Page 51 of Ice Dance Hockey

“All those carbs are giving you rolls, Leslie,” Logan says.

“Hey! They are not. I always put on a little off-season fat, but it turns right into muscle once I hit the ice. Tell him, Rhett.”

I can confirm that, but I don’t. I’m … just Logan’s tonight.

“I’ll leave you with him, but here.” I pull out the card and place it on the table. “Logan made a friend tonight.”

That gets Mercy’s attention. He stares at it, flipping it over to read the card as my driver shows at the screen door with all of Logan’s packages.

“Just place them inside, please,” I instruct him like it’s my house. “He might be a tad angry with me for the extra purchases, but just tell him I’ll keep to our deal. He’ll know what that means.”

I don’t wait around for Mercy to find his voice again so he can chew me out. I kiss Logan on his crown and then look at Jack. “Goodnight, Jack.”

Then I’m out.

Chapter10

Scott Orser

Logan

Hangovers are the worst. I still forced myself to go to practice the next day and it suuuuuuuuked. Rhett was there, though, in time to be my partner for the last half hour, which was sweet, I guess. Then I got to look at my new shoes to distract myself from churning nausea and Jack coming up with every hangover cure on the internet.

“Here, it says if you mix clamato and raw eggs together with a little pepper and salt, it’ll fix you right up, Lo-Lo,” Jack said.

“Merc, please remove your over-eager Labrador before I bite him. Jack, if you call me Lo-Lo one more time, I’m carving your tongue out with a spoon.”

“C’mon, baby. Leave him to die on the couch for a little while. We’ll order pizza for dinner,” Mercy had said, pulling him away from me.

And I actually ate pizza. Four slices. I wanted to puke it up, but I wanted the hangover to go away more. It did after a day, and I vowed never to drink again. I went for a long run the next day to burn off all the pizza calories, in addition to my regular regime.

A week passes. Rhett continues to show up early to act as my human cushion and he actually did hire a figure skating coach he practices with. He bought figure skates. He’s getting kinda good for a newbie, but I’m not telling him that.

I learn a little about him. He absolutely hates when people dress animals like humans, which is just weird. It’s the cutest thing you’ll ever see. He hasn’t gone to post-secondary school, which is also weird to me. I thought old families like his wrote that shit into family contracts. Thou shalt get a business degree or something like that. No. His family is obsessed with sports. They watch and attend every sport imaginable. Even table tennis, which doesn’t feel like it should be a real sport to me. Their Christmases involve family curling matches at the club.

Yeesh.

All the wildest shit and yet, they seem close. Rhett talks highly about his siblings. He’s there for them when they need him. It’s a lot more than I expected from someone who can be really fucking selfish at times.

Guess personality isn’t a “this or that” phenomenon. There are shades of gray.

My time on the ice ends and Rhett’s is about to begin, but he stops me, his all-consuming grip encircling my wrist. I look to see if there’s anyone around, but there isn’t.

“My parents are back from Maui.”

“And?”

“It’s time for you to meet them.”

Panic rakes up and down my insides. I know why it’s important that I do, but I’ve never met a boyfriend’s parents, fake or not. This began as one thing, but it’s turned into another for me. I don’t want Rhett’s asshole dad messing with Jack’s hockey career. He’s excited about it, even though he doesn’t talk about it much since his leaving means leaving Stanley and Merc.

“Know what? Your dad hasn’t done anything to Jack in a while. Maybe he already believes us and we’re good.”

He plasters me against his body as if we’re about to practice another skill, but we’re not. I should bat his ogre-like hands away, but I don’t. His body’s hot alongside my cold one.

“It’s not something my father will work on every moment of every day. He’ll strike at the right time. He could be doing things behind the scenes that will come into play later. I need confirmation from him that he supports us, and I haven’t gotten that yet.”

“He’s going to hate me.”

---