I stare hard at his smug face, inwardly cursing him in my head.
“All right, then,” I say weakly, “I’ll just... chew my gum.” Then I drop the gum in my mouth, and chew so painfully slow, my eyes water, and I think I might pass out from disgust.
“Was I right? Still fresh?” he asks, his eyes dancing.
“Very,” I grind out, while trying not to throw up in my mouth.
“Good,” he says with a satisfied nod. “I thought so.” Then he does one more thing before he turns around.He smirks.
A zing of victory rockets through me—not from winning Leo’s dare, but because I did something that makes me unreasonably proud. I made Leo smile. Which means I can add another mark to the smile tally.
It’s my last thought before I rush to the bathroom.
SIX
victoria
When I come out of the bathroom—after thoroughly flushing my mouth with water because,wow,was that gross—there’s a hockey player standing at the water fountain. I glance around, looking for Leo’s smug face, which is conveniently missing.
“Are you looking for someone?” the guy asks.
“Nope. I’m here to use the rink.”
His grin widens. “You play hockey?”
I laugh. “Not even close.” I unzip my bag to show him my figure skates.
“Ah, the classy kind of skater.” He nods in approval. “Figure skating is the only dignified sport on skates, right?”
“Dignified?” I raise an eyebrow. “I never thought I’d hear a hockey player say that.”
“I’m Rourke,” he says, holding out a hand.
“Victoria.” I move closer to him and shake his hand.
We head back inside to the rink, and Rourke waves down a man with dirty-blond hair who is still on the ice. “Hey, Lucian!We’ve got someone here needing the rink. Could we move it along?” Then he turns back to me. “Lucian’s our team captain. He’ll take care of getting the rink cleared.”
Lucian shouts instructions to his teammates, and before I know it, another player skates over, smiling warmly. “I’m Vale—Sloan’s husband. She coaches at the university, and she’s mentioned you in passing.”
“Oh, right!” I say. “I sometimes use the rink for kids’ skating lessons after she finishes with the college skaters. I didn’t know she was married to a hockey player.” Except for Leo and me, I’ve never met a figure skater and a hockey player who ended up together. “It’s kind of funny, I thought skaters and hockey players didn’t exactly... mix.”
Vale chuckles. “Oh, we mix just fine—we got back from our honeymoon recently. Took a while to convince her, though.”
“That’s a long story,” another skater pipes up. He looks like Vale, except with shorter hair. “I’m Brax, Vale’s better-looking brother.” He elbows Vale out of the way.
“Good to meet you,” I say, glancing down at the rink. “My dad is the coach.”
Rourke’s eyebrows rise. “Coach’s daughter, huh?”
I nod, though I don’t love admitting it. Sure, there are a few extra perks, but being under constant scrutiny has its own price. Some people assume I’ve coasted through my career thanks to Dad’s connections, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. My father has no clout in the figure skating world, and I’ve fought hard to get to this level, enduring more embarrassing falls than I care to count. Six months ago, I moved out of my parents’ house and started managing everything on my own. I’m proud of that, even if it means living in a run-down apartment and refusing their help to prove I can stand on my own two feet.
“Coach Jenkins’s daughter only deserves the best,” Rourke calls out, then turns to one of his teammates. “Jaxon, get Leo to wrap it up for the coach’s daughter!”
My stomach drops as Leo looks over. The last thing I need right now is Leo turning this into another opportunity to embarrass me. He doesn’t say anything, but he also doesn’t look happy about me getting friendly with his teammates.
“So,” Rourke says, ignoring Leo’s glare, “must be nice having the coach as your dad, right? All the free ice time?”
“I moved out when he got assigned to the Crushers. The only thing he arranged was my rink time.” And my new skating partner, which I conveniently don’t mention.
