Chapter 60
ELI
The instant Jayden parks, I’m out of his car and making a beeline for the elevator with him quick on my heels. We’ve got two days before our short stint away to Anaheim and Portland.
The Wolves game has haunted me for weeks.
The closer it gets, the greater my apprehension grows.
It’s nothing to do with the game itself and everything to do with the fact that this is the first time we’re playing them since I told Jayden about Presley.
Now I’m trying to tamp down the fear of coming face-to-face with him and how JJ will react to being on the ice with him.
“I think we should do something fun tomorrow. Spend some time with Fin before we leave,” Jayden says, pressing the button for our floor with one hand while the other laces with mine.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I reply, turning to him.
The exhaustion smudged under his eyes mirrors mine. Our schedules have been hectic the last couple months. Making moments stolen with our girl and with each other too fleeting.
“There’s that exhibition she’s spoken about,” I suggest.
“Yes, that’s perfect. It’ll be nice to spend some awake time together.”
“Catch up, unwind…”
“Get on the same page and back to us.” Jayden’s smile dimples his cheek. “We had New Year’s and everything was great, and since…” His remark fades to a silent shrug.
My chest cracks at his forlorn expression. “I’m sorry, JJ.”
“Not your fault, Sweetheart,” he says, pressing his lips to my forehead. “It’s life. You know? Just the way it goes.”
“Tomorrow, we’re going to make up for it. It’s going to be an us day from the moment we walk into our home to when we have to leave for practice again.”
That cute dimple deepens with the wider cut of his upturned mouth. I can’t resist the urge to kiss him as he murmurs, “I love you, Eli.”
Be still my goddamn heart… before you burst from my chest. “So much, Sunshine.”
Raking my thumb along the line of his jaw, I savor the scratch of his short stubble on my skin.
The slow burn of his tongue dueling with mine.
His long fingers curling in my still-damp hair with the heated press of his body on mine.
The trail of his open-mouthed kisses down my neck while he tugs my tie loose and awkwardly unbuttons the top buttons of my shirt with one hand.
The sudden pause of the elevator drags a begrudging groan from my lungs as the doors slide open and we take a moment to catch our breath between slow, yearning pecks.
“Umm…” A small voice whispers outside the mirrored walls, followed by a louder clearing of a throat.
Even before we pull away, I can sense the shift in the atmosphere. The tension is bleak as I turn to find Finley standing in front of us. A frown sours her soft features.
“Hey,” she murmurs, taking a step closer.
It’s then that I register the smaller shadow behind her, and my insides shrivel to nothing. I’m frozen to the spot while JJ moves to stop the doors from closing again.
“What the hell?” He mutters.
What the fuck? “What is she doing here?” My question comes out a gruff demand.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Finley says as Salem steps into the light, apology written across her swollen, split lips.
“There’s nowhere else I can go,” Salem whispers.
“Not my problem,” is all I say before I walk away.
“Eli…” Fin chases me to our door. “She has nowhere to go. Look at her…”
“I have.” I spin so fast bile licks my throat. “I won’t again.”
“She’s hurt,” Fin pleads as Jayden slips to my side.
“What’s going on? Why is Presley’s wife here?” he asks, anger grinding every syllable.
“She’s hurt,” Fin repeats, like that explains everything. “He hurt her…”
“Not our problem.” I’m not budging. “We have enough shit on our doorstep.”
“Salem helped me. She…”
“Did she? How? What did Salem do to make your life better? What did Salem do to protect you?”
Finley’s quiet for a beat, her eyes downturn with her defeated sigh.
“Fin…” Jayden starts, only for Finley to pull back when he attempts to tuck her wild hair behind her ear.
“She’s pregnant.” The pleading whisper has my gaze darting past her to the woman standing behind her.
Salem’s watching me carefully. Eyes bloodshot, hair hacked short and uneven.
All I can see is Finley standing in my grandmother’s kitchen. Her hair being pulled and violently cut.
Fuck.
“I have nowhere else to go. He’ll kill me and my baby.”
