Page 30 of In the Danger Zone
“What does that m-mean?”
“You can hit me with a hockey stick.”
Rolling my eyes at the offer, I couldn’t help but find some amusement in the visual he had just given me. I thought about it. It’d be just me and Evan. No Asher, no Brie. And so far all of my one on one interactions with Evan had been safe. He hadn’t done anything to make me distrust him. If anything, it was the opposite.
I stared over at Evan. He kept looking at me with those blue eyes I couldn’t get enough of. Ugh. Why’d he have to be so cute for?
“Alright,” I finally said. “B-But I’m n-not gonna go easy on you if you do let m-me fall.”
Evan shot me a smile. “I’ll let you hit me as hard as you can. Promise.”
Chapter 15
DAISY
“Why is n-no one else here?” I mumbled, eyeing the completely empty ice rink. Not a single other person was present, leaving the entire space for just me and Evan.
Evan hummed before me. “The rink is usually busy at this time. I dunno. It’s hot today, I guess everyone is outside.”
I had literally never ice skated before in my life. The whole thing was an alien concept to me. A concept I probably should have been staying far away from.
Evan had found some skates for me that were my size. He even helped tie them up for me, making sure they were nice and secure. And now he was on the ice, waiting for me to step on to it with him. But the cement sounded much safer.
“M-Maybe we should b-be outside too,” I mumbled.
“Come skate with me.” Evan held both of his hands out. “You’re not hitting that ice. You’re not. Not when I’m here.”
Evan kept looking at me with what I could only describe as pure sincerity. Inching my hands closer to Evan’s, I let him hold mine. He guided me out of the gate, and I slowly but surely let one of the skates touch the ice.
“It’s so slippery,” I mumbled. “To state the obvious.”
“It’s okay. I got ya,” Evan said softly.
It was time for the other skate. I moved slowly. So slowly I was pretty sure Evan was laughing at me in his head. But then my other skate touched the ice, and Evan was pulling me over to him. My legs were shaky, but Evan’s strength kept me upright.
“N-Now what?” I asked, staring at the ice.
“Now you look at me. Don’t stare down at the ice. It’ll just freak you out more. Focus on my face, Daisy.”
That made sense, actually. Looking up, I stared into Evan’s eyes. There was a kind look on his face that I wasn’t really used to. Looks of disdain were what I was accustomed to. But Evan was staring at me and treating me like I was different. Like I was someone withimportance.
“You okay?” Evan asked, moving backwards with ease. He was bringing me with him, helping me move across the ice. There was no need for him to look over his shoulder. “Am I going too fast?”
I shook my head. “N-No. This is… n-nice.” It did feel like we were flying – little by little. But I was fine with that. “This is good.”
Evan smiled brightly at me. “It’d be easier if I held just one of your hands, though. Is that alright? I’ll still hold you.”
“Yeah… That’s okay.”
Still with that smile on his face, Evan let go of just one of my hands. But he still held on to the other one, sidling up next to me so that we were side by side. His broad form was right next to mine, his big hand covering my own. He skated forward, moving gently against the ice.
“So, do you like it?” asked Evan. “This is fun, right?”
“It’s… fine.”
“Just fine?”
“Okay, it’s really n-nice. I like the sound the skates m-make on the ice. It’s… weirdly calming.”
