Spiral (Off the Ice Book 2)
Spiral: Chapter 28

LAUGHTER FOLLOWS ME back to the open glass doors of the balcony, where all the guys are seated. Once we made it home, we ordered food and alcohol, so everyone ate and talked until they moved outside for drinks. The balcony is large enough that everyone who could make it sits comfortably on the outdoor couches and chairs.

I slip past some of the guys to place the platter of snacks and fruit on the glass table. When I start to collect the empty beer bottles, Aiden stops me.

“I got it,” he says, and takes the bottles from me.

Summer gives me a gentle smile when I stand there like a deer in headlights.

“Yeah, join us. We can all help ourselves if we need something,” says Socket.

The guys welcome me, and I stand there for a minute realizing there’s not any seat available. Even the chairs from inside are out here and taken.

“Here, you can take my seat.” I turn to find Owen standing.

The smile he gives me crawls under my skin.

“She’ll sit with me.” Elias’s command is low but holds a heavy authority. When I turn to him, finally meeting his eyes, he doesn’t look needy or desperate. He made a simple statement, but he said it like he’s so sure of me, I’d be an idiot not to move.

Owen continues to stare at me as if he expects me to sit in the chair he’s offered, but I grab a plate of snacks and head to Elias. He doesn’t move over, only leans back and taps his thigh.

The unspoken command is so authoritative I feel a tremor move through my body when I obey. But I won’t show him how his order affects me, or how it sends an electric feeling twirling between my legs.

Clutching my plate tightly, my hand trembles as I settle onto Elias’s lap. He’s warm, and comfortable, momentarily distracting me from the torment. His palm flattens against my abdomen, and he draws me back so I’m flush against him.

My unruly hair is in his face, but he makes no move to brush it away. Elias chimes in to the conversation every now and then. I finish off the few pretzels and fruit on my plate, and when I start to get up to take it inside, he stops me. “Stay. I’ll take it in later.”

With his arm on my stomach and his hand on my leg, I’m trapped. I’m hyper-aware of the patterns he draws on my thigh and every stroke of his fingertips. When his hand moves past the hem of my skirt, it ignites a wildfire beneath the surface, but I’d never tell him to stop.

With nowhere to go, and the cool breeze on my skin, I burrow deeper into Elias. As the guys discuss tonight’s game, I let myself focus on the man beneath me. When he shifts, my head falls in the crook of his neck, lulled by the gentle hand that smooths my hair. It’s like hypnosis, and I find myself drifting off even as I fight sleep.

This is new because I’ve never had to fight to stay awake.

Only when I feel the telltale dampness of drool around my mouth, accompanied by the faint scrape of chairs against the balcony floor, do I open my eyes again. I lift my head from Elias’s chest and find Elias watching me. His gaze maps my face, and it must be the haze from my sleep that makes me want to burrow further into him. To have him watch me with the kind of hunger I have to be dreaming up.

Then I hear his name called, and I jerk back. Shit. I fell asleep on him.

“I’m so sorry! Why didn’t you wake me up?” I whisper and wipe at his shirt, although there’s nothing there. I just need to do something with my fidgeting hands. I can no longer feel the breeze, only the hot ache between my legs when he looks at me like that. Like in this moment nothing else exists but him and me.

“Why would I do that?”

I narrow my eyes. “Oh my God, did I snore? Is that why you’re being so nice to me? Because I embarrassed you in front of your teammates?”

“Not really.” His lip tips upward like he’s lying to me. “Besides, with you moving around in my lap I couldn’t have gotten up even if I wanted to.”

Oh. Oh.

Elias brushes my hair from my face, like he didn’t just admit to me giving him a hard-on. I have to keep my mouth shut to not say anything. He’s celibate, Sage.

“Eli,” Socket shouts for him by the sliding doors.

There’s a split second where he doesn’t move at all. Like he wants to say something but gently shifts me off his lap, and we stand. He takes my plate with him when we head inside, where his teammates converse in the entryway.

“Thanks for having us,” Socket slurs, engulfing Elias in a hug. “You’re the man! The MVP! The best rookie …”

I take the plate from Elias and head for the kitchen as Socket continues to praise him.

“Sage,” a soft voice whispers.

I curse under my breath before turning away from the sink to find Owen walking straight to me. He hugs me, and he’s so heavy it’s hard to even push him. Alarm bells ring in my head. My ex-boyfriend is an emotional drunk.

“Owen,” I croak.

