Chapter 47
FINLEY
Every couple of seconds my stare flits to the rearview mirror. When it catches on Jayden’s, my chest squeezes tight around my lungs, making it impossible to breathe past the hammering of my heart.
The radio in the background fills the silence while Elijah drives us home.
Our fingers are laced together on the center console while Jayden’s leaning forward, his head between the seats while he controls the music with one hand.
The other casually trails over my shoulder, dipping beneath my hair as his fingertips rake across my nape.
I swallow hard, silencing the purr at the back of my throat when he tugs at my hair. Gently at first, like a reminder that he’s still there. Still waiting. Still wanting.
Like I could forget when I’m all of those things—here, waiting, wanting.
Dying.
It feels like forever has gone by when we arrive. The elevator is already waiting, and the instant we walk inside, Eli presses the button for our floor.
“You're sure about this? You, me, and Eli?” Jayden asks when I bury my face in the crook of his neck, and he lifts me up into his arms.
Nodding, I breathe him in deep as I meet Eli's stare. His fingers brush my hair from my face right before Jayden presses a tender kiss to my forehead.
It’s so natural. The way they are so in sync even when they’re touching me.
“I’m sure.”
The doors ping open and Jayden carries me straight to his door with Elijah in step.
My heart is hammering as Elijah helps Jayden open the door and as we go inside, I take his hand in mine. Lacing our fingers together so he knows that I want this with him. I don't let go, not even when Jayden sets me down on the kitchen island with a quick peck to the tip of my nose.
He’s so giving with his affection that I reach out to grab his suit jacket before he makes it too far from me and give him a gentle tug back.
For a moment our stares hold, lingering in the anticipation of why I pulled him back to me. Why I’m still holding on to Elijah. Of what I want.
“Kiss me,” I whisper, dropping my gaze to his softly curving lips. “Please.”
The words are barely out when his mouth crushes to mine. Hard and fast, there’s no prelude to his tongue pushing past my lips while his fingers tangle in my hair.
The deeper Jayden kisses me, the tighter my fingers knot with Elijah’s. His pulse drums with mine between our palms as I beckon him closer with a tug.
Gripping my hip, Jayden drags me to the edge of the counter, his groin slots to my core at the same time as Elijah’s presses to the outside of my thigh, hitched on Jayden’s hip.
I feel them both. Their hardness. Their need.
It’s making me crazy as Jayden nips a wet, burning path to that sensitive spot behind my ear that has my head falling back and my body searching out more friction from his.
As I gasp for air, Elijah sucks my throbbing lip into his mouth.
Nothing’s ever felt this good... this right...
Greed has not existed until right here and right now. Wanting these two men to devour me.
“Taste so good...” Elijah rumbles with a light nip to my lip.
“So fucking good...” Jayden’s throaty hum vibrates through me, all the way to my toes.
He’s nipping and licking at my neck, following the curve of my shoulder over Eli’s jersey.
Elijah brings our linked hands to his chest, holding it over his thumping heart while he watches Jayden kiss me. Dark eyes hold mine. Like at the bar, his breathing is ragged and sharp. The bulge in his pants is thick and hard, pressing deeper into my thigh every time Jayden rocks into me.
God, I just want them to tear me apart. To rip my clothes off and make me theirs.
Jayden’s hand twists in my hair, canting my face up to his with a rough tug. He watches me the same way Elijah is watching us. Meanwhile his other hand inches beneath the hem of Elijah’s jersey, stroking higher until his skin meets my skin.
“You’re so soft, baby,” is all he murmurs as he caresses up to my breast and kneads my flesh. “So perfect...”
“Beautiful,” Elijah groans, licking at his lips.
Jayden’s thumb strums over my nipple.
Once.
Twice.
Goosebumps erupt over my skin, setting my pores on fire.
I can’t breathe.
My heart is beating so fast that it hurts. It’s all I can hear...
Until Elijah’s phone pierces the heated air with a shrill ring.
He ignores it at first. Sending the call to voicemail, he drops the phone back on the counter without looking at the screen.
All my senses are too hyperaware when he gives me a firm tug off the counter. His eyes rake down my body as it slips down Jayden’s front. Heavy hands find their place on my hips, turning me on the spot until my back presses to Elijah’s chest.
Warm lips pepper hot kisses on my neck, where Jayden’s wet trail still lingers on my skin. With his groin flush to my stomach, it’s impossible not to feel how the sight of Elijah retracing his caress affects him.
“So fucking pretty like this,” he groans, fingers clawing into my hips when he takes another step into me, sandwiching me between his and Elijah’s hard bodies. “You’re face all pink and your mouth desperate to taste us.”
This is torture. The way he licks my lips. Teasing them with the tip of his tongue. Offering me just enough of his taste to leave me yearning for more...
I don’t want it to end.
I never want to leave this moment.
A shiver rolls down my spine, the heated chill colliding with the frantic current coursing through me. Between us.
Elijah’s phone goes off again. And when he tears himself away from me, disappointment wrenches at my gut.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs into my hair, his arm coiling around my waist, keeping him tethered to me while he pulls his phone from his pocket. “Shit.”
“What’s up?” Jayden instantly stiffens.
Dread sinks to the pit of my stomach. “Who is it?”
“Coach,” Eli mutters.
I’m sure he’s going to decline the call when Jayden plucks the phone from his hand and tells him, “You need to answer it.”
He does.
A call from their coach is like the call from the President or a king... they can’t ignore it. Especially not after today.
Turning in Jayden’s hold, I burrow deeper into him while Elijah takes the call.
“Coach.” There’s a stretch of silence before, he says, “We left early.”
