Page 129 of Staying Selfless

He does what I say, swiping the brush on the edge of the bowl, and I can feel my eyes sparkling in amusement as I note the concentration on Eli’s face.

“Now, just throw it on.”

“Logan, I need clearer instructions than that.” He cocks his head through the reflection in front of us. “I don’t want to mess this up.”

“You can’t mess it up. Wherever you see the brunette hair, just cover it.”

Eli slowly brings the brush to my scalp, gently and strategically swiping it over my natural hair. His focus is dead set on the task at hand, and I haven’t seen his chest rise in a bit, which makes me believe he’s holding his breath.

He covers the first parting of my hair, being extremely cautious not to overlap the color with my previous red hair. My lips are pressed together as tightly as possible, trying to keep my amused laughter contained.

I shouldn’t laugh. He’s being so sweet and careful, but all I can think about is the amount of shit his teammates would give him if they saw him right now.

But I could not be more in love with my giant, cocky NHL prospect, who is just a sweet softie with me.

“Okay, now what?” He holds his hands up and away from the color, the brush delicately sitting between two of his long fingers.

“Use the pointy end of the brush to part the hair. Make sure it’s a fairly thin section. Then you’ll paint the next one.”

Eli does what I say, biting his lower lip in concentration. He dips the brush back into the bowl of color, wiping away the excess, before once again delicately covering my natural root with the red pigment.

“How did your test go?” Eli asks after about ten minutes of undivided attention to my hair.

“Great. I did really good.”

“You got your grade back already?”

“No, I just know I did well,” I tell him as the corner of his lip lifts in a proud grin.

“How’d Marc do? I didn’t want to ask when I was with him.”

“Not great. His mind was definitely elsewhere.”

“I can’t believe Ali went about it that way,” Eli says in frustration, moving on to the next section of my hair. “Marc didn’t deserve that.”

“No, he didn’t. And I’m not saying that I’m okay with what Ali did, but she’s hurting too.”

“She did it to herself!” Eli raises his voice.

“I know, but she’s still upset. I was with her all night.”

“Trust me. I know. I clearly remember having to sleep by myself last night.” Eli shoots me a look through the mirror.

“I don’t understand her either, baby. I’ve never felt that kind of confusion before. I knew I wanted to be all in with you from early on. But just because I don’t understand where she’s coming from doesn’t mean that she’s not hurting.”

“Logan, she slept with someone else before even having a conversation with my brother,” Eli explains with frustration. “She’s my friend too, but I’m pissed at her.”

“She didn’t sleep with him,” I finally admit, keeping my eyes down.

“What?” He pauses my dye job.

“She didn’t sleep with him,” I repeat, meeting his gaze in the reflection. “I’m waiting for Ali to step up and explain it to Marc herself, so this needs to stay between us, okay?”

Eli doesn’t respond with words, but instead, he nods his head in agreement.

“She told me about your conversation at Gabe’s wedding.” I shoot him a look through the reflection, but he just unapologetically shrugs for being a little harsh towards our friend. “Apparently, your conversation had her second guessing if she should end things or not. She’s been avoiding Marc because she was trying to figure out what to do and didn’t want to lead him on until she cleared her mind.”

“That’s bullshit,” Eli interjects.

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