“Sorry, I forgot you have a shiny new boyfriend.” He pulls away. “Do you hate me?”

I sigh. “I don’t hate you, Owen. We just grew apart.”

“But I’m back now. We can grow together. Something real.”

Real. The one word shoots a sharp sting up my spine. It sounds foreign.

“You used to dance for me. Remember that?” he continues. That’s an exaggeration because the only time he’s seen me dance was the one time I practiced in front of him. He never came to any of my showcases. “Dance for me one last time,” he says. His brown eyes are bloodshot when they widen. “I want to see—”

Then my view of Owen is completely obstructed because Elias stands between us. The only thing I can see is his crisp white T-shirt, clinging tightly to his back.

“You’re drunk, Hart,” his deep voice rumbles. “Go home.”

A nervous swallow catches in my throat. He’s about to protest, but Aiden walks into the kitchen with Summer. She glares at Owen like she’d gouge his eyes out if I asked her to.

Owen audibly swallows and drags his feet out of the kitchen.

There’s a quiet buzz in the air that stays there even when we follow him out. Elias hasn’t looked at me, and the realization makes my hands clammy.

“We’re going to walk everyone out,” Summer says suddenly. She pulls a confused Aiden with her. “And maybe go out for dessert. So, we’ll be gone for a while.”

She emphasizes the last part with a pointed look aimed at me. Then the door clicks shut, and it’s just Elias and me.

I turn away from the door to finally talk to him, but he’s already retreating to the living room. I glare at his back in irritation and follow hot on his heels. When he stops in front of the couch, I start to say something, but words fail me when Elias pivots, standing mere inches away.

“Who are you here for, Sage?” he asks suddenly.

The question throws me, and his towering frame doesn’t help bring me back on track either. “Y-you,” I stutter.

His hand moves to the hem of my jersey, crumpling the fabric. “Whose name is on your back?”

Heat zips up my spine. “Yours.”

Elias runs his thumb along my bottom lip. “And whose name were you screaming in those stands?”

The warmth of his touch makes me shiver. I swallow. “Yours.”

“No one else’s?”

I raise a brow. “Why would there be anyone else?”

He drops his hand. “Because your ex-boyfriend might think differently.”

His words are a blast of cold air. Summer was right.

“You know about that?” I ask sheepishly.

“Yeah, I know about that.” He scoffs. “And you claim to be an open book.”

I’m too stunned to speak, and he walks away from me to face the opposite wall. Like he can’t stand looking at me.

“I am an open book. Owen’s just my ex. I would’ve told you if it was important.”

Elias doesn’t turn. “He’s on my team, Sage. I found out in the locker room before the game that you were together for years. That’s pretty fucking important.”

“Why does it matter?” I let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s not like you’re offering up information about your exes.”

“Because she’s not going to show up to your showcase as one of the ballerinas.”

“Fine. I should have told you, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But he doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Elias glances over his shoulder, looking doubtful.

“I’m serious. We only stayed together that long because it was comfortable. It was nothing more than familiarity.”

“He knows things about you that I don’t,” he says quietly.

I snort. “Like what? My GPA in freshman year and my middle name? None of that is important. He only knows the old Sage. He doesn’t know me anymore.”

He’s still facing away from me, and then I notice his hands balled into fists.

For a second, I think my eyes are playing tricks on me, but then it hits me like a fucking truck. “Are you jealous?”

“No.” Elias turns to exit the living room. I block his path.

“Oh my God, you so are!” I can’t keep the grin off my face. “Quick! I think he’s coming back. Kiss me like you own me.”

His stony expression only eggs me on. I stop him by the couch with both hands on his firm pecs, halting his retreat completely. His gaze falls to my hands on him, and even though it burns, I don’t remove them.

“Come on, channel those caveman emotions.” I’m smirking when I tiptoe to whisper in his ear. “Ask me whose name I’d like to scream. I promise you it’s not Ow—”

Elias cuts me off when he grips my hair to tug me back. The sting only lasts a second because he seals his lips to mine.

The kiss steals everything from me.

To stop the shaking in my hands, I sink them into his hair. I don’t waste time slipping my tongue into his mouth, feeling his own slide against mine. I know he’s a good kisser, but right now there’s no restraint, and he proves it as he gives me more.

I have half a mind to check if there are cameras here, but it’s just us. He’s kissing me for real, and I let him taste me however he wants. My lungs burn and I desperately need to breathe, but I need this more. I need him more.

