Page 49 of Second Chance with the Enemy CEO
“Clearly, he’s living his best life,” Luke quips.
“Great,” I mutter, pulling my hat lower over my face. “Let’s just…, ignore him,” I say quickly, standing and wobbling slightly on my skates.
“Too late,” Luke says, smirking. “He saw us.”
“Fantastic,” I mutter under my breath.
“Are you going to talk to him?” Maya asks, nudging me.
“Absolutely not.”
Grace lets out a low whistle. “Well, if the tension between you two gets any thicker, I’m pretty sure it’ll snap and take us all out.”
Luke laughs. “She will just skate away. Won’t you, Hazel?”
I roll my eyes, pulling myself to my feet. “Exactly. Now, can we drop it? We are here to skate, not have a staring contest with Liam.”
I can feel his presence on the ice, a faint hum in the background of my senses, but I refuse to give him the satisfaction of even a glance. Instead, I focus on the rink, the cool air brushing against my cheeks and the slight wobble in my ankles as I adjust to the ice again.
As I push off, the motions come back effortlessly, muscle memory taking over. A couple of laps later, I feel the tension in my shoulders ease. It has been a while, but the rhythm feels as natural as breathing.
“You’ve still got it, Haze!” Luke calls as I effortlessly glide past him, a grin tugging at my lips.
“Girl, did you take skating classes or something?” Maya asks.
“I told you,” I say with a grin, leaning into a turn that sends a satisfying spray of ice into the air, “once in a while.”
Luke chuckles. “You liar. You look like you have been practicing non-stop! What did you do, get a private tutor while you were away?”
I snort, skating backward for a moment. “Not quite. But I guess it stuck.”
After a few more laps around the rink, Luke suddenly pulls ahead, skating backward. “Alright, let’s do that trick we used to do! You know, the one where we spin and jump at the same time. Come on!”
I glance at him, grinning. “Are you serious?”
“Of course!” He grins back. “For old time’s sake!”
“Alright, on three,” I say, grinning.
“One... two... three!”
We meet in the middle of the rink, and Luke grabs my hand, steadying me as we line up. The trick was something we had practiced endlessly years ago: a simple lift followed by a spin. It was not professional level or anything, but it had always wowed the small crowd at the rink.
“Ready?” Luke asks, and I nod.
We take off, our movements synchronized. He lifts me easily, spinning us both in a controlled circle. As I land back on the ice, the applause from Grace and Maya echoes across the rink.
“That's still awesome!” Maya cheers.
Grace claps her hands together. “You two should be in the Olympics or something!”
I laugh, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. “Hardly. But thanks.”
We skate a few more laps, the laughter and teasing making it easy to forget the heavy weight of Liam’s gaze lingering somewhere behind me.
After a few more minutes of silly stunts and tricks, the mood starts to settle. I skate a little slower now, just gliding around, the chill of the air mixing with the warmth of the laughter.
“I missed this place,” I say, my voice low as I circle around them, taking in the familiar lights and the echo of our voices off the walls.
