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I grabbed all my protective wear from Blaise’s trunk and a board, then followed him to a bench. This whole skateboarding thing was growing on me, and I really wanted to learnfor himbecause this man had almost taken the fall for me for writing smut.
Blaise had tried to convince everyone that it washis,so I wouldn’t get bullied.
It might’ve been a few days since then, but I still couldn’t get it out of my head. Never in a million years had I thought anyone would ever do something like that for me. Especially Blaise! It made me feel a type of way.
And after what had happened with Allie and Jace today, I was so thankful that I had someone like Blaise by my side. If anyone had blasted my writing all over Redwood before I started talking to Blaise, I would’ve actually died.
Like literally.
Once I pulled on my kneepads, elbow pads, shin pads, and helmet, I grabbed the skateboard and tugged Blaise toward a larger ramp than the beginner’s that we’d practiced on last time.
When I hopped onto the board, Blaise seized my hips to keep me steady.
“Let go!” I shouted to him, wanting to do this on my own.
“Are you sure? This is a big—”
“Let go.”
When his hand left my waist, I glided down the small slope and actually kept my balance; the board picking up speed. My eyes widened as I realized the board was quickly approaching the large bowl. And I couldn’t decide whether to stop or keep going in time before the board turned almost ninety degrees downward and threw me off it.
I landed on my stomach with a thud in the middle of the bowl. The kneepads skidded against the concrete, easing the pain that would’ve shot through my body otherwise. I turned onto my back, heart pounding.
Blaise quickly jumped down into the bowl and knelt by my side. “Are you oka—”
A small giggle escaped my lips, my stomach bubbling with laughter. I clutched my belly to desperately try to stop myself from laughing in a serious situation like this, grinned up at Blaise, and said, “God, that was a rush.”
I’d needed that after this week.
He didn’t find any of it amusing at first as he scanned my body for any scrapes, cuts, or blood. When he didn’t find anything, he pulled me to a seated position and cracked a smirk. “A rush, huh? You scared me to fucking death.”
“What’d you think, that I’d died?” I asked, laughter dying down.
He chuckled like a doofus with a huge grin and leaned back on his hands. “No, I just …” His laughter died down slowly, and he stared at me deeper than he ever had before, almost enough to make me insecure, like he was looking at every bit of me—the good and the bad.
“What?” I asked.
He tore his gaze away from me and shook his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t say anything, so I stood. “I want to try it again.”
“Youwant to try boarding into the bowlagain?” Blaise asked.
I hopped up from the ground, grabbed the skateboard, and made it to the top. After setting the board at the edge of the slope, I gestured for Blaise to get out of the center before I slid into him.
He followed me up and stood by my side, hands on hips. “You sure?”
“It’s a rush,” I said, fixing my kneepads.
When he didn’t respond right away, I glanced over my shoulder to see him trying to hide a grin. With amusement written across his face, he nodded to the bowl. “Go ahead then, Sunshine. Let me watch how much of a rush it is for you.”
After swallowing hard, I stared down at the ninety-degree angle that I was about to glide down. When I had been on the skateboard and already moving, it hadn’t seemedthisbad. But maybe that was because I hadn’t had much time to react.
My heart pounded against my rib cage, breath hitching. Before I could stop myself, I kicked the board up to catch it in my hands, shoved it into his arms, and hurried over to the pizza box sitting on the bench a few feet away.
“Just kidding,” I said. “I’m hungry.”
He smirked at me with amusement as I snatched the pizza and walked the long way down into the bowl—where I didn’t have to drop at a ninety-degree freaking angle.