When he presses his hips to mine, letting me feel the hardness, I moan. He caresses my mouth with every sweep of his tongue, electrifying every dormant nerve in my body before he pulls back. I make a noise of protest, but then his palm glides over my cheek, and I lean into his touch, unable to resist the heat of his gaze thawing something reckless within me. As the pad of his thumb gently frees my lip from between my teeth, I whimper. I actually fucking whimper.

“Sage,” he rasps like it’s a warning, and I swear I lose every brain cell in my head. This time, I lunge at him and press my mouth to his so suddenly, he loses his balance. Elias snakes an arm around my waist and falls backward on the couch, with me on top of him.

Then, when I think I broke him, and he’s about to toss me off his lap, Elias drags my mouth right back. He kisses me with a kind of fervor that sends me into a dizzying spiral.

I swallow his grunts into my mouth. Every ounce of pressure from his lips descends to my core. My hips move of their own accord, and I shift so his jean-clad thigh is positioned between my legs, exactly where I want all of him. He studies the new position, and the warmth of his stare ignites my longing. I think he might say something to stop me, but instead he pushes his thigh upward, pressing it right against my throbbing core.

I’m nothing but need, flushed and wet from the crackling sensation of his touch. Testing the waters, unable to hold back any longer, I roll my hips, desperate for the friction. His gaze slides down my body with a fascination that nudges me to the edge.

It’s depraved, sinful, dirty, and yet I can’t stop. My hands rest on his shoulder, and I’m sure my nails are digging into him. A moan escapes me when he flexes his thigh, and I see the obvious bulge in his jeans. I reach behind me to rest a hand on his knee, lean back, and shamelessly rub myself on him like a cat in heat.

When his hands land on my thighs, I think I might pass out.

“Are you going to come on my thigh, Sage?”

Yeah, definitely going to pass out.

I become a whimpering, moaning mess when his fingers press into my soft flesh where my skirt has ridden all the way up. It’s been so long, I’m practically a hair trigger at this point, and I’m not ashamed. With his jaw clenched, he watches me grind against his thigh to apply a touch of pressure against my clit.

“Let me see you.”

I don’t hesitate. I pull my panties to the side so he has the perfect view. Another roll of my hips brings a moan to escape me.

Hearing it, he groans so loud, he muffles the rest of it with his hand. Elias’s gaze slides down to where my panties meet his jeans. “Touch yourself.”

I’m beginning to think Elias Westbrook could tell me to bark and I would.

Shamelessly, my fingers slip to my core, and I rub my clit as he watches. If I wasn’t so lost in my own haze, I’d swear he shivered.

Arousal coats my fingers when I slip them inside, and I wish they were his. The thought would make me fall over if it weren’t for Elias’s heavy hands resting on my thighs.

“Oh God,” I cry at the fire of ecstasy that whips through me, desperate for release.

His grip becomes tighter, and he squeezes his eyes shut like he’s in pain before leveling our gazes again. “Tell me what you’re thinking about, Sage.”

“You,” I say immediately. I try to stop there to keep myself from saying something stupid, but my mouth doesn’t get the memo. “Y-your fingers. Your tongue on my—”

Elias cuts me off with his lips. He devours every inch of my mouth, exploring it with his hot tongue. I practically come apart from that pressure alone.

I moan into the kiss, sliding one of my hands into his hair. Elias curses.

That’s when his thigh jerks, causing blinding friction against my clit. I yelp when my fingers hit the perfect spot, and buckle under the pressure. I burst into my release and slump forward onto his shoulder as my orgasm racks through me.

We stay like that for minutes that feel like hours. I don’t look up because I’m embarrassed for riding his thigh like a fucking horse, and now that the high is wearing away, I might say something equally stupid. But Elias makes that decision for me, because he stands and lifts me in his arms.

I instinctively lock my hands around his neck. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you to bed.”

The devil between my legs clenches in anticipation, and I hope Elias doesn’t feel the way my heartbeat soars into overdrive. As we enter his room, he places me on the bed and strides over to the window to draw the blackout curtains shut. Wrapped in darkness, my eyes gradually adjust, revealing him as he gently lifts the comforter over me. What the hell?

He sits on the bed beside me, noticing my bewildered expression, and plants a tender kiss on my forehead. “I’ll sleep on the couch,” he murmurs, and stands to leave.

Oh. I desperately want him to stay, but I know there is only one way I should end the night. And it’s not with Elias pressed against me.

“And, Sage?” He pauses at the door. “Don’t ever again say you’re too difficult.”