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“But I thought you had a date?”
An image of Chris climbing through a tiny broken window floated to mind. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah, let’s just say that ended early.”
He shrugged off the girl who was still clinging to him, handing her his stick and helmet. She was still holding them, open-mouthed, as he skated over to me.
“Yeah? You’re hungry?”
“Starving.”
Before I knew it he’d reached out and lifted me onto the ice with two corded, powerful arms. It occurred to me that there’d once been a ‘nobody on the ice without skates’ rule, but the days of enforcing the rules at GreatSkates had long-since passed.
“Good. Me too.”
The kiss Axel planted on my cheek happened quickly, much to the dismay of the puck-bunnies. They gave up a collective groan and slowly began to shuffle away.
“Umm… your stuff?” I chuckled.
Axel glanced back. The girl still holding his stick and helmet looked frozen, like a deer caught in headlights. He nodded in a certain direction.
“You can put that down in my locker if you don’t mind.”
She nodded mechanically as he led me away, slipping a friendly arm over my shoulder. I could feel his pads shifting beneath his jersey. The scent of him was overpowering; a heady but familiar mixture of moisture, musk, and sweat.
“Ugh. You really need a shower.”
I teased him and others all the time like this, but in reality I didn’t mind. Over hundreds of games in dozens of arenas, I’d grown to sort of like it.
“Tyler and Zane hit the shower ten minutes ago, so I’ll make it quick.”
He gathered up his duffel from the other side of the boards, and together we walked the length of the once-proud, but now ramshackle building. Before he ducked through to the showers however, I squeezed his hand.
“Sorry if I just ruined your night,” I apologized, nodding toward the line of girls at the exit.
Almost on cue Axel’s phone buzzed and lit up. He pulled it from the side pocket of his bag, then checked it with a laugh and a grin.
“Night’s not ruined yet,” he winked.
I felt a strange stab of jealousy, which was odd because that sort of thing had never happened before. I’d born witness to dozens of Axel’s many conquests, and some of those women had been damn near close to perfect. None of them however, had made me feel like this.
“Be back in ten,” he grinned, as his hand slipped from mine. “And whatever you do, don’t let Tyler pick the place.”
~ 3 ~
ARIANA
“And he escaped through the fucking window?” Zane swore incredulously. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I smiled sheepishly.
“Broken glass. Blood…” Tyler tilted his head. “Totally gone?”
“Totally gone,” I agreed. “Like some asshole magician.”
They guys set their beers down, utterly astonished, but they also looked like they were holding back. More than one of them was stifling a laugh, which of course would’ve been at my expense.
“So what did you do?” asked Axel.
Looking down, I stirred the deflated remains of my whipped-cream into the rapidly-melting amalgam of my hot-fudge sundae.
