Page 78 of Captured Love

“You might be onto something there. But what if I freeze up or say the wrong thing?”

“Then you apologize, laugh it off, and try again. This isn’t a marriage proposal,” Blaise says with a shrug. “Dude, you've faced down guys twice your size on the ice. You can handle telling a girl how much you care about her.”

The words ‘marriage proposal’ make me pause, but I quickly recover. “Not even remotely the same, but okay,” I say.

“I know, but I still think you’re overthinking all of this.”

“You’re right, but I can’t turn my brain off. She and I are doing an ice skating lesson tomorrow and?—”

Blaise does a double take before he responds, “And that would be the perfect time to ask her!”

“Fine. I’ll figure out a way to do it there. You’re a genius.”

Blaise grins, clearly pleased with himself. “I know I am. But seriously, everything is going to go fine. Now, can we please talk about something else? I can only handle so much emotional turmoil in one day.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I say as I roll my eyes. “Thanks for the pep talk, Coach.”

“Anytime, man. That's what I'm here for.” Blaise returns to the router.

“What are you up to?”

Blaise turns the router over in his hands. “Trying to boost the signal. The connection's been spotty in my room.” He gestures to the various wires and gadgets spread out on the coffee table. “Figured I'd see if I could fix it myself before calling to have someone come out.”

“Isn’t it illegal to do that? Like it voids a warranty or something?”

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

I snort, more amused by Blaise's nonchalant attitude than I expected to be. For as long as I’ve known him, he's always been into taking things apart and putting them back together, so I can’t even be surprised by what he’s doing right now.

“Just don't burn the place down, alright?” I say, only half joking. “I'd prefer not to have to explain to the landlord why our house suddenly reeks of melted plastic.”

Blaise laughs, waving off my concern. “Ye of little faith. Have I ever steered you wrong before?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Fair enough. But seriously, I've got this under control. No fires, no explosions, no angry calls from the internet provider. Scout's honor.”

“You were never a scout,” I point out.

“Doesn’t matter,” he says and soon his attention is back on the router. “Now, are you going to stand there and critique me, or are you going to make yourself useful and grab me a beer from the fridge?”

I flip him off. “Fuck you.”

Blaise just laughs, completely unfazed. “Love you too, bro. Now seriously, beer me.”

I roll my eyes but head to the kitchen anyway, grabbing two cold ones from the fridge. I can be nice this one time because he did talk me off a ledge. I return to the living room, handing Blaise his beer before sinking back into the armchair. He takes a long swig, then sets the bottle aside and refocuses on the router.

29

SELENE

As I walk up to the Crestwood Red Wolves’ rink, I’m feeling both confident and nervous at the same time. I’m proud of myself for deciding to try something new but also wondering what the hell was I thinking. Why did I think it would be a good idea to learn how to skate?

Because of the man standing next to me. Holding a bag with our skates in it.

“So the arena is closed today?” I ask as we walk up to the entrance.

A smug grin spreads across Knox’s face. “Yep, just you and me, picosita. I pulled some strings to get us private ice time.”