Chapter 45
FINLEY
Deep breaths. Deep… deep breaths.
I’m shaking all over, holding my stare right where Jayden’s arm is wrapped around the bottom of Elijah’s back. Their shoulders are touching, and their heaving chests are in sync.
Leaving the apartment dressed like this was harder than I thought it would be. That whisper of doubt that kept berating me. Constantly accusing me of calling attention to myself.
Seductress.
Delilah.
Whore.
I’m trying to breathe through every self-deprecating thought when a warm, calloused hand molds to my face. Dark velvet-soft eyes greet mine with a gentle half-bitten smile lighting them up.
“You look beautiful, sweet girl,” Elijah says.
His voice is liquid lava running through me, and when his thumb caresses my cheek, I can’t stop myself from nuzzling into his palm before I throw myself at him. My pulse throbs harder as he wraps me in a tight embrace.
“You look so damn good, Fin, I’m still trying to catch my breath,” he murmurs into my ear, warm breath tickling my earlobe. “This is new,” he says, pulling back to look at ear cuff Christina insisted I wear.
The gold star-shaped cuff is decorated with a small pearl that’s marginally bigger than the studs Jayden picked out for me.
“It’s not an actual piercing,” I tell him.
“It’s cute.” Elijah combs my hair behind my ear so it’s visible.
My eyes flit up to Jayden when he leans closer to inspect it too. His lopsided smile hitches up into a soft grin. “It’s hot... aaand, there’s only a couple of weeks left until you can wear those hoops.”
“Next, we’re getting matching tatts, right, Amish?” Christina nudges me with her shoulder. “We can lose our skin virginity together.”
Jayden chuckles, and the sudden bout of laughter pulls Elijah out of his quiet trance.
“As long as it’s Nano… right there,” Jayden chuckles, tracing his thumb across my forehead. “Did you enjoy the game?”
“It was nerve wracking.”
“Nerve wracking?” Christina groans. “My blood pressure has never been this high in my life. You guys have a death wish out there.”
Jayden chuckles, allowing Christina to ramble at him about all the times she almost puked. Meanwhile, I steal a moment with Elijah.
“Thank you for the flowers,” I tell him when his stare flits back to my ears.
“I hope today was a good day,” he says, stepping right in front of me.
He’s close enough that his warm breath soaks over my lips when he tips my head back and brushes my hair over my shoulders.
“It was the best.” Brushing my hand over his number on my bicep, I smile at him.
Wearing his jersey feels so right, so gratifying, as though it’s the only clothing I was made to wear.
“The jersey was all Jayden,” Elijah tells me.
I glance over at Jayden, my stare sticking on his as he watches Elijah and I. “Thank you.”
“Twenty-one looks good on you.” He winks at me while Elijah shifts to face him.
The look they share feels so much deeper than a mere exchange of voiceless words, more like a deep understanding. An acknowledgment that turns the air thick and hot.
“Oh. My. Goddamn,” Christina whispers in my ear, leaning in close. A big, suggestive grin cuts her face when I look at her. “You lucky hussy.”
“What?”
Her mouth opens, but snaps shut again when Jayden asks, “What are you girls drinking?”
“Anything fizzy and fruity,” Christina tells him, knitting her fingers with mine before she tugs me toward the restrooms. “We’ll be back shortly.”
I don’t get the opportunity to argue with her. The heels are still new to me, and the last thing I want is to sprain an ankle or break a leg.
The instant we make it through the restroom door, Christina drags me into one of the walled-off stalls and levels me with a probing stare.
“Well?” She finally asks.
“Why did you drag me in here?”
“Why? Really? That’s what you have to say after—” Her eyes bug as she thrusts her arm out in the direction of the bar. “You did not tell me it’s like that.”
“What’s like what?” I try to swallow down the worry that bubbles up with my question. Because Christina is way too switched on not to sense the tension all round.
“When we talked this morning, I thought it was more of a they want you and you don’t know who you want situation but that…” She pauses, fanning herself. “What I just saw… fuuuuck!” Her tongue hangs out of her mouth as she pants with crossed eyes. “It’s not just you they want, is it?”