“His kid.” I open my mouth to say the bastard won’t hurt his child; I can’t, because he hurt Finley. His sister. His twin.
Salem shakes her head with a vehement glare that’s flooded with tears. “I… he’s…”
“The baby isn’t Presley’s,” Finley murmurs.
“Shit,” Jayden groans at the same time as the lump in my throat drops to my gut.
The weight of it makes it impossible to move when my head nags me to turn around and walk away for real this time. We don’t need any more drama. Things are getting good…
Fuck.
“Where’s the father? Get him to help you.” I say, reminding myself on repeat that none of this is my problem.
Except Salem’s right here in front of me. Her face is bruised, and every time she moves, it twists with a pained grimace.
“She can’t,” Finley says at the same time as Salem sputters, “He’s gone. Casey’s gone.”
Casey? My chest wrings so tight that my words come out strangled. “Cavanaugh? Clover?”
A long sob wracks through her with a snort I feel in my gut.
“The Wolves’ D-man? Casey Cavanaugh?” Jayden asks, his voice is dry with the surprise of the revelation.
“What do you mean, he’s gone?”
Finley levels me with a glare as she takes a step back and wraps a protective arm around Salem. “He’s gone, Eli. He’s dead.”
“What?” No. We would’ve heard about it already. Cavanaugh is a popular guy. Everybody loves Clover…
“Last we heard, he was in critical condition,” Jayden says.
“His family turned off life support this morning,” Finley states while Salem clings to her.
“Umm…” Jayden pauses, blowing out a long breath.
God, I know I’m going to regret my decision before I make it. Salem is Presley’s wife. Her father is an Elder…
There is no way or how this is going to end well for her. From the look of her, Presley’s already knocked her about. Which means he knows about her and Casey, and now that I’m really taking her in, it’s noticeable that she’s pregnant.
How can I send her away? A pregnant woman with nowhere else to go?
“Can we talk inside?” Jayden asks, opening the apartment door behind me.
Blanca rushes out, circling us a few times before she jumps up at me. Her long neck craned, and her paw clawing at my shirt to bring me down to her level for kisses.
“Hey, baby girl,” I coo, giving her the fuss she’s after while Finley takes Salem into the apartment.
She pauses on the threshold, looking back at me with a pinched expression. Her mouth opens, and while I wait for her to speak, she simply shakes her head down at the floor while Jayden ushers Salem through the door. Then, without a word, Fin follows, leaving me with Bee.
“Did you enjoy your walkies?” I ask, putting all my focus on her so I can center myself and catch my breath.
Her excitable whimper says she had the best time with Samson. I’m guessing Finley’s already taken him up to Bruce’s apartment because he would be out here competing with Bee for attention.
We’re heading inside when Jayden stops me. Concern is etched all over his face when he asks me, “How’re you doing?”
“Shocked,” is all I can reply.
My brain isn’t braining to compose a coherent response. The conflicting feelings running errant are making it impossible to form a clear thought on the situation, aside from fuck me.
“Do you think she’s telling the truth about Cavanaugh, the baby… Why she’s here?”
There’s a bleakness to his stare that says he’s as unsure about having Salem here as I am.
“I don’t know Salem that well. I mean, her father is an Elder and she’s Presley’s wife.”
“She’s beat up pretty good,” he says, taking off his suit jacket.
“Suppose that’s something we can see she’s not lying about, and I don’t doubt that sack of shit did it.” An overwhelming sense of anger bubbles up my gut. “We’ll know whether she’s telling the truth about Cavanaugh soon enough.”
“Yeah,” JJ sighs, his finger tips my face to his as he comes closer. “She doesn’t have to stay. She’s not our problem. Neither you nor Finley owes her a thing.”
“But she’s pregnant, and if she’s telling the truth about her and Cavanaugh… She is alone.”
“No, he has family. They’ll want to take care of his child,” Jayden tells me. “They’re not our responsibility, and I am not going to have you uncomfortable in our home. It’s—”
“Finley wants to help her. She knows Salem more than me. If Fin trusts her, then I think we should give Salem the benefit of the doubt. The same way you gave our girl grace when I brought her to you.”
