“All right then. I’ll treat you to a milkshake.”
When we were seated in a booth inside the diner and a sweet older lady with the nametag Esther had served us with two huge strawberry milkshakes, I looked around the place. There were a few groups of two and three dotted around the diner’s interior, and a couple of people seated at the counter, but it was the group of four in the booth to my right that caught my attention. A gorgeous, dark-haired girl with three good-looking guys, probably a similar age to us or slightly older. There was something about the four of them together…
Grayson’s foot nudged mine beneath the table. He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Those guys in that booth over there—” His gaze flicked in the direction I’d just been looking. “—they remind me a bit of us in a way. Our group.”
I nodded. He’d put my thoughts into words, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it aloud in case we attracted their attention. It was safest to keep a low profile at the moment, when we had no idea who or what we were dealing with. Instead, I pulled my glass closer, wrapping my lips around my straw and sucking up the sweet, chilled strawberry liquid. I immediately forgot all about the group in the other booth when Gray’s eyes darkened, his gaze focused on my mouth.
“Gray,” I whispered, breaking the spell, and he sat back, rubbing his palm over his face.
“Fuck.” Dropping his hand to the table, he sighed. “There’s no denying you’re distracting. When I look at you, I forget for a second. But then I remember.”
“I hope— Do you think Ava and Cruz?—”
“Yeah. I’m gonna text them.” He swallowed hard as he pulled his phone from his pocket. I could see the moment he steeled himself, his shoulders straightening and his jaw setting with determination. There was that look of focus on his face I was used to seeing on the ice. “We should all be together for this.”
“Okay.” I pressed my foot more firmly against his in the hope that the contact would comfort us both, and he blew out a heavy breath as he pointedly bypassed the unread notification, his fingers tapping rapidly on his screen.
“I’m sending the same message to both of them, telling them to meet us ASAP.”
We drained the rest of our milkshakes in silence, waiting for a reply. Finally, Gray’s phone vibrated softly.
“What does it say?” I asked as he scanned the message.
“Meet them at the rink.” He pushed to his feet. “Come on. Let’s go.”
11
AVA
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Cruz once again.
Having me skate was his idea. He said I needed to get back to my normal, whatever that was in this new reality.
But he was right.
Skating was one of the only safe places I had, so I needed to get back to the things that made me happy—the things that made life worth living.
Cruz gave an uneasy laugh.
“I’m okay, just not sure how I feel about skating.”
This made me smile.
Just then, the doors to the gym opened again, and Micah and Grayson walked in.
When mine and Grayson’s eyes locked, my heart sped up. I hadn’t seen him since the funeral. Before that, our last interaction had been prior to the Halloween party.
Even though the aftermath of that party had been playing on a loop in my mind, the actual party felt like a lifetime ago. Grayson’s eyes quickly assessed me. They went down my bodyas if he needed to make sure I was fine. His shoulders visibly relaxed.
I felt like a dick for pushing them away, for being harder on Grayson because a part of me blamed myself more than anyone else. While Micah was part of the crowd, he wasn’t as integrated with Greek life drama as Gray and me, and the fact that Livy’s imprint had tainted us long before Halloween night.
Another thing I noticed was that the bond between Grayson and Micah seemed much stronger, but I suppose the same could be said for the bond between Micah, Cruz, and me.
Blood runs deeper than water.
The blood that spilled all over us kept us together.
“You ever been on the ice, Martinez?” Grayson taunted Cruz as they approached us. It should be noted that his tone was lighter than it used to be.
