SWNOVELS Cross-Checked Hearts: Chapter 2
Isla’s hazel eyes are wide as she stands in the doorway, staring back at me with a shocked expression on her face. She knows that August and I live together, so I’m not quite sure why she looks as surprised as she does to see me standing here. She and August are almost exact replicas of each other, they could literally pass as twins.
Her mocha-colored hair hangs down to her waist in waves. She looks just as I remembered her, yet there’s something different about her. Her body has matured more, filling out the curves of her petite frame, but it’s more than just physical. The way she looks at me now, not with hearts in her eyes as she once did… it’s almost as if the light dimmed. Like she knows better now.
Is there someone else who occupies her thoughts and her time now?
Shut the fuck up, Logan. I want to mentally kick myself right now. What she does is none of my business. She’s my best friend’s little sister. The girl that I grew up protecting as if she were my own. It’s Isla fucking Whitley—and just because we kissed a few times in the past, doesn’t mean a damned thing now.
“Come on, Isla,” August groans, bumping the back of her legs with the suitcase. “We gotta be at practice in, like, half an hour, so let’s get your shit inside, please.”
I reach out to Isla as she walks into the apartment. “Here, let me at least carry something.” My hand brushes against hers as I wrap it around the strap of her backpack. Her lips part slightly as if she’s going to argue, but she quickly moves her hand away from mine, letting me pull the pack from her without an argument.
Well, this is going to be a lot of fun.
August brushes past the two of us, grumbling something under his breath. He’s been on Coach Lindsey’s shit list for the past two weeks because he was late for practice more times than not. If he’s not on the ice now before practice starts, Coach won’t let him play. No one is a fan of that, especially when the rest of our lives ride on our college years.
Let’s just say, August has been making sure that he’s there before practice starts. And since we live together and usually drive together, that means I get to go early too.
Not that I really mind it. It’s extra ice time and that shit is not free. Even having a rink at our school—we have scheduled times that we’re allowed on the ice and it’s not an everyday thing. If I want a chance at the NHL, I need all of the time I can get. It’s always been my dream, and my mom has been working her ass off as a self-made agent to try and help get me there.
Nothing will come between me and my dreams.
“Come on,” I motion for Isla to follow me. She raises an eyebrow at me, but follows behind without protesting. “Let’s get you in your new room before we have to leave. And then you can have the rest of the afternoon to get settled in without having either of us here to bother you.”
We walk deeper into the apartment and I give her the official tour, although it’s pretty self-explanatory. The kitchen and living room look exactly as you would expect. We walk down the hallway and I show her August’s bedroom on the right. We stop at the next door that’s adjacent from August’s on the left. “This one is your room,” I pause, moving out of the way as August slides past us and heads into his room. I motion to the room on the right that is next to August’s. “That one’s my room, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall.”
Isla tilts her head to the side, cocking an eyebrow. “Only one bathroom with three bedrooms?”
“Yeah,” I smirk, brushing past her as I walk into the fully furnished bedroom and set her backpack down on the bed. Isla walks in after me, dragging along her suitcase. “You’ll either have to wait your turn to use it or get used to sharing it. Just remember to lock the door if you want privacy, because it’s not a guarantee that someone won’t walk in there if it’s unlocked.”
“You’re kidding, right?” She pushes the suitcase to the bed and pulls off her beanie as she drops down onto the mattress. I take a step back, stopping beneath the threshold of the door. “You know there’s a thing called boundaries, right?”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean my shoulder against the doorjamb with a mischievous grin playing on my lips. “I always knock before entering. Can’t say the same about your brother, though.”
Isla sighs, her plump lips parting as she rolls her eyes. “I see he didn’t mature past high school.” She unzips her thick winter coat and shrugs it off before tossing it onto the end of the bed. My eyes travel along the length of her thin torso to her full breasts.
My cock twitches in my pants and I instantly feel a twinge of guilt deep in my chest. She was always supposed to be off-limits, but the temptation has always been there. Isla was the one person that I let close enough, that I could let my guard down with and tell her all of my secrets. The connection between us was never deniable, but it was something I knew neither of us could ever act on.
And even if we did share a few private moments, I never let it go any further than making out. Isla deserved more than I could give her. She deserved to be with someone that her family would approve of. I’m fairly certain her brother might strangle me if he ever found out there was something between us. He trusted me to look after her like she was my own sister. What the fuck does that say about me if I’m supposed to view her in that way, yet I’m jerking off to the thought of her in the shower at night?
“Are you okay?” Isla’s voice is soft and sounds like a melody of its own, like the classical music she was always listening to. I bring myself back to reality, my eyes focusing on hers as her warm hazel irises search mine.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” I tell her dismissively. I don’t have a good enough excuse for the way I momentarily got lost in my own thoughts, so I just change the subject instead. “August and I want to take you out for dinner tonight after we’re done with practice. Neither of us can cook for shit and it’s only right that we show you something other than the apartment.”
She folds her hands in her lap, giving me a warm smile. “I appreciate it, but you guys don’t have to do that. Honestly, you can just pretend I’m not even here. I don’t want to disrupt your lives at all by living here.” She pauses for a moment, nervously chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I didn’t know I was moving in here until we pulled up.”
My eyebrows pinch together. “August didn’t tell you?”
Isla shakes her head in response.
That explains the shocked look on her face. Sure, she knew that we lived together, but now it makes sense. She wasn’t expecting to see me today and then everything changed as soon as she got here. I need her to feel comfortable here and like this is her home too, not that she’s just staying with us as a temporary thing.
“Don’t ever think you’re disrupting our lives by moving in with us, okay?” I tell her, my eyes staring directly into hers. “You’re a part of our lives and this is your home now too.”
“Logan!” August calls from his room as he sticks his head out into the hallway. “Hurry the hell up and get ready for practice. You know I can’t be late.”
I roll my eyes and Isla laughs quietly as I push off the doorway. “You heard the man. Can’t have him being late.” A smile forms on my lips and I wink at her. “Think about what you want for dinner before we get back.”
I don’t give Isla a chance to respond before I leave her alone in her room and slip into my own. I glance down at my sweatpants and t-shirt. I’m going to have to change everything I’m wearing once we get to the locker room, so there’s no point in changing again now. Grabbing my bag from the corner of my room, I wheel it toward the door and grab one of my sticks.
August is already heading out the front door as I wheel my bag down the hall. I pause outside of her room, glancing in as she begins to unpack her stuff. Soft classical music sounds from somewhere inside and a smile touches my lips.
I’ve missed her presence—everything about her. She’s still the Isla I remember. The quiet girl who liked to absentmindedly doodle in notepads and listen to soft classical melodies. The one who always paid attention and watched the world going on around her. The beautiful girl who only had eyes for me.
My Isla…
Now, I just need to remember to keep my hands to myself.