Page 24 of My Rival for Christmas

Paige, in my arms.

It feels right.

Like she’s never left.

Like we’re both finally home.

Slowly, she tilts her head up, meeting my stare, and I suck in a breath.

Her eyes are my favorite variation today. That blue-green swirling combo that only a poet could name looks like pools of water mixing together as they meet my steadfast gaze, widening at what she sees in them.

All the words I never gave her, all the regrets I’m ready to atone for.

I open my mouth to start what I came here in the first place to do when I hear myself say:

“For the record,” I breathe, and it has nothing to do with the heavy workout we just put our bodies through. “Next time youwant to try that tactic, know the only boobs that will work on me are yours.”

I flinch. That isnotwhat I meant to say. Not at all what I wanted to say. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

But before I can recover, take the words back, hoping that my new friend in red (Santa) shows up to reverse time, the trance Paige slipped under snaps. Freeing her.

Leave it to my fucking mouth to ruin a perfect moment.

“Ugh.” Paige’s face twists with disgust as she plants her palms on my chest and pushes away—hard.

I rub at my chest. Not because she hurt me—even with her muscle tone, Paige is still Paige, as intimidating and forceful as a feral kitten—but because it’s like she burned her palms into my skin. Through my layers and everything.

Paige skates backwards until there is a decent amount of distance between us.

Too far.She’s always too far away from me these days.

Reaching up, she tightens her ponytail. “Well, now that you’ve gotten being a disgusting pig out of your system, can we stop playing games?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer before she pushes forward. “What, exactly, do you know about me and Cole?”

I feel my face darken at the mention of his name. I almost forgot how we got caught up in our game to begin with. Then again, I try to forget anything about that fucking piece of shit pretending to be a man.

Why did she have to ruin this moment for me?

I reach behind me to grab the board. It’s easier to ignore the call to punch something if my hands are already occupied. “Does it matter?”

“I want to know what people are saying.”She ran away.

For once in her life, Paige has prioritized herself over her sport and it’s eating her up to not know what’s happening back at the rink.

Taking one hand off the board, I rub the back of my neck. “I heard that he told you he’s better off going solo, ending your partnership.”

“Yeah.” She looks down at her skates, digging her toe pick into the ice. “Apparently, he had been thinking about it for a while, but after we didn’t qualify for Nationals, he thought ‘what’s the point? We suck anyway.’”

“You don’t suck,” I’m quick to say.

She gives me a pointed look, her blue-green eyes flashing. “Did you not see us at the last competition? Oranyof our competitions in the last two years?”

“I did, and I still stand by what I said.Youdon’t suck. Cole does.”

Always has.

“He doesn’t know how to skate as a team, only wanting to do what’s good for himself. You’re better off without him.”

A solo career will fit Cole’s selfish, self-serving, asshole attitude well. Then he’ll have no one to hide behind when he still continues to not place and will quit from the failure. Leaving me to never see his pompous face again.

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