Home Ice (16 page)

She lifted a shoulder. “You’re asking the wrong person. I had private tutors through high school. I accepted my diploma at the rink.”

“It’s just one night. How bad can it be?”

“Let me know if she tries anything. I’ll kick her ass.” Joking. Mostly.

“I have no doubt.” He laughed. “I saw the letter she wrote. Purple ink and i’s with hearts. Cursive. I don’t think she’s a threat. Not that anyone could compare to you anyway.” He slid his thumb over the back of her wrist, and it sent warm tingles up her arm. Maybe they could have dessert back at her apartment. Naked.

“Glad to hear it. You know I’m going to want to see pictures.”

“There’ll probably be one in the paper. Full color if I know Saralynn. Hell, the way people are with their phones, we’ll be all over social media.”

She smiled. “Can you dance? Because you’ll probably be on YouTube, too.”

“Ah …” Red crept into his face, and he hung his head. “I can slow dance.”

“You can?” The image of this colossal hockey player cradling this high school girl close, swaying to soft music, invited a stab of jealousy, as crazy as that was.

“Sure. Ever since I’ve been a Sinner, we’ve had bachelor auctions, and we had to dance with our dates. I bet you’re a great dancer.”

“I manage.” That was a huge understatement. Skating gave her grace and fluidity of movement, rhythm, but she’d also cross-trained with ballet and jazz, even some gymnastics. Routines called for a few moves, and it never hurt to over-prepare.

“Mmm-hmm. Well, as soon as that ankle’s healed, I’ll have to take you for a spin.”

“I’d like that.” A lot. So there
had
been a few things on his mind, and his happiness to be with her seemed genuine. Why did it still feel like there was something he was holding back?
I’m projecting. Seeing things that aren’t there.
It was just hard to turn off the what-ifs after a lifetime of using them as armor.

Saturday, November 22nd

I don’t want to do this
. Dylan watched his fingers fumble in the mirror, trying to tie the pink satin bowtie. He’d done it a hundred times before but couldn’t focus. The week’s games had been horrible, especially the one that afternoon. Thinking about Lori usually helped, except now he couldn’t do it without feeling guilty. She trusted him, and he’d gone behind her back, even if it was for a good reason. But everything was working out. She had her sponsor and didn’t have to carry that weight anymore, and it was directly because of him. Hard to regret that. If he could just make it past this night, maybe he could forget his part in it all, and things could go back to normal.

He checked his watch. Time to go. He jogged down the marble stairs to find Saralynn and Madden waiting at the bottom. Saralynn crooked a finger at him, and he stepped closer so she could fix the bowtie.

“Okay. Looking good. Don’t forget this.” She held out her hand, and Madden gave her a boxed corsage, which she presented to Dylan. Bright pink, just like the bowtie. “Limo’s outside.” She’d thought of everything. Not that he expected any less from her.

“Any last words of advice?”

“Be home by midnight.”

He lifted his brows. “Am I going to turn into a pumpkin?”

“No, but you might turn into a corpse if you get Harmony home late. Show her a good time but not
too
good. What am I saying? Look who I’m talking to.”

“Thanks. I think.” He looked at Madden. “Nothing from the heckler’s section?”

Madden grinned and opened his mouth but caught a look from Saralynn and closed it. “Lookin’ good, man.”

“Uh-huh. All right, I’m out. Later.” It was a relief to step into the cool evening air and away from judgment. The limo was an impressive size. Big enough to fit him and Harmony plus eight of her friends.
What did I get myself into?

• • •

The limo pulled up to the school, which looked more like a fancy art museum. Meeting Harmony hadn’t been so bad. She turned out to be nothing like he’d expected. Short and small, but a little nerdy. Pink-framed glasses, kind of shy in a dress that probably cost a few thousand dollars. She looked a little uncomfortable, like the dress was wearing her. Blonde hair, but natural, not the platinum standard of the city. She almost reminded him of what Lori must have looked like at that age. He’d shaken hands with her father, who had that schmoozy charm people only believed if they wanted to.

