Bang!
“Henry! You should see your Uncle Sergio on skates. He’s terrible.”
“All you need to do is hold my hands,” Jeremy instructs, extending his palms forward for Sergio to take for what feels like the hundredth day in a row.
“Maybe we should wait until Henry wakes up,” Sergio suggests, not wanting a repeat of yesterday and the day before that and the day before that and well, honestly, the last handful of weeks trying to get this right. He brings his hand to his chin and rubs the skin that had been split open after his last fall, still relieved he hadn’t woken up to a gash on his face like the one he went to bed with.
Jeremy rolls his eyes. “He’s out cold. Now quit being a wimp and grab my hands.”
Sergio, unable to resist having Jeremy’s hands in his, does what he’s told.
“Good,” Jeremy says, giving his hands a little squeeze as he begins to skate backward, pulling Sergio along with him. “Now all you have to do is shift your weight with me from side to side. Don’t even worry about picking up your feet.”
“Like this?” Sergio asks, settling into the familiar rhythm.
“Yeah! Like that!” Jeremy says with excitement in his voice. “Are you sure this is your first time?”
“I’ve skated a few times before,” Sergio confesses. “But each attempt has ended in a blooper reel-style crash.”
“Well, we all fall down every once in a while.”
“True. But unfortunately, I happen to do it spectacularly.”
“I won’t let that happen to you today,” Jeremy promises. Sergio would love nothing more than to believe him. “I think you can try pushing off. Rock your weight onto your right foot, then push off with your left.”
“Like this?”
“Just like that.”
Sergio repeats the motion without being directed.
“So good. Keep going,” Jeremy encourages and tries to let go of Sergio’s hand to move to his side like he’s been doing each day that Sergio’s abilities to stay balanced on his skates continue to grow.
Sergio, tired of falling before he gets to the kissing, grips Jeremy’s hand harder. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
Jeremy’s face breaks out into a playful grin with one eyebrow raised slightly higher than the other. “I can’t hold on to you forever, Sergio.”
Holding on tight, never wanting to lose his grip on Jeremy ever again, Sergio says with complete certainty, “Bold of you to assume I ever want you to let go.”
Jeremy stops his motions, and slowly they come to a stop in the middle of the rink. “Is that so, Mr. Sergio Durand?”
Sergio, standing stock still, nods his head. He’s never been so sure of something in his life.
“And why is that?” Jeremy pulls at Sergio’s hands, drawing him in closer so they are standing chest to chest.
Carefully letting go of one of Jeremy's hands, Sergio brings his now free hand to Jeremy’s cheek and lets his thumb tug gently at the corner of Jeremy’s left eye. “You’re so beautiful on the ice,” he says, sighing softly, relieved that if things keep going well, hemight get to feel Jeremy’s lips pressed against his again. “You look … free.”
Jeremy tilts his head and looks at him, a soft smile lifts his lips. “I guess I am.”
Feeling quite confident and frankly a bit desperate, Sergio leans in and places a solid kiss on Jeremy’s lips, moaning when Jeremy reciprocates it instantly.
“Are you two kissing?” Henry’s voice echoes through the rink, causing Jeremy to quickly pull away. Sergio, for the first time, maintains his balance.
“Henry!” Jeremy calls out, his cheeks visibly blushing. “You should see your Uncle Sergio on skates. He’s not that bad.”
Chapter fourteen
“Henry told me you kissed Jeremy,” Rose says, sliding in beside Sergio at the bar where he’s just ordered another whiskey for himself and a sparkling water with a twist of lime for Jeremy from the bartender.
