Page 60 of Before We're More Than Friends
He grabbed my hand, and we skated along the rink together. Both of us put our free hands in the air. In this moment, I felt invincible. I soared across the ice with my best friend, laughing happily.
Hayden’s smile fell as he pulled me to the side with him.
“What are you doing?” I asked, letting go of his arm.
“Look out!”
By the time I whipped around, someone was slamming into me. The two of us tumbled onto the ice. My right side hit the ice first and pain shot up my body.
“Dallas!” Hayden skated over to me, along with the rest of our friends.
The person halfway on top of me grunted. “Looks like we collide again.”
“What—” I finally got a look at them, and my brain almost exploded.
You have to be kidding me.
CHAPTER 16
Raina
“That was my fault this time,” I said as Sienna helped me sit on the ice, my knee throbbing from the collision. “I never learned how to brake.”
“It’s okay,” Dallas said, though frustration flickered across his face as Hayden helped him up. Could I blame him at this rate? I was fed up with literally crashing into him too.
And I might actually be injured this time.
When Sienna helped me up, my left knee buckled and throbbed. I yelped and fell onto my butt. Tears stung my eyes from the pain.
Sienna’s amber eyes grew wide. “What’s hurting?”
“My knee.” Touching my knee sent another bolt of pain to it. I winced, my eyes burning more.
“I’ll get the nurse,” Hayden said before gliding off the rink.
My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Enough attention had already been on me since Dad was arrested and taken to federal prison, and I’d been doing my best to stay under the radar the whole party. I really hadn’t wanted to come, but Arielle and Sienna were coming, and I’d wondered if it would’ve hurt Dallas’s feelings if I hadn’t shown up with them.
Why did I care so much about his feelings? I had no idea, but after staying in the house all week, filling jewelry orders while crying my eyes out, I needed to be anywhere but that broken place we called home.
Dallas put his hand on my leg. His deep brown eyes met mine, so warm and melty, not cold and harsh like they had been before. “You’ll be okay.” His words warmed my heart. Like he wasn’t just talking about my knee.
“Thank you.” My hand went on top of his before my brain could process what it was doing. When it registered, I took it off at the same time Dallas took his hand off my knee. “Sorry.”
Whispers filled the air, and I turned around to see our friends and some randoms still standing here, staring at us like we’d been caught making out.
It seemed like light years before the nurse brought me inside to take care of my knee. Thankfully, it was just a bruise, and I didn’t have to go to the doctor. However, this thing would hurt like hell for the next few weeks.
Something to add to the extensive list.
Arielle sat beside me on the bench and touched my leg. “Want me to take you home? I can always come back to the party.”
I shook my head. “It might be over by then.” It wasn’t like me to fight against leaving, but Arielle needed to be here. Unlike me, she’d been avoiding the house as much as possible all week. She’d left for around five hours on Monday after the fight with our parents, and no one questioned it. I had a feeling I knew where she went. “I’ll just call Mom and Dad to let them know what happened.”
Her face dropped, and it took me a moment to realize why.
We didn’t have a dad to call when we needed him anymore.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll call Mom.”I just hope she’s inside and sober.
