Page 91 of Cross the Line
It’s gorgeous, and the more festivities and traditions I experience, the deeper I begrudge all the time I missed out on them.
“Hey,” Summer links her arm with mine while I peruse a jewelry concession. “Anything grab your attention?”
“I want to get them something special, but—” I pause at the curious pinch of her brows. With tentative trepidation, I ask, “We’re friends, right?”
“Of course. You won’t shake me off now,” she replies, beaming up at me.
“I want to get Elijah and Jayden something special because I want them to know that I really do love them and that I appreciate them and everything they’ve done for me, all that they’ve given me…”
Summer beams at me with a sigh. Leaning over the glass case, she studies the display I’m looking at as she asks, “So, how did it happen? How did you fall for two guys?”
“Honestly, a lot more easily than I can explain. It’s not like it even happened, it’s more like it simply was… is.”
“I get that feeling. The first time I walked into Parker’s office and he interviewed me for a job at the hotel, something clicked,” she saysfondly, her fingers twisting her rings. “It was hard at first, because we had a lot of hurdles and reasons not to be together… he was my boss, his family is mega wealthy and wary of outsiders, he had a son and an ex who put him through so much heartache…”
“Sounds like you had a lot to work through.”
Summer gives me a teary smile. “Parker showed me I could be more than my fears and scars stipulated. He completes me in a way where I’m not only myself, I’m always more. I am everything and can be anything.”
“Yeah, I know that feeling. It’s how Elijah and Jayden make me feel. Complete, and at the same time, like I can be more than I ever envisioned myself being.”
“Not everybody gets that, and not everyone is brave enough to fight for it, no matter the cost, either. However it comes, it’s special, and it should be embraced.” Even though she’s subtle in her delivery, I appreciate what she’s telling me—and that she’s not judging me.
I know not everyone will be like Summer and Christina, but it makes me hopeful. It makes the weight of the world knowing lighten a tad.
Maybe Lex is right on the money. Perhaps the best way to go forward with everything is with open honesty.
Because we are worth fighting for.
CHAPTER 25
ELIJAH
Goddamn, it feels good to be on a roll. With one last lap of the ice, I throw my stick over the glass to a kid with a birthday banner and rush to get out.
We’re lucky tonight’s win was a sure thing, because both Jayden and I have been counting down the hours to go back home to our girl. I just want to know she’s safe. If JJ and I had our way, she’d be in the arena, watching the game, but Lex thought it would create too much fuss, and until we’re prepared to confirm that we’re together, it’s better that we keep our personal life outside the arena.
After yesterday, I’m done. Hiding. Looking over our shoulders every time Jayden and I touch. We’re here telling ourselves that what we have isn’t wrong, that it’s normal, but hiding it defeats it all.
That is what’s wrong about us—keeping what we have a secret is wrong. And I’m over it.
“Good game,” the equipment manager says as I jump off the ice and hand him my gloves before I rush down the corridor to the locker room.
It’s so damn loud I can’t hear myself think as I push through the crowd to my cubby. Dylan’s sitting down, chugging water in between bites of his protein bar. Bruce is beside him, waiting for Coach’s debrief, and next to him, Weissman is half naked, ready to get in the shower and go home. He’s the only other player, aside from Dylan and me, who always goes straight home.
“Hey, you seen Nano?” I ask Dylan as he leans in to shake my hand on my first goal since I’ve been back.
Dylan gives me a confused look. “Yeah, he’s still with Coach. Where have you been? He called you both.”
My heart stutters as I make quick work of getting the heavy gear off, stripping down to my compression pants and shirt before I put on my sliders and head to Coach’s office. I’m trying not to let my mood sour with all the thoughts going around my head.
Even though I’ve read the rulebook through and through several times now, and I know there’s no rule about relationships within the team, I’m also aware that we are an exceptional case. As far as I know, there have never been two players on the same team in a relationship. And certainly not in an unconventional one like Jayden, Finley, and me.
We haven’t addressed it since Lex brought it up, but what happens if one of us has to transfer? We could end up on different coasts, different countries…
What happens to Finley then? I can’t take her away from Jayden, and I can’t be without her in the same way I can’t be without him.
“Sylkes,” Coach calls when I pause in his open doorway. “Come on in.”
