Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
I hadn’t thought it was possible for Adhira to shut me out any more than she already had when I first moved in, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. It’s been over a week since the match that went horribly wrong, and she’s reverted to hiding out in her room most of the day.
Rafael was pestering me with questions about her not joining Coach’s daughter and the others for girls’ night during our away match, but I had no answers for him.
While the fact I’m not the only one she’s ignoring makes me feel a tiny bit less insecure, it deepens the worry chiselling itself into my chest.
I push all of my frustrations into the one-hundred-and-eighty-two-kilo bar hovering above my face, my cheeks hollowing out with each forced exhale.
Sweat drips down my brow and into my eyes, but I go for two more reps.
The weight clangs against the metal holds as I release it, my spotter taking on some of the weight as it settles into place.
I drag in a breath, pushing myself up to sit.
A slap on my shoulder pulls my attention from my narrowing vision, and I find Jelani hovering beside me, squeezing firmly. “You sound, mate?”
My brows pinch as I peer into his dark-brown eyes, searching for the “right” answer. Does he want the truth because he cares, or is this an obligatory question to make him feel better?
He gives my shoulder another gentle squeeze, and I decide on the former. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now. I’ll be mint soon enough.”
“Everything with your mum and sisters okay?” he asks. Everyone on the team knows about them. It’s hard to explain turning down a shot with one of the best teams in the union, and being truthful has always come far easier to me, even when it’s caused more heartache than help.
“Yeah, they’re good. Mum started her job recently, and there have been some growing pains with that, but otherwise they’re alright.”
He drops his hand from my shoulder and plops down on the bench across from me, leaning forward and planting his forearms on the tops of his thighs. “Why growing pains? She still deconditioned?”
A wave of something like shock ripples through me at the realisation that he actually wants to know more and speak with me about this.
I’m not just some charity case to him like I’ve been to so many others before.
Like I thought I was when I first got the offer from Coach Auclair.
He’s worked hard to make sure I know that while he empathises with me, that’s not why he offered me the spot on the team.
“I sort of had to take on the role as the girls’ primary caretaker when my dad left, and after years of treatments, Mum and my sisters have had a strained relationship.
” It feels like a betrayal to tell him this, as if Mum had any say in the matter, but there’s also some relief in sharing it with someone aside from my therapist. “It’s improved a lot since I left, and she’s had all this extra time and responsibility forced on her.
But sometimes during our nightly calls, the girls will tell me how she mixed up their lunches and gave Lyla strawberry yoghurt instead of blueberry, or that Ellie had to go to school with pigtails, but she only likes them when they’re braided, and Mum didn’t know or remember. ”
I shake my head, willing the frustration to leave my chest. I shouldn’t be holding onto resentment for the woman who has done her very best for my sisters and me through the worst of situations. And at least she never left me.
“That’s tough, man. I’m sorry to hear that,” Nakoa says, my eyes snapping to where he’s seated on a bench half a metre across from mine beside the squat rack.
Rafael is standing beside him, leaning against the rack with his arms crossed over his bare chest. I glance around the rest of the massive gym, our green-and-black logo emblazoned on the wall directly across from me.
It looks like everyone has cleared out, finishing their workouts and moving on like regular people, rather than sitting here bitching about their feelings.
“Sorry, you guys don’t need to hear about any of this. I don’t want to waste your time—”
“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t want to be. Now, if your mum and sisters are fine, tell us what’s got you pushing yourself so hard you looked like you were going to burst a vein in your forehead,” Jelani says.
Something deep in my gut tells me I shouldn’t bring Adhira into this, at least, not in the way that’s truly bothering me, so I decide on something less personal to her. “Is Adhira usually super quiet?”
The question is met with silence for a beat, then a burst of laughter from all three men.
“What’s so funny?”
Nakoa wipes non-existent tears from his cheeks, blowing out a breath as he composes himself. “I’ve never met anyone less prone to mincing words in my life.”
“She’s more of an observer. Speaks when she has something of value to add to the conversation, but without all the flowery bullshit everyone else uses to relay the same message,” Rafael remarks.
“Kind of like you?” Jelani asks Rafael with a teasing lilt to his heavy Hampshire accent.
“I guess,” Rafael grumbles, reaching up to twist the gold nose ring in his nostril.
Jelani brings his attention back to me with a small, reassuring smile.
“I can’t say I know Adhira or her friends that well, but of the time I’ve spent with them, Adhira is by far the quietest and most direct.
I think she just has her walls built high, much like our favourite captain over there,” he says, pointing to Rafael with raised brows.
“That is, until Elise showed up and rocked his world with her equally grumpy arse.”
That makes me chuckle. We’ve all noticed the change in him since they told Coach about their relationship.
“Can we quit talking about me and focus on Elijah’s problems instead?” he all but growls.
“Sure, Cap,” Nakoa teases. “So, the little viper’s been giving you a run for your money?”
“You can say that,” I groan, my shoulders slumping. “Just when I think she’s finally getting used to having me around, she shuts me out.” I’m not sure how much more silence I can take in our flat.
“She probably just likes her own space. Why don’t you text us the next time you feel like the silence is swallowing you whole, and we can go out?” Jelani asks.
“How did you know it was—”
“Because, mate, before I met these two, I spent a lot of time thinking I was solely responsible for everyone else without considering what that was doing to me. I don’t think any of us want you to get to that place.”
His words are like a sledgehammer to my undeniably fragile heart.
We continue chatting for a short while longer before cleaning up and heading out together.
