Page 96 of Oh, Flutz!

I must look guilty, because he shakes his head. “No one’s ever called him out on his shit like that before. I mean, either of them, but especially not him. It wasamazing.”

The awe in his voice makes me flush. “Um. Thanks.”

He frowns at me. “Did you really think I was going to be mad?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Well,” he says, slinging his free arm around my shoulders, “trust me, sunshine. That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Mudak.” I pretend to be more annoyed than I am, shoving him in the side, but he’s unfazed, and just holds me tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.

“Thank you,” he says softly, so painfully, stillsurprised, that suddenly I have an urge to grab him by the face and tell him over and over again that he doesn’t deserve any of what he’s gone though, that he deserves someone to stick up for him. Over and over again. Until he believes it.

Instead I just grin up at him, swallowing the jump in my heart rate at the way he’s looking at me, eyes bright and blue and far too inviting for my comfort, ignoring the fact that my face feels warm and flushed red.

Why do I feel like I’m underwater? Why do I feel uncannily like the time Vanya dragged us to the highest diving board at the aquatic center across town, and I crouched at the end of it, gripping so tightly my knuckles went white as I tried to gauge the height of the drop, the fall, the bone crush?

Oh, no no no.

I let out a shaky laugh. “What are partners for?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

BRYAN

DECEMBER

“Ihave a proposition.”

“That sounds ominous,” I say breathlessly, wiping my mouth after having chugged the entirety of my water bottle.

Katya is utterly unfazed by the brutal cardio workout that just left me struggling to stand upright, as usual. We can spend hours off-ice or on-ice, and she’ll barely break a sweat. I, on the other hand, am huffing and puffing, sweat plastering my t-shirt to my chest and my hair to my forehead.

“So, I’m going home for Christmas.”

“I know, we’ve talked about this.”

“Well, yes, but I just—” Katya stops, mouth twisting, nose scrunching up.

Oh, I know that look. I know what’s about to happen. My smile just stretches bigger. “You just…what?”

“It’s nothing, I just wanted to know if maybe you—oh, forget it,” she huffs, turning away from me, and I take her by the shoulders and turn her back.

“You want me to come with you,” I say, almost giddily. The pure annoyance on her face of having to ask me for something is so funny that I start laughing uncontrollably. “Oh my god! You do! You want me to come!”

“Not if you’re going to be such a brat about it,” Katya snaps, trying to walk off, but she’s blushing so furiously that her skin tone is matching her hair.

I crack out the Puppy Face that she hates so much, pouting at her, turning so that I can loop my arm around her shoulders. “Aw, come on. Don’t be such a party pooper. Of course I’ll come.”

“Really? Because I didn’t even tell you when it is.”

I roll my eyes. “Honestly, sunshine, I could care less. I wanna get out of here.”

“It’s over Christmas,” Katya clarifies, and I shrug.

“So?”

She frowns. “You definitely don’t want to stay?”

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