Page 31 of Pucking Snowed In With My Ex

I gave her a soft kiss and didn’t care if the world disappeared around us as long as we had one another. Skating backward, she followed, keeping her eyes on my face.

“Don’t look now, but you’re skating,” I teased as she pushed a little, left to right, and skated towards me. I wrapped my arms around her as she smiled. “I love you,” I said and kissed her like the world really would disappear.

“Okay, that’s it. You two have hogged the ice long enough for all your cutesy stuff.” We looked over to see Ty leading the charge, but all the guys were coming with their skates on. “He finally got you on a pair of skates. About damn time. They look good on you, Sugar,” he said.

“I guess the romantic part of the evening is over,” I whispered.

Skye smiled as I took her hand and told her to hang on. I’d never seen her so carefree as we glided across the ice. When she started to slip, I grabbed her and kept her upright as she squealed and laughed.

“The romantic part of the night is just starting. Let’s sing.”

“You want to sing? Callum Reeves, what has gotten into you?” Skye gave me a cheeky grin that had me pulling her close and spinning us in a tight pirouette.

“Ah, oh my God, stop before I’m sick.”

“Then sing with me,” I chuckled. “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,” I sang along with the music at the top of my lungs. Soon, we were all singing our horrible rendition of the carol. We sounded closer to the likes of cats wailing. Tonight had turned out exactly how I envisioned. No matter how old we were, I would never forget the look on her face or the joy in her eyes.

Skye wrapped her arm around my waist and sipped the hot chocolate spiked with Irish Cream. We watched the others zoom around the ice, kicking a puck like they were playing soccer.

“Thank you for this, Cal. This has turned into the best Christmas I could’ve ever asked for.” She turned her green eyes that could rival the emerald hills in Ireland up to me, and the world felt whole once more. “I love you,” she said.

“I love you too, Sugar.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

SKYE

A phone vibrated and startled me awake. The sky was starting to lighten with the dawn, and I shimmied out from under the warm blankets to grab it when I realized it was mine glowing.

I quickly pulled on my fuzzy pajamas and socks before walking across the cold hardwood floor. If I ever built a house, I was doing in-floor heating. There was nothing worse than waking up in the morning and stepping onto the freezing cold floor.

Grabbing my phone off Cal’s dresser, my heart jumped out of my chest as my stomach fell through the floor. All I could hear was the blood rushing to my head as I stared at the text message.

S: 911 CALL ME ASAP

My hands shook as I pulled on a hoodie, then unlocked and slipped out the bedroom door. What the hell had Alex done? Had I gone too far yesterday? As far as I was concerned, I didn’t go far enough.

Luckily, no one was up, and I hit Sammie’s number.

“Hello, Sk….”

“Hello? Sammie. Hello?”

“Sk…Ca….”

Dammit. I shoved my feet into a pair of boots and grabbed a jacket before stepping outside. It was cold this morning, and everything had a thin layer of ice.

“Sammie, can you hear me now?”

“Skye you….”

The signal dropped again, and I moved to the far end of the deck and looked at the little bars, but it only showed one. It would be my luck that now, of all times, my phone wouldn’t have reception.

“Hold on, Sammie,” I said.

Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I grabbed the railing and barely made it down the steps without falling. I turned and glared at the black ice. Pulling the phone out, I heard Sammie saying hello over and over.

“I’m here. I’m just trying to get better service,” I said. My heart was beating impossibly fast, and pain gripped my chest with the stress of whatever she had to say. “Okay, try now.” I put it on speaker so I could see the service bars as I wandered the path around the pond.