Page 60 of Break the Ice
“Thank you,” she murmurs when I grab my book and guide her out to the elevator.
“What for?”
“Being a friend.”
A friend.
I pause at her remark. The perfect reminder of what we are, and how I should see her. What I should feel for her.
“One second,” Finley says, opening Eli's door. “I just want to grab something real quick.”
“Sure.”
She disappears inside, leaving me in a silence that is far too loud in my head.
It occurs to me while I’m waiting for her that I’m allowing myself to get hooked and reeled in deep by this girl. Even though I bat away all worries that leech at my sanity, I know that I’m in denial. I know that I’m not going to be able to let her go with the same certainty that I’ll never be able to get over my feelings for Eli.
Maybe that makes me stupid. But right now, stupid feels good. Stupid is giving me a piece of Eli that I might not have otherwise.
His heart.
CHAPTER 19
FINLEY
A sweet floral scent envelops me the instant Jayden opens the heavy glass door to the glass-domed garden. Large hibiscus shrubs grow around purple palms and beautiful bird of paradise plants. A few benches line the pathways on either side of the large, rectangular water feature that’s framed by double height Crittall doors.
Everything is beautiful. Paradisical. Except for the fountain.
All my senses go haywire with the flash of panic that chills down my spine at the sight of the water.
It takes me a moment to gauge how deep it is—not very, but it’s proven you can drown in a little as two inches of water.
Forcing down the dread balling in my chest, I focus on the sound of the sprinkling water from the geysers in the middle of the fountain. Allowing the peaceful and hypnotic sound to soothe my fear.
“Isn’t it the most unexpected surprise?” Jayden spins in front of me, hands gesturing at our surroundings.
“Wow,” I murmur in reply, releasing the breath cloying my lungs as I drop my hand clutching Jayden’s book and the journal Elijah gave me down to my side. “It’s like paradise.”
“Closest thing you’ll get to it here,” Jayden hums back with a wide grin that dulls the wonder of our surroundings with its brightness.
His hand presses to my back, warm and heavy while he ushers me deeper into the glasshouse. The thrum of my pulse picks up every second that his touch lingers.
The warmth. The weight. The gentleness…
It’s a heady combination.
“It reminds me of home. Of my momma’s garden,” he hums through the sad lilt in his voice.
I twist towards him, taking in the lines of his face that appear to age right in front of me.
This is new.
The sound, the expression—it’s the first inkling of pain he’s shown me. It makes me wonder if he shows it to everyone, like the heart he wears on his sleeve. Jayden’s always so upbeat that you would assume he’s incapable of feeling any other way.
“She spends a lot of time up here when she visits,” he says, breaking the silent pause we’ve come to with a slow step forward. “Come to think about it, it might be her favorite place in California.”
“I think it’s mine, too,” I whisper, glancing away to take in the white petalled blooms to the side of me.
