Page 61 of Ice Dance Hockey

My face is fire against the cold air.

Things go well for our first time. They’re awkward and we have a few close calls, but we’ll work out in the gym too when we get to school, and we’ll be stronger. We’ll have spotters for the harder stuff. The summer work is just for us to get a head start on moving in sync and trust building.

I work like I haven’t in weeks. Scott pushes me. I don’t doubt that Rhett would have been, too, if this were his forte, but he’s an ice-dancing newbie. Scott knows what he’s doing.

Drying myself off with a towel and taking a drink at the end, I get a little shy. He’s an incredible skater and we got along. Things are always good at first and then I say something that turns people off of me. Whatever I’m doing that’s making Scott like me, I’ve got to keep it up.

Scott smiles. “Bye, Logan. I’ll text you later. I have a few notes.”

Notes? My stomach turns. Was I that bad? I know we haven’t meshed yet, but it’s only our first day working together.

“Was everything all right?” I ask.

“Oh, yeah. More than. It’s just general working together stuff.”

That sounds okay. I relax. What would Jack say in return? “Guess I’ll hear from you later.”

Ugh. Jack would not say that. He’d say something much cooler. I stick around for Rhett, who stares him down as he heads to the dressing room. Scott smirks and waves.

Don’t think they like each other.

“Did you have to do all that?” I say when I’m sure he’s gone.

Rhett hops over the boards so that he’s standing directly in front of me, towering over me like he’s Zeus. “Yes. Now, tell me what you did.”

I wince. “I may have told him that we were in an open relationship.”

“Why would you tell him that?” His eyes darken and his brows sharpen into blade edges.

“Remember our agreement? So long as I’m discreet?” That does nothing to wipe the beautiful rage off his face. “You were the opposite of discreet at The Coffee Shoppe. That couldn’t have worked in our favor with your father.”

He winces and the anger mutes but doesn’t disappear completely. “Father was happy to see me with Jack. It’s set us back,” he admits, his eyes looking left, probably remembering that conversation.

“In other words, you fuck up, too, Elkington, so give me a break. Plus, I kinda like him.”

That doesn’t make him any happier, but he sighs because he knows I’m right. “You don’t know anything about him.”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“Do I need to? The majority of relationships begin with nothing more than a little attraction.”

“You wouldn’t even text Brittany, but you’re willing to jump into bed with him.”

“Never said I was jumping into bed.”

“But you’re thinking about it.”

I nod, his body tenses.

“You don’t trust him to catch you,” he says, unexpectedly.

“Of course not, it was our first day, Rhett.”

“You trusted me on the first day,” he boasts, lifting his chest.

Did I?“Do you want a medal or a chest to pin it on?”

“I definitely have the chest to pin it on.” He seethes, inhaling and exhaling sharply.

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