Fake Skating(80)

Wow, she was turning it all the way up.

My girl was definitely buzzed.

“Gross,” Richie said, but I could tell by the way he was looking at her that he was surprised she was being so outgoing. “I’ll just take your word for that.”

“By the way, I meant to tell you after the last game, Richie,” she said. “Great job. I saw you smacking that stick around lots of times, so… y’know… go, hockey.”

He shook his head, but he was laughing when he said, “I swear to God there must’ve been a mix-up in the hospital. Mick Fucking Boche’s offspring would never.”

“But she does… and she just did,” Dani said with a smirk. “And, oh yeah—nice apple.”

“What?” he said, looking at her like she was nuts.

“You had an assist,” she said. “Which in hockey is sometimes referred to as an apple.”

“Oh, we’ve got a hockey expert right here,” Richie said, fully laughing with her now.

“That’s right, Richard,” she teased, and something in my chest was warm as she messed with my best friends. I felt happy or proud or just relieved that she was finally being herself around them.

“Although you didn’t exactly look like an expert at the park today,” Vinny said as he joined the group. “How sore are you? Crashing into the boards so many times had to sting. You pretty bruised, Boche?”

I thought she might correct him on her last name, but instead she grinned like he’d complimented her and said, “Probably not as bruised as your ego after betting against me, Vincent the Flow.”

I lost it at that, reaching out to grab the back of her shirt and pull her a little closer as I laughed my ass off.

“Funny girl,” Vin muttered, shaking his head, but he was smiling.

“Did you tell Mick you scored?” I asked, lowering my head so she could hear me while trying not to breathe because her perfume always made me drunk. “Did he lose his shit?”

“As much as my grandpa can lose his shit,” she said with a laugh. “I believe his response to ‘I scored a goal’ was ‘congratulations, but how many did you stop?’?”

“Fair point, though,” I said. “Smart man.”

“Hey, c’mere,” Dani said, grabbing my sleeve. “Let’s take a selfie.”

She stepped closer to me and held out her phone to take a picture. She was grinning as the phone captured us, her tucked in front of me with the party in our background.

“You know you can’t use this because of the beer,” I said, trying not to focus on the smell of her hair.

“Then I guess this one’s just for me,” she said, holding out the phone to show me the photo.

I really fucking likedthat picture.

I liked us in that picture.

And I liked her, right now. Whatever distance had been between us since the mall seemed to have disappeared, and she looked downright flirty at the moment. It was probably the result of whatever she had in her cup, but I wasn’t hating it.

“Are you having fun, Collins?” I asked, also liking the way she was still leaning back against me with her head under my chin.

“I am,” she said with a smile in her voice, and I swallowed hard when she turned around to look up at me.

I am in too fucking deep.

“So Alec.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and nibbled on her bottom lip, like she didn’t know what to do with herself, before she came up with, “Do you want to go watch Dumb Drink Dares?”

“Sure,” I said, knowing it was fucking stupid the way I liked how nervous she looked. Because I felt the same way and had felt that way since she’d taken off my shirt in that bathroom at the mall. The memory of her soft fingers on my shoulders wouldn’t go away no matter what I did, and the crackling electricity that’d been there in that tiny room had stayed with us ever since we’d left.

And for the next hour, everything was pretty fucking perfect.

I sat on a chair, soberly judging Dumb Drink Dares, and she sat on my lap because there weren’t any other chairs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity, snaking an arm around her waist to pull her closer, anchoring her to me so her back was leaning against my chest.

She turned her head a little to look up at me. “You’re kind of handsy, Zeus.”

“Are you complaining?” I asked, wondering what she’d do if I kissed the side of her neck. I’d been obsessed with that particular spot since I’d been up close and personal with it in the locker room.

Her eyes roamed all over my face. “Nah, just stating a fact.”

“Fact noted,” I said with a wink, which made her laugh and pinch my thigh.

My heart might’ve stopped a couple times, but all was well.

But then her dad called.

She stared at the phone, biting her lip like she was nervous before she said, “I should probably just take this.”

“Now?” I asked, selfishly not wanting her to get up.

“I mean, it’s like five a.m. in Germany, and he’s… y’know…” she said, shrugging.

“Your dad?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.”

She took the call upstairs, but she was gone for a longtime. So long that I started to worry something was wrong.