On the way to pick up her friends, he’d tried talking to her. She answered with all smiles but barely looked at him. When the other kids climbed in, their conversations took over, and Harmony appeared happy to sink into the background, only chiming in when someone asked her a question.

He offered her his arm out of the car, and she accepted, not letting go until they’d reached their table in the gym. Gym wasn’t the right word. This was arena quality with professional decorations as good as at any Sinners event. He pulled out her chair and scooted her in after she sat. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Oh, they serve us here.”

Whoa
. He might not have any experience for comparison, but most schools probably weren’t like this. He took the seat beside her and asked her polite questions about herself. It was that or sit in silence, and she seemed happy to answer once he got her going. Jeez. Didn’t anyone ever talk to this girl?

After they ate, the other couples had moved to the dance floor, but Harmony sat glued to the spot, still not looking at him head on. He stood and held out his hand. “Would you like to dance?”

Her face flushed, and the smile stretched her cheeks as she accepted. He led her out and held one of her hands up by his chest while his other hand rested against the middle of her back. They swayed under lights thrown by the disco ball. Every now and then, she’d glance up at him, grin shyly, and look away again. It was really sweet and made him feel horrible for dreading the night.

Then a fast song came on, and Harmony tensed, panic on her elf-like face.

“You don’t like the fast ones?”

She shook her head. They were on their way back to the table when her friends gathered around and encouraged them to stay.

“Come on! You have
Dylan Cole
here! He has to dance!”

Poor Harmony looked like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her on the spot.

“It’s okay. How about I show you guys how it’s done?” So what if he made an ass out of himself at a high school dance? If it would take the pressure off his date, it’d be worth it. From her shrinking violet disposition, he’d bet people didn’t consider her feelings a lot.

“Yeah! Let’s see it!”

And so, he let them see it. He didn’t think about what he was doing, just let go and moved to the music. It had to look ridiculous, but to his surprise, it was fun. All around him, phones lit up the dark space, and he knew he’d be able to find repeats of his performance online, but who cared? He caught Harmony giggling from the sidelines, and that was reward enough. For the rest of the night, he owned the floor and toward the end even got Harmony out there with him. It was a good night. And he couldn’t wait to tell Lori all about it.

Sunday, November 23rd

Okay, I can’t take it.
Lori was going to wait for Dylan to tell her all about the dance, but as soon as she woke up, it’d been a battle not to grab her phone and find out herself. A battle she lost. She went to a search engine, typed in “Dylan Cole school dance,” and the links popped up. She clicked on a video. It was a little blurry and dark, but strobe lights acted like lightning, illuminating her boyfriend in flashes as he danced like he was having a seizure. She burst out laughing and clapped a hand over her mouth. He’d really embraced the spirit of the evening. Good for him.

While she’d been no stranger to doing commercials or print ads for sponsors, luckily no one had ever requested her presence at a dance. It would have been awkward, and very unlikely that she’d have given herself over to the experience the way Dylan had. He was so much more open, and it seemed like he got more out of … life. It wouldn’t kill her to make an effort to try new things. And being sidelined, she had time now.

The
Las Vegas Sun
had done a feature piece on Dylan’s appearance. She skimmed it but stopped halfway through. Harmony Byers.
Byers?
The article confirmed it. Harmony, daughter of Las Vegas magnate Ron Byers. Her new sponsor. No way that was a coincidence. Her heart beat harder, and her mouth went dry. That’s what he’d been hiding. That’s why he’d been nervous. He’d gone behind her back and made a deal to get her a sponsor. Did he think she wouldn’t find out?

A knock on her apartment door almost spiked her heart rate to stroke levels. She swung out of bed and used one crutch to maneuver over and answer it. Dylan stood on the other side. The warm smile slid off his face when he got a look at her expression. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe you’re asking me that. You should probably go. I have good enough balance that I could use this as a weapon, and I don’t need another complication like a criminal record in my life right now.”

“Wait, what?” He caught the door as she tried to close it, and stepped inside. “Lori, what’s going on?” Complete confusion in his eyes, not a hint of guilt. Incredible.

