Page 11

11

I woke up stupidly excited for today. I always like when we have kids come by so we can instill the love of the game in their little minds. I remember the first camp I went to as a kid and it was one of the best days of my life. It gives this whole career more of a purpose to give back to the community. Plus, I get to terrorize Brooke today. One of my favorite pastimes.

“All right kids, let's file in and wait for Mr. Lawson to come and instruct what to do next,” I can hear Brooke’s coworker, Tess, tell the kids.

Then I spot the only woman on this earth who hates my guts. My stomach turns to knots and I notice that she isn’t wearing her usual knotted headband, but instead a bright pink beanie. Not a look I am used to, but I’m completely ready to embrace it.

Hastings skates up next to me, already complaining. “God, this hour is going to last forever. I can’t believe Coach dragged me into this. Where is Bradley, anyway? Don’t you two do everything together?”

“He’s busy with Jen today. Suck it up; it’s a good way to spend your free time. If and only if you get into a leadership position, you need to sometimes do things you don’t want to do. So I am going to say it again: Suck. It. Up.”

I plaster a smile onto my face and skate over to the other side of the rink. I can sense that Hastings is doing the same.

“Hi guys! Are you all excited to do some skating today?”

All the kids say in unison, “Yeah!”

“All right, that nice man behind the counter over there,” I point toward Josh, the rental skate attendant, “will get you all set up with some skates and I’ll see you out here on the ice. Parent chaperones can go ahead and get some skates as well.”

Brooke is standing in the back with her arms crossed. She looks miserable. Even though she might be putting on a slight smile, she is clearly uncomfortable. I mean, I know she hates me, but I hope she lets go a little bit and has some fun. For some reason I can’t get over the way she looks in a beanie. It’s just so uncharacteristic about her and I am not hating it.

It’s been ten minutes since the kids, the chaperones and Tess come out onto the ice. After a quick lesson, I let Hastings take over. Where the hell is Brooke? I take a lap around the rink and notice she is sitting in the stands taking pictures of the kids, with a wide grin on her face. I take a mental note of that smile since it’s a rare sight for me. I get off the ice and walk over to the bleachers. Her posture shifts and smile fades but she still has her phone up and takes one more picture. “Can I help you, Hot Shot?” She clicks the side of her phone and puts it away in her puffer jacket pocket.

“Aren’t you going to get out onto the ice with your students, Cupcake?” I say, leaning against my hockey stick.

“Nope, all good sitting right here. Don’t worry. I’m monitoring. And Tess and the chaperones are out there anyway. They’ve got it all handled.” She looks out into the rink. She’s acting strange.

And then I get a weird suspicion that she has never stepped foot on ice. It’s a look I’m all-too-familiar with. I help out with camps with young kids to teach them about hockey, most importantly how to skate. Brooke has the same scared, doe-eyed look in her eyes that those kids do.

“Cupcake,” I say in an accusatory tone.

“Hot Shot…” She mimics.

“You’ve never ice-skated before, have you?”

She purses her perfect lips and then bites her bottom lip and says, “No.”

“Okay, I’m officially disowning your brother for not teaching you.”

“It’s not his fault. He always wanted to, but I was stubborn.”

I squint at her and shake my head. “All right, that’s it.”

“What’s it?” she says, clearly annoyed.

“You’re going to pull up your big girl panties, put skates on and go out there on the ice so I can teach you how to skate. Or at least start teaching you how to skate. We need more than just an hour.”

“Um, no I’m not.”

“Either you come on your own or I am going to throw you over my shoulder and carry you down. Your choice.”

Her brow furrows and she crosses her arms, standing her ground. “No means no, Hot Shot.”

“Fine.” I step onto the bleachers, lift her up around the waist, and throw her over my shoulder.

She screams and I feel her fists pound against my back.

“Wait, no! Tristan! This really isn’t necessary. I’ve gone through my whole twenty-eight years of life not knowing how to skate, and look at me! I’m fine.” She attempts to pull on my sweatshirt to stop me, but is unsuccessful. I am a man on a mission. God, I am going to chew out Bradley for not teaching her how to skate.

“I think it is. Necessary.” I lower her to the ground and turn my attention to Josh. “Hey man, can I get–what? A size seven?” I turn to Brooke, who now looks super pissed-off with her hip off to the side.

