Page 54 of Fake Skating

“Cass, Liz, and Lillie don’t want to leave,” Dani said as she looked at her phone, “but Vinny and Richie are on their way. Are you okay with that?”

I was okay with anything that took the worry out of her eyes.

She was still happy, but I could tell that the stuff with the colonel was bothering her.

“As long as you’re there, I don’t care. But tell them to bring chairs and wood.” I held her free hand while I drove, determined to make her forget about anything that wasn’t perfection.

Because that night was as close to perfect as any night had ever felt.

Not only had we clinched, but I actually had Dani.

Nine-year-old me would’ve lost his shit, although to be honest, I felt exactly like nine-year-old me as I drove.

Because I was losing my shit over the fact that we were actually together.

It was a struggle not to smile like a clown as I followed the road that led to our spot, because talk about full fucking circle.

The moon was high in the dark sky when we got out of the car and I grabbed two chairs from the trunk, and when we pushed in the door and stepped inside the shed, I couldn’t take my eyes off her as Dani looked around.

“God, it’s like a time machine,” she said in awe, turning in circles, staring up at the hole in the roof. “It smells the same, it feels the same.”

“Wild, right?” I agreed, setting down the chairs.

“Y’know, even with my dad showing up unannounced, I am incandescently happy right now. His… whatever can’t even ruin this.” She turned back to me, full-on grinning, and said, “By the way, I don’t know if you’re interested since you’re not a party person anymore, but I grabbed this just in case.”

She pulled a bottle of champagne out of her purse and added, “Even if we only take one sip and throw it away, I think we should toast the night that you had.”

“The night we had,” I corrected, because it didn’t feel like my night at all. It was the team’s night, it was Southview’s night, it was Dani-and-fucking-Alec’s night.

“Yeah,” she whispered, her voice going soft. “I want to celebrate us and forget about everything else.”

Her eyes held a hint of sadness, and it was killing me not to ask if she wanted to talk about her dad and the fight we’d overheard, but I could tell she was trying to forget.

And I was perfectly fine drowning in ignorance with her.

“Come here, wiseass, and let me toast you.”

My heart was in my throat as she took a few steps toward me, looking so damn pretty with her dancing eyes and fistful of bubbly that Alfie Jukes’s lyrics hummed through my mind.

I’m loving you more

Than I have before

To see you with those eyes wide

I took the bottle from her hand, grabbed the cork with one hand and the bottle with the other, pointed it away from us, and boom—it popped.

“Holy crap,” she said, eyebrows raised as she grinned. “That was impressive.”

I looked at her twinkling eyes and the Packers jersey I could see underneath her coat, and I just wanted to freeze the moment.

“Drink up, Collins,” I said, feeling like I was going to explode if I didn’t kiss her.

Like, immediately.

Her eyes stayed on mine as she lifted the bottle to her mouth and drank, and dammit—I couldn’t wait.

I took the bottle from her hand the second she lowered it, dropped it on the ground, and then I was sipping champagne off her lips, sliding my hands up the curves of her face while my tongue got drunk on the taste of her.

She made a noise when I kissed her, it might’ve been my name or it might’ve been a sigh, but I felt it crawl up my spine like a shiver.

I forgot all about charm and finesse and just kissed the hell out of her, diving into her sweet mouth over and over again as she grabbed both sides of my jacket like she needed something to hold on to.

Yeah, I’ll fucking be that for you. Hold on, Collins, and never let go.

It felt like we were trying to absorb each other, like Dani and I were in a race to consume as much of each other as we could in the shortest amount of time.

It was too intense, too good, and I wanted to stop time and stay in this moment.

“They’re here,” she whispered against my mouth, still kissing me back like she didn’t give a shit.

“Boo,” I said as I heard voices outside, regretting that we’d told the guys where we were going. A car door slammed, but I didn’t care enough to pull back and deny myself the intoxicating slide of her bottom lip against mine.

“Fucking perfect,” I breathed, then did it again.

But when the door flew open, it wasn’t my friends who were standing at the threshold of the crumbling shed.

No, it was fucking Benji Worthington.

Ben walked in with three St. John’s guys: their goalie, Adam; their forward, Cody; and Austin Clark, the coach’s son.

I swear to God I heard a roaring in my ears as I watched them enter our space.

What the fuck were they doing there?

“Benji?” Dani said, sounding shocked to see him.

The goalie snorted. “Did she just call you Benji?”

What the fuck were they doing there?

“Are you ever going to remember to call me Ben, honey?” Benji said with a smile that made me want to kill him.

What the fuck are they doing here?

“Did you seriously just call me honey?” Dani said, but she didn’t sound pissed. She sounded confused, like she didn’t know why the little douche had that much nerve.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, keeping my cool.

“We happened to see your unmistakable car drive by when we were getting gas on Concord, so we thought it’d be entertaining to see what Zeus and the boys were doing to celebrate the win.”

“You followed us here?” I asked, my cool going from blue to insta-red. “You’re such a fucking loser, Worthington. Get a life.”

“I have a life,” King Douche said. “But I suspected Dani was in your car, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

“Of course she’s okay,” I said, wondering where that little fucker got off. That was the second time he’d acted like he needed to check on Dani when she was with me. “What the hell does that even mean?”

It’d been a great day, and I was not in the mood to deal with Benji’s bullshit. I needed him to disappear.

“It means you’ve always been a prick who’s prone to violence—”

“Come on, Benji ,” I said, glancing at Dani because that was such bullshit and I didn’t want her to listen. “Kicking your ass for being a cocksucker doesn’t mean I’m prone to violence. It means I couldn’t take your bullshit anymore.”

“And look at this—you brought her to a crumbling shack in the woods. That’s kind of a red flag, so I’m just making sure my old friend is okay.”

