Page 32 of Dahlia Made A List

Grandma burst out laughing, turning to face us on the bench. “Now, you go on. I’m sure there’s room for more than just my Jocelyn.”

Dahlia laughed, the tension in her shoulders easing, the tightness in her face fading to leave her lips soft and pink and fucking tempting. I shifted on the bench, half-hard and getting harder the longer I stared at her lips.

It was getting more difficult not to think about those lips. I could end her worry and anxiety with my lips instead of words which were a hundred times more difficult to bring forth, anyway. My lips, my hands, her tits, her legs.

“Have you done roller derby before?”

Dahlia shifted forward a little, just enough so the woman didn’t have to turn so much. Just enough that her body cleared the side of the bleacher, giving me a view of her perfect heart-shaped ass.

“I haven’t,” Dahlia said. “But I’ve been doing a lot of practice out at his old drive-in movie theater.” She motioned over her shoulder to me and the woman’s smooth, brown face broke into a grin.

“A drive-in movie theater? I haven’t been to one of those since I was a kid.”

Dahlia’s face lit up. “Oh, you’d love Wyatt’s place! He’s still fixing it up right now, but pretty soon, it’s going to be amazing!”

I figured I better intercede before Dahlia invited a load of strangers out to The Royal for a picnic. “Okay, Killblossom. Pretty sure you’re supposed to be over there.” I indicated the woman Barker had pointed out at registration.

“Oh, crap.”

Before the anxiety could swamp her after all my good work in distracting her, the woman sitting a little down on the same row scooted closer. She wagged her head, her brown hair sliding over her shoulders. She had a pink and purple stripe along the front and little silver hoops in her nose and lower lip. “Don’t look so terrified.”

Tension pulled between my shoulders, but Dahlia just smiled at the stranger. “I’m not terrified, but I really didn’t expect so many people.”

“The Richland leagues only do this recruitment once a year, so they always have a huge turn out.” She pointed across the room to the long row of chairs on the opposite wall. “Go grab that seat beside the bald woman.”

The bald woman, dark-skinned and holding a chrome-colored helmet in her hands looked up just then, as though sensing we were all looking at her. Pink-and-Purple Stripe hooked her thumb toward Dahlia. “Chicken!”

Dahlia gasped out a laugh and the bald woman across the way grinned huge. Dahlia skated across then, and I settled back to watch my girl.

The woman in the center blew a whistle, the sharp burst of sound cutting through the noise in the gym.

A second woman joined the blonde and within minutes, they’d organized the women into small groups and Dahlia moved with hers to a marked area on the track.

I strained to hear, but couldn’t make out their words.

“First time?”

I pulled my gaze from Dahlia to the woman sitting next to me. At least Dahlia fit in with her colorful hair. I nodded.

“Her first time?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s doing great. Strong skater and that’s going to give her an edge today. They’ll teach her the rest.”

And Dahlia did look strong down on that track. The sleek muscles of her legs carried her around the track and after the first circuit around, her motions streamlined, her confidence sliding into place. She pulled ahead of the other women, easily outpacing them. But on the third trip around the track, she was passing the stragglers from her group.

The blonde in the center blew her whistle again and the next group repeated the process. The organizers had their system fine-tuned and within the hour, they’d divided the applicants into two groups.

“They’re dividing the skaters by skating ability now. You see my girl and yours are going with Kitty Bomb. Kitty has been on the team a couple years now, but this is her first year working with new recruits. We lucked out. Not many people as sweet as Kitty Bomb.”

Ipulledupinfront of 26 Redbud just as the sun passed below the horizon. She’d been buzzing since we left the rec center, her words coming a mile a minute the whole drive home.

“Kitty said they would post the invitations soon, but I don’t know how I’m going to wait to find out if I made it.” She bounded up the stairs along the side of the old house, the motion-sensitive light I’d installed limning her body in a golden halo.

She’d just spent an hour in the truck and before that, a solid three hours powering around a track, dodging obstacles and winning timed sprints. On skates.

She’d kicked ass. The warm knot heating up my chest took me by surprise. I felt pride when my cousin’s kids did well around town, but the feeling for Dahlia was entirely different. She’d been terrified. As eager as she’d been, she’d been equally terrified and yet she’d powered through the fear to do what she’d set out to do—own the damn tryouts. And now she could check an item off her list.

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