Page 74 of The Drop

"Pretty good." I nod at her, and she puts her hands on her hips

"Told you I could skate."

"I thought you meant you could skate a level above the little penguins." Poking her side as I skate off, and she gives chase around the rink.

"I'll have you know I graduated mini skaters, thank you," she huffs as we pass Adam, watching Cami do a complex spin as they wait to start our hockey scrimmage.

"B, you know I love you, but you failed the first year," Cami calls over as she comes to a stop, and Adam attempts to spin like she did, but wobbles and falls before getting up and trying again.

"Adam," I call, giving him a what the fuck look.

"You try it! I'm lucky I didn't break my leg," he pouts as he holds on to Cami's arm as she helps him up. She's bent over laughing, so she's not much help.

"Yeah, Grant, try it." Brooke pokes me in the side where I poked her, and I bat her hand away

"I risk breaking bones on the ice enough; I don't need to be taken down trying to be a figure skater." I shake my head as Cami shows Adam the spin again, and he moves to try it.

I skate over and grab him by the back of the jersey and pull him back.

"Graaaaant," he whines.

"No," I firmly say, putting my foot down, or I guess my skate, dragging him back towards the end of the ice we will be on.

"Brookie, tell him," he whines at Brooke as she shakes her head and wiggles her fingers at him.

"Sorry, your captain's spoken." She smirks, grabbing Cami's hand, and they giggle, skating off together.

I can see them being little terrors on the ice when they were kids. A mini-Brooke would be cute; I'm curious what our kids would look like.

Cute. Definitely cute

"Why are you smiling all goofy?" Adam pushes a hockey stick into my hand since we didn't bring our own.

"Nothing," I mumble quickly, tearing my eyes away from Brooke.

After the scrimmage, Brooke, Adam, and I came back to the apartments instead of staying the night with Cami's family. Brooke said she wanted to sleep in her own bed, and Adam and I agreed to keep her company so Cami could enjoy the time with her family.

After Brooke's talk with Cami's dad on the porch and then skating, she seems a little lighter.

"I'm beat, guys." Adam yawns as we walk up the steps to the apartments.

"Brooke and I are going to watch a movie." I nudge her towards her door, but Adam walks over and hugs her, lifting her off the ground, making her laugh before depositing her back down.

"Love you, Brookie." He yawns again, letting himself into the apartment and closing the door.

Brooke opens her door, and I follow her, locking it behind me, having no intention of going to my own bed tonight.

She walks past the living room, straight to her room, and sits on her bed.

I join her, pulling her in for a hug. "How are you doing?"

She snorts a response, shaking her head and snuggling in closer to me, and I lean back so I'm lying down; she's half on top of me with her face in my neck.

"I'm going to be okay," she whispers softly, her voice fragile but certain. I meet her gaze and nod, the weight of her words settling between us like a quiet promise.

"Want to talk about it?" I ask gently, hoping to offer some comfort.

She hesitates, then asks, "Honestly?" I nod again, encouraging her. Slowly, she nuzzles her nose into the curve of my neck. Her hand slides up, fingers curling around the other side of my neck, tugging lightly into my hair. I feel her teeth graze my skin, biting just hard enough before she licks over the spot, sending shivers down my spine.

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