Page 14 of Ice Dance

“With a different partner.” His smile grew. “You have me now. It’s different, and you know it.”

I laughed at him. “Oh, it’s different.”

His gaze hardened. He had the same look about him now as when he’d known he was letting himself down on the ice. Anger at me when he should have been angry at himself. He should work on that.

Dylan pushed between us, and headed to the bench to remove her skates. “Time to take a break.”

Navarro dropped his empty bottle into his bag and returned to the ice. He immediately began the routine, picking up speed. Skating angry. All he was going to do was work his body into the ground and learn nothing for the effort. He was a fool.

I looked away and shook my head. “This is a mistake.”

Dylan frowned and didn’t reply. She checked her phone. “It’s coming up on midnight. We can continue, but I’m sensing the two of you have had enough of each other for a few hours.”

I glanced behind me, through the plexiglass screen. Navarro wasn’t coming off the ice anytime soon. He was deep into practicing the mid-section, and clearly had a point to prove, but I wasn’t going to be here to see it. “What time tomorrow?” I asked.

“Nine a.m.”

I tugged at the laces on my skates, pulled them off, and rubbed my sore feet. “Alright. Tomorrow.” After packing up my gear, I left Navarro doing rotational turns, letting the door slam shut behind me.

EIGHT

CAMDEN

I was wrecked, and alive. My skin burned, muscles loose but tight and tingling, body a column of fluid heat but performing for me in every way. Then I caught the outline of Hasegawa’s figure leaving the rink and slowed my routine.

The door slammed. Silence settled in the big, cold, open space.

It could have gone worse. But not by much.

I glided toward the gate where Dylan was sitting with her bag and hopped off, onto the rubber mats. My blades left little piles of ice dust behind as I walked over to her.

She didn’t say anything, not to begin with. I dropped onto the bench, and stayed there a while, breathing fast, dripping sweat. “Regretting it yet?” I asked.

“Not yet. You?” She handed me my towel to dry my skates.

“I’ve spent my whole life proving people wrong.” I glanced at the closed door. I knew what he thought of me. But I wasn’t going to be the one to quit. He probably wanted that, so he didn’t have to be the one to walk away. “I don’t regret this, no. Maybe he does, though?”

“I saw good things out there,” Dylan said. Her gaze went to the closed doors too. “This can work. But we’ve got a long way to go.”

I tugged off my skates and flexed my feet. Hours on the ice and my muscles were feeling it. I probably shouldn’t have gone so hard in the last hour. “And three days to do it in.”

“It’s a lot to ask,” she said. “But if any pair can do it, it’s you two.”

“Trying is half the battle.”

“Hm, with you two, I think perhaps trying might be one-fifth of the battle. The rest is ego and hangups.”

I laughed. She was right. Ren was a stubborn asshole, and I knew I wasn’t the world’s most patient and contemplative person. “I’m not giving up on this. Not before Friday, anyway.”

She stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Let’s see what you say after another day on the ice together. Tomorrow, nine a.m. See you then, Navarro.”

“Sure thing.”

She hesitated and smiled down at me on the bench. “You did good tonight. Well done. Now do it all again tomorrow. But better.”

I nodded and watched her go. Praise from Dylan actually meant something. I’d only worked with her for a few hours, but she didn’t seem the sort to bullshit people. She told it how it was. I could see why she worked well with Hasegawa. She likely didn’t take any of his shit, and she wouldn’t take mine either.

Alone in the rink, I leaned back, rested my head against the plexiglass, and closed my eyes.