“You were sweet with him,” Sloane says.
I shrug my shoulders. “I had a lot of younger foster siblings,” I say, waving her off. “Do you have a car here?” I ask, and she points at a small little red car. “Do you mind if we pick it up later?”
“Not at all,” she says as we head over to my ancient truck.
I open the passenger door, putting the suit in the backseat, before helping Sloane get in the car. When I get in the driver’s seat, she looks over at me.
“So what should we do?”
I turn to her, realizing I can’t take her anywhere fancy. But I think back to Harrison. He wasn’t looking for anything fancy. He just wanted to be seen.
I’m going to show Sloane I see her.
“How are you on roller skates?” I ask her, and a wide grin takes over her face as I hightail it out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER 11
Ethan is on his knee, lacing up my rental skate, which I’m still not sure is completely sanitary. I had them show me four pairs in my size till I decided this pair met my standards.
“Tighter,” I tell him as he tugs on the laces.
“That’s what she said,” he whispers under his breath, and I shake my head.
We’re very clearly the oldest people at the skating rink at this moment and time. In fact, it must be some fundraiser tonight because all the kids are wearing some shade of neon as they skate around the rink.
“Alright, Canterbury Elementary. It’s girls vs. boys. When the music stops, you need to stop skating. If you move, you’re out.”
“Oh, the girls are totally going to win,” I tell Ethan.
“You wanna bet on it?”
“If the girls win, I pick what we do after skating. If you win, you get to pick.”
“Deal,” he says, holding out his hand. Up to his wrist is covered in tattoos, and I find myself wanting to get very acquainted with every piece of art on Ethan’s body.
I tug on his hand, bringing him closer to my face.
“Something you should know, Ethan… I don’t play fair,” I say, shoving him away from me as I hightail it onto the rink and start zooming in circles as the music plays.
His eyes widen as he tracks me and tries to catch up to me on his skates.
He’s got a lot more height on me, so it doesn’t take him long until he’s wrapping a long, tattooed arm around my waist, slightly lifting me off the ground.
“That was sneaky, Applegate.”
“Who, me? I’m not sneaky,” I protest as his fingers dig into that spot right underneath my ribs, making me laugh. “Put me down,” I wheeze out.
Two kids skate by, giving us dirty looks. “Who let those freaks in here?”
Ethan puts me down as we both laugh. The music stops, and we both don’t stop in time and have to skate to the center of the rink.
“Does our bet still count even if we’re not a part of the winning party?” he asks.
“Oh, definitely. Girls are still going to win.”
“Confident and cute?” he says, and I grab a fistful of his shirt.
“Ethan, baby. You have no idea.”
