Page 112 of Break the Ice
Pulling her closer, I press the button to open the doors and hold her to my side as we get in.
Finley burrows into me, both of her hands wrapped around mine when the doors close in front of us and we head up to our floor.
“Eli’s home.” Her voice pitches with excitement.
“Thank fuck,” I tell her, looping my arm over her head and around her shoulders without releasing her hand. “I feel like maybe when I see him here, I’ll be able to breathe again.”
“Yeah,” Finley says with a sigh, her hands tightening around mine.
“I need to see him so bad.”
“Like so, so bad.” Finley turns into me, resting her chin on my bicep so that I can see the weight of the world in her eyes when she goes on, “I keep thinking that a migraine doesn’t take a person out like that. What if the neurologist missed something? What if?—”
“Hush now, Lucky.” I tighten my arm around her so that she’s got no choice but to lift onto her tiptoes and bring her face closer. Any other time, any other person, I would silence them with a kiss so I wouldn’thave to deal with their troubles and insecurities. But not Finley. If I could take all the shit that’s bringing her down from her, I would listen to her until she was blue in the face. “Yesterday was fucking scary, but Eli’s fine.”
Even though she nods, her eyes are still muddled with all the worries going round her head.
“Go on, repeat after me,” I tell her, sweeping her hair from her face. The feel of the thick strands tangled around my fingers has me dying to pull her so close that she might just become a part of me.
“Repeat after you,” Finley murmurs.
“Eli is perfect.” I manage to center myself enough to get the words out even though I can’t hear them for shit over my frenetic pulse.
She swallows, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth before she says, “Elijah is perfect.”
“He’s a strong-ass motherfucker.”
A throaty chuckle bubbles past her pressed lips, tugging them into a smile. The longer I hold her stare, the deeper the chortle becomes until it’s a belly-deep laugh that vibrates all the way through her and into me. Almost settling the apprehension in my gut.
“Say it,” I tell her.
The light is slowly sifting back into her eyes. It’s an achievement I’m proud of when the doors ping open and she says, “He is strong. He is perfect.”
Keeping Finley glued to my side, I head straight for Elijah’s door which she opens in record time.
“Eli?” I call out to be met with Lex’s exasperated command, “Sit down, before I tie you to that chair!”
He appears in front of us with a scrunched expression that brings out the tight lines around his eyes.
“Remember, he needs rest,” Lex tells Finley and I as we enter the open plan living space.
It’s not as bright as usual, but it’s also not dark. When I look around, I notice the translucent, veil-like grey curtains pulled across all the windows and balcony doors.
“Rest, hydration,no stress,” he keeps going while I guide Finley past him to the sitting area where Eli is standing.
If looks could kill, Lex might be finding his way to an early grave right now with the daggers Eli’s shooting him.
“He’s killing me,” Eli whispers when we reach him. “Ever since the doctor said I could leave the hospital, he’s been incessant.”
“You look so much better,” Finley coos, wrapping one of her arms around him while she continues holding my hand.
Maybe I should pull away, but I don’t. I keep holding on to her while she squeezes him in a one-armed hug, pulling me closer so that his side presses into my front.
I almost lose every natural ability I possess at the feel of his hard body.
Fuck, nothing has ever felt this good. Or this perfect as holding her and touching him at the same time does. When Finley peppers light kisses over his cheeks, damn if I don’t want to chase them up, too.
“Seeing you back here…” She’s on the verge of tears. Relieved, overwhelmed, touching-on-happy tears. Her emotions are so ripe that I can smell their petrichor as I breathe their raspy breaths deep into my lungs. “God, Elijah, I just… Lex is right.”