I don’t know what to say to her or what I can say. It’s why I didn’t tell her about what happened last night. How close we all were and how crazy and good and exciting it all felt.
“You don’t have to answer, it’s more than obvious… it’s also really freaking hot, and I totally think you should play bread and filling to that sandwich.”
I choke on my words at her salacious grin. “Jesus—”
“Oh no, no, no… you leave him out of it. There’s enough going on without adding him to the equation.” The heat flaming my cheeks throbs as I try to come up with something to shrug off her observations. “Your pretty face isn’t saying yee-haw right now.”
“It’s…”
“Complicated. Right, I gotcha.” Her hands cup my face. There’s no hint of her usual brazen grin when she tells me, “Complicated is a weak-ass excuse for being too chickenshit to take a leap of faith.”
“Is it, though?”
Christina fluffs up my hair before she takes her red lipstick from the purse she lent me for tonight, and lightly dabs it on my lips.
“Girl, you’re all about faith, so have some in yourself and explore the possibilities.
Okay? Please? For me… because getting railed by two super hot men is a fantasy most women will never experience. ”
“Oh—kay...”
“Atta girl!”
Before I can say something to call her down, she’s dragging me back to the bar.
I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up with Christina. Even though my drinks are a tenth of the strength of hers, so she’s told me, my head is starting to swim a little when I take the last gulp from my glass.
“My turn to get the drinks,” Christina announces, pushing away from the high table, straight into a group of raucous players passing by.
As quickly as she made the declaration for more drinks, she forgets it the instant the birthday boy starts flirting with her.
Matheo’s tall, dark, and handsome in a rakish way. He’s Christina’s type—from the boisterous confidence to the way he eats her up with his eyes. That’s her kind of chill—no chill.
“What’s everyone drinking?” Matheo asks, spinning Christina to face the table while his hands anchor on her hips.
She’s six inches shorter than me, and while he’s also a couple shorter than Elijah, he still has to lean down low to whisper close to her ear. “Champagne, bonitinha?”
He might as well whisk her away now because she’s a goner.
“What does that mean?” She giggles.
He leans closer, his lips right at her ear, “Ask me tomorrow morning.”
Oh boy, I blush on her behalf.
Meanwhile, my laughter at Jayden’s groan balls in my throat when I find him watching me along with Elijah. The sudden jolt of my pulse has me standing taller, my throbbing feet a distant memory when Jayden leans across the table and asks, “You wanna dance, Lucky?”
The place is full, and the regular lights are off, leaving just the team-colored strobes cutting through the expanse of the room in deep purples and blues. The only other light is cast from the golden glow framing the city views and the doors to the outdoor seating area.
“Come on, one dance and then we get out of here.”
Stupidly, I nod even though I’ve never really danced with a man before. Elijah and I didn’t do much dancing at our makeshift prom.
I’m blushing at the heated memory of mine and Elijah’s first time when I take Jayden’s hand and he pulls me into him while he asks Elijah, “Are you coming, too?”
With a quick glance around us, he pushes away from the table and follows us close to the dance floor. Jayden picks a less crowded corner that’s semi shielded between pillars blocking most of the bar and shrouding Elijah in thick shadow away from the light.
I was worried that with all the noise and flashing lights, his head would give him trouble, but he seems fine in that regard. Even if uncomfortable with the scene surrounding us.
“Aren’t you going to dance with us?” Jayden calls over the slowed down beat.
Elijah shakes his head, his dark stare luminous with the deep blues and golds of the lights. “I’d rather watch the two of you.”
Glancing up at Jayden, I take in his stare, laser-focused on me.
The intensity glimmering in them takes my breath away as he coils his arm around my waist. When he pulls my body into his, the heat of it makes it difficult to think past the instant yearning for more.
Every cell of my being is greedy for his when his hand skims down the side of my body, molding to my waist.
I wish I could dance. That I knew what to do when his jaw grazes the side of my face and he asks, “Do you trust me, Finley?”
