“I’m here for Emmie, too. I’m her boyfriend.”
The daughter's eyes widened, mouth parted. “Boyfriend?”
“Yep. I’m here to watch her win,” I said it proudly.
“That’s really sweet of you to be here for her.” The mom practically awed as the line started moving forward at a faster pace. Before we could be separated to go through security, I turned to the daughter. “I’ll make sure to tell Emmie you came to support her.”
“Tell her my name is Ally and that I love her and that I want to be a figure skater just like her,” she rattled off in one breath. I grinned and gave her a nod.
“I will, Ally.” Damn, my girl has her own fans. I fucking love that.
I gave the duo one last smile before I was ushered through security. I barely stepped through when my name was said.
“Wait, are you Mateo Boone?” I glanced over my shoulder at a security guard who stood there, shock written all over his face. As much as I wanted to get inside, I could take a moment to greet someone.
“I am. Nice to meet you, man.” I extended my hand in greeting.
“Damn, I never thought I’d see you here at an event like this.” The guy shook my hand vigorously. “I’m a huge fan.”
“Thanks for the support.”
“We all know you’ll get us back-to-back wins this season.” He gave me a wide, excited grin, unknowing that his words made my chest constrict.
“Hope we can,” was all I could say. Every comment made about bringing the team back to The Legacy Championship made my skin crawl. The pressure, the expectation to do well this year ate away at me bit by bit. “I better get going but nice to meet you.”
I quickly took my exit, trying to shove all those unwanted feelings down. Today was not the day to deal with that. I scanned my ticket at the tall iron gate that led onto the grounds of the arena.
Once I walked through, I scanned the crowd for Emmie’s best friend, Erin, who was supposed to meet me here. I was happy to have at least one familiar face.
“There you are,” a voice piped up from behind, scaring the shit out of me. I whirled around, hands clenched into fists to find Erin there smirking, hands on her hips, wearing an oversized metal band T-shirt turned dress and a pair of Doc Martins.
“Where the hell did you come from?” I let out a shuddering breath and unclenched my fists.
“Your mom.” Erin proceeded to laugh at her own joke.
“Wow, you should warn people before you unleash such amazing comebacks,” I said.
“And ruin the fun of seeing their reactions? No way.” Erin wore a self-satisfied grin. My own lips twitched as I shook my head. I didn’t know Erin all that well aside from a few things Emmie told me about her. I was hoping today would be a chance to get to know Emmie’s best friend more.
“Glad you showed up today.” While her expression waseasy, her tone wasn’t. Her dark brown eyes behind her glasses held a sort of warning I wasn’t able to decipher.
“I don’t say things I don’t plan on following through with.” I looked Erin straight in the face as I said it. I wanted her to know I wasn’t the kind of guy who went back on his word. If Emmie wanted me here, I’d show up. No matter what.
For a person who was five-five she sure knew how to make me squirm under her stare. Finally, she made a little humph noise and looked away.
“Should we go find our seats?” I suggested.
“Yeah, come on.” Erin turned to the left. I followed alongside her, letting her lead us to where we had to go since I’d only ever been here once to watch Wyatt, Trevor, and Bryton play a year ago.
“So tell me, who is our biggest competition today?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“There’s a couple that could be contenders to win, but the biggest is probably Keira.” Erin said the name with a sneer, her fuchsia lips pulled back almost into a snarl.
“Who’s Keira?” I remembered Emmie telling me about her a few weeks ago, but I was curious what Erin had to say about her.
Erin flipped a chunk of her braided hair over her shoulder and glanced over at me. “Only the biggest bitch. She tried to trip Emmie during warmups at the Olympics last time. If Emmie hadn’t been close to the boards, she would have fallen.”
“That bitch.” I repeated the sentiment. Anyone who tried to sabotage another athlete was a hard no but trying to sabotagemygirl? Fuck no.
