Chapter 47
FINLEY
It’s been raining for the last two days since we returned home. Eli and JJ are back at training, getting ready for a two-week run on the road starting tomorrow.
We’re saying it’s two weeks to make it sound less daunting, but it’s actually almost sixteen days. Sixteen days of sleeping in our bed alone. Sixteen days of waking up alone. Sixteen days of missing them, of my heart being torn from me.
Half a month of FaceTime calls and endless texts.
Trying not to break down into lonely tears so I don’t make the separation harder for them.
Now more than ever, they need to be at the top of their game.
The transfer window is open, and the last thing we need is to give the Comets’ franchise a reason to split us apart.
That would kill me. I couldn’t be away from either of my men.
“Come on, Baby.” JJ nuzzles his face into my neck. “Give me that gorgeous smile I love.”
His deft fingers strum at my sides until I’m a wriggling, giggling puddle of mush. When he sits me up on the kitchen counter, I bury my face in his chest and breathe him all the way into my lungs.
“I’m going to miss you,” I whisper, using all my willpower to hold in my sob.
“We’re going to miss you, too,” he murmurs back, big hands smoothing over my messy hair.
There’s no containing the frizz with all the moisture in the air.
“It’s going to be the slowest two weeks, but think about all the time we’ll have to make up for when we return.
We’re practically going to live buried inside you. ”
“Can we skip the two weeks and get to the living-inside-me part already?” I glance up at him, and he beams down at me.
His eyes are so beautiful and bright, singeing every part of my soul with every second he holds me in his gaze.
Jayden clasps my hand in his. He brings our foreheads together as the bracelet on my wrist vibrates. Again, and again, and again, with every tap of his finger on his own bracelet.
“Where’s your phone?” he asks.
“In the bedroom.” He’s helping me off the counter and onto my feet before I finish my reply.
While JJ guides me to the bedroom, he taps and swipes on his phone so that my bracelet vibrates in a new pattern—a succession of short and long pulses that match the beeping on my phone on Eli’s nightstand.
“Check your phone,” JJ says, sitting on the bed with a playful bounce and a matching grin on his face.
“What have you done?” I’m chuckling when he coils his arm around my waist and draws me between his thighs while I check my phone.
There’s a notification from the bracelet app he installed.
I open it, and my heart melts into a puddle at my feet. I can’t contain my sob as I listen to his and Eli’s lazy drawl.
As always, there’s a hint of mirth in JJ’s voice, while Eli sounds as though he’s had enough of his mischief, while they both croon, “Love you, Baby… I love you, Angel… That’s it, JJ, I’m not recording it again… Stop being a grumpy asshole…”
The recording cuts out, and I’m a sobbing, laughing mess, bundled in Jayden’s arms when he falls back on the bed and takes me with him.
“They’re not all like that. There’s a different message for every day we’re away.
From me, from Eli, and from us both.” We’re lying on our sides.
His arm holds me to him, keeping me tucked into his chest while his other hand combs through my hair.
“I hate reality. I hate that we’re away so much. Hate leaving you.”
“But you love hockey,” I say, stroking my thumb along his unshaven jaw.
With a small nod, Jayden leans close with a gentle nip to my nose. “I love you more.”
This is exactly why I’ve avoided talking to them about leaving. I don’t want us to part with sorrow clouding their hearts and heads. They need to be focused and ready to leave everything out on the ice with every game that brings them back to me.
“I love our reality, JJ.” Coiling my finger in his necklace, I stroke over the half-heart pendant he shares with Kailey. “I love that I get to be with you and Eli. That I get to call you my home. Love that I can watch you be a superstar and cheer you on.”
His big hand at my lower back presses me deeper into him. “Fin…”
“Sure, I’m going to miss you, and that sucks, because you guys leaving me is like my heart being ripped out of my chest. But you know what?”
Jayden smiles. “What, Baby?”
“I love that you’re going to bring it back to me.” I place his hand on my chest. “I love the certainty that every time you and Eli take it with you, it’s going to come back bigger, better, stronger. You know what they say… Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and growth hurts.”
“Growth hurts,” he says with a deep sigh, burying my face in the top of his chest with a firm kiss to my hair.
“And not all hurt is bad. Sometimes pain is the bringer of joy and pleasure.”
Hitching my thigh on his hip, I snuggle closer.
The heat of his body is divine as I close my eyes and let myself melt into him—relishing the quiet murmur of his breath, the comfort of his scent seeping into my pores—until I feel him relax around me, his heartbeat slowing to a sleepy rhythm that lulls me with him.
