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I veered neatly around a couple of other practicing skaters, timing my movements with the beat of the third song among the options Niko had offered for our free skate. We could use the same routine we’d performed in Dellville for our short program, just increasing the difficulty of a few of the moves to meet the official standards, but we needed a longer one with other specific criteria as well, and that meant we also needed more music.
I skipped up in a tiny bunny hop alongside the melody and laughed when I caught sight of my skating partner’s and coach’s faces.
“What?” I pumped my legs back towards them as Niko killed the music. “I thought the song was fun. Not sure it’s exactly what we’d want to go for with the routine, though. What do you think, partner?”
Jasper tilted his head as he considered. “I usually go for something more emotional rather than upbeat. I did like the second one you put on, Niko. Play that one again?”
“Sure.” Niko thumbed through the list on his phone.
The song started right where he’d cut it off before, a little under halfway through. The tune wasn’t quite as poignant as the classical piece we’d used for our short program, but the dramatics of the mix of strings, guitar, and drums were definitely enthralling.
It would be a difficult song with its shifts in tempo, but if we could nail it, it would totally be worth it. The impression it would leave on the judges and on the crowd would be overwhelming. I could already picture us whirling across the rink, catching them up in the picture we made.
I pushed off against the ice and kicked my heels up in a waltz jump. My emotions lifted alongside my body.
Yeah, this melody was something I could really skate to.
I circled around another skater seconds before I veered too close, abruptly self-conscious. I wasn’t used to sharing the rink with anyone other than Jasper, and even his presence was still new to me.
But Niko had said it’d be good for us to go out during the freestyle session. We’d get a chance to see some of the other skaters we’d be up against and what they were capable of, their styles and strengths.
Of course, that also meant they were getting a look atus.
Ignoring the prickling over my skin brought by other skaters’ gazes—real or imagined—I glided back to Niko and Jasper as the song ended. They were standing closer together than I’d ever seen them, their shoulders nearly brushing. There was an ease to their closeness that lit me up from the inside.
They’d obviously started to figure out whatever was happening between them. Good for Jasper, going for that kiss in Dellville. I hoped Niko had finally opened up about his feelings too.
“This song is definitely the best,” I announced when I reached them. “Let’s be ambitious. You only live once, right?”
Jasper snorted, but he also reached out to tug my ponytail affectionately. “Spoken like a punk, Punk.”
Niko grinned with a faraway expression. “You two could create something spectacular with this. And I know exactly where we’d want to include some of the jumps already.”
He pulled out his notepad and started scrawling his thoughts out in kanji. His primary language helped ensure no one else would be able to steal his inspiration, although I wished I could read it myself.
I craned my neck to scan the music app on Niko’s phone. “You’ve got a huge collection of playlists there. Are they all for skating?”
“Oh, they’re for everything.” Niko slid his phone back into his pocket. “Cleaning, shopping, eating…”
“You have a playlist for eating?” Jasper arched an eyebrow up at him.
“You don’t?”
As the two of them fell into a light-hearted debate about the importance of background music, I watched the rest of the skaters do their thing. One of the other women landed a triple Axel before my eyes, sweeping across the ice like it was nothing.
I clamped my jaw to stop it from dropping. Jasper and I weren’t casual skaters either—I’d pulled off triple Axels before—but this was my first real official foray into the professional scene. I wasn’t used to being surrounded by this level of skill.
These were skaters who had likely competed over and over, who had already been able to show the world what they could do. They would have backers and fans and maybe were even a few favorites of the judges. And I was going to go up against them?
But when I looked at Niko and Jasper again, none of that mattered. I had the two of them and Rafael watching over me from somewhere in the shadows at the back of the stands, my safety always on the forefront of his mind.
This was a new start for all of us. If everything had gone according to plan, my stalker had been left to eat our dust back in Hobb Creek. We were moving on to bigger and better things.
There was an entire world here just waiting for us to crack it open like a golden egg.
A cocky voice with a hint of a rasp broke through my reverie. “Look who’s here. Jasper St. Pierre finally shows his face again?”
I whirled on my skates to see a man who probably wasn’t more than a year or two older than my nineteen propping his arms against the boards a few feet away. The arena lights glinted off his golden-blond hair, slicked back from his forehead without a strand out of place. He was dressed like a skater—long-sleeved thermal and gloves—and his wiry frame held plenty of lean muscle to support that assumption.