A long, exasperated huff pushes past his clenched teeth.
“Okay. Fine.” Jayden nods, but his narrowed stare holds mine for a beat before he adds, “But Salem Tomes is not our girl, and at the first sign of trouble, she’s gone.”
Lacing his hand with mine, he starts inside.
I don’t know what happens now or what to do. But as always, with Jayden at my side, I know it’s going to be alright.
***
Moonlight washes the apartment when I sit at the breakfast bar with my laptop and a mug of the Quiet Mind tea Jayden bought me.
I can’t shut off my mind with Salem in the room across the hall. Since Finley settled her in the spare room, she hasn’t left it. Not to eat. Not to drink. Not for anything.
I pull up the browser and search for news about Casey. There’s nothing to corroborate Salem’s story about their affair or that he’s gone. News like that spreads like wildfire.
“It’s being announced tomorrow,” Salem’s wet whisper comes from behind me.
When I look over my shoulder, she’s standing a lot closer than I thought. Her dark hair is pinned back with a thick elastic headband, making the marks around her throat impossible to miss.
Again, I’m reminded of the marks her husband left on Finley the day I took her from Havenview.
“The family wanted time to start mourning before the press found out.” Her voice is choked as she stares past me at the photo of Casey on my screen. “They told the team and…”
Salem shrugs with a wetter hiccup, and I ask, “That’s how you found out?”
She nods. “I tried to go see him, but Presley dragged me back to Havenview. They locked me up so I couldn’t leave and—”
“But you’re here. You left.”
“Caleb and Eunice decided I needed to go back to Portland, to my husband, now that Casey is gone. They don’t want another scandal.” The ire in her voice when she gestures around us iterates her meaning.
In one of Finley’s pajamas, she looks especially tiny with the slightest belly. Although she doesn’t look like she’s too far along, from the date of Casey’s accident, I estimate she’s at least three months pregnant.
“Casey wasn’t under the influence. He barely ever had a drink.
His fitness was so important to him, you know?
” Salem comes closer, she’s still staring at his photo when she goes on, “Everyone is saying how you can never really know a person. But I knew him. I know he would never get behind the wheel if he wasn’t sober. ”
I don’t know what to say because that’s what the authorities are saying. In her worked-up state, I don’t want to contradict her or cause her any more distress.
“His contract with The Wolves was almost up, and his agent was communicating with Chicago. We had a plan. He was going to take me with him, and we’d be close to his family, so the baby and I would be okay.
He was going to look after us and… now he’s gone.
It’s just me and him,” she says with a gentle rub of her belly.
“Clover was a good guy,” is the only remark I can make. I’m in over my head with all this.
She looks up at me. “No, Casey was so much more than good. I’ve never known a man like him, and I never will again.”
Pushing my laptop to the side, I slip off the stool. “Do you want some tea? It’s herbal.”
“Sure. Thank you,” she says when I pull out the stool beside mine for her.
“Do you need to see a doctor?” I ask while I go about making her a warm drink. “You know, do you need to make sure your baby is okay?”
Salem shakes her head. “He’s fine. I have a Doppler to listen to his heartbeat, and I’ve felt him move. But thank you.”
“No problem.” Her eyes are following my every move as though she’s appraising me. Trying to figure me out.
When I set her tea in front of her, she grips my hand tight before I pull it away.
For the longest moment, I’m frozen in place, unsure of what to do as she stares at our hands. There’s something about her touch that feels too deep, too knowing.
The hard clench of it is pleading and understanding all at once.
“I know,” is all she says with her fingers digging into my wrist and tears dripping onto the granite counter. “I know, Eli.”
The ground shifts beneath me.
The world comes down around me.
Salem doesn’t have to elaborate or explain because her pity rushes from her to me without a single glance. I feel it in her trembling grasp. I hear it in her sobs.
She knows.
That’s why she came here.
She knows.
It’s how she knew I wouldn’t turn her away.
And if she knows, who else knows, too?