Page 61 of Cross the Line
“You burrowed under my skin like a tick, and I haven’t shaken you off since.” Flattening his hand to the top of my chest, he presses it over my hammering heart. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“The other boy in the photo… Ryker?” The question hisses out before I can stop it. Too late to take it back, so I go on. “Did you care about him? Like you feel for Jayden?”
Elijah tenses around me. His leg hooks between mine like he’s holding me hostage.
“Eli?” I coax.
I guess I’ve wondered since I saw the article. Seeing him now with Jayden, knowing how he feels about him, makes me wonder if he’s felt that way about men before.
It won’t change how I feel—nothing could. I just need to know I didn’t miss a part of him this big. Because in my heart, I still believe I know Elijah better than I know myself.
“No,” he bites out. “It’s only ever been you and JJ, Fin. Always you until Jayden, and now… I… I need you both. I want you both…”
“And who is Ryker to you? Why did he find me? Talk to me like he didn’t know who I am?”
“I don’t know, Fin. I never thought I’d see him again after—” He cuts off.
“After what?”
His whole body coils tighter, breaths turning shallow and fast. “At one time, I thought we were friends, but I was mistaken. We weren’t friends, and I definitely did not care for him the way I do for you and JJ. I could never love someone like him.”
It’s the rancor in his voice that pushes me. “What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?”
Elijah swallows, and whatever he says next, I already know the answer:Yes, Ryker Hallman hurt him.
“He’s a piece of shit, Fin. He’s a liar and manipulator and…I hate him.”
Although I want to delve deeper, ask more questions, I swallow it all down. Turning my face to graze my lips across his cheek and trail a slew of kisses to his ear, nipping at his lobe.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “For whatever he did. For however he hurt you… I’m really sorry, Elijah.”
“Don’t, Finley. Don’t you dare apologize for his actions… for his sins.Don’t. Okay?”
I nod.
Quiet folds around us, amplifying the thunder of his heart. I don’t know how to calm him—to bring him back to peace.
“I love you, Elijah Benjamin Sylkes. I always have and always will. You know that, don’t you?”
He nods. But my words don’t feel like enough, so I keep going.
“You are the only constant love I’ve known, Eli. I learned what this kind of love is from you, and I never believed I could feel this way for anyone else until JJ.” He shifts so our faces tilt toward each other. His eyes are darker than an abyss, ready to swallow me whole as I tell him, “That first day I met him, I knew you loved him. I felt it as deep as my love for you runs, down to the marrow of my bones. To the core of my heart… my soul. I could not love you completely without loving him, and I do love you, Eli. With every fiber of my being.”
His gaze roams my face, dancing between my eyes and lips. Just when I think he’ll speak, Elijah kisses me instead. Chaste at first, then slowly building, stealing all my breath, a sweet adrenaline coursing through me as he drags his mouth from mine and nips a burning trail to the spot behind my ear that makes me shiver.
With a firm kiss, he settles me back against him and wriggles me closer to Jayden until their legs tangle across mine. I’m fully cocooned when Elijah whispers, “Sleep now, Angel.”
I don’t know how long it takes to obey his tender command—only that his arm stays around me and his other hand stays lightly buried in Jayden’s hair.
Contentment tingles in my gut at how perfectly we fit together, the three of us. It’s my last thought before I fall asleep, and my first when I wake hours later.
The sun is climbing, my face pressed to the top of Jayden’s chest, my head tucked under Elijah’s chin. My brain is foggy at first, keeping me in a blissful haze of peppery, citrusy heat. I refuse to move, keeping my breaths even, luxuriating in our closeness and the bliss it weaves around my heart.
I’m drifting back under when a loud, booming knock rattles the door. A chill shoots down my spine as Elijah tenses around me, followed by Jayden’s sudden jolt.
“Get the fuck up, assholes!” A familiar voice booms through the space, into the bedroom, followed by another barrage of hard knocks.
Matheo. I’m going to have words with Christina about her taste in men. I don’t care what his body jewelry says or that his accent is cute. He’s messing with my happy place, and I am not here for it.
