Bitterness lodges in a ball in my throat, and I try to wash it away with my sweet and salty drink, to no avail.
“Unclench, tiger, he’s not worth the dentist bill,” Connor whispers.
Relaxing my jaw, I take a few calming breaths, dragging the frigid New England air through my lungs, but the hardening in the pit of my stomach won’t soften, no matter how much I don’t want this to bother me.
I knew this was the ending. I knew watching him fall in love with someone else was inevitable. And yet…
When he almost kissed me, I was hopeful. I could feel him, and he wanted me—me, not a moan, not a stroke of his ego. We were getting somewhere.
I could have sworn something cracked that day, but—a sharp pain grips my side, and I press in on it. “Shit,” I whisper.
Connor rubs small circles on my back. I can sense Seth’s eyes narrow in on us before I see them for myself. When I pick up my gaze, his stare’s pinned to Connor’s hand, a pinched expression hardening his face when all he’s been is jovial and unaffected the past three weeks.
Huh.
Maybe the bond isn’t as one-sided as I thought, then.
Only one way to find out.
I plop back down on the bench, kicking off my shoes, and lacing up my skates.
“What are you doing? Don’t you want to leave?” Connor asks, hovering over me.
“I need you to flirt with me.”
He snorts, crossing his arms in front of him. “Have you been sneaking the spiked hot chocolate?”
“No. But I’m close to breaking that rule.” My fingers pull the laces up tight. “This is a good idea. Please.”
With a sigh, he clutches his beanie with his hands. “I don’t know, Maddie. Why do you even need me to do this?”
My eyes flicker to where Seth and Jenny are on the pond, and Connor follows the path of my gaze.
“You want to make the asshole jealous,” he says with a frown.
“If I say yes, will you lose all respect for me?”
“Already happened when this whole thing started, don’t worry.”
“Oh, phew. Then yes.”
Connor considers me for half a second before shaking his head. “Won’t work with me. He’s too full of himself to think I’m a threat.”
My muscle on my right-side twinges, and I pull myself up from tying my skates, my body not appreciating being in the crunched position for that long. My eyes connect with Seth’s, staring at me with unfiltered attention that embers flicker along my skin just from this brief gaze.
“I don’t know about that.” I laugh, gesturing to the intensity of Seth’s stare.
“Fuck, he’s dumb.” Connor drops on the bench and pulls his boots off. With his mittens in his mouth, he grumbles as his fingers fumble with the strings on his skates before sighing and looking at me. “I’ll do it. But you owe me.”
“Name your price.”
“Dishes and trash for a week,” he says, standing and extending his hand to help me.
“Deal.” I accept his and walk to the edge of the pond, gliding along with ease as our skates hit the ice. “Where should we do it?”
Connor keeps hold of my hand, spinning me back around him. With a coy smile and an intensity narrowed on my face that I don’t remember my ex-boyfriend ever possessing, he locks his gaze with me. He tries to run his hand through my hair, but it’s mittened. His mouth twitches. “Mitten brushing isn’t as sexy.”
A giggle bubbles out of me. “Are you kidding me? Scratchy wool is hot. Like, I’m so freaking turned on right now.”
