Chapter 73
JAYDEN
The way my pulse hammers in my throat makes idle conversation impossible as I stare at the breaking-news article on my phone.
My other hand tightens around my stick, the roll of tape dangling off the blade mid-task.
I’m paralyzed by the cacophony of whispers breaking out around me when I scroll back to the top of the page and reread the news alert one more time.
Wolves Forward Arrested On Assault Charges
Presley Tomes, forward for the Portland Wolves, has been arrested following charges of assault and battery, sexual battery, and statutory rape. The charges were filed in California last month; further details and victim’s identity have not been disclosed to the public.
At this time, the Wolves are yet to make a statement on the development, however with Tomes in police custody, he is not on the roster for tonight’s Wolves at Comets game.
“What a fucking chump,” Matheo mutters beside me, reading the same notification while I scan the room for Eli.
He’ll breathe easier when he sees it. Natasha warned him they’d pick Presley up when he landed in LA, but seeing the words in print hits different.
I tear the twisted tape from my stick, shove it into my pocket, and cut through the traffic in search of Eli. Last I saw, he was playing two-touch with Andy and Bruce in the hallway.
“Wait up.” Matheo falls in beside me, half-taped twig in one hand, phone in the other. He stops short and turns. “How did you know?”
“Know what?”
My gut flips when he lifts his phone, the headline inches from my face, and whispers, “When I tried to pull you off the bastard, you called him an abusive prick... a rapist...”
I swallow, stalling for a beat. There’s no safe answer.
“In the meeting with Gerry and legal, they kept asking questions about inappropriate contact.” The glint in his eyes says he knows there’s more than the franchise finally doing something about Presley’s homophobic, narcissistic bullshit.
“I know you think I don’t see the shit that goes on around us, but—”
“You done prepping your sticks?” Eli’s chipper voice cuts him off.
Matheo’s narrowed stare snaps down the hall to Eli sauntering toward us. Compression shirt, sliders, ready to gear up. Every cell in my body screams to haul him into my arms and tell him it’s going to be okay.
Then Matheo shifts back on his heels. The lightbulb flicks on as I glance at him; I can hear the ding, ding, ding going off in his head when he brings his midnight stare back to mine.
You called him a rapist. The words ricochet in my skull. I lock my jaw and say nothing. Anything will confirm what he’s already deduced.
“Fuck,” he bites out, cracking his stick against the wall. “Fucking bastard better get his dues.”
He storms for the room, still cursing. If I didn’t know him, I’d chase him down and lecture him about discretion. But I do know Matheo. Beneath the devil-may-care act, he cares.
“What was that about?” Eli stops in front of me, looping his sweat rag around my neck.
His crooked smile wrings my chest. When he steps closer, my hands find his narrow hips like they belong there.
“Is he still giving you shit about keeping your cool tonight?” Eli tips his head, amused.
My heart chooses now to riot. I can’t tell him Rio figured it out—that he knows the anonymous victim is him. So I go with, “Christina’s avoiding him again. He thinks she’s blocked his number.”
“Has she?” His nose scrunches. “Fin said she’s been busy with work and college. They’ve barely seen each other since Fin’s birthday last month. Did you tell him that?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, you’re so evil,” Eli chuckles, tugging on the rag as he asks, “Is Fin here yet?”
“She hasn’t texted.” I hold up my phone and, taking it from me, Eli slips it into the pocket of my gym shorts.
“Probably stuck in traffic,” he says with a scrunch of his brow.
The expression on his face has my insides wrenching.
Has she seen the news?
Is she okay?
Fuck, I need to call her. We need to check on our girl.
As if he can read my mind, Eli taps my bracelet a couple times. His usual tap-tap that is quickly responded to with Fin’s buzz-buzz-buzz.
The corner of his mouth quirks up at our girl’s reply. “Ready to get rolling and release now?”
Goddamn, I love this man so much that it physically tears me up the longer I resist the urge to touch him.
My hands clench around his hips, bringing him closer. “Are you going to help me?”
A slow, wet lick coats his lips with an inviting sheen. “How’s that even a question?”
Unlike the last few days, he’s been in a good place today. The call from Natasha eased the apprehension he was feeling about tonight’s game. I wish I could say it did the same for me. Even though Presley’s not here in person, I still have to go out there and face the rest of the Wolves.
Every time I think about playing them, I get a knot in my stomach.
I see the cunt and all the shit he’s done.
It’s like looking at all the faint scars on Eli’s body and knowing that Presley is part of the reason they’re there.
He put them there, and I want to kill him for it.
For every drop of blood Eli’s bled because of him.
Every gulp of air Finley choked on because of him.
Him. The bastard. The monster. The devil.
I hate him. So much that it overwhelms the natural instincts of my body. I can’t breathe. I can’t see straight…
“JJ?” Eli pushes the stick off me, bringing his body flush to mine. “What’s going on in your head, Sunshine?”
For a man that’s all hard edges, he’s so damn soft. He’s seen the worst in humanity, and he’s still got so much will to hope and love. Every part of me melts at the tenderness swirling in his eyes.
