Page 48 of Break the Ice
“Havenview life,” Eli states.
The ice in his voice is so sharp that it cuts through me.
Why would anyone want to hurt her?
How could anyone hurt them?
Worse, how could they make it a religion?
They’re so innocent. So perfect. Finley with her kindness... her sweetness. And Eli... he’s the most honest, upstanding person I’ve ever known.
I don’t get it. I don’t want to get it. Because it’s wrong. Period.
Every single muscle in my body wrenches with an urge I’ve never felt before. To lock her away... make sure nobody touches them again.
Suddenly, Eli’s refusal to take her out of these walls seems more than justified. More than reasonable.
“You need to relax your muscles,” Finley tells me, going back to kneading my shoulder while Eli clears up our plates from dinner and puts on the Florida game from today.
We’re playing them again in a couple weeks, and they’re on a streak since we played them almost a month ago.
“No way,” Eli scoffs from the sitting area behind me at the same time as the commentator announces the early goal. “Twenty seconds in, and Florida has the lead.”
“They’re not playing around,” I say with a sigh when Finley places the warm compress back on my shoulder blade. It feels so good that the acetic smell barely bothers me anymore. “Did they pull off the Krejci-Torres move?”
“Yeah, literally Krejci drives through the center and Torres slaps it in.”
“We got to get smart with Andy,” I tell him, leaning up so Finley wraps the compress onto my shoulder blade with plastic wrap before adding a heat pad and wrapping it once more. “Maybe we get Bruce and Rio to play out Krejci and Torres’s move next practice, and we can work on some defense options? What do you think?”
I swivel to look at Eli, but I’m met with Finley’s coy smile. “Leave it on overnight, okay?”
The lightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen darken to a shimmering turquoise—warm ocean—as her stare slowly tumbles down my chest to my stomach. They widen when I stand, and my navel piercing is in view.
Like what you see?I almost smirk at her, but then I catch Eli watching us both, and an unsteady, unsure sensation balls the words in my chest.
Things may be complicated between them, but he’s my partner. More than that, Eli is my friend. I think he might be the first guy I’ve ever felt this instinctual closeness with.
So even though, Finley’s presence lights up this need inside me that I’ve never felt before, an urge that pulls me closer no matter how hard I dig my feet into the ground and resist it, I can’t go near her. Touch her.
Want her.
I can’t risk hurting Eli. Most certainly, I can’t fuck up our friendship because some dark, hidden part of me is too fucking stupid to recognize what my head and body already know:I need him, too.
Maybe more.
I don’t know.
All I’m certain of is that I can’t imagine not having Eli in my life. Near me.
Even if he’s off-limits, too.
Pancakes.That’s what I woke up with a taste for at almost midday. Now, I’m standing in the hallway between mine and Eli’s apartments debating what I’m doing with myself.
Last night was different. Eli was different.
He touched me. He took me back to his place and watched as his girl took care of me. And it’s all I’ve been able to think about. It made it really fucking hard to fall asleep.
Even now, my body is reacting to the memory of Elijah tearing my top open, the ghost of his touch is still hot and trembling on my skin, andfuuuuck…
