“You okay?”he had whispered.
“Perfect,”I answered him with a peck on the lips.
We had decided it was best for me to leave before his dad got up for the day. Micah’s relationship with his dad was complicated enough, and we didn’t need to add me to the mix. Since I had already been up and there was no way I would be going back to sleep, I quickly went home, showered, and then made my way to the rink.
Thankfully, my dad was still asleep, so he didn’t get to interrogate me before I left the house. If I didn’t come home, he just assumed I would be at the sorority. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to talk to me about what happened with Livy, but he didn’t know how to broach the subject. I was glad because I had yet to figure out how to lie to my dad’s face about everything going on.
Maybe it was fucked up and a little impulsive, but I felt like there was a ticking time bomb on me, and I was ready to soak up every second I had left with the people that mattered the most. Dinners with my father were a priority, even if I had to drag him out from under a car. The thought of that made me sick to my stomach, so I decided not to ponder on it too much. Instead, I made another reckless decision, and once I was in the skating facility, I made a beeline for the hockey team.
Livy was gone. No amount of guilt was going to bring her back. Grayson did not belong to her…he never did, and if I regretted one thing, it was not letting her know that she couldn’t claim a person. That our friendship shouldn’t have endedbecause of one man. That I wasn’t responsible for how others felt about her.
The butterflies I felt when I saw Grayson were different from those I felt when I was with Micah or Cruz. There was a nervous edge to them. As if the winged creatures had been tamed for so long that now that they were free, they fluttered up a storm only because they could.
It should have made me feel a little bit guilty that a few hours ago I was with someone else…with his own friend, but somehow, I knew Grayson wouldn’t have cared. So I let myself kiss him. It was freeing to do it on the same ice we both cherished, in a building that held so many of our triumphs and failures. Like I said, it was freeing to be able to kiss him out here in the open.
Grayson wasted no time in deepening the kiss.
His hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to his body.
The hoots and hollers of his teammates who had remained on the ice had us breaking apart instantly. I used Grayson’s body as a shield so the morons on his team wouldn’t see me.
“I like these kinds of favors,” Grayson murmured as he fixed a strand of hair behind my ear.
Grayson’s tone was light, but the smile he gave me didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Are you done with practice?”
He nodded.
“Want to stay back and help me with mine?”
The smirk he gave me helped relieve some of the tension on his face, and that made me feel better that I could do something to help him.
“I can do that.” His answer was a growl.
Now that I could be honest with myself, I could admit that it was sexy the way he could command a whole squad. I bit mylower lip as he basically told his teammates, “Good practice,” and to fuck off.
“So what do you need help with?” he asked a few minutes later as he came on the ice with me.
I extended my arms toward him and wiggled my fingers. “How about we skate for fun?”
“Again?” he teased.
“Last time we were making sure Cruz got the hang of it, there wasn’t much time to actuallyskateskate.”
At the mention of Cruz’s name, Grayson’s mood shifted.
Okay, something had definitely changed between them, and it seemed that instead of taking a step forward, they went three steps back. That sucked because last time we were all in here together, I could have sworn they were making a lot of progress. Not friendship, per se, but something was definitely brewing.
I would ask him about it later, after skating. I would also tell him what happened between Micah and me, but for now, it felt right to have this moment just for us.
“Hold my hand?” I asked Grayson as I began to skate backward.
“Is this still part of your favor?”
I rolled my eyes.
“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I bit back as I skated faster away from him. This seemed to ignite something in him. His eyes widened and his pupils dilated. The way he pushed off from the wall was sexy and graceful. In seconds, he was right in front of me again, taking my hand and leading me around the rink for a lap.
