Page 40 of Collided

Curling my arms around me, I glare at his chest. I see his muscles tightening against the thin material of his T-shirt. He’s annoyed at my poor attempt to lie.

“I didn’t know that straighteners have fucking fingers,” he drawls out in a dry tone.

They don’t.

I suck at lying.

“Let it go. Please,” I whisper, if he pushes this matter I might start crying.

He knows something is up. I can’t let him believe that. I don’t trust him. We’re not friends. We are nothing. Not long ago he told me to stay away from him. So his feelings toward me have been pretty clear.

“Guys c’mon.” Marie leads the way.

Heath falls in step beside me. Tension rolls off him in big waves and hits me.

The ice rink is a big hall, flooded with bright ceiling lights. In the middle is the wide, shiny ice where people are flawlessly sliding in their skates. An array of benches is on one side of the rink where teenagers sit in groups. Near the entrance is the counter where a guy is handing out skates and also ringing up the customers.

“You two hurry up!” Marie looks back and hollers, her words echo in the room. People stop and give her a look, but Sebastian pulls her to his chest and glares at them. Kissing her forehead, he takes her to the counter.

Heath and I both catch up.

“Hi, Hope,” Sebastian says. I give him a wave.

“It’s been five minutes and you’re greeting her just now?” Heath grumbles.

“I was busy greeting my girlfriend.” Sebastian pays for our tokens.

I want to contribute, too. I just don’t have money.

The disappointment must be apparent on my face because I hear him speak.

“What’s fucking wrong?” Heath asks as we both gather the skates from the counter.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” I assure him, but instead, he narrows his eyes at me.

“You’re not fucking fine. Someone—never mind.”

We sit on the benches and slip on our skates. He’s quick with tying the laces while I slowly work through them. It takes me longer, because my hands are shaking, and I can’t seem to make them stop.

“Fuck it.” Bending in front of me, he takes the laces from me and ties them.

I’m staring at him when he looks up at me and clears his throat. “You were taking forever.”

Standing up he gets onto the rink and looks back at me. I wobble on the floor, desperately trying to not fall on my face, and also helplessly searching for something to hold.

Heath sees my struggle and comes over.

“Give me your hand.” Before I can overthink, he takes my hands. Electricity sizzles through my blood and hits every nerve ending. I’ve never been electrocuted, but one touch of his and I know what it feels like.

The warmth of his hand radiates off a promise that he won’t let me fall. He’ll catch me the second I trip. With him, I’ll never know what it feels like to fall and get hurt.

Heath opens the tailgate for me.

I step onto the ice. My feet slip and I reach for his shoulders. “Oh shoot.”

Heath’s lips quirk up as he gets me to the rail. “So you fucking cheat-curse?”

“Cheat-curse?”

---