“Yes,” I gasp.
I’m a burning ball of sensation as he dips lower yet, pressing his knee between my legs while his firm grip on my waist bears me down on his thigh.
This feels intimate.
The kind of intimate that feels wrong for others to see. Yet, a thrill sparks in my belly at the thought that we are in plain sight. And Elijah is watching us. That Jayden is holding me like I am his to touch and savor. His to use.
And Elijah is watching.
Then Jayden moves, rocking my body with his, and the spark erupts into an all-out flame. Consuming me all at once. Every move causes his thigh to press deeper into the apex of my thighs. When his hips undulate, the friction of his body slotting and rubbing with mine has me melting farther into him.
God, every slab of muscle that pushes into my curves feels harder than before. Every lick of heat torching my insides makes it impossible to focus on anything but his hands on me.
With my eyes closed, I savor our proximity. The choppy inhales and stuttering exhales that seep through my skin. Every commanding dip and rock of his body punctuates the intoxicating rhythm of the music that pounds through my veins.
It’s a drug; on my first try, I’m addicted.
“Breathe, baby,” he rumbles in my ear, the arm around my waist coiling tighter, bowing my body into his. His lips trace over my jaw to my mouth where they hover as he demands, “Eyes on me. Only on me, understand?”
Doing as he instructed, I meet his stare and hold it. I’m glued to it as we circle—the lights strobing through his eyes, making them appear darker than ever—until he spins me in his arms and presses my back to his front.
I feel all of him then. Every line. Every ridge. Slabs of heated flesh.
When he grinds into me, I feel his need.
Every hard inch pressed into my ass as one of his hands flattens below the curve of my breast and the other trails higher, stroking up the swell to my neck.
His long, calloused fingers wrap around my throat, squeezing lightly while he inches upward, tipping my head back onto his chest so that my gaze lands on Elijah.
The whole world tilts when his stare fixates on mine. Unmoving as he watches Jayden thrust and grind into me, and I can’t get enough of the sensation. Of the thick, hot air cloying my lungs and the unrelenting twist of my insides.
“You see what you do, Finley? He can’t stop watching. We can’t stop wanting,” Jayden rasps into my ear. “What do you want, Lucky?”
I gasp as he nips at my jaw and then licks a hot trail to my mouth, using the hand at my throat to tilt my face just so, that my stare remains fixed on Elijah’s when his lips touch mine.
“I want to kiss you,” he says. “I’m fucking dying to taste you again.”
There isn’t an inch of me that’s not desperately waiting for him to kiss my lips. I am burning all over with anticipation as Jayden continues moving our bodies to the music, slowly closing the distance between us and Elijah.
“You see the way he can’t breathe past his need to have you?” My eyes dart to Elijah’s heaving chest, the rapid rise and fall of his shoulders. “We want to eat you up. Every inch of your perfect body.”
A moan escapes me when he guides me into Elijah. Our chests press together, colliding with each panted groan.
Only then does his tongue lick over my lips.
My brain short circuits. There isn’t a single thought flickering in my head as I open my mouth for him while Elijah’s hands grip my hips with a bruising force that stutters my mewl when Jayden’s tongue swirls with mine.
He tastes like every fantasy I’ve ever had. Every sinful dream I’ve lost myself to.
As his hold on my throat tightens, I moan for more. I want him to squeeze my life out of me and fill me with his.
His heat. His breaths. His heartbeat.
I want him to fill me with everything he’s got so that I can be more of what Elijah needs. There isn’t a part of me that isn’t eager to please them.
Coiling an arm around Jayden’s neck, I twist a hand in Elijah’s open collar, trying to bring him closer because I need him, too. He’s everything I’ve ever loved, and I miss our physical closeness. The way we used to fumble with the eagerness to get beneath all the layers between us.
Jayden bites down on my lip, pulling it between his teeth with a growl that rakes all the way through me to my throbbing core. As if he can’t get enough, he continues nipping over my jaw to my ear.
“Now, kiss him.”