Page 55 of Ice Bet

I shrugged, acting nonchalant and stepping right up to her. Our chests were touching, but the closer I got to her, the more she’d be distracted. “Maybe. I’m not a bully, though. It may seem like I’m bullying you, but this is the only plan that I won’t be killed for.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, scrunching her cute nose.

I leaned down to her level and tilted her chin with my finger. “If you were any other girl, I’d do more than creep into your space and offend you. I’d touch every part of you until you were so sweaty youhadto get on the ice.”

Her tongue slipped out of her pouty mouth and misbehaved. It swiped over her plump bottom lip.

I was the one sweating.

Fuck.

“Look down.”

“Huh?”

I pulled her face down with my thumb on her chin.

Her gasp was as loud as the snapping of her back. When she stepped away, fully flustered, she slipped. I caught her around the waist before she face-planted, and when her nails dug into the skin of my arm and we both went flying backward, I decided that the risk was totally worth the fall, because she was in my lap, and I enjoyed it.

18

RILEY

Falling wasthe least of my concerns.

My chest squeezed, and my vision grew blurry. Everything was dark, and I knew that Aasher’s hands were around my waist, but with my throat closing, it felt like they were around my neck.

I was desperate for the chilly air to cool my lungs. My hands shook as I tried pushing off Aasher’s hard chest to get away, but he pulled me in closer. His fingers got lost in my hair and my face fell into the warm crook of his neck. His scent attempted to calm me as it canceled out the icy-scented mist flying up all around us.

“Breathe,” he demanded, pulling on the strands of my hair.

I gasped for air. I was straddling him, but all I could think about was the hard ground against my knees. My thin leggings did nothing to block out the ice through the cotton. From the outside, our position probably looked like something more than it was.

“Riley, you’re safe.” Aasher’s warm breath wafted in between us, and he pulled me in closer. Our bodies were mended together. I made no attempt to move, because truth be told, I did feel safe with him. Much safer in his arms than I did standing on my own a moment ago.

I squeezed my thighs around him when I felt him stand. His fingers dug into the backs of my thighs, skimming the curve of my butt. “Keep your eyes closed, okay?”

The only response he got from me was a gulp, but I made sure to do as he said, comforted by the darkness behind my eyelids. His breathing was steady, and the more I focused on it, the more mine became steady too. “That’s it,” he reassured. “You’re doing great, Ry. Just remember that I’m the only one here with you. No one else is watching you or waiting for some miraculous jump on the ice. All you have to do is breathe. You’re safe. You won’t fall, and if you do, I’ll catch us both.”

His words are comforting.

I wanted him to keep going. Ineededhim to keep going. I was beyond frustrated that panicking was the result I got when I tried to skate now. But PTSD had a strange way of tricking your mind into thinking the worst, and there were snippets of falling in front of what felt like a million pairs of eyes, and the trembling in my limbs was something that both Aasher and I noticed.

“Keep going.” My voice was a rasp. I blew out a breath of air into the safe part of his neck. The fighting between us was a long-lost thought, and the only thing I was focused on now was how to make the intrusive thoughts disappear. News article headlines were stomping all over the place in my mind, and Gray’s breakup reasoning crept in, reminding me that he was the one who broke the last stable part of me. My parents’ worried faces after I woke up in the hospital. It was coming at me full swing.

“What do you need me to do? Tell me.” Aasher’s voice cut through the noise. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. I pulled back and stared at the worry lines on his forehead below his backward hat. It had been so long since I breathed in the fresh air of the rink, and I wanted it to relax me like before instead of spin me into a spiral.

“Get me to relax.”

“Tell me how, and I’ll do it.” His eyes bounced back and forth between mine, and though he usually used his brash, arrogant tone with me full of nothing but snippy remarks and insults, right now he was soft and sincere.

“Treat me like any other girl.” I surprised us both.

My body grew tense after I said it, knowing very well that I was crossing a line.

“Wh–what?” Aasher’s heavy browline deepened, and his eyes grew hooded when he realized what I meant. “Riley...”

“I can’t think of any other way to get through this.” I was reaching. “Holding me in your arms and telling me to breathe isn’t enough, so just do what you said you’d do if I wasn’t your coach’s daughter.” I was pleading, begging, and it went against every single thing I stood for, but I’d deal with the repercussions of that later.

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