“So, what I’m hearing is I need to prepare Madison for competition,” he said.
Another laugh bubbled out of me. “I don’t know if you’re looking for a new student, but she could be your next big thing. Even though she started late, she’s watched me for years, and has followed you for just as long. She wants it.”
I could see him—arms crossed, brows slightly furrowed as he thought about it.
“Give her my number—or her parents and have them call me. And if you can, get a video of her skating and send it over. I trust your judgement in this—if you think she could be good, I’m willing to do a trial run, see if she’d be a good fit.”
“Really?”
“Aimee,” his voice was slightly exasperated. “Itrust you. If this girl has the potential you say she does, then she’s worth checking out.”
Brennan would have undoubtedly poked me in the forehead if he’d been standing in front of me. It was something he always did when he thought I was being unreasonable and stuck in my head.
Madison screeched in the background, and Brennan groaned.
“Get her to contact me. I have to go. Madison is tormenting the boys hockey team.”
I let out a low laugh, said goodbye, and he hung up.
I let my head fall back against the side of the building. I held my phone to my chest and felt it rise as I sucked in a deep breath. I let the cool mid-morning air wash over me—wash through me, calm me more. Mentioning Asher and remembering he wasn’t there wasn’t always the worst thing in the world. Sometimes it felt like it was though—like remembering him would break me into tiny pieces.
I closed my eyes again and focused on my breathing. And for a few breaths I let myself remember his laugh, how his hands felt, his lips, and then when the pain started to be too much, I let the memories go. I let the cool air whisk them away. I was about to push away from the wall and go back inside, when my eyes snapped open at the crunch of salt and gravel. I came face to face with two girls, recognition evident in their expressions and their phones pointed directly at me.
CHAPTER 11
aimee
“Oh my god,it is her. Lindsey wasn't lying about seeing her yesterday.”
I ducked my chin, lowering my face at their words.
“Can you imagine showing your face in public?”
I flinched, drew in on myself, squeezing my eyes shut. Acutely aware of how I might look as they filmed me. Tears burned in my eyes as I clenched my phone in my hands. I was trapped, pressed against the wall, unable to move—to barely breathe. The panic was seizing my throat as my heart rattled dangerously in my chest. They weren’t even trying to be discreet, hushed whispers that were just a tad too loud to be covert—this was in your face…in my face.
“Ugh I know. I’d be so embarrassed. I’d never leave my house again.”
I heard more crunching of gravel—footsteps drawing ever closer, and I fucking prayed that it wasn’t Lindsey or some other person these two girls knew.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Relief flooded through me and the tears slipped past my clenched eyelids. I could feel how badly my body was trembling.
Lukas.
I opened my eyes to see fury in his expression.
“We —”
“Well? How would you like it if someone shoved a camera in your face and said awful things about you?” He snapped.
“Oh come on. She’s Aimee Bryant,” one of the girls said, derision in her voice.
“Yeah, everyone knows what happened, how it was her fault.”
It should have been me.
My knees gave out, and I felt the ground meet my ass. I curled around my knees, clutching them to my chest.
