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“I tried to kill myself once. It was Clark who found me, took me to the hospital,” I whispered. “And I still broke his heart.” Guilt flooded my veins, so much streaming in from my fucked up brain that it felt like I would drown. Hiccupped sobs burst from my chest. “Knowing that, Ari Lancaster, why areyoutrying so hard to save me?”
“Sunshine, you haven’t realized, you’re saving me right back. I gave you my soul all those years ago, and I’ve just been existing ever since, waiting for you to come back to me. You aren’t some girl. And I’m not some boy. We’re soulmates, twin halves of the…Same. Fucking. Soul.”
His hand brushed against mine as he wiped away the tears clinging to my cheeks.
“I wish you didn’t have to save me,” I finally whispered, and he shook his head.
“I”m just helping you save yourself. You’ll see. One day you’ll wake up, and this pain inside you, it won’t be there anymore. You’ll be free. And you won’t even be able to remember how bad it hurt.”
He pressed the most heartbreaking kiss across my lips, and he smiled. “I promise.”
The thing about a promise from Ari Lancaster, I’d learned, was that he kept them.
Ari carefully undressed me like I was a present he wanted to unwrap. He made love to me for hours until I fell asleep, whispering love and praise until that ever existing pain…it seemed like it didn’t hurt quite so bad.
Two days later when I woke up…Ari showed off a brand new tattoo of my name he’d inked where I’d cut his skin.
I asked him why, and he just laughed.
And somehow, Ari Lancaster…he did the impossible…he took my pain.
CHAPTER21
ARI
The afternoon was like a persistent itch in a hard-to-reach spot…annoying as hell. While Blake was at a photoshoot, I’d found myself trapped in what felt like an endless practice session with the team. Two consecutive losses had us desperately needing to step up our game. But the idea of her being away, outside my protective bubble, was driving me insane.
During our water breaks, I checked my tracking app like a man possessed, making sure she was still at the shoot. I had a bodyguard following her around, but she hadn’t responded to my last couple of texts. I WAS NOT HAPPY.
It was on one such break when Soto leaned over, interrupting a conversation I was trying to have with Walker about our favoriteJurassic Parkmovies. "Hey, Ari, had an interesting conversation about you today."
He was trying too hard to sound innocent, and ice slid around my veins. “Oh yeah?” I answered, matching his casual tone. “Who with?”
A smile slid across Soto’s ugly face. “Just some rando. He was hanging out before practice, asking questions about you. Seemed like a nice guy.”
Suppressing the urge to stab him with my hockey stick, I ground my teeth and took a deep breath, attempting to regain a modicum of control. "What kind of things, exactly, was he asking?"
Soto raised an eyebrow, “Oh, just wanting to know when you started dating your girlfriend. What your schedule was like...Nothing big.”
“And you answered those kinds of questions?” asked Walker incredulously, looking less like a Disney prince and more like a Disney villain at the moment as he stared angrily at him.
Total circle of trust material, that guy.
Soto shrugged, acting like it really was no big deal.
“What did he look like?” I asked, an uneasy feeling gnawing at the pit of my stomach.
“You know, it’s funny, Lancaster,” Soto drawled. “But he looked a lot like you.”
With that pronouncement, he skated away, effectively ensuring I couldn't focus on practice anymore.
When I checked my app during the next break, my worst fears were confirmed.
The tracking app had been disabled.
* * *
Blake
