“Exactly. She’s the worst, and of course, she’s back to compete.” Erin rolled her eyes.
“Emmie will kick her ass,” I said confidently. While Ihadn’t seen Emmie’s routine, I already knew she was going to win.
“Yes, she will.” Before we entered a set of double doors that led into the arena, Erin stopped and turned in my direction, eyebrows drawn in and face serious. “We’re to be a united front when Keira comes out onto the ice. We’re going to boo so loudly she can hear it.”
Yep, it’s official—I liked Erin.
“We’re going to make her regret ever looking at Emmie,” I vowed.
“We’ll go all Tonya Harding on her ass,” Erin said in agreement.
“Uh…maybe not that far,” I amended. The last thing we needed was to hurt the poor woman and end up in the hospital.
“You and Emmie really are alike,” Erin muttered. I chuckled as she stomped past me, her Doc Martins slapping against the concrete floor.
As soon as we stepped inside, the temperature dropped a few degrees. It would get colder the closer we got to the ice. The smell hit me next, a weird mix of freezing air, wet floors, and that unmistakable hockey stink of rubber and sweat. A familiar scent to me.
Erin stayed in front of me, a giant backpack on her shoulders as she dodged and weaved through people as she walked, eyes focused ahead. We passed section after section, following the circle path that wrapped around the whole arena. We were on the ground floor with two others above us.
The music overhead was extremely loud, making it hard to hear anything going on around us, so I kept close to Erin. The arena wasn’t as busy when there was a hockey game going on, but there was a good amount of people here to watch.
Erin looked over her shoulder at me and gestured to section 105. I gave a nod of acknowledgement and followed after her.
“This place is busy,” I said loud enough for her to hear as we stood at the top of the stairs leading down.
“Yeah, they draw in quite a crowd.”
The temperature dipped even more as the two of us made our way down the stairs. When I bought the tickets, I found the one closest to the ice because there was no way I would be in the nosebleeds to watch Emmie skate. I wanted to be front and center.
“Good choice of seats,” Erin remarked as she stopped beside the aisle that was four up from the boards. “We can see the entire rink from here.”
I looked out, surprised to see the tempered glass that was usually up for hockey gone. It made it easier to see the skaters, that's for sure.
I shuffled past a few people already in their seats, apologizing as I went. I winced as my knees banged against the drink holders on the backs of seats. I plopped down in my chair with Erin on my right.
The familiar sound of a Zamboni drew my attention to the ice. The big machine slowly moving across the rink, cleaning and smoothing any sort of blemishes and getting it ready for competition.
Five people stood in front of us against the boards, and directly across the ice were four more. All were seated at a giant table that was filled with monitors and cameras. The judges, I presumed.
“I’m going to go grab a drink before it starts. Want anything?” Erin asked.
I shook my head. “I’m okay, thanks, though.”
She gave me a nod, left her backpack on the seat, and slid out the other side of the aisle. A quick glance at my phonetold me the competition didn’t start for another fifteen minutes.
Feeling slightly nervous for some reason, I played around on my phone. I replied to a few messages from the guys, approved a PR opportunity in four weeks from my agent, and sent Emmie one last good luck message.
I had just hit send when I felt a presence beside me. The bright fluorescent lights were suddenly dimmed as a shadow appeared over my phone.
“Erin, did you need me to move?“ I started to say, tilting my head to the side, fully expecting it to be Erin standing there waiting for me to move for her. What I saw wasn’t her. My stomach dropped to my feet.Fuck.
Standing next to me with familiar green eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, and arms crossed…was my coach. And Emmie’s father.
28
MATEO
Istared up at Reggie James, feeling like I was about to shit myself. He stared at me like he was seconds away from ripping my arms off and beating me with them.
