you haven’t released any more slick. You’re. Not. Ready.”
It was true. Ash hadn’t shot out any more slick since that moment in the classroom. He’d cramped, and he’d sweated, and his hole kept clenching around nothing—which was a fucking disconcerting feeling—but he was dry down there.
And it just … pissed him off. Ash sneered at his best friend. “I’m an omega, aren’t I? Just jam it in.”
Ryder’s brows went all the way to his hairline, although his expression remained neutral otherwise. “Do you hear yourself right now?”
