Page 40 of Break the Ice
“We’re going to work on that. When we’re done, you’ll be screaming ‘sexy bish’ to the world.”
The store assistant comes back with a silk-lined basket for the underwear Christina has picked out. We’re moving across the store when I glance back at the exit, catching a glimpse of Elijah and Jayden waiting for us. They’re deep in conversation. Elijah perched up against the glass railing while Jayden leans into him.
“Why’d you stop?” Christina comes back to my side. “Yeah, I know they’re hot, but we’re on a mission here.”
“Yeah, I know, but?—”
“No buts! Come on,” she asserts, linking her arm with mine and attempting to pull me towards the next section of lingerie.
“Tina!” I hold my ground, keeping my sight trained on Elijah and Jayden.
“Fin…”
“I want him back. I want what we had. For him to touch me. Actually touch me andwantme.”
“Eli does want you. Why would he have waited for you all this time?”
“Maybe he wasn’t waiting for me. Maybe… maybe it’s just guilt or duty or…”
“Bullshit.” Christina pushes up onto her tiptoes in front of me, cutting off my view of Elijah and Jayden still in their own bubble. “Why would he regularly sneak himself into my building for a shitty cup of tea that he could get better elsewhere just so he could talk to me about you? So he would know what you were doing? That you were okay when he couldn’t talk to you?”
I nod, allowing her to guide me across the store.
“Fin…” Christina takes me into a dim-lit hallway with tall black doors on either side. When we’re out of hearing range, she tells me, “You can’t just go back to what you had. That was a different place and different time. Now you’re here, and this place has possibilities for you. Options and choices you didn’t have before, so while you still love old Eli, and Eli still loves old you, the two of you have to fall in love with the people that you are now. And that’s not going to happen overnight.”
I nod because I can’t speak through the emotion swelling in my throat. I’m afraid if I open my mouth, the truth of her words will undo me.
“Let’s make sure these fit.” Christina holds up the lingerie basket as she takes my hand and makes a bee line for one of the black doors. “If you want, one of the assistants can measure your boobs, or we can go down the trial-and-error route in the changing room. Whatever you’re comfortable with. One of the perks of having big tits is that I know my shit.”
“Trial and error works,” I tell her.
The last thing I want is a stranger seeing the fading bruises on my body. I know I wouldn’t have to explain, but I’d see the curious looks, and it’s not something I can stomach right now.
I don’t know how long we spend in the fitting room. However, I am all shopped out, and ready to go home when we join Elijah and Jayden again with a selection of underwear.
“Alright, boys, I think we are all done,” Christina announces, handing Jayden the bags in her hands while Elijah takes the one I’m holding.
“Did you get everything you need?” He asks, tucking an escaped tendril of my hair behind my ear.
“More than.”
He smiles at my reply, like it’s made him happier than ever. “Good.”
Every second I look into his eyes, I see that he cares for me. I can feel the depth of his love when his hand molds to my back. Strong and warm, and everything that I crave.
I don’t understand where this man goes when it’s only me and him.
“The food court is busy. JJ and I spotted a couple of photogs while you were in the store…”
My stare flits to Jayden. He’s watching us closely. So intently that my chest squeezes tight at the furrow of his brows and the tender slope of his eyes. Christina is right, they’re brimming with life and color. The kind that pulls you in and makes it impossible not to look deeper. To want him to look closer.
“I can make dinner,” he suggests at the same time as Elijah says, “I’ll order takeout.”
“How much take-out has he fed you?” Jayden groans as we walk side by side.
“Not that much. He had his chef meal prep for two.”
“Because you’re not living with me to be a maid.”
