Page 50

Madison

Laurie, Evan, Teagan and I all stood next to one another at the far end of the rink. Our shoulders were brushing and our skates were lined up along a blue line that streaked across the ice. Cole was at the opposite end, and I could see him grinning as he watched us across the distance. He looked so calm about the fact he was about to be chased by a group of people trying to win a date with him. It was a little demeaning when I thought about it, but I was too damn competitive to refuse to take part.

“I’ve got no chance,” Teagan murmured from beside me. She was eyeing the gap between Cole and us, as though that in itself was insurmountable, let alone actually catching our bachelor.

“You’ll do fine,” I said.

“Easy enough for you to say,” Laurie hissed from the other side of me.

Yeah, I was really missing my personal space right about now.

Angus stood in the center of the rink. There was one camera trained on his face, while another lens was pointed toward us. The third one was focused on Cole, although I imagined that once the competition started the film crew's careful set-up would probably turn to mayhem.

“Everyone ready?” Angus called, his gaze checking on each contestant before he glanced over his shoulder at Cole. Everyone nodded in return.

“On your marks,” Angus shouted, a wild grin lighting his face with excitement. “Get set,” he boomed.

“Go!”

I took off as quickly as I could, but my left skate immediately slammed into something hard and I was thrown forward. I flew through the air, unable to control myself, before falling swiftly toward the ground. My knees and my arms crashed hard against the ice, and I slid along it before coming to a stop. I swore under my breath and groaned as I went to push myself back up again.

My palms and knees burnt hot from the impact, and my limbs felt weak as I struggled to push myself off the ice. It was a bad fall, but I’d had worse. At least I hadn’t had too much momentum at the time.

People were shouting loudly from the other end of the rink, but I couldn’t tell whether they were cheering at the game or angry about something.

“Madi, are you okay?” Teagan asked, taking my arm and helping me to my feet.

I looked up at her, confused about what she was still doing beside me. “What are you doing? Get back in the game!”

“Not until I know you’re okay,” she replied.

“I’m fine,” I replied. “Now go!’

Teagan didn’t move though. “Laurie tripped you,” she growled.

“Are you kidding me?”

“She’s not. I saw her put her skate out,” Evan added. “This isn’t the freaking Hunger Games, Laurie,” he shouted across the rink.

“Evan?” I turned as I realized he was there with me too. “Why aren’t you guys chasing Cole?”

“We weren’t just going to leave you lying on the ice,” Teagan said.

I couldn’t believe the two of them had stopped to help me, but I wasn’t surprised to hear that Laurie had cheated. I looked ahead to find she was about halfway down the rink. She was closing in on Cole, who seemed to be about to meet her in the middle. He was skating quickly down the center of the ice, a frown creasing his brow and his eyes focused on me.

Laurie launched herself toward him as he neared, but Cole easily dodged around her before continuing to close in on the three of us. It was almost comical how swiftly he managed to dart past her floundering arms.

“Laurie hasn’t won yet,” I murmured, looking between my two friends.

“I think it’s only fair if you beat her to our man,” Evan replied.

I grinned. “It would seem appropriate given the circumstances,” I agreed.

“Are you hurt?” Cole called out, as he neared. He stopped a short distance away. He wasn’t close enough that I could steal the bright red piece of material hanging from his pants, but he hadn’t put enough distance between us that I couldn’t attempt to catch him either.

“I think I’ll be fine,” I called back to him. “You ready to hand over your hanky?”

“This old thing?” He flicked the red material at his side. “No, I think I’ll keep it.” He smiled, and there was a hint of relief to his expression, as if were a weight off his shoulders that I wasn’t too injured to joke with him.