Fake Skating(35)

His dark eyes swept over my face, and it felt like he was holding his breath, waiting to hear what had happened.

And I was mortified that it was nothing. No terrible thing had just happened to me, I was just a sad little girl who couldn’t please her dad.

“Nothing. Really, my dad called and… I mean, I’m fine,” I said, sounding like a frog because my throat was so damn tight.

“You’re not, though,” he said, and something about the concern in his voice did the opposite of helping me get myself together.

His concern made me shatter.

“Collins,” he said, almost with a question mark, pulling me into his arms as the stupid tears wouldn’t stop, wrapping himself around me. His hug felt like home, like something I could count on, and there was nothing I could do but snake my arms around his neck and take refuge.

Anyone else in the world, including my mom, would’ve told me all the ways that it was going to be okay, that it was fine and everything was going to be great.

But Alec knew me and the way I felt about my father.

Or at least he used to.

He just hugged me tighter as I attempted to get myself together.

“I’m s-sorry,” I managed to hiccup out after a few more minutes.

The tears were finally stopping, thank God, so I pulled back, wiping my cheeks, and gave him what I knew was a pathetic smile.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I said, sniffling, “but thank you for being cool about my little breakdown.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said, his voice scratchy, his forehead creased.

And as he looked down at me with those dark eyes and that impossibly handsome face, I realized that I was still wrapped around his nearly nude body.

“Sorry—” I managed, but when I tried pulling away, I was jerked forward.

“Your necklace,” he said, and I looked down and saw that his chain was tangled up with my necklace. I literally couldn’t pull away from him because we were tied together by jewelry.

“Oh,” I breathed, incapable of more than that, because it was so absurd that my face was literally right next to his neck, which smelled really freaking good—holy shit—and I could feel his breath on my collarbone.

“Hang on,” he murmured into my neck, and then after a second I felt the necklaces separate as he said, “Got it.”

“Thank you, Alec,” I said, looking up at his face but not letting go of his shoulders. Not yet. I was thanking him for more than the necklace, and I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he understood. “I didn’t mean—”

“Whoa!” I heard from behind me in a deep, growly voice. “What the—Barczewski…?”

We both whipped around, and I wanted to die as I saw not only the hockey coach standing there, scowling at us, but three other grown men beside him who stared like they’d just caught us having sex in the locker room.

“What the hell is going on here?” the coach yelled, and we quickly jumped apart.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Alec said, and I was amazed at how calm he sounded.

“Really?” the coach said in a near shout. “Because it looks like there’s a girl in my locker room.”

I said, “I—I accidentally—”

“Dani,” Alec interrupted, his face absent of the kindness I’d seen moments ago. His jaw flexed and unflexed, like he was fighting to hold it together, before he said, “You should go.”

“But—”

“Go,” he repeated, his dark eyes on mine.

“He’s right,” the coach agreed. “You shouldn’t be in here, young lady.”

“I’ll explain what happened,” Alec said to me, but he looked volatile, like he was about to lose his shit.

I nodded dumbly, because what else could I do? I was standing in front of four scowling men and my former friend, who I kind of suspected hated me. I nodded one more time and turned, walking so fast out of the locker room that it was almost a run.

I texted my mom and told her to pick me up as soon as she could, and she said she was on her way, but I felt sick as I realized what I’d done.

The hockey coach was a teacher.

A teacher who’d found me in the boys’ locker room, where one of those boys was changing.

I was in so much trouble.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN Alec




Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I swallowed and rubbed the back of my neck as the door shut behind her.

What the hell had just happened?

I’d been getting dressed when I remembered I left my chain in the shower. I went back, put it on, and when I returned to my locker, there she was, holy shit.

Facing the wall, but I’d have recognized those blond curls anywhere.

And when she turned around, her tears took me straight back to the night when I dried her tears and kissed her.

I almost couldn’t breathe as she blinked up at me, and then I was hugging her while fucking “sweat” played on the Bluetooth speaker in my locker like some kind of joke.

Sweat, get into it

Let me show you how to use your legs



I still wasn’t sure how it’d happened when I was committed to keeping my distance, but in an instant I was punched by the flowery smell of her hair, buzzed on the warmth of her body in my arms, fucking hypnotized by the slide of her hands on my skin, dear God.