“This changes everything,” he says, giving me one more chance for an out.
I smile. It’s bright. It’s filled with hope. Because yeah, I’m ready to shake it all up and change everything.
No more being scared. No more hiding.
I stick my hand out farther. “Take. My. Hand. Anyway.”
With a sharp breath in, he snags my hand and tugs me into his chest, tucking me beneath his arm and pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Let’s go home.”
With a smile on my face and my head held high, I walk through the halls, my hand firmly locked in JJ’s, past the press and past our teammates.
The secret is out. And I couldn’t be happier.
FORTY-SEVEN
JJ
I can’t stop touchingAdeline. Seeing Dirk’s fingers wrapped around her throat was the most terrifying experience of my life. Had I left the rink a minute later, I could have lost her forever.
The rage is there, of course, but the fear is what makes it hard to breathe. Makes it hard to keep my hands off her.
“I’m not going to disappear,” she teases, voice soft. We’re lying in her bed. The perfect date I had planned didn’t happen. I won’t tell her that I hired her favorite band to perform on a rooftop in Boston. A private show just for the two of us. So we could dance beneath the stars. I sent a text apologizing for the no-show, but there was no way we were making it there after what happened.
Adeline is too proud to voice what she’s feeling, but she’s spooked.
Of course she is. He had his hand wrapped around her throat. He violated her. Tonight and years ago.
I hate myself for the way I behaved when I found him in her room back then. Fuck, I was so damn weak. She thinks she’s the one who’s weak, but god, she’s the strongest person I know. How she got up that next morning and moved forward without telling a soul is inconceivable.
“Just let me hold you, please.” I press a kiss to her temple.
She shifts, those beautiful brown eyes of hers finding mine in the dark.“I’m sorry our date got ruined.”
I shake my head. “I’m exactly where I want to be.” Face buried in her hair, I inhale her, skating a hand down her arm, strumming again. Her warmth a comfort.
“What do you think happens now?” Her voice drips with uncertainty.
“With?”
“Us? Dirk?” She leans back, studying me. Cautious.
This girl. She still doesn’t get it.
“Us? We’re together. And I don’t ever want you to say that asshole’s name again. He doesn’t deserve another second of your time.”
“JJ,” she chides.
I shift onto my side, facing her. “I don’t care what we have to do to make this work. Nothing matters but us and Avery. I’m done worrying about everything else. I love you and I want this. It’s that simple.”
Her lips curve up. “Yeah?”
I press my mouth to hers in answer.
Her hands wander and dip beneath my shirt, then her palm is pressed against my chest.
I hiss at the sensation. I’ll never get enough of her.
