Page 18 of At the Edge with You

I move toward her, toeing out of my sneakers before rolling my athletic pants up to my knees. I sit beside her, her shoulder pressing into my bicep as I drop my feet into the water. I’m so much bigger than her, but somehow we work on the ice.

I let out a sigh of relief when the hot, bubbly water swirls around my feet, and she nods. “See? Told you.”

“Yeah, this is awesome.”

I feel her gaze on me. “You okay?”

We’ve spent so much time together, we know when something isn’t right. I knew when she failed a math test or someone was mean to her at school. While she goes to a pretty prestigious school, kids are still assholes, and she doesn’t mesh well with them. She doesn’t care about hair or makeup or boys; she cares about skating. She can be a bit hyper when she gets excited, and some think she’s annoying. I think it’s endearing, and I love how excited she gets.

I get her, just as she gets me. She always knew when I broke a stick during a game or got into a fistfight with some jackasses because they called me a bastard when my dad left. She’s known to leave me a Payday on the extra-hard days because she knows they’re my favorite. We work, she and I, and damn it, I want more.

So much more.

But I know her family would ruin me if I ever crossed that line.

I swallow hard as I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Your dad’s friend wants me to play for Ohio State next year. Full ride.”

I feel her gaze leave me suddenly, and it’s like the sun is gone from my world. No one in my family has gone to college, so this is a big deal. Yet it feels like a death sentence. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch as her head falls, and she nods slowly. “It’s what you want, to play hockey. Professionally. And free school? That’s amazing.”

I nod. “Yeah, they think I can make it.”

“You can,” she whispers. “I know you can.”

Needing to touch her, I grip her hand, and she threads her fingers with mine. Our eyes meet, and I say, “Thanks, ice princess.”

Her lips quirk. “I’ll miss skating with you, pretty boy.”

Her words gut me, and I have to know. “Is that what you want?”

Her brows draw in. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s your life, Jett.”

Everyone calls me JT but her. She’s only ever called me Jett, and hearing it on her lips always does me in. I look away, running my thumb along her knuckles. “I’ll stay if you ask.”

I didn’t mean to utter those words, and I know I shouldn’t have.

But I needed to.

I look up, and her eyes search mine as the silence stretches between us. I wait for her to ask me not to go. To continue skating with her. But she doesn’t. Not once does she say the words. Instead, she leans her head on my shoulder, and I close my eyes as the rejection eats me alive.

When I went home, she went out to Colorado. If I had known that would be the last day I saw her, I wouldn’t have kissed her nose.

I would have kissed her lips.

And never stopped.

CHAPTER

NINE

Fable

I throw my phone on the side of the bed, away from where I have wrapped myself in a blanket like a burrito. The last forty-eight hours have been a total mindfuck, but here I am.

I didn’t run like I want to.

Instead, I confirmed with the movers back in Chicago that they’ve packed up my apartment and will be delivering my things to a storage unit. I spent the day hiring a property management company to lease my apartment for the year—or maybe longer, depending on how I feel after this year. I know I’ll leave Thistlebrook once the year is up, but I don’t know if I’ll return to Chicago. Maybe I’ll travel a bit. Maybe fixing up figure skating programs can be my new thing, instead of coaching.

I’m not deciding that now, even though my brain wants me to and then it wants me to decorate my planner with pretty Post-it notes and stickers. That alone should overwhelm me, the need to plan a new adventure, but to my surprise, it doesn’t. I actually wrapped up things at the rink I worked at without much thought. It sucks that I won’t get to say bye to the kids I’ve been training, but I made sure to get ahold of the second-best instructor and have him take my clients. I sent each of my older girls a DM on Instagram and messaged the parents of the younger kids, asking for a moment of their time.

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