Page 15 of Break the Ice
“Because I’m not his fucking keeper, and just because I’m into guys, doesn’t mean Eli and I are fucking, and?—”
Matheo’s gaze jumps over my shoulder.
Fuck.
I don’t have to look to know Finley is standing behind me. I turn anyway. Wide eyes. Arms wrapped around her middle. Mouth parted.
“I’ll see you on the bus,” I tell Matheo and shut the door. His dulled “fuck” thuds through the wood.
“Sorry about him. Sorry we woke you.”
I brace for disgust. Her brother’s made an art of it. Instead, she gives me a small, careful smile.
I smile back, not sure what else to do.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep…” she swallows, looking down.
Even with embarrassment coloring her cheeks, she’s pretty.
“Don’t apologize. Napping isn’t a crime.” I gesture toward the seating area and wait until she’s in the armchair before I grab the spare menu and sit on the coffee table. “Did you pick something?”
Finley shakes her head. “I’m not great at making choices.”
“Well, do you like bacon?” She nods. “And you’re not like Eli, right? You like onions?”
“Elijah eats onions.”
“Does he?”
“He just doesn’t like them slimy.” She pulls a face that makes me laugh. “His dad doesn’t like the smell of fried onions, so his mom never lets them crisp up, and they’re soggy and slimy and—” She pauses, gives a faint smile. “Yeah, he’ll eat them if they’re not mushy.”
“Learn something new every day.”
“Like him being vegan,” she adds, hushed. “I don’t think he liked meat very much to start with, but he did eat it before.”
“People change… I guess.”
She nods and sinks deeper into the plush gold chair. It swallows her whole.
Silence tries to creep back in. I swat it away and scan the menu. “Okay, so we’re going for cheeseburger fries, and… what do you drink? Milkshake, Coke, juice…”
“Water is fine.”
“Water and cheeseburger fries? That’s… no. No, you can’t water down all that flavor with water. You need something like a chocolate milkshake or banana. Banana milkshake with chocolate fudge sauce… Man, that’s the one. It’s cheat day glory.”
“Okay,” she laughs.
Not a shy chuckle. Not a thin little sound. She laughs with her whole body, and her eyes brighten to sky-blue, warm and wide open. It sparks along my nerves, a crackle I didn’t know I needed.
I call room service and order. Feels like, for a second, I’ve done one thing right today. Feels like the world might tilt back toward center, in the strangest, most unexpected way.
CHAPTER 5
ELIJAH
Coach perches on the edge of the desk in his suite and kills the TV.
“I’m worried about you, son.” He rakes a look over me; eyes bruised with exhaustion. Frustration tightens his face. Rumors about his job after last season’s Conference Final have been riding him hard.