When we get to the parking lot, they add me to their group chat, aptly named “Thigh Daddies,” and I head home feeling a little lighter than I had before.
My usual spot outside our building was taken, so I had to park a ways down.
On my walk to our flat, I passed a small shop with a sale on cashmere blankets.
The one displayed in the front window had an image of a mother and baby orca jumping out of the water together, and even though I don’t believe in buying anyone’s affection, I couldn’t help stopping in.
After I finally make it home, I add the blanket to the stack Adhira keeps beside the sofa, hoping the gesture will at least let her know I’m thinking of her. But like, not in a stalker-ish way.
My stomach grumbles loudly as I exit the shower and wrap a towel around my waist, tucking it securely around my hips.
My little heart-to-heart with the Thigh Daddies and my subsequent stop at the shop down the street put me behind schedule, and it feels like I’m starving. Adhira has been avoiding me since the game last week, so it’s unlikely she would be in the living room during the day.
I’ll just slip out, grab a snack, and finish getting dressed before making something more substantial. My fingers wrap around the knob, twisting and pulling the door open, but my feet don’t carry me into the kitchen like I’d planned.
No, instead, I hold my breath as I listen to one side of a conversation Adhira is having in the living room, standing here like a Peeping Tom.
“Yes, Mummy, everything is going well in school,” she says, pausing to listen to whatever her mum is saying on the other end.
She’s in school? “I have everything I need for classes.” Another pause.
“No, I don’t think we’re doing white coat ceremonies until before we start clinicals next year. I’ll let you know though.”
White coat ceremony? Is she in med school or something?
I stand here like the awkward creep that I evidently am until she tells her parents she loves them and hangs up.
And because I have no sense of self-preservation, I waltz into the kitchen, unable to keep my next words contained to the safety of my mind.
“I didn’t know you were in school.”
Her sharp eyes shoot to me, narrowing on my face. Whoops.
“Eavesdropping, Elijah? Really? Are you twelve?” she asks, scoffing, chin turned upward. But her eyes betray her, dropping to my chest and roaming lower in a way that lights my blood on fire.
I clear my throat, tapping a finger along my cheekbone. “I’m afraid my eyes are up here, sweetheart.”
She scowls at me, and I snicker, knowing I shouldn’t encourage her bad mood but unable to stop myself—this is the most interaction we’ve had all week, save for the very informative origami-folded notes she sticks in the fridge in place of the Tupperware container I leave her.
I’ve gathered they’re her way of saying thank you, and I think I like her version better.
“If you didn’t want me to look, you’d have had the good sense to put on some clothes before traipsing around our shared flat with nothing but a scrap of fabric to cover your dick. You preen under attention, Elijah, even I can see that.”
Well, shit.
I scratch at the nape of my neck, words evading me. While her eyes roaming over me hadn’t been intentional, she assessed me perfectly.
“Sorry,” I apologise, feeling my cheeks flame. “You want dinner?” I ask, pulling a pan from under the cabinet.
“No, thanks. I have to get to bed. Early class,” she says, sauntering off towards her room, bronze legs clad in blue plaid pyjama bottoms.
If she were in school, wouldn’t there have been signs? Textbooks, for one. She might keep those in her room, but either way, I’m not sure I can just drop this now that my mind has latched onto it.
I push my body forward, going through all the normal motions, and once I’ve eaten and the girls are off to bed, I slip my usual response note under Adhira’s door, adding an apology. I check my phone one last time, setting an alarm before switching off my notifications.
Thigh Daddies
Nakoa
*Image attached.*
Does this shade of pink make my toes look fat?
Jelani
Yes, luv. Did Noelani tell you it did?
I didn’t realise you had a girlfriend.
Nakoa
EW!
Jelani
LOL Mate, she’s his sister. Light of my damn life too. Cuter than shite.
Nakoa
*Image attached.*
Jay loves kids, and my sister is obsessed with him. She would replace me with him if she could.
Jelani
Look at those dimples! How could anyone resist her cuteness?
Nakoa
This is why she had to get three cavities filled. Jay keeps sending her candy.
Jelani
Don’t blame me because your four year old sister doesn’t know how to brush her teeth properly!
To be fair, what four year old CAN brush their teeth properly? My little sisters definitely couldn’t at that age lol.
I smile down at the image of the little girl dressed in traditional Hawaiian lū‘au attire with long, wind-swept curls and a gap-toothed smile so bright it might outshine the sun.
Can confirm, she’s adorable.
*Image sent.*
Jelani
Your sisters are too freaking cute, mate! Send me your Mum’s address and I’ll get a box of cavity causers shipped right to them!
It’s a wonder how both of your parents managed such ugly mugs out of the two of you. Mine and Letty’s children are sure to be adorable though.
Rafael
Jay, figure out your crush on Letty stat, brother. You need to marry that woman and start having kids soon before I strangle you.
Jelani
Awwwww <3 Are you saying I’d be a good daddy, luv?
Rafael
I’m saying that I want you to be a stay at home dad, so I don’t have to deal with you anymore.
I chuckle at that, the ache in my chest easing as they bicker back and forth, granting me a front-row seat to their unfiltered minds. It’s nice to be included, even if they’re just doing it to cheer me up.
I’m off to bed. Thanks for the pep talk today. Have a good night lads.
Jelani
Goodnight sweetie Daddy Jay loves you <3
Nakoa
Sleep tight, angel tit
Rafael
Goodnight.
I smirk, shaking my head at the absurdity of their messages before rolling over and knocking out for the night, my heart fuller than it had been at the start of the day.