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He then blows the whistle and swings his arm around in a circle, which means laps. Everyone drops their gloves but me.
“Oh, no, pick your shit up. You skate with it.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I turn and head for the boards but Jayden stops me. “Good luck.”
I hold his gaze and then nod. “You too.”
I expect a snide comment, but there isn’t one. He just grins at me before turning to start and then we are off.
I actually love skating. It gives me time to think, but unfortunately I’m thinking of Jayden. I love the way he skates. It’s almost like he is flying across the ice, the way his legs move in and out, the way his arms glide with each movement he makes. He has the perfect form. He is gonna be hard to beat.
But I’ll do it.
When the first hour is over, no one has gassed out yet. We all are keeping a good pace, almost in a group as we skate. I want to pull ahead, but for once I’m happy with where I am.
“Not queasy are ya, Moore?” Markus calls out, and a few guys laugh.
“Nope, I’m good. You’ll be the queasy one soon,” I tease, and he laughs.
“Want to wager on that one?”
“Sure,” I say when he looks back at me. “When I win, you have to make my bed for me each morning.”
He laughs and so does everyone else. “And fold my clothes,” I add, which gets a roar of laughter.
“No way, Reeves. That’s woman’s work,” McCarthy says, and I roll my eyes. “And if you’re making her bed, make sure you’re fucking her in it. Or you’re a pussy.”
“Fuck off, McCarthy,” Markus says then, before I can.
“Don’t worry, she won’t make it anyway. She’ll be out of our hair soon enough,” he says. Dumb asshole. I really don’t understand his hatred toward me, but when I turn to tell him something very colorful, he’s lying on the ice.
“What the fuck, Sinclair?” he yells as he gets up, and Jayden just shrugs.
“Sorry, my stick got tangled between your legs when I was looking to chop off your balls,” he says simply as he skates ahead of us all.
“For someone who isn’t trying to hit that, you sure are always taking me out when I fuck with her,” he says, and Jayden shrugs.
“You’re always in the way,” he says, and then he is skating with Jace beside him. Markus stays with me, and while I don’t need him to, it’s nice to have the company. It keeps me from thinking of Jayden the whole time because Markus sure does like to talk. Within seven laps, I know his whole life story.
“My mom and dad own a down-home restaurant; we should go there tonight,” he says after the third hour. We’ve already lost the first eight, and I would think the guys would be happy, but they clapped and wished the guys well. The more time I spend with these guys, the more I realize what Jayden meant when he said this was a family.
“Yeah, if we can walk,” I say, and he laughs as he nods.
“Right, man, I’m hurting.”
“I bet, but don’t give up,” I say, pulling in a breath through my nose.
“I’m not. I’m with ya, babe,” he says, and usually I’d correct him, but I can tell that Markus wants nothing more than friendship from me.
When the fourth hour starts, more people start to fade away. When McCarthy limps off the ice and pukes all over the bench, I want to laugh—he deserves it—but I’m doing everything to swallow my own puke down. Poor Markus puked on the ice but kept going. Jace and Jayden, though, are skating like they can do this for days. Me, I’m not sure. My legs are Jell-O, I’m hurting, and I’m ready to quit, but I have to stay on longer than them. I have to.
Another ten minutes passes and Markus throws his hands up. “Baylor, I’m done.”
I smile as I tap my stick on the back of his calf. “Good skate, Markus.”
“Knock ’em out,” he says and then he falls.
I look back, and I almost want to stop to make sure he is okay, but he looks up at me and waves me off. “I’m dead. Someone will help me, keep going.” I laugh as Shane starts to drag him off the ice.
