Page 131 of Break the Ice
“Yeah, I need to get my head down, too,” Jayden says with a sigh on the other side of me, his fingertips trailing lightly along the curve of my shoulder while Elijah’s hold on my hand tightens. “Do you want to carpool to the facility?”
“Sure,” Elijah replies before he asks me, “What are your plans tomorrow?”
“Umm...” It takes my brain a beat to catch up.Plans... “In the morning, I’m meeting Summer at the studio to get the paint ordered for her mural. She wants to take me through the client system and the tasks she wants me to take over. Then Christina is meeting me there, and we’re coming back here for lunch.”
“How are you getting to the studio?” Jayden asks, his thumb trailing along my shoulder to my neck where he strokes the same spot he nipped earlier.
“I set up Uber on her phone,” Elijah replies at the same time as the second bedtime alarm goes off.
“In the morning I’ll ask Alfie to walk you to the car and make sure it’s legit, and?—”
“Elijah already gave the doorman instructions.”
“Oh, good!” Jayden sounds so upbeat about it that I don’t have it in me to point out that I’m a grown woman, and while there are some sketchy things going on that are out of my control, I can and need to look after myself.
I can’t depend on other people forever. That was my life in The Fellowship, not out here. Although I'm wary of what’s going on, I’m excited to move forward with my life. To explore this world and the possibilities it brings.
“Wait,” Elijah mutters while he reluctantly gets up and tugs me to my feet with him. “How come he doesn’t get the whole ‘you need to stand on your own two feet’ lecture?”
“Because I’m special,” Jayden retorts, pressing a kiss to the top of my head when he stands, his long arm draping around my shoulders in his easy way.
“Yeah,realspecial,” Elijah grumbles, aggressively typing out a message on his phone.
“At least I’m not a grumpy fuck.”
Elijah levels him with a dark scowl that morphs to an exasperated eye roll when his phone starts ringing.
“Seriously? I’m literally about to walk to my bedroom and get into bed,” he mutters into the phone.
His fingers knot with mine as he pulls me to him and presses a kiss to my head, right where Jayden kissed me moments ago. I can hear Lex’s voice droning on as Elijah guides me towards the kitchen. Jayden follows us, his hand flat to the bottom of my spine.
After Elijah’s outburst earlier, I can see why he feels suffocated by everyone. We all want what’s best and for him to get better, but we’re all constantly nagging him about it. I know firsthand how awful it is to have others constantly steering your actions and choices. Like I don’t want that for me, I don’t want it for him, either.
“You don’t need to call me every night to—” There’s a pause where Lex’s tone rises enough to cut Elijah off. “I’m following the schedule. Five minutes here and there isn't the end of the world.”
While he goes about grabbing a water from the fridge and taking the melatonin the neurologist prescribed to help him adapt to his new sleep schedule, Jayden turns me toward him.
“So...” He starts. His usual cool is gone as his hands mold to my hips, and he takes a step into me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
I try to ignore the sudden wrench of my heart, but it only gets heavier when he draws me all the way into his chest and his arms coil around me. Jayden hugs me tight with his face buried in the crook of my neck when I wrap my arms around his shoulders.
“Goodnight, Lucky,” he murmurs.
“Goodnight, Hotshot,” I whisper back.
Still, neither one of us moves or let’s go. He holds me, and I hold on to him.
My pulse picks up with every second we stay this way.
Too soon, Jayden pulls back, and his hands move from my hips, holding either side of my face as he asks, “You good with this?”
“Yes.”
“For sure?”
When I nod, his stare narrows on mine. Waiting for me to verbalize my answer.
