Page 24 of Ice Dance Hockey

“Because he’s the antithesis of the Meyers and me. At least the other Meyers have flaws. They’re all a little broken inside like I am. Jack is perfect and always around for Merc to compare against me. How non-perfect I am stands out like a sore thumb against Jack’s gooey niceness. I know he won’t cut me out of the family, but my prickliness wears out its welcome. It’ll wear out its welcome faster if he’s thinking about his family with Jack and not having me around to poison them. I’ll have to get my own place at some point, but I want to come back for as many summers as I can.”

Jack is perfect, but I’m biased. “You could easily decide to stop being prickly.” Ha! Okay, I hear it just as I’ve said it. Logan can’t stop his prickly attitude any more than Jack can stop being an over-excited golden retriever pup.

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to be a smug bastard. Just know that I’m in this despite knowing what a terrible person I am for it, which makes me twice as terrible. You’re not any better, though. Don’t get on any high horses, you’re doing this knowing how much Jack loves Mercy.”

“For now. I also know how much Jack loves me, and I honestly believe he’s making a mistake.”

“Fine. Maybe you’ve got just a smidgeon more in the morals department, which is shocking, but you’re not any better. Now turn around, horse dick.”

I smirk but turn around to respect his privacy.

“Okay, I’m changed. I don’t have another blazer, though, and I cut this one, so there’s no going back. Is this going to be Elkington approved?”

As I turn, I just catch him running his fingers through the long part of his hair at his crown. He’s still a sublime creature but in a different way. There’s no stopping him from looking sexy, but it’s less pronounced now.

If we were meeting up with my father, I couldn’t allow him to wear the blazer as is, but while it will come off as an eccentric fashion choice in the restaurant we’ll be dining in this evening, it’s not newsworthy.

“That will be fine for tonight. Do you have any idea how much the suit you massacred cost me?”

“Probably a mint. I’m guessing at least five hundred, but that’s pocket change to you, right?”

This’ll be good. “It is pocket change. Three thousand dollars’ worth of pocket change.”

His mouth hangs open. “Shit.”

“Do it again, and I’ll spank you.”

He shivers. “Uh. Um, is that part of what you want as fake boyfriends?”

Approaching him, I reach out to fix his tie and take my turn running fingers through his hair to fix it into place. “I won’t do something like that without your consent, but I was getting the idea from our earlier banter that you’d be open to it. Was I wrong?” There’s a first time for everything, but I’ve never been wrong when a certain vibe has come into my sphere. I know my own kind and he was giving off all kinds of vibes that suggested he was my own kind.

He swallows the lump in his throat and shakes his head. “You’re not wrong.”

I hold my pinky out for him. His brow creases with confusion, but then he figures it out and holds his up as well and we lock them together. “Do we have an accord then?”

“Who talks like that? What are you, a fucking pirate?”

“Logan.” I use the tone that even a brat like him won’t be able to ignore completely.

“Yes, I fucking agree. Spank my ass if you think I deserve it, but that’s it. No funny stuff.”

“No funny stuff,” I promise, shaking our intertwined pinkies before releasing him. “Get some socks and some shoes.” Speaking of shoes. I spy a mostly empty trashcan near his bed and toss the pair of heels hooked around my finger in, more for dramatic effect. It’s not like he can’t take them right back out if he chooses.

“Hey! Those are mine.”

“They’re cheap. You’re with an Elkington now. I’ll buy you better ones, I promise.”

“Yeah, fine,” he says, putting on his socks and sliding into the pair of flat dress shoes I originally provided him with. “Where are we going, anyways?”

“It’s a surprise.” Before we leave his room, I give him one last check-over and use my thumb to wipe away the wet tear tracks. “Come.”

“Wait, Elkington. You can’t go down there like that. It looks like you stuck your arm in a blender.”

Right. My wrist. I’d gotten used to the throbbing in time with my heartbeat. He drags me back to the washroom and turns on the water. “Run it under there. I’ll get you something to wrap it with.”

Rinsing the crimson blood from the bite reveals a nice ring of teeth marks. Huh. That might scar and I’ll have a permanent reminder of my tryst with him. He returns as I finish patting it down and he takes my forearm in both his hands inspecting the damage.

“Whoa, I fuckingsunkmy teeth into you, dude,” he says. It’s not an apology. “Guess it’s only fair I bandage you up. Hold still.”

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