“Eight.”

“Damn, clown feet. You heard the lady. Size eight.”

She mouths, “Fuck you, Hot Shot.”

God I fucking wish.

She crosses her arms across her chest. “This is why I hate you! You are insufferable.”

I hand her the skates. “I’ll see you out there.” I leave Brooke looking pissed-off, but I can’t stop beaming. This is rare uninterrupted time with Brooke and I am not going to waste it. Bradley is not here to intervene or cock-block me in any way.

What seems like hours later, Brooke reluctantly places her soft hands into mine as she glides onto the ice and my heart leaps a bit. Her smooth fingers feel foreign against my calloused palms and suddenly I don’t want Brooke’s hands to leave mine. I can feel her entire body tense as her hold on my hands turn into a full-on death grip. She’s terrified. She keeps looking down at her feet.

“Look up at me, Cupcake.”

She finally meets my eyes and that’s when I realize just how scared she really is. Her eyebrows are furrowed but not in a pissed-off way–this time they are curved up and her eyes are filled with tears. This is a risk for her and I know her well enough to know she hates stepping out of her comfort zone. I am actually surprised that she wore a beanie today instead of her usual headband. It’s a small change, but I like it.

It means she is willing to push herself a little bit.

I guide her slowly around the rink. Her students are watching and waving. They are actually skating better than she is. But I guess that is the thing about little kids: they are not afraid to take risks. They aren’t concerned about if they fall down or if they look silly doing something new.

I still can’t believe that Brooke has never done this before. My heart skips a beat as she tightens her grip around my hands. She is trusting me right now. For the first time ever. And her hands are finally in mine. Despite the cold environment, I am feeling very warm inside. I am definitely having feelings I shouldn’t be having about Brooke. I shake my head from the thoughts that take over and smile.

“What? I look ridiculous, don’t I?” She rolls her eyes.

“No, that’s not it at all. You are doing great.” Then I clear my throat to save face.

“Was that an actual compliment, Hot Shot? Maybe we truly are in hell right now, because you never compliment me.”

My stomach drops. “That’s not true. I was just thinking about how absurd it is that you don’t know how to ice skate. How is that possible? How did I not know this about you?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” She sighs. “I’ve always been scared to skate. It’s too unpredictable, especially the other people around you because you can’t control what they do. Plus, I don’t want to fall.” She wobbles as the mention of falling. “That’s why I like baking…it’s predictable. The outcome is something you can rely on. There are usually no surprises.”

I nod my head. “Hmm. Other than putting salt in your cupcakes and not telling the people eating them.”

Her face scrunches up and she punches my chest, then shakes her hand from the impact. I love pushing her buttons. It’s my favorite pastime. I continue before she has an opportunity to curse me out, “Well, falling is inevitable. The point is to keep getting up. You gotta take risks, Cupcake.” Then a thought pops into my head and I know for a fact that Brooke is going to hate me that much more, but I’m doing it to prove a point.

I reluctantly let her hands go, skating backwards and widening the gap between us. Brooke loses her balance and falls right on her ass.

“Ow, geez what the heck Lawson?” Brooke basically growls at me. I feel like I am getting scolded…and that makes me smile even more. To the point where I let out a laugh.

“Will you help me up, please?” Brooke says. “Instead of standing there laughing like an asshole who just witnessed his best friend’s sister make a complete fool of herself?”

“I don’t think Miss Beckett should be saying words like asshole,” I whisper in her ear as I grab her hand and elbow and lift her up.

“Well maybe someone, who knows I don’t know how to skate, shouldn’t let me fall,” she says through her teeth.

“I didn’t let you fall. You fell all on your own. But look, you got back up. You survived the thing you were most afraid of.” She finally looks intently in my eyes. She actually looks like she is letting me in, even if just for a moment. She clutches my forearms, her eyes scanning my body. Her cheeks are getting pinker and I want to file it away into my core memories, because they aren’t an angry shade of pink. It’s almost like she is blushing.

Before I know it, my back hits the sideboards and we aren’t skating anymore. Yet, Brooke’s fingers are still digging into my forearms. Her face has definitely softened since she first stepped into the rink. Her eyes divert from mine for a split second and make their way down to my own lips.

“Thank you,” she says softly.

“Hold on, I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you just thank me, Cupcake?”

