Fake Skating(79)

And she jumped onto my back.

“Must we?” I asked, which made Richie laugh even harder.

“We must,” she said into my ear, and I swear to God she touched my earlobe with her lips on purpose, sending a shiver down my spine.

“Devil woman,” I said under my breath as I grabbed her legs, which made her giggle.

“Why are you keeping your shoulder injury a secret from your friends?” she asked as I carried her toward my car.

Don’t focus on the feel of her breath on your neck.

I tried, but it was impossible.

“I’m not,” I lied, trying to sound casual. “It’s just not that big of a deal.”

She lowered her voice. “You absolutely werekeeping it a secret. You lied like it’s not even an injury. Why can’t you tell them?”

Her lips are too close to my neck.

“It’s not that I can’t tell them; it’s—”

“So it’s fine if I talk about the way you can’t lift your arm over—”

“Please let this go,” I begged, glancing at her over my shoulder, glad the group had spread out during the trek to the parking lot. “Please?”

“Alec.” Her eyes moved over my face. “Of course I’ll keep your secret. But, like, you really can’t tell me?”

She said it like it hurt her feelings, and it reminded me so much of the old her that I lost my damn mind. I set her on the trunk of my car and told her the honest-to-God truth.

“I don’t want anyone to know about it, okay?” I said quietly, reaching out a hand to adjust her (my) hat. “It’s getting better—I can tell—but if scouts or recruiters think I’m busted up, it could affect fucking everything.”

She blinked fast, kind of staring up at me like she was weighing my words.

“Everything,” I repeated, desperate for her to understand.

“Well, then,” she said quietly, “we’re going to have to get some more patches on the way home, aren’t we?”

I wanted to hug her, but I restrained myself.

“Fuckin’ A right we are.”



* * *



“No way.”

Richie looked down at my phone and started laughing as we walked around to the back of Bryce’s house. His dad was ice fishing at Mille Lacs, so he was having a few people over. “I didn’t know Mick knew how to smile.”

The picture of Dani and Mick was so fucking funny that I couldn’t stop looking at it and showing it to everyone I knew, even a day later. Dani looked cute as hell, laughing in her fuzzy hat and long braids, and it felt like the perfect shot of the Dani I used to know.

“Normally I’d agree,” I said around a laugh, “but he’s different around her.”

We went in the back door and straight to the basement, because that was the only place we hung out when Bryce’s parents were gone. And holy shit—the party was in full swing already, looking like a fucking casino with all the card games going on down there. King’s Cup at the table by the laundry room, Fuck the Dealer (my favorite) at Bryce’s dad’s bar, and some variation of beer pong on the Ping-Pong table.

Everyone not engaged in a game was standing around, talking and watching the Minnesota Wild on TV. “Sleep When We’re Dead” was booming out of a speaker somewhere.

Richie grabbed beers for everyone but me, and I’d just taken a sip of my water when Kyle said, “Oh, it looks like Dani’s already here.”

“What?”

“Over there, with Lillie and Cassie.”

If we were in a movie, I would’ve done a spit take when I turned around. I followed his gaze over to the corner, and sure enough, there was my Dani, smiling at something Lillie was saying while holding a red cup.

And she looked fucking hot that night.

Her long hair was down, her lips were red, and she was wearing a crop top under her flannel shirt that exposed a few inches of bare skin between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her jeans, bare skin that my eyes didn’t want to look away from.

There was nothing wild about her clothes and she was barely wearing makeup, but to me, she looked insanely gorgeous.

Because Dani seemed to be coming alive, more and more every day. She laughed as Lillie spoke, and the sound of her laughter made my fingers flex. This hybrid version of Dani Collins—part who she used to be and part something new—was someone I wanted, God help me,someone I suddenly felt panicked for, like I needed to get to her immediately before someone else beat me to it.

I didn’t even realize I was walking in her direction until her eyes met mine, like I’d made it impossible for her not to see me because I was suddenly there, in front of her.

“Al!” she yelled, grinning at me and launching herself into my arms.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and said into her ear, “Are you drunk, Collins?”

She pulled back and gave me a flirty grin. “Just because I’m happy to see you doesn’t mean I’m drunk.”

“It usually does for me,” Richie said.

Richie, who I’d forgotten even existed.

“But I’m assuming you’ve never kissed him,” she said, smiling at my friend like she meant it as she pulled out of the hug. “That’s what bumps him from whatever to I am so happy to see you status.”