Page 72 of What It Means To Be Found

Connor’s blonde brow pinched. He nodded, and pasted a fake smile on his lips, “I’ll see you all over there then.” He lifted a hand and gave Eloise a longing look as he turned to retreat, making her turn her head away from him and towards me. One glance down at her bright red face made me realize that she was trembling.

I rubbed my thumb against her waist, a poor attempt to soothe her while anger with my agent still thrummed within me.

Once Connor disappeared into the crowd, Courtney whirled on the two of us. “Nice move, Logan,” she smiled at me before looping her arm through Eloise’s and successfully tugging her out of my grip, “It felt a little caveman-ey, but Connor is clearly the kind of guy who doesn’t back off unless another man is involved.”

Irritation burned my throat, my hand clenching into a fist from the loss of Eloise’s body. Beck eyed me nervously. Courtney pulled a clearly stressed-out Eloise towards the doors, leaning down and murmuring to her. Taylor had rushed over to Eloise’s other side, leaning in close as well. I could tell by the hunch in their shoulders, and how Josh rested a hand on Courtney’s back as well, that our friends were discretely trying to check in with Eloise. To see how she was feeling.

While our friends were consoling the woman that I desperately wanted to soothe myself, Beck fell into step beside me.

We all paused in a small, quieter corner of the facility before leaving out the doors. Others passed us, waving goodbye to players, or laughing, or getting ready to meet up at the bar with everyone, but our little group huddled close to Eloise.

“Lo,” Taylor asked, grasping Eloise’s fingers, and squeezing. Eloise’s eyes were wide, and she kept blinking as if she was trying to focus them. At the sound of Taylor saying her name, she quickly snapped her head in their direction.

“Yeah?” She asked, releasing Taylor’s fingers, and rubbing her hands on her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Taylor mumbled, keeping the conversation low enough so others passing by couldn’t possibly hear.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. Just annoyed.” Eloise shook her head once and rubbed her head, meeting the gaze of everyone circled around her before a wobbly smile touched her lips.

“Are you sure?” Courtney laid an arm around Eloise’s shoulders, squeezing her close before she asked, “Because it’s okay if you’re not. He was being very forward and ignoring your discomfort about it.”

“I know,” Eloise shrugged. “He’s just being a creep. Can’t take a hint. Yada, yada.” Eloise smiled at Courtney and patted her hand on the arm that was draped across her shoulders.

“I have to ask,” Beck said, “Did something happen between you two? The night you…”

Eloise’s face went tomato red, and I felt a lead weight in my stomach when her embarrassed expression turned to meet my gaze. I had no idea what expression I was making, but it took every bit of effort to smooth the muscles in my face to something comforting, a relaxed facial expression to let her know that she had absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. Especially in front of me.

“No, nothing bad happened,” Eloise lifted a shoulder, gently shrugging Courtney’s arm off of her. “He was just a bad lay, and can’t take the hint.” Eloise’s gaze met mine again, almost as if there was a challenge in them.

I had no idea how to react to that, so I just held her eyes and tried to silently convey that I was here for her.

She blew out a large breath, and then clapped her hands together. “I’d love to have a drink, though. Are we still going to the bar?”

Everyone exchanged not so subtle looks with each other, trying to see if that was the right call. When Eloise clapped her hands again to encourage us to get a move on, we all agreed to follow the team there. Courtney held her fiancé’s hand, who had been a silent support at our sides this entire time, and wrapped her free arm around Eloise’s shoulders before leading her towards the exit of the facility.

Taylor followed behind them.

Beck and Adam fell into step beside me.

“Sorry if I crossed a line,” Beck whispered, careful to keep her words low so others wouldn’t hear. Then, she switched over to ASL, I saw you grab Eloise and thought I would lean into it to make DJ go away.

Daddy James. Her and Courtney’s disgusting nickname for my agent.

I lifted a shoulder and glanced up, catching Eloise peeking back at me before she pressed her lips in a firm line and faced forward again.

I lifted my hands to sign back to Beck, No one else knows about me and Eloise?

I specifically stared at Adam, who was walking on the other side of Beck and clearly saw my question. His expression didn’t change, and he acted like nothing interesting was being discussed as he reached forward to hold the door open for Beck and me to walk through.

No, Beck responded, glancing at her boyfriend, but I think Adam does now.

“I suspected,” was her boyfriend's low reply.

I didn’t care.

I was getting tired of it. It had been months since Eloise and I started sneaking around our friends like this. I was reaching the point where I couldn’t quite remember why it was still a secret. We had agreed to be monogamous and there had been moments between us that were clearly more than just sex. I had thought Eloise and I were starting to grow closer, maybe even heading toward a relationship outside of sex.

But we hadn’t talked about it.

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