Chapter 4 #2
I back off to give her space and head to the bathroom to get ready for the arena. I move slow on purpose. Stretch, keep my legs warm, check the clock. When I come back, the room feels still in a way that makes me look twice.
She’s collapsed back on the bed, small in the huge mattress. Menu still in her hand. Feet dangling over the red carpet. The rise and fall of her chest is barely there.
Don’t touch her, I tell myself. Don’t. It doesn’t stop me from tugging the duvet beneath her shoulders and laying my old travel blanket over her. Thin and worn, but it smells like home and long road trips. It has always calmed me.
Red welts ring her wrists. Matching marks circle her ankles. Rope burns.
“What in the fuck happened to you?” I whisper to the empty air and force myself to step away.
The clawing in my chest doesn’t let up while I finish getting ready. In the mirror, I search Presley Tomes on my phone, then their hometown, as if a few links could hand me context.
A knock rattles the door.
Finally. I cross the room fast because the sooner I hand her back to Eli; the sooner I can glue my head back together and get to the game.
It’s not Eli. Matheo stands there in full scowl. “We gotta talk.”
“Okay.” I plant a forearm to block the doorframe. “Talk.”
“Aren’t you going to let me in?” He cranes his neck to see past me.
“I’m in the middle of getting ready…”
His eyes drop down the suit to my shoes, then back up. “What the fuck is going on? Since when does Sylkes have a girlfriend? Tomes’ fucking sister? Is he out of his mind? Is she why he’s all kinds of fucked up? What the fucking fuck is happening, Jayden?”
He waits me out, hands on hips, stare steady. The longer it takes, the more coiled he looks.
“Fuck. I… Jayden… I…” He scrubs a hand through his curls and steps closer. “Are you good?”
“Yeah, I’m fine... what I am not, is Eli’s keeper.”
“I know that,” he says, quieting.
“Do you? Cause you came knocking on my door with all these fucking questions, and only one pertains to me. One.”
“Because I’m worried about you. The guys are worried about you. We’ve lost Sylkes for tonight’s game. It’s like he’s on a fucking spiral and you’re the closest one to him. You and him…” He shrugs.
“Me and him…?”
“You go where he goes; he goes where you go. You’re always together. Always freakishly in sync, and…”
“And?” Another shrug. He’s got a whole theory, and if he’s at my door with it, the locker room’s already chewed it over.
“JJ…”
“We’re not fucking, Matheo.” His eyes widen.
His brows pinch. “So, no, I don’t know more than you about what’s going on.
I only found out today that he has a girl, and yeah, she is Tomes’ fucking sister.
Which probably does mean he’s out of his mind, but fuck if I know if she’s the reason he’s all kinds of fucked up. You wanna know why?”
“Jayden—”
“Because I’m not his fucking keeper, and just because I’m into guys, doesn’t mean Eli and I are fucking, and—”
Matheo’s gaze jumps over my shoulder.
Fuck.
I don’t have to look to know Finley is standing behind me. I turn anyway. Wide eyes. Arms wrapped around her middle. Mouth parted.
“I’ll see you on the bus,” I tell Matheo and shut the door. His dulled “fuck” thuds through the wood.
“Sorry about him. Sorry we woke you.”
I brace for disgust. Her brother’s made an art of it. Instead, she gives me a small, careful smile.
I smile back, not sure what else to do.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep…” she swallows, looking down.
Even with embarrassment coloring her cheeks, she’s pretty.
“Don’t apologize. Napping isn’t a crime.” I gesture toward the seating area and wait until she’s in the armchair before I grab the spare menu and sit on the coffee table. “Did you pick something?”
Finley shakes her head. “I’m not great at making choices.”
“Well, do you like bacon?” She nods. “And you’re not like Eli, right? You like onions?”
“Elijah eats onions.”
“Does he?”
“He just doesn’t like them slimy.” She pulls a face that makes me laugh. “His dad doesn’t like the smell of fried onions, so his mom never lets them crisp up, and they’re soggy and slimy and—” She pauses, gives a faint smile. “Yeah, he’ll eat them if they’re not mushy.”
“Learn something new every day.”
“Like him being vegan,” she adds, hushed. “I don’t think he liked meat very much to start with, but he did eat it before.”
“People change… I guess.”
She nods and sinks deeper into the plush gold chair. It swallows her whole.
Silence tries to creep back in. I swat it away and scan the menu. “Okay, so we’re going for cheeseburger fries, and… what do you drink? Milkshake, Coke, juice…”
“Water is fine.”
“Water and cheeseburger fries? That’s… no. No, you can’t water down all that flavor with water. You need something like a chocolate milkshake or banana. Banana milkshake with chocolate fudge sauce… Man, that’s the one. It’s cheat day glory.”
“Okay,” she laughs.
Not a shy chuckle. Not a thin little sound. She laughs with her whole body, and her eyes brighten to sky-blue, warm and wide open. It sparks along my nerves, a crackle I didn’t know I needed.
I call room service and order. Feels like, for a second, I’ve done one thing right today. Feels like the world might tilt back toward center, in the strangest, most unexpected way.