“Your old friend ?” I looked at his ferret face and wanted to pound him. “She was never your friend.”

“You guys,” Dani said, sounding uncomfortable. “Knock it off.”

“Oh, she wasn’t?” Benji said. “Then how did I know where this place was?”

“You just said you followed me here, fuckface.”

“Dani brought me here a couple years ago,” he said, wearing that smug smile he was born with. “We had a nice walk, caught up, and then she showed me the terrible artwork you drew on the wall. Remember that, Dani?”

I wanted to level him as I remembered the way he’d gleefully showed me the picture of Dani on his phone that night, the one where she was laughing with him in our spot.

“Benji,” Dani said quietly, sounding different,and when I glanced over, I hated how nervous she looked. “Stop.”

“Feels like it was yesterday, though,” he said, his tone full of innuendo. “ Great night.”

“Fuck right off, Worthington,” I said, pushing him with both hands. “Just get the hell out of here.”

“Maybe we should go, Alec,” Dani said, looking more like the girl who’d been unable to deliver her intro speech than my champagne girlfriend of five minutes ago. “Let’s go.”

“One sec,” I said, not willing to go first because I didn’t want them to ruin our spot. I’d leave just as soon as I got them to take off.

“I was supposed to take her to see you at the hospital, if I recall,” Ben said, grinning like he thought he was hilarious. “But Dani decided to hang with me instead.”

“It wasn’t like that and you know it,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Apparently I wasn’t completely over the past, because the red-hot rage I’d felt the night I learned she brought him there was still alive and well.

How could she bring him here?

But I needed to keep my cool, so I just stared down at his ugly face and started counting.

Ten. Nine. Eight.

“The plan was to go see your dad, but we never made it.”

“Knock it off , Benji,” she said, and I didn’t like the sound of her voice. I shot her a glance, and she looked like she was about to pass out.

Seven. Six. Five.

I said, “Just leave, Worthington.”

“Yeah, let’s take off,” Austin said. “It’s fucking freezing, anyway.”

Four. Three.

I tried again. “Listen to your friend, Benji .”

“I’m going,” he said, shaking his head and grinning like a psycho. “But God, Dani—we spent a lot of hours here, remember?”

Two.

“ Stop , Benji,” Dani snapped.

One.

“That’s not what you said that night—”

I pulled back my fist and slammed it into his nose.

“Oh my God!” Dani screamed.

But all I could hear was Worthington’s ghoulish fucking laugh as his nose gushed, so I tagged his right eye, that little fuck . I’d heard of people seeing red when they were angry, but for me it was like I went blind.

Everything else disappeared, and all I could see was Worthington’s nasty little face.

He swung at me and grazed my cheek, but my reflexes were faster than his fist.

“Alec!” Dani yelled. “Stop!”

Ben was still smiling, so I shoved him into the wall with both hands. “You prick .”

I heard Dani shouting, but I couldn’t make out her words and I didn’t want to.

Because staring down at Ben Worthington just reminded me of the day my dad had been fighting for his life and the cops came to the hospital to arrest me.

It reminded me of my mom’s face when they led me out.

Of my guilt when she had to leave my dad’s bedside to go to the police station.

And now he was making Dani have a fucking panic attack. I pushed him again, raising my arm to pin that fucker against the wall when—

“Stop it!”

Dani jumped in front of me, popping up between my fists and that piece of shit.

“Dani, move,” I said, needing to get at him.

Needing to teach him a fucking lesson.

“No, Alec!” she said, shaking her head and looking up at me with wild eyes. “Think.”

“Is this seriously where—” Kyle stopped talking as he entered the shed with Vinny, their laid-back smiles immediately changing into looks of confusion.

“Help me!” Dani yelled to them as I waited for her to move.

“What the hell’s going on here?” Vinny asked.

“This motherfucker right here,” I said, “is about to get his ass handed to him.”

“Stop!” Dani yelled, pushing at my chest. “Alec, think about what you’re doing!”

“I am ,” I said through clenched teeth, finally seeing her.

“He’s trying to piss you off, don’t you see that?” She pushed me again and said, “He wants you to do this!”

“Then I’m more than happy to give him exactly what he wants,” I said, my eyes back on Worthington.

“Zeus,” Vinny said, grabbing my arm and jerking me away from Ben. “Chill the fuck out.”

“Call nine-one-one, Austin,” Benji said, holding his sleeve up to his bloody nose. “Tell them I was just assaulted by Alec Barczewski.”

“Oh, bullshit, Worthington,” Vinny said, even though he had no idea what he was talking about because he’d just walked in.

“Just try calling and see what happens,” Kyle said with a scowl. “The rest of the team’ll be here any second, and you’re so fucking outnumbered, dipshit.”

“And he looks fucking hammered,” Vinny said, pointing at the goalie. “The cops are gonna love this shit.”

“Ben,” Cody said, “let’s just get the hell outta here.”

“No way,” Worthington said. “Barczewski can’t pull this crap.”

“So call in the morning,” Adam said, turning toward the door. “I’m getting out before shit hits the fan.”

I jerked my arm away from Vinny, which made Dani step in front of me again.

“Y’know what, that’s fine,” Ben said with a shrug, holding up the side of his hand to his busted nose. “I’ll just call in the morning. I’ll still have the evidence on my face and witnesses, so what’s another twelve hours?”

“Get gone, asswipe,” Kyle said, shaking his head.

I watched Cody kick the shed door open, and as they walked out, Benji said, “I can’t wait to see what the Southview townspeople think of their god after tomorrow.”

“Bye, Benji ,” I yelled after him.

“See you in the morning, Zeus ,” he yelled back.