Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 528(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 352(@300wpm)
Her eyes swing briefly to Briar. “I just jammed my wrist, that’s all,” she says, like I’d be silly to think otherwise. “Kelsey was here, but she had to get back to the team. She iced it and gave me the good stuff. Ibuprofen. And Briar found the grape juice. If I’m a good girl, Kelsey said she’d give me goldfish crackers when she checks back in a few minutes. But now, Briar’s in charge of me. What do you think, B? Do I deserve crackers too?”
The perky yoga instructor winks at Ivy. “You can have crackers, but only if you send me that link.”
Ivy scoffs playfully. “Consider it done.”
“What link?” I ask, lost again in their girl talk.
“She needs a dress for a thing,” Ivy says.
“I hate shopping,” Briar adds with a shudder.
“And I don’t,” Ivy says. “It works out perfectly. Briar gave me the contraband grape juice, and I’m going to get her a dress for an event.”
Fuck.
She doesn’t believe me. She doesn’t trust me. I run my thumb along her jawline. “Let me take you home,” I whisper.
Shaking her head, she meets my gaze, her eyes sharp and shrewd. “I’m fine.” She’s not being too nice now. She’s drawing a line in the sand.
She slides carefully off the table, turning in a slow circle.
My jaw falls. “You should be lying down. Resting. Taking it easy,” I sputter.
She waggles her fingers and shows off the ACE bandage on her wrist. “They did an X-ray and nothing’s broken. I just need to rest it tonight. Kelsey took care of me, and now I’m literally hanging out with Briar,” she says, laying out the facts, crisp and cool. “And I can skate at the game in two days. It was just a fall, and the bear costume helped protect me.”
I growl at her. There are lines in the sand and there is also an injured woman I need to take care of. “We’re going home. Now.”
“I need to grab…my water bottle. Yes, that’s it,” Briar stammers, then exits the room swiftly.
It’s just us.
My wife glares at me. “You can’t just barge in here and tell me to go home when you’ve ignored me for three days. That’s not how this works.”
I reel, shocked at the bite in her words. The truth in them.
“And you can’t just come in here and demand to see your wife,” she adds.
I drag a hand down my face. I really fucked up.
“What can I do then?” I ask, feeling helpless but refusing to go.
Her fire burns off, leaving only vulnerability. “Just talk to me. That’s what I want. That’s what you can do.”
I wrap my arms around her. “I’m sorry, baby. I ignored you. I practically ghosted you. I just shut down.”
She’s still at first, then she inches closer to me. “I noticed.”
“Of course you did. You always notice.”
“I don’t like being ignored,” she whispers, “by either of you.”
I let go and then meet her eyes, speaking straight from the heart now. “Come home with us. Please.”
Pretty sure it’s the us that does it for her. I don’t even have to ask Stefan if he wants in. I’m not at all surprised when I look up and spot him standing in the doorway, gazing at Ivy.
He shuts the door and advances toward her. “We were jerks. We don’t deserve you. But let us take care of you anyway.”
Well, that sums things up nicely.
37
THE OPPOSITE
Ivy
Really, this is too much. But I’ll take their too much any day. We’re at Stefan’s place. Usually we go to Hayes’s. We’ve been cautious. But tonight feels different. But there’s also nothing wrong with three Avengers staff hanging together after a game. Kelsey checked on me as promised and declared me good to go.
Now, Hayes, Stefan and I are stretched out on Stefan’s king-size bed—it’s an Alaskan king, and it makes me never want to go back to anything smaller—and he’s massaging my neck while Hayes holds the ice pack on my wrist. Roxy’s curled up at my feet, keeping a watchful eye on both men, occasionally growling low in her throat while staring at them like say the word, Ivy, and I’ll handle them for you.
Seriously, we don’t deserve dogs.
The guys insisted I take it easy, and so we’re relaxing with an episode of The Adventures of Mister Orgasm on the big-screen TV at the foot of the bed. Sometimes an animated show about a superhero dedicated to pleasing women is just what the doctor ordered.
I felt better after their apology. Also, I saw Stefan’s text message when Briar brought me my phone in the athletic trainers’ room. He’d replied right before the game saying: I’ll be there, and I can’t wait.
But the thing is, I don’t know if that means he wants me with or without Hayes—and I don’t know how all in Hayes is anymore. I glance at the guy on one side of me, wearing a gold band that matches mine. Hayes’s dark hair is messy at the top, and his scruff has become scruffier. On my other side, the guy with the lighter eyes and even fairer skin hasn’t stopped working out knots in my shoulders and neck.