Page 52 of Break the Ice
I can feel him watching me intently when I take a sip. It’s delicious and sugary enough that I know it must be torture for Mr. Clean Eating to watch me drink it.
Leaning to the side with another pull of the coffee treat, I glance up at him. Sure enough, he’s grimacing.
“It’s good,” I tell him with a low chuckle. “Like, the best thing I’ve put in my mouth. Ever.”
With a roll of his eyes, he swipes his thumb along my lips just as I lick them clean. “Good.”
Maybe the drink isn’t the best thing I’ve tasted, after all.
I suck my bottom lip into my mouth, trying to get another taste of the salty tang from his thumb as he takes a sip of his iced matcha tea.
God, I want to kiss him. So bad it hurts.
“Can we eat now?” Jayden asks, clearing his throat while placing plates in front of Elijah and me.
He brings the two takeout bags he was holding to the middle of the counter and tears them open to reveal the food containers.
After he’s gone through the different Mexican dishes, he makes himself a plate and relocates to the dining table in silence.
“Is he okay?” I ask Elijah as we make up our plates.
It’s not like Jayden to be so quiet, and I know they won both of their games, so he should be ecstatic. Especially given he scored in both...
Elijah glances over his shoulder at his best friend.
“He’s hangry,” is all he says with a pensive frown, taking my plate and gesturing for me to follow him to the dining table.
Sitting opposite Jayden, I notice the way he’s gone from impatiently needing his food to forking it around his plate.
All three of us sit in heavy silence until he finally gets up, taking his barely touched food.
“Where are you going?” Elijah asks.
“I’m too tired to eat, man,” Jayden replies with a shrug. “I need a nap.”
Before Elijah can say anything else, he’s walking off in the direction of the apartment door, plate in hand.
“I’ll check in later about reviewing tapes,” Jayden says over his shoulder.
Although Elijah nods, he doesn’t go back to his lunch. We watch Jayden disappear. And if my gut feeling wasn’t adamant something is off, Elijah’s surly pout cements it.
CHAPTER 17
FINLEY
Christina looks so proud of herself as we exit the Uber that picked us up right outside Elijah’s building and is dropping us off right outside a grand hotel entrance. The revolving door is dressed in a floral arch with a doorman on either side.
“Why are we at a hotel?”
Looking around us, I try to tamp down the anxiety of being out of the apartment while Elijah is at training. Even if he arranged the Uber and made sure our doorman watched me get in the car after he checked the number plate.
“Relax, Amish, we’re meeting the girls for brunch.”
“The girls?”
“Yeah, Summer and Alice. Honor was going to come too, but she’s in Med School so she cancels a lot.” Christina catches her breath, taking my hand in hers. “Anyway, they’re my friends. Summer’s husband basically owns this hotel. The LA Imperial istheplace to stay if you have megabucks, and every Friday they host live sessions. Like exclusive mini concerts…”
Sounds like something Jayden would enjoy. He loves music and dancing. Every time he comes over, he puts the stereo on or if we go to his place, he has his record player on. The scratchy sound reminds me of my grandma. She used to listen to the one Elvis record she had on repeat. A greatest hits album my grandad gifted her for her seventieth birthday.