“I can’t believe you did that. And
lied
to me about it. Harmony
Byers
? That’s who you took to the dance? In exchange for her daddy’s pity on a poor washed-up figure skater?”

“I …” Understanding dawned, followed closely by the missing guilt and what looked like shame, but who knew? Maybe he was just that good of an actor. “I’m sorry. You’re right. You didn’t want me to sponsor you, but it killed me seeing you so worried, facing the possibility of having to give up skating. If there was anything I could do, I had to do it.”

“
No.
You didn’t have to. I asked you not to. I told you I didn’t want to complicate our relationship. My career is my business, my responsibility, and I’ve managed it just fine by myself.”

“But you don’t
have
to. You don’t have to do it by yourself. Is it really that hard to accept help?”

“I didn’t
need
—” Didn’t need help? But didn’t she? Clinging to her self-sufficiency had become so ingrained, maybe it
was
that hard to accept. “All right. Maybe I did need help. But it’s not your job to make decisions for me. And it’s not your job to save mine. Can you see the hero complex here? You’re not responsible for everything in the universe.”

His shoulders rolled forward, and he looked like she’d slapped him. It hurt her, too, but he needed to hear it. He leaned against the doorframe. “I guess sometimes I do feel like that. I don’t know how to be different. My whole life I was taught to make things happen. Take charge and get things done.”

“And that’s not a bad thing. In the rink. In relationships, it causes problems.”

“Yeah. I’m starting to get that.” He kept his gaze on the ground, so it was hard to tell if he regretted what he’d done or regretted that she’d found out.

She ducked until she caught his gaze then held it to make sure he was listening. “You knew something was wrong about what you did, because you hid it from me. For future reference, if you have to hide it, you shouldn’t do it. You make me feel like you don’t think I can run my own life.”

“That’s not true.”

“No? Didn’t you do it because you thought I couldn’t get a sponsor on my own?”

His lips parted, but he didn’t have a response.

“Do you understand now?”

It took a minute, but he nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t look at it that way.” But it still didn’t seem like he totally got it. His posture was too tense, defensive, like he’d do it again if
he
thought it was the right thing.

“I’m kinda tired. Maybe we should talk later.” She started to close the door, but he held it open.

“Wait.” He dropped his arm and took a step back as if to give her some space. “I understand if you don’t want to see me now, and you have every right to be mad. But … Thanksgiving is this week. I don’t know if you have plans with your family, but a lot of us stay in the city this time of year because games are so close together. We’re having a big dinner at the house, and I’d really like you to come.”

Her heart fell. She hadn’t celebrated holidays with her family in years. It was too sad. She shoved that down and cleared her throat. If she didn’t go, she’d be staring at the walls of her apartment alone or taking a taxi to a buffet on the Strip. God, that was sadder than the thought of going home. Still, she wasn’t going to let him off the hook so easy. “I don’t know.”

“Think about it? Please?”

It was so hard standing a few feet away from him with an invisible wall between them. Whatever the reason, he
did
look as miserable as she felt. How did they get so close so quickly? For all they had in common, there were obviously some big differences, but were they too big to get past? “I’ll think about it.”

There were a hundred questions in his eyes, and it took a lot, but he didn’t say a thing. He pressed his lips together and nodded, hesitated a second longer, then walked away. She closed the door, resisting the urge to watch him go, and leaned her forehead against the cool metal. The fact that he hadn’t pushed any further even though he wanted to earned him some points. It had to have killed Dylan the Fixer to leave before making sure everything was back to normal, but he had. For her.

That was something.

Tuesday, November 25th

“Mmm-mmm, no he didn’t.” Margo walked through her dance routine on the stage at
Divas
, blocking out her number while Lori sat in the front row of the otherwise empty theater.

“Yeah. He did. And I tried to explain to him how it made me feel, but I’m not sure he understood. More like he pretended to. He still thinks he did the right thing. How can anybody be so stubborn?”

Margo paused mid shake, her face carefully blank until she allowed a slow smile to spread on her sparkly silver lips.