"Then why won't you tell me what you're doing?"
"It's not a big deal, and I don't want him to kill me. He's not actively trying to make me miserable right now, and I want to keep it that way."
"Does he touch you?" he asks. "I won't be mad at you if the answer is yes."
"It's not. He doesn't touch me."
But that's not entirely true. Sometimes, he touches me…just a little. A lot of our time at the rink has turned into Elias teaching me, since he seems to be perfectly fine. He'll press his body against me, run his hands down my arms and hold mine.
He wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear the kind of things he should keep to himself.
And I hold my breath and ask him to stop. There's tension there, sure, but I'd never, ever act on it.
I think he figured out that I'd lied about what I remembered after the party earlier this month. But he hasn't called me out yet.
Elias said he was obsessed with me. I know he wants to sleep with me, but I'll never let that happen. Maybe Dax sees me as a toy, but Elias sees me as prey. And that…is much worse.
He'll get over it. Maybe if he can get hockey back, his fixation on me will end. Either that, or he's going to fucking snap.
"Okay, I think I found them. I'm going to get in line," Kira tells us.
"Okay. I'll wait for you."
"Do you touch him?" Dax asks.
"Dax…no. Not at all. And I don't want to."
"We shouldn't keep secrets from each other."
"I don't want to keep secrets from you; it's not even a good secret. If you want to know so badly, then…figure it out. He can't murder me if you figure it out yourself."
"Are you giving me permission to stalk you?"
"I didn't realize you needed permission; you already stalk me."
"Sometimes…just a little bit. It's for your own good." He takes out my phone, holds it in front of my face to unlock it, and then changes my settings so I'm always sharing my location with him. Then he slips it into my back pocket, tightens his arms around the front of my body, and kisses my neck again. "You're a good girl, Saige."
"That's what I hear."
From Elias. On our secret dates. Which are not dates, because I hate him.
"Ready to go?" Kira asks.
"Yeah. I'm going to go back with her, okay? I'd be alone at home, anyway. Nolan isn't there."
Dax rolls his eyes. "All right. I'll walk you guys back."
We stop to grab tacos on the way back, and then spend the next few hours in Kira's room, eating and dyeing each other's hair while we watch a marathon ofThe Purgemovies.
I get a text from Dax around eight-thirty, telling me they're on their way back from the gym, and he'll pick me up out front.
I sigh, wishing I wanted to argue, but I don't—not this time. I want to go home with him. He has me. He has so much of me, I don't know where I end and he begins anymore.
And I fucking miss him. I'd ride his dick in the car if Elias weren't going to be there, too.
"Dax is going to be here in a minute."
"What? You're going home? Are you sure you don't want to go to the bars?"