Elijah’s eyes flash up to Jayden’s. His arms wrap around me while Elijah clutches my hand in his.
Today is a good day, I keep telling myself, nothing bad is going to happen.
It can’t.
“Tomorrow morning?” Elijah’s expression screws tight, eyes falling to our laced fingers as he squeezes my hand in his. “8am. In your office...”
No bad news. Please.
“Yes, Sir. I’m heading to bed now… I’ll be there.” Another longer pause where he’s nodding at the floor. “Thanks, Coach. Good night.”
Pocketing his phone, he takes a moment before he finally looks up at Jayden and me. His expression is a mix of nerves and uncertainty, tinged with hope.
“He wants to talk to me tomorrow morning about training,” he tells Jayden and me.
“Did he say anymore? He spoke quite a bit...” Jayden’s arms snake around me tighter.
“Just that he was looking for me at the party. He was hoping to get a moment, but we were gone before he arrived.”
“Okay... doesn’t sound bad,” Jayden sighs into my hair.
“He wants to watch me train with Doc tomorrow. That’s all he said.” The two of them are silent for a beat.
The quiet exchange ending with a nod from both of them.
“I’ll walk you guys back,” Jayden murmurs, planting a tender kiss on the top of my head. “You need to rest. To be in good shape tomorrow. He's watching you train for a reason, so...”
“Yeah... I don’t know...”
“Let’s go home,” I tell him, using our joint hands to lift his face to mine. “If he wanted to talk to you at the party, it’s not going to be bad news, right? People don’t give crappy news at parties...”
Elijah shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“Fin’s right. Coach is not that kind of person, and after you and Coach Hollinger saved our asses tonight, I think he wants to see where you’re at. The two weeks are almost done, and we’re all fucking desperate to get you back on the ice.”
That makes our guy smile. The tension in his body melts as he coaxes me into his chest. Burying his face in my hair, he inhales deep.
“Stay,” he whispers with a kiss to my temple. “I want you to stay... with JJ.”
“Elijah...” Dipping low, he cuts me off with a kiss to my lips.
The instant I open my mouth for him, his tongue swirls with mine. Tender and savoring with a guttural sigh when he pulls back. “Take what you want, Angel.”
“Eli—” Jayden starts only for Elijah to cut him off with a hoarse, “Look after our girl, Jayden.”
Jayden nods, cocooning me with his body while his chin rests on my shoulder. “Do you want me to drive you tomorrow morning?”
“I can drive myself,” Elijah chuckles back, pulling his key from his pocket as he traipses backwards towards the door. “Enjoy your rest day.”
“Call me when you’re done with Coach,” Jayden says at the same time as I tell him, “Let me know how training goes.”
“Stop worrying, it’s going to be fine.”
Maybe it is, but there’s still an inkling of doubt pinching around his eyes as I watch him leave, taking a part of my heart with him.
“Is it going to be okay, Jayden?” I ask when he spins me in his arms to face him.
“I think so. Coach loves Eli. Even if he is a grump most of the time, he’s an integral part of the team.” Gripping the back of my thighs, he hitches me up his body before carrying me to the sectional. “Eli and I are fucking amazing together.”
“You are.” The surety in his grin eases the vice choking my heart as he carefully lowers onto the sectional with me straddling his lap.
“Aaaand... every game we’ve played without him has made it glaringly obvious. Eli has a brilliant mind. His attention to detail during play is phenomenal.”
The grin cutting his face morphs to a bashful smile I can’t stop myself from tracing with my fingertips all the way to his flushed cheeks.
This man is extraordinarily beautiful and kind. I can’t get enough of the way he cares for the people he loves. Especially Elijah. The way his face literally lights up with affection when he talks about him owns my heart. The way he doesn’t waiver when Elijah needs him, brightens my soul.
“Want to watch a movie?” Jayden asks, nudging the tip of my nose with his.
Before I can form the words, my head is shaking in reply.
“Then what do you want, Lucky?” His voice is low and gravelly when he tips his face up to mine.
The air buzzes with the breathy excitement coursing between us. There isn’t a single cell of my DNA that isn’t vibrating with longing.
His stare is boring into mine while he waits for me to make a move. My breath sticks in the back of my throat as I trace my fingertips over his shoulders. My hands are shaking when I stroke them up to his collar, clutching the fabric in my hands.
Jayden watches me intently as I suck in a breath and tell myself, Take what you want.
All my breaths jam together when I lean forward, pulling him to me at the same time so that our lips crush together. It takes me a moment to work up the courage to deepen the kiss. My tongue tentatively licks over my bottom lip, across the seam of his until he opens his mouth for me.
“Stop teasing, baby. I’m dying to taste you again,” he groans.
Edging forward on the sectional, I lick into his mouth. My tongue circles his as he grips my hips with a growl and kisses me back. It’s slow at first. Controlled. Savoring.
The thrum of my pulse quickens as the butterflies in my belly flutter up into my chest. I am overwhelmed with the urge to hold on to him.
A certain feeling of cingulomania—where the desire to hold him in my arms is so overwhelming it feels as mighty as a sickness. A madness I can’t override while my arms wrap around his shoulders and lose myself in him.
It's overwhelmingly cathartic to give and give and give until my lungs are burning in their breathless torment. So damn thrilling to encompass so much sensation in my body.
It feels a lot like freedom.
Jayden doesn’t want anything outside of me. He doesn’t want me to be something I’m not. His desperation is coiled around everything that he’s already holding, and every second that he owns my mouth, I crave more.
I want his mouth all over me.
I want his hands to squeeze every inch of my body.
Every second that he spends tasting me, is another second that I don’t want him to stop.
Ever.