“Nah,” Cruz answered as he held on to the railing, trying and adorably failing at being nonchalant. “Ice skating is a rich people’s hobby. No foster home is going to pay a couple of hundred dollars to let street kids waddle on the ice.”
It wasn’t often, but every now and then Cruz added tidbits about his childhood that made us feel like ungrateful little shits for taking things for granted.
Sure, Gray’s dad threw money at him instead of affection, but he still had a roof over his head. Micah’s dad was a lot to handle, but Micah never went without food. And although I might not have had a mom, my dad sure stepped up. It wasn’t often that I wondered what life would be like with her here.
At the end of the day, the three of us made do with what we got.
It might have been circumstance that brought us together, but at the end of the day, the three of us had a piece that the other one had been looking for.
Cruz noted the uncomfortable silence that his words had unintentionally caused. It wasn’t his intention to cause guilt, and it most certainly wasn’t his job to make us feel better, but he still did.
“If Grayson can do it, how hard can it be?” He scoffed as he let go of the railing.
The three of us winced as soon as we saw him wobble. I was about to skate over to him to try and help him regain his balance when he leaned, and fell backward right away.
“Omigod, are you okay?” I screeched.
There was a reason I loved my butt pads. Falling on your ass hurt like a bitch.
“The ice isn’t as cold as I thought it would be,” he joked in a strained tone.
Micah and Grayson rushed in to help.
Grayson was the first to offer Cruz his arm to help him up.
“How’s your coccyx?” I asked.
Cruz smirked. “Thinking about my cock?”
My cheeks flamed, and before I could answer, Micah did it for me.
“She means your tailbone, dumbass.”
Cruz didn’t miss a beat. He turned on his charm for Micah this time. “It’s a bit sore. If you’re offering to kiss me and make me feel better, I’m all for it.”
He didn’t wait for Micah’s reply. Instead, he took the hand that Gray had offered. Grayson helped lift him with ease. That was no surprise. What was a surprise was when Grayson guided Cruz toward the boards.
The act was simple, yet it warmed something in me. We had all come a long way since being forced into each other’s lives, but the interaction between those two was something else.
As tentative as their truce had started, now there was genuine trust, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed becauseMicah turned to me, and I could tell his train of thought was along the same lines.
Once Cruz was stable, Grayson let go of him, and Micah quickly took his place. Unlike Grayson, who wasn’t as comfortable with him, Micah had no problem holding on to his hands and guiding him so he could slowly skate alongside the edge.
Grayson began to scratch the back of his neck, and I immediately took a step closer toward him. My stomach felt queasy, partly due to guilt from this morning. Not because of what happened, but because Grayson hadn’t been there.
Was it fucked up that I kept thinking of us as a group?
I was finally having a good time, which I would overanalyze later. A problem for future Ava.
Instead, I glided toward Grayson. His eyes didn’t leave mine as I skated right in front of him. I opened my arms, and this seemed to surprise him, but he didn’t hesitate. He grabbed me by my waist and pulled me toward him.
He hugged me with both arms, and I clung to him, and immediately chastised myself for shutting him out. I was selfish thinking about myself, but Livy’s death weighed just as heavily on Gray as it did on me.
“I missed you,” I mumbled into his shirt.
“I was worried about you, Ava.” His deep timbre sent shivers down my spine.
“I’m sorry,” I admitted. “I just needed to process on my own. It’s not that I didn’t want to see you guys.”
