I stepped out onto the fresh sheet of ice, smooth from the Zamboni, and exhaled. It was supposed to be my quiet place to escape with my secrets and shortcomings.
But before I could take more than two strides, a voice echoed through the rafters.
“Frankie.”
A scream ripped through my lips as I stumbled, wobbling on my skates spinning towards the boards.
Eli and Travis stood there at the bench—waiting.
Eli had his hoodie pushed up to his elbows, hands in his pockets with a serious and unreadable expression on his normally easygoing face.
Travis looked like a goddamn nightmare—hat low, arms crossed, jaw tight, eyes burning a hole straight through me in the dim light.
“I thought you left,” I said as my breath caught in my throat.
“No,” Travis said, stepping onto the ice in his work boots without hesitation. “You shut down. So, we gave you space.”
“But we’re done with that now,” Eli added, walking beside his best friend toward me.
My throat tightened. “I told you I was fine.”
“You’re not,” Travis said, calm but hard. “You’re anxious. Distracted. Looking over your shoulder like a monster is breathing down your neck.”
Eli stopped in front of me and took my hand in his, blanketing it with his softness and warmth. “Tell us what’s going on, Black Cat.”
I shook my head, swallowing the lump in my throat, “I don’t want to make a big deal over nothing. I’m just tired and paranoid. It’s nothing.”
“Those are two things you’re allowed to be,” Eli said, voice soft, but I didn’t miss the steel edge to it. “But don’t shut us out.”
“I’m not?—”
“You are.” Travis moved behind me, his voice in my ear, low and dark. “And I’m trying really hard not to pin you to the boards and force the truth out of you with my hand on your ass.”
My knees buckled a little at the growl in his voice, and for the first time in hours, something besides fear filled my senses.
“Tell us,” Eli said again, squeezing my fingers, “Right now. Or we’ll make you talk.”
I tried to play into the chemistry between us, “Are you going to double-team me again if I don’t?” The joke fell flat, even to me.
Travis leaned down, breath hot at my neck, “No, Shade. The opposite. We’re going to withhold any physical touch or pleasure until you give in and let us inside that head of yours.”
I shivered.
Not from fear. But because I’d never wanted someone to see through me this badly before.
I stood there, caught between both of them, and my body screamed yes, my heart whispered not yet, and that flicker of unease still coiled tight in my gut.
They didn’t know about my past.
But they were going to. They weren’t going to let me run anymore.
“I just,” I shook my head, “It’s been a long week. With work, and the kids. I haven’t had time to breathe.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.
Eli searched my face as if he could see straight through the cracks. “You sure that’s all?”
I forced a smile. “Unless you’re volunteering to babysit and clean my house, yeah.”
