Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Leah finally drew her arm away from Stephen and skated around him, gliding backward away from him.
“I admire the effort, but—” Leah didn’t finish her sentence before her back crashed into my chest.
I wrapped my arms around her to keep her from falling, pulling her body flush against mine. Just as expected, she felt firm and curvy in all the right places, and I swore she leaned into my touch for a second.
“Sorry,” Leah said as she moved away from me, her cheeks reddening slightly. She glanced around for an escape route. “Pizza is here.”
I watched her skate away with some of her teammates with a small smile on my face.
“She’s something, huh?” I said to Stephen.
Stephen chuckled and nodded.
“Hell yeah,” he agreed.
Quite a few people stayed past two hours, especially when the music was turned on and everyone got a bite to eat. Conversation between teams probably wasn’t as prevalent as the coaches hoped, but no one was whacking each other with hockey sticks, so I figured that was a win. As the time ticked by, more and more people started filtering out of the stadium.
I lingered near the refreshment table, eating one of the last slices of pizza left. My eyes shifted over to the rink where Leah was skating by herself, moving in circles and doing light spins like she was a figure skater. Honestly, it was a bit captivating watching her move.
By the time I managed to look away from her, everyone was gone, and the stadium was quiet besides the sound of the blades grating against the ice. I headed her way, leaning against the frame of one of the entrances.
“Hey, it’s getting late. We should probably head out,” I called out to her.
Leah stopped skating and nodded before gliding over to me.
I held my arm out, letting her grab it to help her stop before stepping out of the rink. Our eyes met for a brief second, but the moment was brief as she let go of me.
“I didn’t realize how much time had passed,” I said as we walked toward the locker rooms.
Leah cracked a small smile and nodded.
“Me either. Time feels different when you’re out on the ice,” she replied.
Even if we were at odds, one of the things that we could connect over was our love of being out in the rink. There was nothing like darting across the ice, feeling like I was flying.
“I think tonight wasn’t too bad. No fights broke out,” I said.
Leah gave me a pointed look.
“I would hope that, as captains, we would put a stop to that before it even happened,” she replied.
I chuckled.
“Yeah, I guess we have to be a little responsible, right?” I asked.
Leah nudged me before stopping close to the entrance of the women’s locker room.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around. I’m sure you have to get back to your girlfriend,” she said.
I gave her a confused look.
“I don’t have a girlfriend, Leah,” I told her.
Leah’s eyes widened in surprise for a second before her expression snapped back to a casual one. She gave me a subtle nod.
“Oh, okay. Bye, Hugo,” she said before heading to the locker room.
“Bye, Leah,” I murmured, feeling the heavy thud of my heart deep in my chest. Damn, I didn’t even want to leave, but it was getting late. I was sure the janitor wanted to lock up soon and go home, so I headed to the locker room to grab my stuff. I pulled on the door handle only to feel it not budge. “What?”
I tried again. And again. The door was locked.
“Fuck,” I muttered, realizing my phone was inside. Maybe Leah had hers, and I could call someone to open the locker room door. I turned and headed back the way I came only to see Leah hurrying over to me.
“The locker room door is locked. All of my stuff is in there!” Leah told me.
“Mine too. Let’s get out of here and find someone to unlock the doors,” I suggested.
And that plan would’ve worked if the doors leading out of the stadium weren’t locked too!
“Are you kidding me? We’re going to be stuck in here until morning?” Leah groaned as she leaned against the wall in the hallway, dragging her fingers through her hair. “There isn’t a phone somewhere in here we can use?”
I shook my head.
“They would be in the offices, and those will be locked too,” I replied. We were really stuck in here. For some reason, that made me laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Leah asked.
I shrugged and gestured around. Despite the annoyance of this situation, I had to find some humor in it.
“This. How the hell did this actually happen?” I replied before flashing her a playful grin. “Must be fate.”
Leah tried to keep a straight face, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.