AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No word from EJ, yet?” Marc asks.
“Not yet.”
“Oh, Cam just posted to his story. Maybe their game just ended,” Ali says while she scrolls through Instagram.
Marc and I make our way to Ali’s couch, sitting on either side of her as we watch Cam’s Instagram stories take over her screen.
“Two-Oh, baby, let’s go!” his voice rings out as he keeps the camera on himself. He’s clearly in the locker room and covered in sweat, still wearing his uniform from the game, but his story was posted just over an hour ago.
“Oh nice, they won,” Marc states, not noticing my concern.
Eli usually at least texts the second they’re done playing to say hi and tell me how he did. I’m getting a little worried that it’s been over an hour already since their game ended, and I have yet to hear from him.
Worried about what exactly, I’m not sure.
Cam’s next story automatically plays, and Ali has to turn down her volume from the music blasting through her speaker. He posted this one only five minutes ago. He’s at a party, and a big party at that. “Penn State knows how to throw down!” he says, taking his camera on a tour through the house where the party is being held on another campus. My heart begins to race as I spot Eli’s teammates scattered throughout the crowd of drunken college students.
I recognize Goody playing beer pong with a pretty little brunette hanging on him. Then Cam pans over to Benny, the goalie, who is awkwardly standing alone with a beer in his hand. Next, Patrick is wedged between a blonde’s legs as she sits on the counter, his tongue shoved down her throat. Lastly, Mikey is on a couch with a barely dressed girl tucked under each of his arms.
Cam continues to scan the house with his phone, being sure to take his time and show off all the beautiful women who are there. I feel my mouth dry and my heart race as I wait for Eli’s face to make an appearance on Ali’s screen, but it never does. There are plenty of closed doors that Cam passes by, and I don’t know where Eli is, but I don’t have a good feeling as Patrick and Lauren’s warnings about his road girls begin to flash through my mind.
“No Eli,” I flatly state as Ali eyes me. She is clearly thinking the same thing I am, though Marc doesn’t seem fazed by his brother’s absence and lack of communication with me.
If he weren’t at the party, but instead alone at the hotel, I would’ve heard from him by now.
My mind begins to go to all the terrible places it shouldn’t as my phone starts vibrating on the coffee table. I let out a long sigh of relief, seeing Eli’s name on the screen.
“Thank god.” I get up to grab my phone, putting Eli on speaker.
“Hi, baby!” I enthusiastically say to greet my man on the other line while plopping myself back on the couch next to my friends.
“Hey, bro!” Marc adds into the speaker.
But there’s no response. The line is dead quiet. After a moment of continued silence, I realize that Eli must’ve dialed me by mistake without realizing it.
I turn up the volume just in case I can’t hear him, and as I do, swirls of strained and short breaths begin to come through from the other end, my eyes widening in shock at the sound.
I should say something, anything really, but I can’t. I’m speechless.
Distant pants and breathy exhales continue to fill my ears.
“Eli?” I somehow ask as my voice breaks, hoping he realizes that he’s on the line with me and can hear whatever is happening on his end.
Still, no words.
Heavy and ragged breaths continue to flood through the line as my jaw slacks. I look to Ali. Her eyes are just as wide as mine, and I know she’s having the same thought that I am right now.
That Eli just pocket dialed me while with another woman.
Chapter 60
Logan
My eyes are stinging with unfallen and unwelcome tears as I continue to listen to whatever the hell is happening on Eli’s end of the line. I urgently stand, with my phone in my hand, but have no idea where I’m going. Everything that Patrick and Lauren had warned me about, combined with Eli’s lack of communication tonight, is putting this puzzle together for me as my mind races with ideas of what my ears are listening to.
“Logan?” Eli’s voice shakes through the phone.
“Eli?” I ask again as my brow furrows, but instead of a response, I just hear a sharp and shallow intake of air.
