Page 43 of Cross the Line
When I think it can’t get better, Fin peppers kisses along my jaw—back and forth between us—each pass harder, needier, until they become hungry little bites. JJ licks out of my mouth and into hers; his hand tightens at the base of my skull, and we’re all pressed together so tight I don’t know where any of us ends.
This moment. This feeling. This love.
Every sensation—the want, the need, the soul-deep addiction, the earnest obsession—is perfect.
We’re perfect.
I trace my fingertips along Jayden’s jaw to his nape, cradle his face as I kiss Finley’s cheek; he answers with soft, endless kisses from her mouth to the other side of her face.
The air is hot and heavy—I can’t pull enough in—while Fin’s hand trembles up my side and she melts fully into me. Her ass presses deeper into the top of my thighs, where I throb against the base of her spine.
God, I want her.
So bad it hurts more than any pain I’ve known. Desperation screams in the marrow of me, hollowing me out, begging to be filled bythem.
That’s all I want. They’re all I need.
Nothing will change that.
Not the past. Not the present. And the future—myfuture—is them.
Finley. Jayden.
Us.
CHAPTER 11
JAYDEN
Fact: If you make enough people uncomfortable with who you are, eventually it becomes irrelevant what they think.
I reached that point early. Building a career around boys and men who weren’t raised like me made sure of it.
Sometimes I wished my family fit the status quo. Sometimes I debated being normal, like the guys who called me out for innocently looking their way in the locker room—the ones whose parents complained to coaches about me being on the team because I might “confuse” their kids.
Also fact: people are afraid of what they don’t know.
If that ‘what’ is a person, they disguise fear as discomfort or concern for the wider populace.
It’s bullshit, and I want to protect Eli and Finley from all of it. That’s how I end up sitting beside Eli with Finley on my lap while Taylor and Lex watch us from across the table.
“I won’t make a statement.” Eli’s foot brushes mine as he sits straighter. “What the three of us have isn’t anyone else’s business, and I’m not opening us up to outside scrutiny because of fake news.”
Lex makes a point of showing us the photos on The Chronicle’s site. “A false story with photos can look a lot like the truth if we don’t fix the narrative. Set it straight.”
Fuck this.
“Appearances can be deceiving,” I snap, banding my arm tighter around Finley’s waist. My patience is thinner than I thought, and with everything I know, it makes me sick that we’re even discussing thathorseshit. “And what does it fucking matter if a group of teenagers were drinking together? Happens every fucking day all across America. What does it fucking matter that Eli isn’t straight like everyone assumes? Why does he have to comment on it?”
“JJ…” Finley cups my face, trying to calm me, but the crack in the dam splits wide, and I can’t hold it in anymore. “Breathe, Honey,” she whispers, pleading.
“No. This shouldn’t be a big deal. He’s still Eli. Still one of the best goddamn defensemen in the league. He’s still the same person. Fuck, I don’t see all the straight assholes having to announce their sexuality. It’s… It’s… Fuck! It’s fucking gross that this is even a discussion. Like, we’re normal people. We’re just fucking people with feelings like everyone else. Eli’s not… we’re not… this isn’t wrong. We’re not doing anything wrong.”
I’m certain my brain’s about to explode. My chest threatens to split under the weight of the truth I know and what we just did. The heady taste of them is still ripe on my tongue. I smell Eli on Finley every time she moves.
Coupled with those photos, I’m unhinged—the afterglow of our kiss dwindling fast.
“Hey…” Eli leans in, tilting his face into my line of sight. One hand grips mine between us; the other rests over Finley’s thigh, like he’s trying to soothe us both.