***
“How did PT go this morning?” Jayden asks Eli when he enters the bedroom.
Jayden’s coming out of the shower, and even though Eli’s just arrived home, he looks ready to go meet Matheo for a low-key fundraiser at the downtown animal shelter.
His sister is a volunteer vet assistant there while she’s finishing her degree in veterinary medicine, and in true team spirit, some of the guys are going to support her event and hopefully bring awareness to the nonprofit running it.
“Great.” Eli pauses behind me, watching as I gloss my lips. “Worked out the kinks in my shoulder and hip, and then met with Connie.”
With a soft smile, he drapes his arm across my chest, pulling me into him while I put on the hoops JJ gave me.
They match the blue-and-white daisy-embroidered knit cardigan I’m wearing over my short white tank. It crops at my waist along the high waistband of my loose jeans.
“I saw you talking to Dylan when I was heading to PT. He okay?” Eli continues, holding me while Jayden gives him a brief rundown on his conversation with their goalie.
“All in all, he’s coping. Terrified, but trying to remain positive.” JJ pulls on one of his fitted long-sleeve polos.
Eli’s watching me with a smirk while I ogle our man. “Want a dish to catch the drool?” he whispers into my ear, his voice warbling with a deep chuckle.
Heat blooms across my face when my stare flits to his. “Pot, meet kettle.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Really? That flush on your face says otherwise.”
“Flush? What flush? It’s rosacea… probably spent too long in the steam room or sauna…” Nuzzling his face into my messy waves, he presses a hard kiss to my crown.
“Elijah Sylkes, you’ve had perfect skin on that pretty face all your life. You don’t know what rosacea or anything of the sort is.”
“You think I have a pretty face?” He sticks his tongue out at my mock glare.
I turn in his hold, flicking his nose when he levels me with a beaming smile. “Hi, Beautiful.”
“Hi, pretty love.” I hug him as hard as I physically can, scrunching my fingers into his rust-colored cashmere sweater with a long inhale.
JJ has the best T-shirts to lounge in, but Eli’s sweaters are to die for. And his scent on the wool is so warm and homey that I can’t help sinking deeper into him.
I’m literally rubbing myself all over him like a spoiled puppy when he asks, “Want me to leave this one for you, too?”
I nod, fully aware that he’s already worn a handful of other sweaters in the last couple of days and doused himself in his cologne so I’d have a good pile of them, along with JJ’s T-shirts, to wear while they’re away.
JJ’s laughing as he approaches us. With a quick peck to Eli’s temple, he strokes his thumb along my cheek.
“You guys ready?” he asks, grabbing his bracelet and watch from the tall dresser I’ve been using as a vanity.
“Yeah, Auguste and Court are waiting with Samson,” Eli says, begrudgingly releasing me to spray another quick spritz of his cologne on his sweater.
It sounds stupid, but it smells different when he wears it, as opposed to when I spray it on. It’s like his sweat adds to the warmth and musky softness of it.
Whatever it is, it’s perfect, and I can’t get enough of it.
***
“Ohmigod,” Courtney coos at a cute Dalmatian puppy that tumbles out of its bed. “I always wanted one. Ever since I watched the movie… ugh…”
“He’s up for adoption,” Livia croons quickly.
Her blue eyes are as striking as her brother’s, but her face is rounder and softer—unlike Matheo’s perfectly chiseled features.
“I wish I could, but I’m not back for good until the summer.” Courtney gives the puppy an apologetic tickle.
“Samson might not forgive you, either,” I chuckle as I turn about the room, searching for Eli or JJ.
“He’s as possessive as his daddy,” she trills back with a wink as she sashays backwards to her man.
That’s when I notice the sad doggie in the corner. I swear my heart melts on the spot with an audible sigh when she lifts her head, canting it to the side as if she’s not used to anyone looking at her.
“Her name is Blanca. She came in when she was a puppy.” Livia meanders over to the corner of the room, and I follow behind her.
I can’t take how miserable she is when she lets out a long sigh and drops her head back to the floor.
“What happened to her?” I ask, kneeling on the concrete. It’s gritty with dirt and crumbs of kibble, but I don’t care. I’m too enamored with the cutie in front of me.
“We don’t really know. We found her in an alley a few blocks from here; her leg was trapped in a drain and broken. Because she developed an infection, we had to amputate.” Livia gives her a hearty stroke.