Page 16 of Rinkmates

But there’s no way around it.

I need to stick to my script.

I can’t turn to ice every time someone speaks of my past.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” Priya says softly, her hand gently rubbing my back.

I look up at her, and her warm brown eyes give such a softness that I actually relax. She smiles at me, and damn, it’s surprising, but I feel like I’ve known her for much longer than just twenty minutes.

“She’s horrible. When I arrived, she was already making another girl cry. She told her she wasn’t good enough to compete,” Priya says.

I swallow hard against the lump forming in my throat and manage to breathe freely again.

“Thank you,” I say, squeezing her hand. “I’m so grateful to have met you.”

She returns my smile with a warm one of her own. “It’s okay. I just saw you needed some help and couldn’t resist lending a hand.”

Her eyes flick to my hand, then back down to Stacey. As she glances away, I feel a sharp sting in my palm. I slowly open my fist to see a small drop of blood pooling on my skin. The pressure of my nails digging into my palm must have caused it.

My heart races.

I didn’t feel a thing.

With a soft smile, Priya reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a tissue, offering it to me like a lifeline. I take it.

“Thank you. Again. I’m a mess, sorry.”

“No. Please. Don’t worry about it even for a second,” Priya says. “I’ve always had a sense that something big must’ve happened to you. But, look. I’m sure you’ll make it onto the show, and you know how they are…” She hesitates, and her glance turns from kind to worried. “They’ll pry. And I hate to say this, but I bet they’re itching to use your story for clickbait.” She pauses, as if debating whether to say more, and I jerk a little when I see my sad reflection in her dark eyes. “You gotta be prepared for when they come sniffing around, Liora.”

I swallow. “Yeah, I know.”

“I know we just met, but I’m here for you,” she offers, and I just have this feeling that she means it.

Something must have happened.

Oh yes. It fucking did.

“Thank you, it means a lot to me,” I say.

And just when Priya opens her mouth to say something else, the door bursts open and a crew member comes in. The tall, middle-aged man with a shiny bald head grips a wooden board in his hands and scans each of us. Priya takes my hand and all the skaters stare at him as if he’s going to tell us right away if we’ve won the million dollars. But we are just the contestants from the first round of skaters auditioning. They’ll select up to twelve contestants across three rounds.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the following contestants to the next round…Patricia, Priya, Liora, Molly, Tony, Stacey, and Rhett! Congrats to our lucky seven. And to the rest of you, better luck next time.”

Priya’s joy is infectious as she jumps up and down in front of me, but I feel like I’m watching from a distance. I’ve made it into round two!

I’m doing this.

I can do this.

And now I have all the power in the world to hunt down a cheap-ass apartment!

Five

LIORA

“Köszönöm, anya,” I say into the phone, the familiar words slipping effortlessly from my lips as I talk with my mother in Hungarian.

She’s called me five times already, all worried about where I am and if everything’s okay. Well, it’s not, but there’s no way I’m telling Eszter James that. My mom would totally freak out—she can’t afford to come here and help in person, and I don’t want her doing anything drastic. So, I’ve been telling her I’m fine.

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