“Yes, I did. And now I instantly regret it based on that stupid smug look on your face.”

“No, no, you can’t take it back.” I am smiling so hard right now that my cheeks are hurting. “What exactly are you thanking me for?”

“Having me face what I am most afraid of.”

Behind me, I sense there are people skating toward us and fast. Dean must be showboating with another one of our teammates and it got a little out of control. “Guys, watch it!”

I grab Brooke’s arms and whip her around. I pin her against the sideboards.

A second later, the idiots do run into me; my body presses into Brooke. Since I am not wearing my usual gear, I can feel everything about Brooke’s body through her many layers of clothes. I swallow hard as I concentrate on calming my dick down so that Brooke doesn’t realize how turned on I am with her body up against mine for the first time ever in our lives. That’s when I notice how red Brooke is getting and I process where we are in the rink. I have pinned Brooke against the sideboard of the penalty box. And then I remember the text she sent me about having a sex dream where I was fucking her in said penalty box. My mind starts wandering with thoughts about what I was doing to her in that dream and my dick is just getting harder. I am never going to see the penalty box the same again. Now, anytime I see one, Brooke’s flushed face will come to mind.

Brooke looks back at what she is pinned up against. I smile as she turns redder. She is full of embarrassment and I can’t help but smile. She looks fucking adorable.

She buries her face in her hands. “Oh my God, that was so scary. I need to get off the ice…now.” She peers through her hands at me.“Why are you looking at me like that, Hot Shot?”

“This particular spot reminds me of something.”

She registers what I am referring to and bats her eyes wildly–do I make her nervous? “Well, stop. You are looking at me like…”

“Like what, Cupcake?” I lean a little closer. I am intrigued about the next words to come out of her mouth.

“Sorry guys, just got carried away with Jagielski. The kids bet on who would win a race.”

Dammit. Is there a way to make someone magically disappear?

Dean props his arm up against the sideboard and glues his eyes on Brooke, then looks at me. “Am I interrupting something?”

Yeah asshole, you are. “No, just teaching Beckett here how to ice skate.”

“Oh really? And you trusted this guy to teach you?” He nods in my direction. Dick. “Why didn’t you ask me, Brooke? I am a much smoother skater than Lawson.” Yeah, he wishes .

Brooke clears her throat and tucks some hair behind her ear, “Um, I don’t know. These lessons were kind of last-minute and…unexpected. I think time’s up anyway. I need to wrangle up the kids to go back to school.” She shoots me a look that makes my insides fucking melt. I crave more time with her. “Can you move your arm out of the way, Hot Shot?”

I forgot that my arm is blocking her way out of this bubble we created for ourselves. I reluctantly move my arm. Brooke holds onto the sideboards for dear life and slowly makes her way to the entrance to the rink.

“What game are you playing, Lawson?”

I pretend ignorance. “I have no idea what you mean, man.” I start picking up the orange cones we use for drills.

“I mean, why the fuck are you giving Brooke ice skating lessons? I thought you hated her.”

My stomach drops. “I do.” I stack the orange cones, reach down and place them on the ground on the side of the rink.

“Doesn’t seem like it. You were looking at her like you wanted to fuck her brains out. I mean, I get it. That’s exactly what I am going to do after Casino Night.”

I grab him by his sweatshirt and pin him against the boards. “Have some fucking respect. That’s Beckett’s little sister.” I let him go, pushing him in the process. “Why do you want her so bad, anyway? You can have any girl. Why Brooke?”

“Oh, I struck a chord with you. Interesting. Now why is that, Lawson? Is it because Brooke is like a sister to you, too? Or is it because you actually don’t hate her and want her for yourself?”

I am fuming. I am showing so much restraint. I want to kick this prick’s ass so badly, but he’s not worth it. But one thing I know is true: if he so much as lays a hand on Brooke, I won’t show any more restraint toward him.

“I hope it’s the second option,” Hastings continues, “because it will be so much sweeter when I win this bet. I am closing the deal with Brooke at Casino Night. Are you ready to call me captain, Lawson?”

“That’s not happening, Hastings. Like I told you before, she won’t break her rule. Never has and never will.”

I skate toward the locker room with a smug smile on my face because that’s the safest bet I could make. She won’t break her rule.

She can’t break her rule.