“They arrested him.” It’s the only thing I can say when his hand molds to my jaw and he scratches his thumbnail along the short stubble.
My already crazy heart completely loses it at his touch that I can’t help but nuzzle into.
“I know. Dylan announced it back there,” he says, tipping his chin toward the two-touch circle.
I watch him closely for any sign that he’s overwhelmed. That his head is spiralling to that dark place where my nightmares live.
“They’re all going to figure it out.” Eli’s brows pull into a frown. “Like Rio has.”
Fuck.
My gaze snaps to his.
I can’t lie to him, but I’m also too scared to confirm what he’s deduced. Even if he appears resigned to the fact. However, with Eli, the outside isn’t always accurate. It’s what’s on the inside that worries me.
“There’s no rewind button, Jayden. No going back.”
“Do you want to go back?”
His grip on my face holds me as fiercely as his hand clamped over mine on his hip. He considers, then shakes his head. “The idea of people knowing it’s me makes me anxious...”
My knees buckle. The apology claws up my throat. “I’m so fucking sorry, Eli.”
“Don’t be, I’m not. You were right... Taylor... Fin... You were all right. He deserves to suffer the consequences of what he did to me... to Salem.”
“Too damn right he does.” My scoff tugs his mouth wider. My fingers dig into his hips, and he edges closer.
“My anxiety today is nothing compared to every time I’ve had to share the ice with Presley. Every time we crossed paths, I was paralyzed by fear.”
“That prick isn’t going near you again,” I grind out.
“No, he’s not. Because he’ll be in jail, and today is the first time where I’ve actually believed it’s going to happen.
” Eli’s face brightens with his deep exhale.
“Today’s game is like any other game. I get to go out there and play the Wolves without looking over my shoulder. Without holding back.”
How it should have always been, I think, as I drape my arm around his shoulder and pull him all the way into me. My lips press to the flat between his brows with a playful peck at the same time as he pokes my sides.
Fuck!
“Don’t fucking start that shit,” I choke out between breathless, uncontrollable guffaws when I grip his jaw with one hand and pull out of his hold.
“What’re you going to do about it?” Eli smarts back.
There isn’t a single part of me that isn’t screaming to press him up against the white-painted bricks behind him. As such, my hand tightens while it inches down his throat.
Every sinew coils around my bones when Eli licks his lips. A silent, irresistible come-hither that my body quickly answers to with every back step he takes into a darkened emergency exit alcove.
My lips come down on his with a growl straight from the bottom of my gut.
Where all my emotions and feelings have been knotted all damn day.
The instant Eli’s tongue spears past my lips, every bit of tension heats, melting into uncontrollable need.
It sears through my veins with a blinding force that’s got my lungs screaming for air.
“Jayden… Baby…” Eli pushes his thumb between our lips when I refuse to break our kiss.
As I inch back, nipping at his thumb, he teases my tickle spot again, and I melt into him in a fit of stupid giggles.
“Fuck you… asshole…” The words sputter between my laughter and through the heated snorts that dry out my lungs, spasming through me with every jolt of my body into his.
“Maybe later. I might consider it,” Eli’s quick to retort.
“You will, huh?”
“Score me a goal, and we’ll see…” He boops my nose with that fucking delicious grin tugging at the corners of his mouth with the cock of his brow.
When he gives me the devilish smile, I’d do anything for him. When he gives me the smile with the promise of more of him. I’d give my last breath for it.
“One goal?” Straightening up, I grip his hand, lacing our fingers together before I tug him back in the direction of the main corridor.
“Hmm, you’re right…”
“I’m always right,” the remark rolls off my tongue, spurred on by the haptic buzz of his hand swinging mine in time with our steps.
“Yeah… Yeah…We should totally make it two goals.”
“You got it, Sweetheart.”
Eli’s laughing as he pulls me to a stop. His stare finds mine, dark and deep, swallowing me up so that all the air leaves my lungs.
“Thank you.” Eli smiles.
“Aww, Babe, you don’t have to thank me.”
Even though he’s still smiling, his eyes slope. Bringing an earnest gravity to his expression.
Fuck. My teeth snap together, grinding at the pacifying stroke of his thumb over the back of my hand.
“I’ve turned your life upside-down, JJ—” Eli rolls his lip between his teeth with a sigh. “—and you’re still here. Still holding on.”
Clutching his hand tighter, I tell him, “I’m never letting go. Of you or Fin. I love who we are together… Who I am with you and our girl. You’ve made me a better man.”
“Ditto.” His stare flits down to our joined hands, and when it lifts back to mine, there’s a heart-wrenching ferocity burning in his eyes. “Your strength and tenacity are not lost on me, Jayden. I love that about you.”
“I love you, too, Delroba.”
A low growl rumbles from deep in his chest at my use of Bibi’s endearment for him. It’s so accurate. I didn’t stand a fucking chance when he came into my life. Eli commandeered my heart with his first brooding glance, and I don’t ever want it back.
It’s his.
For eternity.