Thorne
I've been on the ice for twenty minutes already when Mollie arrives. When she comes through the doors; I see her the way I always do. Both immediately and without meaning to.
I turn back to what I'm doing.
I know better than to pay attention to her arrival.
But I do it anyway, because I've never once successfully stopped myself. The second she comes through the doors, I clock what she's wearing, the color of her Converses, whether she's moving well on the ankle or favoring it. Today she's slightly favoring it.
To keep my eyes off her, I skate over to the boards and ask one of the assistant trainers how her knee is doing. She had it scoped in March. I listen to the answer because I actually want to know. I’m warm and present and completely focused on this conversation.
No matter how tempted I am, I don’t look over at Mollie. I’mexcellentat not looking at Mollie in public. I've had a whole year to practice.
The next morning, Theo skates over to me once practice is done."Yo." He gives me a fist tap. "Thanks for helping me out last night. I swear I don't know how I got stranded across the border."
I grin. "When your teammate calls you, ten sheets to the wind, and he's being held by the Mounties... you don't hang up. You hustle your ass over and get him."
"I don't know how to thank you, man."
Sliding him a smug smile, I clap him on the shoulder. "I'll think of something."
"I have no doubt." He starts to skate away toward the tunnel, then turns back. "I'll see you at the Fourth of July cabin?"
I pull a face. Beck was supposed to go before Rosie got sick. He's similarly aged to me and his partying days are way behind him now. The most I've ever seen him drink is two light beers when we didn't have a game the next day. He's a bona fide adult.
But now, Beck’s going to be home with his little girl. Which leaves me hanging. I don’t want to be the odd man out this weekend.
It would be a nice break from the simmering tension in my house, though. A cabin all to myself and a weekend of freedom sounds better than staying home and trying to figure out if I want to fuck Mollie or fight her.
"Yeah, I'm in," I say. "It'll be fun."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Theo wiggles his eyebrows and skates off toward the tunnel.
Blowing out a breath, I turn toward Mollie. She's had the maintenance staff bring out several squares of the floor we use when we need to cover the rink. She tilts her head at me with an unamused expression. "Thorne! Get over here!"
Yeah, she's been in a fucking mood today. No idea why. I made her lunch and got her fancy coffee creamer. Does that not earn me some points?
Rolling my eyes, I skate over to where she stands. "Here I am. What can I do for you, oh mighty leader?"
“I want to film you scoring goals.”
I quirk a brow. “Then get on the ice and get in position.”
“Thorne.” Her immediate eyeroll is the feel-good dopamine hit that I didn’t know I needed right now. “Be serious. I can’t.”
“Why not?” I challenge, leaning on my stick.
With a glare, she gestures to the ice. "I can't walk around, Thorne. I'll slip."
I look Mollie up and down. According to her doctor, she’s cleared to walk on the ice and even start skating again. But she’s clearly scared. Maybe if I push her buttons a little, she’ll overcome her aversion.
She once owned the ice. I’d love to see her do it again.
"You won't slip," I say, circling her. "You're wearing cleats. And if you're worried about it, put on a pair of skates."
She sucks in a breath, casting her eyes down. She looks miserable when she says, "I don't skate anymore. The doctor said I could fracture my ankle again and this time, it would be unfixable."
That isn’t what her doctor said. I know because I’m the fucking creep that got her medical records. He said that she couldn’t compete yet.
