Page 28 of Puck to the Heart
Besides, the sight of him at my feet was… powerful.
And then he slowly rose, unfolding to his full height so slowly I knew it was intentional.
The darkness of his eyes told me he’d read my mind,damn my expressive face, somehow knowing I wanted him to be a distraction.
He wasn’t happy about it, though which part he didn’t like, I couldn’t tell. So, fuck him for being unreadable.
“You guys are up next.” The attendant’s cheery voice sliced the moment like a rope cut in half, and Ash jerked away.
Ankles secured in the skates meant rolling them would be impossible, and I cursed Ash again for his impeccable knot-tying skills.
Awkwardly, I got to my feet, using the bench’s armrest to push myself up, and then with a shuffle so wobbly it would embarrass a penguin, I waddled toward the ice.
It loomed, a massive expanse of shining white, cut through with curving, cursive trails cut by skaters who whizzed past me like it was nothing to have knife blades on the bottom of a boot. Colorful costumes dotted the ice, decorations, balloons on a party table.
A shove from behind had me stepping forward, and bile rose.
I couldn’t, Icouldn’t,I couldn’t.
A hand wrapped around mine, another at the small of my back, slowly gliding us to the waist-high wall. All the air disappeared like some sort of giant Hoover in the sky vacuumed it up into its dusty bag. A gasping sound came from my mouth as I tried to pull oxygen into my lungs, but none came.
“Olivia.”
Still, no air made it past the squeezing in my throat.
My vision sparked around the edges, growing darker as her fingers went even colder.
Did I lose my scarf somehow?Sudden cold hit my neck and my jacket fell off, and the thinner under layer went with it.
Fresh air reached my skin through my thermal shirt, and it was like plunging into icy water, but it worked.
I could breathe again.
Greedily gasping down air, I blinked, grateful. Realizing the warmth on my face was tears, I turned away, unwilling to share this with anyone, much less him. Not again.
A light weight landed on my shoulder, reassuring and gentle.
“Do you need to leave?” He stayed a respectful distance away, only bridging the gap between us with his hand, which he pulled back as I turned to face him?—
—And remembered the skates half a second too late. Bambi on his wobbling newborn deer legs was probably better at standing than me.
This time, though, someone caught me from behind, and rather than catch my shoulders, they reached beneath my arms, a hair too far forward. A disgusting, familiar scent enveloped me as the gloved hands gripped my sides.Ew did Brad feel me up?Wherethe fuck did Brad come from?
“Steady there.” Brad’s voice sounded right in my ear and his body pressed against my back, but my skates still skidded on the ice, so unless I wanted to plant my ass right there, I was stuck with Brad.
Maybe planting my ass on the ice wouldn’t be so bad.
“Wantme to teach you how to skate, Livy?” Brad still lingered too close, and the fringes of the panic attack remaining in my system threatened to return full force.
“NO!” Oh, hell, my voice was as loud as my idiot coworker’s. “No. I just need a second.”
The white expanse yawned open beneath me, a chasm stretching out dozens of yards in all directions as I turned myself with my hands to press back against the wall. Both men watched me, and Ash gathered my things, setting them beside me.
Another moment of silence, and I flinched away when Brad drew closer. I shouldn’t have been surprised when Ash, whose eyes tracked a puck flying between a dozen grown men with sticks, caught the tiny movement.
A frown turned Ash’s soft looking lips downward and pinched his black brows together. “Hey, Brad, I’ve got this. I’m sure you’ve got better places to be.” He sounded vaguely threatening.
With a look like he was grateful and confused about it, Brad took off, more easily convinced by Ash than he would’ve by me. Normally, it might’ve irked me how easily Ash got rid of him, but I was grateful he took the hint and left.
